Retrotransposon-based genetic variation of Poa annua populations from contrasting climate conditions

• Published in: PeerJ
• Main Authors: Piotr Androsiuk, Justyna Koc, Katarzyna Joanna Chwedorzewska, Ryszard Górecki, Irena Giełwanowska
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PeerJ Inc. 2019
• Subjects: Annual bluegrass; Adaptation; Genetic diversity; Genetic structure; iPBS; Medicine; R; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Kola Peninsula; The Antarctic; Antarc*; kola peninsula; Subarctic; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6888; https://doaj.org/article/2205b62541be40c79fc80aaa0c5a4061

Background Poa annua L. is an example of a plant characterized by abundant, worldwide distribution from polar to equatorial regions. Due to its high plasticity and extraordinary expansiveness, P. annua is considered an invasive species capable of occupying and surviving in a wide range of habitats including pioneer zones, areas intensively transformed by human activities, remote subarctic meadows and even the Antarctic Peninsula region. Methods In the present study, we evaluated the utility of inter-primer binding site (iPBS) markers for assessing the genetic variation of P. annua populations representing contrasting environments from the worldwide range of this species. The electrophoretic patterns of polymerase chain reaction products obtained for each individual were used to estimate the genetic diversity and differentiation between populations. Results iPBS genotyping revealed a pattern of genetic variation differentiating the six studied P. annua populations characterized by their different climatic conditions. According to the analysis of molecular variance, the greatest genetic variation was recorded among populations, whereas 41.75% was observed between individuals within populations. The results of principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) and model-based clustering analysis showed a clear subdivision of analyzed populations. According to PCoA, populations from Siberia and the Kola Peninsula were the most different from each other and showed the lowest genetic variability. The application of STRUCTURE software confirmed the unique character of the population from the Kola Peninsula. Discussion The lowest variability of the Siberia population suggested that it was subjected to genetic drift. However, although demographic expansion was indicated by negative values of Fu’s FS statistic and analysis of mismatch distribution, it was not followed by significant traces of a bottleneck or a founder effect. For the Antarctic population, the observed level of genetic variation was surprisingly high, despite the ...