A population genetic study of the endangered plant species Limonium dufourii (Plumbaginaceae) based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)

Limonium dufourii (Plumbaginaceae) is a triploid species with obligate apom ictic reproduction and is endemic to the East Mediterranean coast of Spain, where it is present in only six populations, most of which have a very low number of individuals. Genetic variation and population structure in this species was studied using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) a s markers, using the same individuals as in a previous study with random am plified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Three different primers provided 252 bands of which 51 were polymorphic among the 152 individuals analysed. Those poly morphic bands were able to define 65 different phenotypes, of which all but two were present in only one population. The comparative analyses of data from AFLPs with those from RAPDs show a high degree of concordance. Additio nally, and given the nature of these markers, we propose the estimation of nucleotide divergences from AFLP patterns. Relationships among the differen t AFLP patterns and the estimates of population genetic parameters obtained with this evolutionary distance are in good agreement with previous result s. These analyses show that substantial genetic variability and differentia tion exist within and among populations of L. dufourii. Their higher reprod ucibility and the possibility of obtaining estimates of nucleotide divergen ce make AFLPs a much better DNA fingerprinting technique.