PJB-2017-512
GENETIC DIVERSITY AND POPULATION STRUCTURE OF THE DVEL�S TONGUE ARUM (AMORPHOPHALLUS KONJAC) IN SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA
YONG GAO
Abstract
South-western China is recognised as a centre of origin for the genus Amorphophallus. To infer the genetic diversity as well as population structure of the devil�s tongue arum (Amorphophallus konjac), the most widely utilised Amorphophallus species in China, genetic variations in 18 wild A. konjac populations (182 individuals) from south-western China were assessed using 13 expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs). In total, 107 alleles were obtained from 13 loci in 18 populations. A moderate to high genetic diversity was detected (NA ranged from 1.308 to 3.846, HO ranged from 0.256 to 0.615, HE ranged from 0.145 to 0.516, I ranged from 0.205 to 0.947). The mantel test showed that there was a significant correlation between the pairwise genetic distance and geographic distance, suggesting that isolation by distance might be one of the reasons for the genetic variation in A. konjac populations. Genetic structure analysis divided the 18 populations into three groups, which were significantly related to their geographic origins. When developing conservation strategies, these genetic groups should be treated as distinct evolutionarily significant units. The results of our study suggest that the devil�s tongue arum in south-western China contains a high level of genetic variation. There is much potential in these materials for the genetic improvement.
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