RAPD and cytological analyses of Picea spp. from different provenances: Genomic relationships among taxa

Abstract

The ability of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) to distinguish among populations and taxa of the genus Picea was evaluated. Total genomic DNA was extracted from seedlings. Eleven arbitrary decamer primers were used to generate patterns from groups of genotypes of several different species. Low level of RAPD variation was observed within the species analyzed. Polymorphism in RAPD markers among spruce species was high and sufficient to distinguish each of the species. The degree of band sharing was used to evaluate genetic distances between species and to construct a phylogenetic tree. Cytological data also reveal distinctive characteristic for each species analyzed. Six of the twelve chromosomes in both P. abies and P. jezoensis have at least one secondary constriction. In P. engelmannii karyotype however, only two secondary constrictions were identified. The spruce karyotypes are generally asymmetrical with the smaller chromosomes being more submedian than the larger ones. Point dispersal patterns of diagrammatic presentations of the species karyotypes and chromosome structures were found to be useful characteristics in the analysis of the evolution process and species differentiation within the genus Picea.