JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY ›› 2023, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (5): 80-86.doi: 10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202110046

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Mating system analyses of two natural populations of Taxus wallichiana var. mairei

LUO Qianqian1,2(), LI Fengqing3, XIAO Deqing2, DENG Zhangwen1, WANG Jianhua1, ZHOU Zhichun2,*()   

  1. 1. Forestry Research Institute of Fuzhou,Fuzhou 344000,China
    2. Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry,Chinese Academy of Forestry,Hangzhou 311400,China
    3. Experimental Center of Subtropical Forestry,Chinese Academy of Forestry,Fenyi 336600,China
  • Received:2021-10-23 Revised:2022-05-12 Online:2023-09-30 Published:2023-10-10

Abstract:

【Objective】 The objective of this study is to examine the mating system of Taxus wallichiana var. mairei in natural populations located in Longquan City from Zhejiang Province and Fenyi City from Jiangxi Province. Furthermore, the study aims to elucidate the influence of mating mechanisms and variances in parental genetic diversity, to provide a theoretical basis for the scientific conservation and efficient utilization of the genetic resources of T. wallichiana var. mairei. 【Method】 A total of 71 parental plants and 104 progenies stemming from eight mother plants were meticulously analyzed using 12 pairs of the SSR primers, all of which were sourced from natural populations located in Longquan of Zhejiang Province (ZJLQ) and Fenyi of Jiangxi Province (JXFY). With the aid of GenAlEx 6.5, a number of genetic diversity measures such as the observed alleles and effective alleles, as well as observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, Shannon index and fixed index were meticulously calculated. Furthermore, the team also utilized HP-Rare 1.1 to calculate allele richness and private allele richness, while FSTAT 2.9.3 was utilized to test the genetic diversity parameters for any potential differences among parents within each population through 1 000 simulations, along with the calculation of the inbreeding coefficient of the parental population. Lastly, we used MLTR 3.4 to estimate thoroughly the genetic parameters of T. wallichiana var. mairei’s mating system, which included single-locus population outcrossing rate, multilocus population outcrossing rate, number of effective pollen donors, multilocus correlation of paternity, singlelocus correlation of paternity, difference between the paternal correlation of single-locus and multilocus.【Result】 The average allele of the parental generation from Longquan and Fenyi populations was 7. Meanwhile, the effective allele number (Ne), Shannon index (I), allele richness (AR) and private allele richness (PA) of the two parental populations were 4.192, 1.508, 3.886 and 1.740, respectively. In comparison, the ZJLQ population displayed higher Ne, I, AR and PA values than the JXFY population, standing at 4.831, 1.620, 4.195 and 1.832, respectively. Both populations displayed an inbreeding coefficient greater than zero, with the ZJLQ population’s (Fis= 0.057) coefficient being significantly lower than that of the JXFY population (Fis= 0.171). Additionally, the observed heterozygosity (Ho) of the both populations was lower than that of the expected heterozygosity (He), with the fixed index (F) being greater than zero, indicating a loss of heterozygotes. The fixed index (F) of the ZJLQ population was 0.001, which did not differ from zero. The Longquan population exhibited higher values for both allele richness and private allele richness (AR= 4.195, PA= 1.832) in comparison to the Fenyi population (AR= 3.576, PA= 1.647). Despite a slight difference in the genetic diversity of the two populations, they both displayed high levels of genetic diversity. Results from the multi-locus mating system analysis (MLTR) revealed that the outcrossing rate of T. wallichiana var. mairei was higher (tm = 1.200) in the suitable populations of Longquan and Fenyi. Although the difference between paternal correlation of unit point and multilocus [rp(s) - rp(m)]equaled 0.095 and was greater than 0, indicating inbreeding in the parental population, the level of inbreeding was low (tm-ts = 0.268). The number of available pollen donors in both ZJLQ and JXFY populations was less than 2, and the paternal correlation and the number of effective pollen donors (Nep=1/rp(m)) were significantly different, suggesting that the parental sources were considerably limited during natural mating of T. wallichiana var. mairei. 【Conclusion】 T. wallichiana var. mairei is considered to be a highly outcrossing species, with both its single-locus population outcrossing rate and multilocus population outcrossing rate being high. However, there were no obvious differences in the outcrossing rate and genetic diversity between the two populations. Inbreeding was observed, but at low levels. The Longquan population is declining primarily due to the shortage of middle-aged and young plants and a high number of old trees. Despite the lower number of parental individuals in the ZJLQ population than the JXFY population, the former has a relatively high proportion of female individuals, which facilitates successful pollination rates and genetic exchange within the population. This advantageous characteristic results in the genetic diversity of the ZJLQ population not being inferior to that of the JXFY population. The Fenyi population has a larger number of young trees and seedlings, indicating that the habitat is suitable for the germination of T. wallichiana var. mairei seeds and the formation of seedlings. Therefore, with appropriate nurturing measures, this type of population has the potential to develop into an expanding population.

Key words: Taxus wallichiana var. mairei, natural population, mating system, parental generation, progeny, microsatellite(SSR)

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