Application of random amplified polymorphic DNA markers to evaluate intraspecific genetic variation in the Elymus alaskanus complex (Poaceae)

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to evaluatethe levels and patterns of genetic diversity in ten Elymusalaskanus populations, which were collected from Canada, USA,Greenland and Russia. Ten arbitrarily chosen decamer primers were used in thisstudy. The results revealed high levels of variation. The mean number of allelesper locus (Ap) was 1.5, ranging from 1.4 to 1.6, the meanpercent of polymorphic loci (Pp) was 49.5%, ranging from35.1% to 64.9%, and the mean gene diversity (Hep) was0.162, varying from 0.142 to 0.262. The total variation wasHT = 0.403. When partitioned(GST), 60% of the total variation was foundamong the populations. Although the genetic diversity values obtained with RAPDsare much higher than for allozymes, they are similar regarding how the geneticvariation is distributed among populations. In addition, a similar geneticpattern of population differentiation, where populations from Greenland andthe USA (“violaceus” and “latiglumis”)were clearly separated from the others (“hyperarcticus”,“komarovii” and “sajanensis”), wasrevealed by both the cluster and principal coordinates analyses.