RAPD markers and black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) intraspecies taxonomy - Evidence from the study of nine populations

Abstract

Although intraspecies researches within the black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) have a long tradition, the intraspecies taxonomy, classification and chorology are still unclear. Among the numerous reasons that have caused this situation the most important are: the absence of a study that would completely cover the whole range of this species, the impossibility of connection of results of the existing detailed studies of certain areas, and the high variability of traits which have been used so far. Since the characteristics of the molecular systematic techniques could make possible the research free of the mentioned shortages, the intention of this study was to determine the relationships among nine populations of black pine using the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). The obtained results were compared to the recent results of the morphological and anatomical analysis of the leaves of the same populations. The RAPD results clearly divided the Croatian populations from populations of Austria (subsp. nigra) and Turkey (subsp. pallasiana), while among Croatian populations, as in previous study, the existence of several groups (subsp. illyrica, subsp. dalmatica and transitional population between them) was noticed. It is assumed that the optimisations conducted in this study will finally make possible estimating the relationships on the level of the whole range of the black pine and the classification based on molecular traits that are probably less dependent on environmental influences than it has been the case with the characteristics mostly used so far.