Ecotypic variation of Gremmeniella abietinain northern Europe: disease patterns reflected by DNA variation

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Botany
• Main Authors: Hellgren, M., Högberg, N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1995
• Subjects: Fennoscandia; Fennoscandian
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b95-166; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b95-166

Genetic variation in Gremmeniella abietina isolated from Pinus sylvestris, Pinus contorta, and Picea abies in southern and northern Fennoscandia was studied with arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction. Fennoscandian G. abietina isolates were clearly separated into two ecotypically distinct groups based on their amplified banding patterns. Analysis of variance based on amplified fragments, AMOVA, and principal component analysis confirmed the separation of the isolates into the two groups. One group contained isolates associated with a disease syndrome affecting young trees covered by deep snow during winter in northern Fennoscandia. The second group of isolates was found on trees between 15 and 40 years old, scattered throughout the crowns. It occurs throughout Fennoscandia but is most frequent in the southern parts. No size polymorphism was found in fragments resulting after restriction enzyme digestion of internal transcribed spacer and intergenic spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA. An estimate of gene flow between populations calculated based on amplified band frequencies, F ST , indicated that there was restricted genetic exchange between populations of the two groups of isolates. Key words: Gremmeniella abietina, arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction, genetic variation, ecotypes, ribosomal DNA.