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Poster 3: Genetic variation in the endangered wild apple (Malus sylvestris mill.) in Belgium as revealed by AFLP and microsatellite markers. consequences for conservation
E. COART1, X. VEKEMANS2, M. J. M. SMULDERS3, I. WAGNER4, J. VAN HUYLENBROECK1, E. VAN BOCKSTAELE1,5 and I. ROLDÁN-RUIZ1
1 CLO, Department for Plant Genetics and Breeding, Caritasstraat, 21, 9090 Melle, e.coart@clo.fgov.be
2 Université Libre de Bruxelles, Laboratoire de Génétique et Ecologie Végétales, 1850 Chaussée de Wavre, 1160 Bruxelles
3 Plant Research International, P.O Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
4 Pro Arbore Research Institute, Gustav-Adolf-Strasse 3, 01219 Dresden, Germany
5 Universiteit Gent, Fac. of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Gent
| Release date | 24/08/2009 |
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The genetic variation within and between wild apple populations (Malus sylvestris) and cultivated apple trees was investigated with AFLP and microsatellite markers in order to develop a conservation genetics program for the endangered wild apple in Belgium. In total, 83 putative wild apples and 67 cultivars were typed at 12 SSR and 139 AFLP loci. Principal coordinate analysis on data from both marker systems classified the apples into three groups: wild Malus sylvestris genotypes, fruit cultivars and ornamental cultivars. Based on this ordination, on the results of neighbour joining trees and on an assignment test of individuals to groups, we were able to identify a number of trees which had been sampled as putative Malus sylvestris genotypes but which were genotypically closely related to fruit cultivars. Analysis of the genetic structure showed that the divergence between wild and cultivated gene pools was significant. Differentiation between German and Belgian wild apples was significant but individual genotypes were often assigned to the other origin. Based on these results we conclude that wild apple populations sampled in Belgium and Germany constitute gene pools clearly differentiated from cultivars and that although some geographical pattern of genetic differentiation among wild apple populations exists, most variability is concentrated within samples. Very concordant conclusions were obtained from AFLP and SSR markers that showed highly significant correlations in both among genotypes and among samples genetic distances. The results are discussed in view of a conservation program for this endangered species.