Isoenzymatic variability in progeny of Pinus mugo Turra x Pinus sylvestris L. hybrids from Bór na Czerwonem, in experimental culture

Abstract

The article describes the genetic structure of 12-year old seedlings. They were grown in an experimental culture representing the progeny of natural hybrids of Pinus mugo Turra and Pinus sylvestris L. from the peatbog Bór na Czerwonem. The studies were carried out on seedlings, employing electrophoresis of enzymatic proteins from winter buds. Parallel isoenzymatic analyses were also conducted for trees of P. mugo Turra from Tatra Mountains and for P. sylvestris L. trees from Białowieża in order to determine similarities of the hybrids to the 'pure' species, thought to represent parental forms, and for natural hybrids from Bór na Czerwonem. The obtained electrophoretic patterns made the determination of genetic structure of the population possible, namely of the observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, Wright's fixation index and coefficients of similarity according to Nei and Hedrick. Genetic distances between the populations were also estimated. The variability of 11 enzymatic loci demonstrated the highest level of variability in the population of hybrids. Coefficients of genetic differentiation (GST) and of gene flow, (Nm) suggested a close relationship of the hybrids to P. mugo which may indicate an introgressive type of the hybrid swarm, from which the studied trees originated. The analysis of genetic similarity coefficients, according to Nei and Hedrick, demonstrated also an extensive similarity of the two hybrid groups to P. mugo. However, upon analysis of individual enzymatic loci, some of them highly resembled P. mugo while others were similar to P. sylvestris. The closest genetic similarity was demonstrated for the group of hybrids from the peatbog and the respective of hybrides group from culture. The variable gene expression as well as asymmetric inheritance of isoenzymes provided additional evidence of the introgressive character of the studied trees from the hybrid population.

Keywords

• Pinus mugo Turra
• Pinus sylvestris L.
• hybrids
• genetic structure
• isoenzymes
• introgression