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Genetic diversity and taxol content variation in the Chinese yew Taxus mairei

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Abstract

Taxus mairei is an endangered plant with high medicinal value in China. In the present study, inter-simple sequence repeat markers and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to investigate genetic diversity, taxol content, and the inter-relationship of these two variables in 11 populations. Genetic diversity was high at the species level [percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) = 91.73 %; Nei’s gene diversity (h) = 0.2428; Shannon’s information index (I) = 0.3771], but relatively lower at the population level (PPB = 54.14–67.67 %; h = 0.1809–0.2121; I = 0.2721–0.3211). Hierarchical analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed moderate genetic differentiation among populations (Ø ST = 16.13 %), in line with the low gene differentiation coefficient (G ST = 0.1697) and relatively strong gene flow (N m = 2.4480). Both UPGMA and principal coordinates analysis supported the clustering of all 11 populations into three groups. A Mantel test indicated a significant correlation between geographic and genetic distances (r = 0.405; P < 0.005). Taxol content varied significantly among populations, ranging from 0.0069 to 0.0127 % based on the HPLC analysis. The taxol content was not significantly associated with genetic diversity, but was significantly, negatively associated with population latitude (r = −0.620; P < 0.005). This implies that local temperature may significantly affect the taxol content, although the role of heredity cannot be neglected. Our findings provided important references for resource protection and sustainable management of this valuable plant.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Program of Lishui Administration of Science and Technology, Zhejiang Province, China (No. 2011JYZB03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, No. 1239, Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Xiu-Jie Xi, Jing Guo, Yun-Guo Zhu, Xiao-Ling Yang, Zhou Cheng & Shan Li

  2. Lishui Institute of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Tongji University, No. 1, Xueyuan Road, Lishui, 323000, China

    Yang Yu

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  1. Xiu-Jie Xi
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  2. Jing Guo
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  4. Xiao-Ling Yang
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  6. Zhou Cheng
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  7. Shan Li
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Correspondence to Shan Li.

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Xi, XJ., Guo, J., Zhu, YG. et al. Genetic diversity and taxol content variation in the Chinese yew Taxus mairei . Plant Syst Evol 300, 2191–2198 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1040-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1040-x

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