GENETIC-VARIATION IN RUNNING BUFFALO CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM-STOLONIFERUM -FABACEAE) USING RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKERS (RAPDS)

Citation
Dj. Crawford et al., GENETIC-VARIATION IN RUNNING BUFFALO CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM-STOLONIFERUM -FABACEAE) USING RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKERS (RAPDS), Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 85(1), 1998, pp. 81-89
Citations number
31
Categorie Soggetti
Plant Sciences
ISSN journal
00266493
Volume
85
Issue
1
Year of publication
1998
Pages
81 - 89
Database
ISI
SICI code
0026-6493(1998)85:1<81:GIRBC(>2.0.ZU;2-0
Abstract
Trifolium stoloniferum Muhl. es Eaten (Fabaceae), a perennial, stoloni ferous herb commonly known as running buffalo clover, once occurred ov er a large area in the Midwest (U.S.A.) but is currently restricted to five states and is federally endangered. The purpose of this study wa s to examine genetic variation within and among populations of T. stol oniferum throughout its known geographic distribution using Random Amp lified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) as markers. The average within-populat ion banding similarity values for 390 individuals from 21 populations are high, ranging from 0.920 to 0.984 (mean = 0.952). The mean banding similarities for comparisons between populations range from 0.856 to 0.902 (mean = 0.884), implying that much of the diversity resides amon g populations in this species. There are also differences in average s imilarities within and between patches at the population level, sugges ting substructuring within populations. A large proportion of plants s ampled within populations have different banding patterns, indicating that populations do not consist of one to several genets perpetuated v egetatively by stolons. Our results agree with those of previous worke rs using allozymes in showing relatively low levels of diversity withi n populations and in the species as a whole. However, in the present s tudy RAPD-marker variation was detected in all populations, with level s of diversity in several smaller populations equal to those in larger ones; no allozyme variation was detected in half of the populations s ampled, and smaller populations were often monomorphic. Two bands are unique to Missouri populations and one band was found only in Ohio pop ulations. Allozyme data were used to suggest that conserving smaller p opulations could be of lower priority because they lack diversity; cer tain ones are identical to each other, and thus they may consist of si ngle genets. By contrast, RAPDs show that even the smallest population s have a high proportion of different genets and thus are worthy of fu rther consideration for conservation.