PJB-2018-1632
Genetic diversity and population structure of the dvel’s tongue arum (Amorphophallus konjac) in South-Western China
Yong Gao, Guofang Yuan, Chaojie Niu and Lizhou Tang
Abstract
Amorphophallus konjac, also known as the devil’s tongue arum, is the most widely utilised Amorphophallus species in China. To evaluate its genetic diversity and population structure, genetic variation in 18 wild A.konjac populations (182 individuals) from south-western China was assessed with 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 varied from 1.308 to 3.846, HO ranged between 0.256 and 0.615, HE ranged between 0.145 and 0.516, I ranged between 0.205 and 0.947). The pair wise genetic distance was significantly correlated with geographic distance in the mantel test, suggesting that isolation by distance was 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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