Genetic diversity of fringed brome (Bromus ciliatus) as determined by amplified fragment length polymorphism

Abstract

Abstract:Fringed brome (Bromus ciliatus L.) is found in native stands throughout a large area of North America. Little is known about the genetic diversity of this species. The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique was applied to assess the genetic diversity of 16 fringed brome populations sampled in Canada from the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Four AFLP primer pairs were employed to screen 82 samples with four to six samples per population and 83 polymorphic AFLP bands scored for each sample. The frequencies of the scored bands in all assayed samples ranged from 0.01 to 0.99 and averaged 0.53. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that 52.6% of the total AFLP variation resided among the 16 populations and 20.6% among the four provinces. The five Quebec populations appeared to be genetically the most diverse and distinct. The AFLP variability observed was significantly associated with the geographic origins of the fringed brome populations. These findings are useful for sampling fringed brome germplasm from natural populations for germplasm conservation and should facilitate the development of genetically diverse regional cultivars for habitat restoration and revegetation.Key words: native grass, fringed brome, genetic variation, AFLP, habitat restoration.Resume : On retrouve le brome cilie (Bromus ciliatus L.) dans des peuplements indigenes, sur la majeure partie de l'Amerique du Nord. On sait peu de choses sur la diversite genetique de cette espece. Les auteurs ont utilise la technique du polymorphisme de la longueur des fragments d'amplification (AFLP) pour evaluer la diversite genetique de 16 populations du brome, echantillonnees au Canada, incluant les provinces d'Alberta, de la Colombie-Britannique, de Quebec et de la Saskatchewan. Ils ont utilise quatre paires d'amorces, pour cribler 82 echantillons constitues de quatre a six prelevements par population, et il ont enregistre 83 bandes AFLP polymorphiques pour chaque echantillon. Les frequences des bandes obtenues chez tous les echantillons testes vont de 0,01 a 0,99, avec une moyenne de 0,53. L'analyse de la variance moleculaire revele que 52,6 % de la variation AFLP totale se retrouve entre les 16 populations, et 20,6 % entre les provinces. Les cinq populations du Quebec semblent etre les plus genetiquement diverses. La variability AFLP observee est significativement associee aux origines geographiques des populations du brome cilie. Ces constatations sont utiles pour echantillonner le materiel genetique provenant de populations naturelles, en vue de la conservation de ce materiel, et devraient rendre plus facile le developpement de cultivars genetiques regionalement diversifies, pour la restauration des habitats et de la vegetation.

Genetic Diversity of Northern Wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus) as Revealed by Genotyping-by-Sequencing

“…These results are in general agreement with those findings reported in similar studies of other native grass species using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers (e.g., see [50,51]) and other markers (e.g., [52]). An interesting finding is the genetic distinctness of the accessions collected from Nevada and Wyoming, as these plants were collected from the middle range of the species distribution [19].…”

“…Thus, it is technically possible to sample genome-wide genetic variability in plants with complex genomes through GBS, even though SNP calling from sequences of a complex, polyploid genome is confounded by the presence of homeologs [54], orthologs, and paralogs [55]. Thousands of SNP markers would be more informative for plant genetic diversity analysis with higher resolution than the several hundreds of AFLP markers normally screened in previous studies [50,51,56,57]. More importantly, the total laboratory and sequencing cost for generating these genomic data on this set of studied samples was roughly $12,000, indicating the feasibility of a wider application of GBS to characterize native grass species.…”

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.): renewed interest as a forage legume for western Canada

“…The results of the sainfoin diversity studies revealed higher level of within-population genetic diversity than among the populations (Table 3). A high level of within-population genetic diversity was also reported for perennial, outcrossing grasses (Fu et al 2005;Biligetu et al 2013). In addition, Demdoum et al (2012) found that the genetic diversity of sainfoin accessions were associated with their geographic locations, with British accessions being separate from other European accessions.…”

Genetic Resources of Crop Wild Relatives: A Canadian Perspective

“…Molecular assessments of diversity in native species enhanced the understanding of diversity and can assist in conservation activities. A molecular research program on native Canadian grass species in association with PGRC has existed since 2002 in collaboration with other scientists in AAFC, National Parks, Environment Canada, the University of Saskatchewan, and Ducks Unlimited to conduct 11 research projects on genetic diversity of more than 14 native grass species (Fu et al 2005a;Fu and Thompson 2006;Liu et al 2013;Biligetu et al 2013). Observations of diversity changes over time and space are helpful to make conservation decisions for such plant material (Ferdinandez et al 2005;Fu et al 2005b;Qiu et al 2009).…”