Genetic and morphological variability in Cattleya elongata Barb. Rodr. (Orchidaceae), endemic to the campo rupestre vegetation in northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Cattleya elongata is a rupicolous orchid species spread throughout and endemic to outcrop islands in campo rupestre vegetation of the Chapada Diamantina, northeastern Brazil. We scored nine natural populations of C. elongata for morphological and genetic variability, covering the whole distribution area of the species, using allozymes and ISSR markers and morphometric multivariate analyses. Genetic variability in allozimes was relatively high (H e = 0.12-0.25), and unexpectedly higher than the values based on ISSR (H e = 0.16-0.19). The populations present moderate structuring (allozymes, U PT = 0.14; ISSR, U PT = 0.18) and low inbreeding (allozymes, F IS = 0.06). Genetic similarity among the populations was high in both markers, in spite of the discontinuity of the outcrops of the Chapada Diamantina. We found no particular biogeographical pattern to the distribution of the genetic and morphologic similarity among the populations of C. elongata. We found high morphological variability with moderate differentiation among the populations. We did not find any correlation among genetic, morphological, and geographical distances, and among the variability found in the morphological and genetic markers. The differences observed between the two genetic markers and the various morphological markers examined here indicated that the isolated use of any single parameter of these different populations for conservation planning or management would not consider all of the variability to be found in the species, as found in other Brazilian campos rupestres plants.

Massive Extraction of the OrchidLaelia speciosa(HBK) Schltr. for Trading in Local Markets Affect Its Population Genetic Structure in a Fragmented Landscape in Central Mexico

“…The majority of population genetic studies have been focused on both epiphytic and terrestrial orchids and was mainly based on isozymes (Á vila-Dı´az & Oyama, 2007;Borba, Felix, Solferini, & Semir, 2001;Murren, 2003;Trapnell, Hamrick, & Nason, 2004) and microsatellites (Da Cruz, Selbach-Schnadelbach, Lambert, Ribeiro, & Borba, 2011;Mun˜oz, Warner, & Albertazzi, 2010;Pinheiro et al, 2012;Stone, Crystal, Devlin, Downer, & Cameron, 2012;Swarts, Sinclair, Krauss, & Dixon, 2009;Vargas, Parra-Tabla, Feinsinger, & Leirana-Alcocer, 2006). Despite the molecular marker used, the few studies in orchids indicated that epiphytes enjoy some of the dispersal advantages of trees (e.g., greater potential for gene flow derived from longer-distance dispersal of pollen and seeds; Borba et al, 2001;Flores-Palacios & Garcı´a-Franco, 2003;, which may attenuate the genetic impacts of habitat fragmentation.…”

Inbreeding depression in crosses of coerulea clones of Walkers Cattleya (Cattleya walkeriana Gardner)

“…In Cattleya intermedia (Machado-Neto and Vieira, 2011) and Cattleya elongata (Cruz et al, 2011) F ST values were low indicating a high gene flux among plants (0.016 and 0.100 respectivelly), but for Fajardo et al (2014) these values are much higher (from 0.177 in Cattleya labiata to 0.322 in Cattleya granulosa) indicating loss of variability in the last case.…”

“…Very few is known about the genetics of Cattleya species; Cattleya intermedia (Machado-Neto and Vieira, 2011) using RAPD; Catleya elongata (Cruz et al, 2011) with isozymes and ISSR; Cattleya coccinea (Novello et al, 2013); with ISSR in Cattleya bicolor, Cattleya labiata and Cattleya schofieldiana (Fajardo et al, 2014) with SSR and one in C. labiata using RAPD and ISSR (Pinheiro et al, 2012). And lesser is known about the inheritance of some characters especially because these plants are perennials and the time between one generation and the following is almost 5 years.…”

When hybrids are not hybrids: a case study of a putative hybrid zone betweenCattleya coccineaandC. brevipedunculata(Orchidaceae)

“…However, even species of orchids pollinated by Diptera that fly only short distances have lower genetic structure than species of other plant groups in the campos rupestres (e.g. Borba et al ., , ; Jesus et al ., ; Lambert et al ., ; Azevedo et al ., ; Pereira, Borba & Giulietii, ; Cruz et al ., ; Lousada et al ., ; Barbosa et al ., ; Barbosa, Silva‐Pereira & Borba, ; Lousada, Lovato & Borba, ).…”