Isozyme uniformity in a wild extinct insular plant,Lysimachia minoricensisJ.J. Rodr. (Primulaceae)

Abstract

Isozyme analyses were conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of seed accessions ofLysimachia minoricensis(a Balearic endemic plant that became extinct in the wild) provided by 10 European botanical gardens. No isozyme variation was detected after examination of the electrophoretic patterns of 22 putative loci in more than 150 plants. The lack of genetic variation inL. minoricensisis probably due to the shortage of sample propagules originally recovered in the field before its extinction. Extant plants ofL. minoricensisare believed to have originated from a single source, therefore limiting their use as seed stocks for restoration projects.