Clonal structure in Vaccinium myrtillus L. revealed by RAPD and AFLP markers

The identification of clones and their spatial distribution is necessary to study the dynamics and evolution of clonal plant populations. Therefore, clonal structure of a Vaccinium myrtillus population was inferred from random amplified polymorphic DNA ( RAPD) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. Among the 112 analyzed samples, 32 clones were identified. The results obtained with RAPDs and AFLPs were identical, showing that both molecular markers worked effectively in clone identification of bilberry. The population was clonally structured in the sense that the extent of clones was spatially limited; that is, clones formed discrete patches. However, the genetic distances between pairs of clones were not related to the spatial distances between them, indicating that the genetic variation among clones was distributed randomly in the studied area. The genotypic diversity (D = 0.94) and evenness (E = 0.92) observed in V. myrtillus were similar to other Ericaceae species. The observed relationship between the mean similarity index calculated between clones and the outcrossing rate of Ericaceous species indicates that this mean similarity index could be used as a rough estimator of the mating system of plant species.