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Genetic Diversity and Conservation Implications of Four Cupressus Species in China as Revealed by Microsatellite Markers

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Abstract

Understanding the extent and distribution of genetic diversity is crucial for the conservation and management of endangered species. Cupressus chengiana, C. duclouxiana, C. gigantea, and C. funebris are four ecologically and economically important species in China. We investigated their genetic diversity, population structure, and extant effective population size (35 populations, 484 individuals) employing six pairs of nuclear microsatellite markers (selected from 53). Their genetic diversity is moderate among conifers, and genetic differentiation among populations is much lower in C. gigantea than in the other three species; the estimated effective population size was largest for C. chengiana, at 1.70, 2.91, and 3.91 times the estimates for C. duclouxiana, C. funebris, and C. gigantea, respectively. According to Bayesian clustering analysis, the most plausible population subdivision scheme within species is two groups in C. chengiana, three groups in C. duclouxiana, and a single group for both C. funebris and C. gigantea. We propose a conservation strategy for these cypress species.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. Jianquan Liu for supervising this work. This research was supported by the National Key Project for Basic Research (Grant 2012CB114504), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 program, Grant 2013AA102605), the open funding (K1002) from Beijing Normal University, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 31100488, 31370261, and 41101058).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Xu Lu, Haiyan Xu, Huiying Shang & Kangshan Mao

  2. Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, Shaanxi, China

    Zhonghu Li

  3. Biology Department, Baylor University, Box 727, Gruver, TX, 79040, USA

    Robert P. Adams

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  1. Xu Lu
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  2. Haiyan Xu
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  6. Kangshan Mao
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Correspondence to Kangshan Mao.

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Xu Lu and Haiyan Xu contributed equally to this work.

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Lu, X., Xu, H., Li, Z. et al. Genetic Diversity and Conservation Implications of Four Cupressus Species in China as Revealed by Microsatellite Markers. Biochem Genet 52, 181–202 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-013-9638-1

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