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Genetic variability and population structure in natural populations of the European field elm (Ulmus minor Mill. sensu latissimo) from Croatia as revealed by SSR markers

This study, conducted in Croatia, encompassed for the first time ever populations of the field elm that are solely natural. We studied the genetic diversity and assessed recent bottleneck events and the population structure of 5 natural field elm populations from continental and Mediterranean Croatia, using 5 microsatellite markers. The study results suggest that the observed populations are characterized by a satisfactory amount of heterozygosity, and that the impact of the Dutch elm disease on the amount of genetic diversity in sampled populations is currently negligible. As genetic diversity in forest tree species is slowly diminishing, in the long term there is a danger of the depletion of genetic resources. The danger of inbreeding within populations is low, and the majority of the populations are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The appearance of bottleneck, initiated by anthropogenic habitat destruction, has been established in only one population. The values of Nei’s standard genetic distance, as well as the values of the genetic differentiation index between pairs of observed populations are indicative and suggest, together with the performed factor correspondence analysis and unrooted neighbor-joining tree, the existence of a very clear genetic differentiation between the continental and the Mediterranean populations of the field elm in Croatia.

Ulmus minor Mill. sensu latissimo; endangered species; natural populations; genetic diversity; nuclear microsatellites

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