Analysis of genetic similarity of limnocharis flava individuals growing around a gold mining area with arsenic contamination

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the concentration of arsenic in the aquatic plant Limnocharis flava as well as this plant’s genetic variability. Sediment and L. flava samples were collected from three studied sites at the edge of a stream near a gold mine. The arsenic concentrations in sediment and L. flava samples were analyzed using induction coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Genetic similarities (S) were studied using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) with dendrogram construction. The results showed that the arsenic concentrations in sediment and L. flava samples ranged from 4.595±0.318 to 223.434±2.118 and 0.081±0.020 to 0.291±0.106 mg/kg, respectively. To compare the samples studied to the reference site, RAPD fingerprints from 25 primers successfully produced 1, 947 total bands used for dendrogram construction and S value analysis. The dendrogram construction separated L. flava into four clusters corresponding to their sampling sites. The S values of the studied sample sites compared to the reference site were 0.715-0.771, 0.696-0.729 and 0.757-0.836 for sites 1, 2 and 3, respectively, whereas the values of the individual samples within each site were as high as 0.981. Therefore, the genetic variation of this species is high and indicates that As is the one factor contributing to its genetic variations.