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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ
Main Authors: Androsiuk, Piotr, Koc, Justyna, Chwedorzewska, Katarzyna Joanna, Górecki, Ryszard, Giełwanowska, Irena
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2019
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Kola Peninsula
The Antarctic
Antarc*
kola peninsula
Subarctic
Siberia
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6525586/
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6888
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Summary: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 F(S) 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 ...

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