Genetic diversity and population structure of Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. ex Endl. (Taxaceae) in Russia according to data of the nucleotide polymorphism of intergenic spacers of the chloroplast genome

Abstract

The genetic diversity and population structure of Taxus cuspidata Sieb. et Zucc. ex Endl. on the Russian part of its range was studied for the first time on the basis of the nucleotide polymorphism of intergenic spacers psbA–trnH, trnL–trnF, and trnS–trnfM of chloroplast DNA. A high level of gene (h = 0.807) and nucleotide (π = 0.0227) diversity was revealed. The data of AMOVA showed that the interpopulation component accounted for 12% of genetic variability (F_ST = 0.12044, P = 0.0000). We revealed 15 haplotypes, four of which were shown to be unique. The presence of common haplotypes in the majority of populations, the absence of phylogenetic structure, and low values or even the absence of nucleotide divergence show that the T. cuspidata populations studied are fragments of the once common ancestor population. Geographical isolation, which resulted from climatic changes in the Pleistocene–Holocene, as well as from human activities, did not produce a significant effect on the genetic structure of the species.