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Genetic diversity in Eucommia ulmoides (Eucommiaceae), an endangered traditional Chinese medicinal plant

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Abstract

Eucommia ulmoides, the only species of Eucommiaceae, has been used as Chinese medicinal plant for more than 2,000 years, and is endangered as a consequence of long-term overexploitation. In this study, genetic diversity within and among the semi-wild and cultivated populations of E. ulmoides collected from its main production area was investigated using two cpSSR and 227 AFLP loci. A moderate level of within-population diversity was observed (hS = 0.549 for cpSSR and H eB = 0.183 for AFLPs), which could be explained by the dioecious breeding system, longevity, and human mediated seed exchange. Compared to the semi-wild population, the cultivated population possessed relatively low genetic diversity, which suggests cultivation practice may have reduced the genetic diversity of E. ulmoides. Populations were low to moderately differentiated from one another (G ST = 0.281 for cpSSR, and θ B = 0.100 for AFLPs), which was also supported by the AMOVA analysis that 62.52 and 83.48 % total variation resided within populations based on cpSSR and AFLP analysis, respectively. An isolation by distance analysis revealed that geographical distances was not significantly correlated with genetic distance. Human activities such as seed selection and seed exchange could account for the genetic structure of cultivated populations. In addition, two genetic clusters were detected by the Structure analysis. For conservation purpose, an ex situ conservation measure for conserving the genetically distant populations to maximize genetic diversity of the species is recommended.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Christopher Dick from The University of Michigan for his comments on the manuscript. This work was granted by the KIP Pilot Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-N-061).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Xiaohong Yao, Jianyun Deng & Hongwen Huang

  2. South China Botanical Garden/South China Institute of botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Hongwen Huang

Authors
  1. Xiaohong Yao
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  2. Jianyun Deng
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  3. Hongwen Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongwen Huang.

Additional information

Xiaohong Yao and Jianyun Deng contributed equally to this study

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Yao, X., Deng, J. & Huang, H. Genetic diversity in Eucommia ulmoides (Eucommiaceae), an endangered traditional Chinese medicinal plant. Conserv Genet 13, 1499–1507 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-012-0393-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-012-0393-3

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