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Genetic diversity and population structure of the mistletoe Tristerix corymbosus (Loranthaceae)

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Abstract

The genetic structure of a plant species is influenced by life-history traits, geographical range and ecological interactions that shape gene flow. We examined the genetic structure of the South American mistletoe Tristerix corymbosus using random amplification of polymorphic DNA. This species is found mainly in Chile and inhabits two biomes, the Chilean matorral and the temperate forest. The main pollinator agent, a hummingbird, is the same across the whole range, but the disperser assemblage varies between biomes. We selected 22 populations, eight of which were located in the Chilean matorral, where fruits are yellow and birds act as seed dispersers, and 14 populations in the temperate forest, where fruits are green and a marsupial disperses the mistletoe seeds. A total of ten primers were used to generate amplification products for 121 individuals (ca. six individuals per population) and 91 bands were scored. Results show that this mistletoe species is highly variable with 81 % of the bands polymorphic and a Shannon’s diversity index among populations of 0.634. The temperate forest shows slightly higher diversity indices than the Chilean matorral. The central region of the mistletoe geographic range was more variable than the north and the south regions, suggesting that it is a genetically mixed zone. It is likely that gene flow occurs mainly via hummingbirds moving pollen between biomes and birds moving seeds from north to south during spring migrations.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal, Leonardo Amico, and Cecilia Smith-Ramirez for help in the field; and Thibaut Jombart for his help in answering queries on data analysis. We also thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editors for useful comments on previous versions of this manuscript. We also thank Corporación Nacional Forestal (Chile), Universidad Austral and Parques Nacionales (Argentina) for granting permits to work in some populations. GCA was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from Consejo Nacional de investigacion Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) during this project. Financial support was provided from Sigma Xi (to GCA) and the National Geographic Society (to MAA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400, Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

    Guillermo C. Amico, Romina Vidal-Russell & Marcelo A. Aizen

  2. Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, 62901-6509, USA

    Daniel Nickrent

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  1. Guillermo C. Amico
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  2. Romina Vidal-Russell
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  3. Marcelo A. Aizen
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  4. Daniel Nickrent
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Correspondence to Guillermo C. Amico.

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Amico, G.C., Vidal-Russell, R., Aizen, M.A. et al. Genetic diversity and population structure of the mistletoe Tristerix corymbosus (Loranthaceae). Plant Syst Evol 300, 153–162 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-013-0867-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-013-0867-x

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