J Syst Evol ›› 2014, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (4): 458-465.DOI: 10.1111/jse.12057

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Molecular phylogeography and conservation genetics of Sladenia celastrifolia inferred from chloroplast DNA sequence variation

1,2Xi LU 1,3Li CHEN 1,2Ya-Ping CHEN 1Hua PENG*   

  1. 1(Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China)
    2(University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)
    3(Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China)
  • Received:2013-03-28 Published:2014-07-10

Abstract: The genetic variation and structure of Sladenia celastrifolia Kurz, a species of conservation concern, were investigated. Analyses of two chloroplast DNA loci (trnS-trnGand atpB-rbcL intergenic regions) were carried out for 24 populations of S. celastrifolia and five haplotypes were identified. High levels of genetic differentiation (GST = 1, FST = 1) were detected, which may be a result of limited gene flow caused by geographic isolation. Analysis of molecular variance suggests that the existence of marked phylogeographical structure within the haplotype distribution is probably due to geographic barriers among populations. The haplotype network and mismatch distribution analyses did not detect any signals for recent population expansions in S. celastrifolia. Thus, it can be inferred that the species likely persistedin situ during climatic oscillations. Considering its genetic diversity and uniqueness, conservation strategies are further discussed for this species.

Key words: chloroplast DNA, conservation, genetic structure, phylogeography, Sladenia celastrifolia