Microsatellite polymorphism of Trifolium pratense population at the conditions of radioactive and chemical contamination of soil (Komi republic, Russia).

Abstract

There is no clear understanding of microevolutionary changes in natural populations of plants and animals due to anthropogenic contamination of the environment with toxicants and mutagens. But such data are necessary to forecast long-term effects of human activity. In this research, we studied genetic polymorphism in T. pratense sampled from seven sites varying in radioactive and chemical soil contamination in the vicinity of Vodny settlement (Komi, Russia). Analysis of five SSR loci was shown to be similar in a whole (N), mean (Na) and effective (Ne) numbers of alleles, heterozygosity indexes (Ho and He), and the Shannon index (I). Difference in the private allele numbers was registered: the most contaminated site has 5 and others from 0 up 2 private alleles. No difference was found in the genetic structure of T. pratense population growing at the conditions of radioactive and chemical contamination. The Bayesian analysis provided evidence of a single cluster (K = 1) due to a similar genetic structure of samples, while AMOVA results demonstrated a high variability within individuals (75%) and a low variability (1%) among groups of T. pratense from sites that differ in the contamination level. Thus, the long-term radioactive and heavy metal contamination of soil did not result in significant microevolutionary changes in T. pratense population.