Assessing Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Kalmia latifolia L. in the Eastern United States: An Essential Step towards Breeding for Adaptability to Southeastern Environmental Conditions

He Li, Matthew Chappell and Donglin Zhang
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He Li: College of Forestry, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 498 South Shaoshan Road, Changsha 410004, Hunan, China
Matthew Chappell: Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia, 1111 Miller Plant Sciences Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Donglin Zhang: Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia, 1111 Miller Plant Sciences Building, Athens, GA 30602, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: Kalmia latifolia L. (mountain laurel), an attractive flowering shrub, is considered to be a high-value ornamental plant for the eastern United States. Limited information on the genetic diversity and structure of K. latifolia is available, which obstructs efficient germplasm utilization and breeding for adaptability to southeastern environmental conditions. In this study, the genetic diversity of 48 wild K. latifolia plants sampled from eight populations in the eastern U.S. was assessed using eight inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. A total of 116 bands were amplified, 90.52% of which (105) were polymorphic. A high level of genetic diversity at the species level was determined by Nei’s gene diversity (0.3089) and Shannon’s information index (0.4654), indicating that K. latifolia was able to adapt to environmental changes and thus was able to distribute over a wide latitudinal range. In terms of the distribution of genetic diversity, Nei’s genetic differentiation and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed 38.09% and 29.54% of diversity existed among populations, respectively, elucidating a low-to-moderate level of among-population genetic differentiation. Although a relatively large proportion of diversity was attributed to within-population variation, low diversity within populations (mean genetic diversity within populations (H S ) = 0.19) was observed. Both STRUCTURE and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrograms exhibited the clustering of populations that inhabit the same geographic region, and four clusters correlated with four geographic regions, which might be attributed to insect pollination, small population size, and environmental conditions in different habitats. These results function as an essential step towards better conserving and utilizing wild K. latifolia resources, and hence promoting its genetic improvement and breeding for adaptability to southeastern environmental conditions.

Keywords: genetic diversity; genetic differentiation; population structure; germplasm resources; breeding for adaptability; ornamental (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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