Genetic diversity and populations structure of the endangered species Cunninghamia konishii Hayata in Vietnam using SSR molecular markers

Cunninghamia konishii Hayata is an endangered species and mainly distributed in four provinces (Ha Giang, Son La, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An) of Vietnam. Eight polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to analyze 88 wild C. konishii trees from four populations. The data shows medium PIC value (0.412), 2.219 number of alleles per locus, 1.845 number of effective alleles and 100% polymorphic loci proportions. The moderate levels of genetic diversity level within the populations with 0.423 mean value of observed and 0.427 mean value expected heterozygosity. The moderate genetic differentiation among populations (Fst = 0.356) indicated low gene flow (Nm = 0.814). Populations in Central Vietnam (PH and XL) had a higher level of genetic diversity than the populations in Northern Vietnam (HSP and XN). The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed high genetic variation within the population (76%) compared to among the population (24%). There was clear evidence of a bottleneck of C. konishii. Genetic structural analysis based on the Bayesian method divided the targeted population into two main groups related to gene flow among different areas. These results will set a preliminary genetic basis for the conservation and management of the endangered species C. konishii.