Determination of genetic variation in Rhodiola crenulata from the Hengduan Mountains Region, China using inter-simple sequence repeats

Abstract

The plant Rhodiola crenulata is a perennial herbaceous species distributed in the plateau region of southwestern China, especially the Hengduan Mountains region. It has been one of the most important traditional herbal remedies in Tibet for more than one thousand years, but the accelerated and uncontrolled collection of this plant since the 1980s has lead to deforestation. We used inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) to assess levels of genetic variation in R. crenulata from nine diverse natural populations in eastern Tibet and northern Yunnan, the first time such a study has been carried out. The 12 primers we used were able to detect 184 polymorphic loc. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that species level genetic diversity was relatively high (p = 97.83%, and H o = 0.464) and analysis using Shannon's index showed that the within and between genetic diversity of R. crenulata are approximately equal. Nei's genetic distance and unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis showed that the three populations from Tibet and the six populations from Yunnan form two major clusters. The Yunnan populations from three locations were further divided into three corresponding groups, indicating that genetic differentiation was correlated to geographic distribution. Understanding the genetic structure of R. crenulata provides insight for the conservation and management of this endangered species.

Role of Biotechnology for Protection of Endangered Medicinal Plants

“…Rhodiola crenulata is distributed in the high cold region of the Northern Hemisphere in the high plateau region of southwestern China, especially the Hengduan Mountains region including eastern Tibet, northern Yunnan and western Sichuan. It has strong activities of anti-anoxia, antifatigue, anti-toxic, anti-radiation, anti-tumour, anti-aging, and activeoxygen scavenging [173,174]. Rhodiola sachalinesis A. Bor.…”

DNA Barcoding of Rhodiola (Crassulaceae): A Case Study on a Group of Recently Diversified Medicinal Plants from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…f. et Thomson) S. H. Fu are also used as medicines in China. Consequently, many species of this genus are severely endangered in Asia due to excessive and indiscriminate exploitation [ 17 , 18 ]. In spite of their wide use and medicinal importance, the identification of closely related species of Rhodiola is often difficult due to their morphological similarity.…”

A Novel Labeling Reagent of 2-(12-Benzo[b]acridin-5-(12H)-yl)-acetohydrazide for Determination of Saturated and Unsaturated Fatty Acids in Traditional Chinese Herbs by HPLC-APCI-MS

“…Yunnan Caulis Spatholobi, Szechwan Cyathula officinalis Kuan, Tibet Rhodiola crenulata, Qinghai Apocynum Venetum, and Qinghai Plateau Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge are traditional Chinese herbs, which are commonly used in medical research and production of Chinese patent medicine. As far as we know, there have been few reports about the fatty acid composition in these plants [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Consequently, quantitative determination of these compounds is equally important for further development and application of these medicinal herbs.…”