Geographical variation and genetic diversity of Parashorea chinensis germplasm resources

Yuanyuan Xu; Shinan Liu; Patrick M Finnegan; Fang Liu; Izhar Ali; Haidong Zhang; Mei Yang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2024.1452521

Geographical variation and genetic diversity of Parashorea chinensis germplasm resources

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Oct 16:15:1452521. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1452521. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yuanyuan Xu^#^{1

2}, Shinan Liu^#^{1

2}, Patrick M Finnegan³, Fang Liu⁴, Izhar Ali^{1

2}, Haidong Zhang^{1

2}, Mei Yang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Cultivation of Fast-Growing Timber in Central South China, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.
² Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory for Cultivation and Utilization of Subtropical Forest Plantation, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.
³ School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁴ Nanning Arboretum, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Parashorea chinensis is a rare monodominant species in southwest China known for its production of high-quality timber, is facing decline due to its narrow distribution, human interference and habitat destruction. However, there are no reports on genetic diversity and geographical variation of phenotypic traits of P. chinensis.

Methods: In this study, phenotypic characters and genetic diversity of 15 germplasms resources from five provenances in southwest China were investigated, and their relationships with geographical and environmental factors was discussed.

Results: Our results revealed a rich phenotypic diversity among the germplasms, with variation coefficients ranging from 3.63% to 45.49%. Among the studied germplasms, NP03 from Napo and ML02 from Mengla region exhibited superior phenotypic traits. Notably, NP03 also demonstrated the highest genetic diversity. Genetic differentiation analyses including genetic differentiation coefficient (0.6264) and gene flow (0.3736) illustrated that genetic variation was most prevalent among populations. Furthermore, redundancy analysis showed that temperature related factors (maximum air temperature, annual mean temperature and minimum air temperature) significantly affected phenotypic variation. Similarly, altitude, longitude, latitude, annual mean precipitation and the minimum air temperature significantly impacted the level of genetic diversity. The molecular variation of the natural population of P. chinensis followed a certain geographical pattern.

Discussion: Our finding indicated abundant phenotypic variation among P. chinensis germplasms. However, populations exhibited low levels of genetic diversity alongside high genetic differentiation, potentially contributing to the species' rarity. Based on our results, NP03 and ML02 germplasm could be used as the parents for breeding superior germplasm of P. chinensis. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into germplasm diversity and conservation, genetic improvement, and utilization of P. chinensis.

Keywords: ISSR; Parashorea chinensis; environmental factor; genetic diversity; phenotype.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31960307), the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (No. 2018GXNSFAA28110), and the Guangxi self-funded forestry science and technology project (No. Guilinkeyan(2022ZC)77).