AFLP Variation in Agamospermous and Dioecious Bluegrasses of Western North America

Abstract

Native perennial bluegrasses are common and persistent in the understory steppe vegetation of western North America. The agamospermous Poa secunda Presl. complex circumscribes a number of commonly recognized forms including big bluegrass (P. ampla Merr.), canby bluegrass (P. canbyi Scribn.), and sandberg bluegrass (P. sandbergii Vasey). Poa fendleriana (Steudel) Vasey is a dioecious, morphologically distinct bluegrass species that is also native to western North America. The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method was used to analyze genetic variation within and among cv. Canbar canby bluegrass, cv. Sherman big bluegrass, two allopatric natural populations of sandberg bluegrass, and one natural germplasm source of P. fendleriana Results indicate that Sherman and Canbar are comprised of one or several fixed genotypes, respectively, that are related to sandberg bluegrass. Although several fixed genotypes were also detected within the two natural sandberg bluegrass populations, high levels of genetic diversity were present in the agamospermous sandberg populations and dioecious P. fendleriana population. Patterns of AFLP variation in P. secunda are consistent with facultative apomixis and outcrossing mode of reproduction. Moreover, population differentiation between the two highly diverse natural sandberg bluegrass populations, collected from sites nearly 600 km apart, is very low (GS = 0.14) and reflect a high degree of gene flow. However, the AFLP profiles of Canbar canby bluegrass and Sherman big bluegrass were distinct from sandberg bluegrass. The P. secunda complex, as a group, was clearly distinguishable from P. fendleriana Thus, DNA fingerprinting was used to characterize naturally diverse bluegrass germplasm sources that may be used for large‐scale revegetation efforts across the western USA.

Genetic Risk Assessment of a Threatened Remnant Population of Hairy Prairie-Clover (Dalea villosa var. villosa) in the Canadian Prairie

“…are both highly outcrossing, being pollinated by a diversity of bee and fly species [45]. Such a high level of AFLP polymorphism is expected for an outcrossing plant species [46] and is compatible with those AFLP findings reported in other outcrossing plant species native to North America [27][28][29]47,48]. …”

“…The AFLP markers [25], although scored dominantly (i.e., without distinction between homozygotes and heterozygotes) and not always homologous [26], has been widely applied to assess genetic variability in many plant species and is a robust, highly effective tool for poorly known plants [27][28][29]. The specific objectives of this study were: (1) to assess genetic variation and spatial structure within the remnant hairy prairie-clover population and (2) to evaluate the associations of genetic variation with patch characteristics such as patch size and perimeter.…”

Genetic linkage mapping of an annual × perennial ryegrass population

“…The amplified fragments were detected with an ABI373XL instrument (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA) using a 34-cm well to read polyacrylamide gels formulated with 5.75% (w/v), 7 M urea, and 1× TBE running buffer. Each sample lane included the GS500-ROX internal lane standard (Larson et al 2001). The gel electrophoresis procedures were performed by the Oregon State University Gene Center, Corvallis, Ore. Fluorescent fragments between 50 nucleotides (nt) and 500 nt were identified by GeneScan 3.1 software (PE Applied Biosystems).…”

Assessment of genetic diversity of native species in Izu Islands for a discriminate choice of source populations: Implications for revegetation of volcanically devastated sites

“…Larson et al 2001). We analyzed the AFLP data on the basis of phenotype frequency (i.e., the proportion of plants having a band) at a particular locus, because it is difficult to make a precise estimate of allele frequency in a polyploid population without concise information about the breeding system.…”