Genetic diversity of Lithuania populations of Common juniper (Juniperus communis L.) evaluation according to ISSR markers

Abstract

Common juniper (Juniperus communis L.) is the only Juniperus species that occurs in both hemispheres (Farjon, 1998). In Lithuania, population of common juniper covers an entire country and mostly concentrated in the pine forests of the South Lithuania (Navasaitis, 2004). Data concerning genetic diversity is an important source of information for both fundamental (through Lithuania and other countries of juniper populations viability and other biological properties), and practical applications in breeding and plantation work. Till now studies about genetic diversity of Lithuania population of Juniperus communis are missing. We have selected ISSR markers former applied to Central Europe populations of this species by Adams et al. (2003). DNA was extracted by modified CTAB method (Doyle and Doyle, 1990). We screened 15 oligonucleotides primers using ISSR–PCR, and reproducible amplification patterns were obtained with seven ISSR primers: 807 – AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGT; 808 –AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGC; 823 – TCTCTCTCTCTCTCTCC; 836 – AGAGAGAGAGAG AGA GYA ; 846 – CACACACACACACACART; 847 – CACACACACACACACARC and 857 – ACACACACACACACACYG. Totally, 14 populations with 10 individuals in each were analysed for polymorphic ISSR loci. The analyses revealed that the number of different lenght DNA fragments per population fore each loci varied from 5 to 14, with a size range of 180–1400 bp. Investigated ISSR loci revealed high polymorphism of populations of Juniperus communis. Keywords: conifers, Juniperus communis, ISSR markers, CTAB method, molecular markers, genetic diversity.