Genetic diversity of Reed Canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) populations

Abstract

Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) is perennial herbaceous plant belonging to Poaceae family. This species is widely spread in Europe and Asia. Phalaris arundinacea is valuable component of wetlands and might be applied as animal feed, ornamental plant or biofuel. It is riverside and lakeside species very common for Lithuania. Molecular studies of this plant have been carried out in North America and West Europe using inter-simple sequence repeats or microsatellite (SSR) markers. Genetic diversity of reed canary grass populations has never been assessed in the Baltic States. Study was funded by Lithuanian Research Council, Grant number No. SIT-02/2015. The aim of present study was to evaluate molecular diversity of riparian populations of Phalaris arundinacea growing in Southern part of Lithuania. For assessment 14 SSR markers (csm045, csm049, csm071, csm074, csm075, csm090, csm101, csm104, csm106, csm111, csm122, phi071, umc2185, umc2779) were selected. Genomic DNA was extracted using modified CTAB method. The length of polymorphic DNA fragments ranged from 90 to 163 bp. Fourteen SSR primer pairs have generated 95 alleles. The number of alleles per population ranged between 29 and 61. Our examinations revealed that the level of polymorphism at SSR loci for populations ranged between 30.5 % and 64.2 %. Molecular variance of populations of the lower reaches was higher when compared to the sites of the higher reaches.