Genetic variation of cowslip (Primula veris L.) populations (West Poland)

Abstract

Genetic variation of twelve Polish populations of Primula veris L. from western Poland was investigated in respect of six enzyme systems: 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD), diaphorase (DIA), menadione reductase (MNR), formate dehydrogenase (FDH), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT). Only two of them (6PGD and DIA) were polymorphic and all populations were compared according to four loci and eight alleles. For 6PGD only one out of the two detected loci (locus 6PGD-2) was polymorphic and consisted of three alleles a, b and c. For DIA each of two detected loci had two alleles. For 6PGD-2 one population was monomorphic and four populations were monomorphic for DIA-1 and DIA-2. The rest of the populations were polymorphic with low frequency of heterozygotes. The low heterozygosity level, found in the examined populations, was confirmed by high values of the fixation index (F). The level of genetic differentiation among GST populations specified for each polymorphic loci, was equal to 0.045 for 6PGD-2 and had the value of 0.078 for DIA-2 and 0.186 for DIA-1. Nm value for polymorphic loci was 1.10 for DIA-1 and 2.94 for DIA-2, and for 6PGD-2 was 5.33, what indicates some gene flow between the examined populations. The dendrogram constructed on the basis of genotype frequencies showed that the populations were divided into two groups, however the most southern population No. 2 was clearly similar to the northern population No. 8.