Assessment of genetic diversity among some Iranian hazelnut genotypes using SSR markers

Abstract Studying genetic diversity is a preliminary step for conservation and utilization of germplasm. Talesh hills, located in Guilan province in northern part of Iran, are one of the main areas for natural distribution of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.). Hazelnut trees in Talesh Mountains are a wild population (land race) and obtained from open-pollinated seedling. In this research, a population including 90 hazelnut samples was studied using 15 microsatellite markers. Totally, 98 polymorphic alleles were detected with an average of 6.53 alleles per locus. The lowest numbers of 3 alleles were observed in CaC-B005 and CaC-C114 and the highest number of 12 alleles in CaC-C101 locus. The average effective number of alleles (3.75), mean expected heterozygosity of (He=0.70) and average observed heterozygosity of (Ho=0.62) were estimated for studied loci. All loci showed high PIC with an average of 0.72 that the highest amount detected in CaC-B011 and CaC-B101 loci with values of 0.85 and 0.84, respectively. A dendrogram was generated by UPGMA clustering method that placed the 90 accessions into 7 main loose groups. According to the results a high genetic diversity was found in the studied population that mainly related to the hazelnut pollination nature that shows sporophytic incompatibility system enhancing out-crossing in natural populations

Investigation of genetic diversity of domestic C. hircus breeds reared within an early goat domestication area in Iran

Iran is an area of particular interest for investigating goat diversity. Archaeological remains indicate early goat domestication (about 10 000 years ago) in the Iranian Zagros Mountains as well as in the high Euphrates valley and southeastern Anatolia. In addition, mitochondrial DNA data of domestic goats and wild ancestors (C. aegagrusor bezoar) suggest a pre-domestication management of wild populations in southern Zagros and central Iranian Plateau. In this study genetic diversity was assessed in seven Iranian native goat breeds, namely Markhoz, Najdi, Taleshi, Khalkhali, Naini, native Abadeh and Turki-Ghashghaei. A total of 317 animals were characterized using14 microsatellite loci. Two Pakistani goat populations, Pahari and Teddy, were genotyped for comparison

Archaeological evidence of resource utilisation of the great whales over the past two millennia: A systematic review protocol

Archaeological faunal remains provide key insights into human societies in the past, alongside information on previous resource utilisation and exploitation of wildlife populations. The great whales (Mysticete and sperm whales) were hunted unsustainably throughout the 16th - 20th centuries (herein defined as the modern period) leading to large population declines and variable recovery patterns among species. Humans have utilised whales as a resource through carcass scavenging for millennia; however, increasing local and regional ethnographic and archaeological evidence suggests that, prior to the modern period, hunting of the great whales was more common than previously thought; impacts of earlier hunting pressures on the population ecology of many whale species remains relatively unknown. Hunting guided by traditional ecological knowledge may have been sustainable and likely originated in societies that also incorporated opportunistic use of stranded individuals. The collation of georeferenced zooarchaeological data of the great whales between the 1st - 20th centuries CE worldwide will provide insight into the timescale and distribution of resource utilisation of the great whales and how this varied within and between societies, and may have changed over time. By comparing regions of known resource utilisation and breeding and feeding grounds of current-day whale populations, this information will subsequently be used to infer regions where whale populations were possibly lost or extirpated prior to detailed historical records. This systematic review protocol also provides a template for archaeologists, ecologists, and historians interested in using faunal remains to infer historical ecology and resource use of wild animal populations. The transparency of our data collection approach provides opportunities for reproducibility and comparability with future datasets

Estimation of the Genetic Diversity in Tetraploid Alfalfa Populations Based on RAPD Markers for Breeding Purposes

Alfalfa is an autotetraploid, allogamous and heterozygous forage legume, whose varieties are synthetic populations. Due to the complex nature of the species, information about genetic diversity of germplasm used in any alfalfa breeding program is most beneficial. The genetic diversity of five alfalfa varieties, involved in progeny tests at Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, was characterized based on RAPD markers. A total of 60 primers were screened, out of which 17 were selected for the analysis of genetic diversity. A total of 156 polymorphic bands were generated, with 10.6 bands per primer. Number and percentage of polymorphic loci, effective number of alleles, expected heterozygosity and Shannon's information index were used to estimate genetic variation. Variety Zuzana had the highest values for all tested parameters, exhibiting the highest level of variation, whereas variety RSI 20 exhibited the lowest. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that 88.39% of the total genetic variation was attributed to intra-varietal variance. The cluster analysis for individual samples and varieties revealed differences in their population structures: variety Zuzana showed a very high level of genetic variation, Banat and Ghareh were divided in subpopulations, while Pecy and RSI 20 were relatively uniform. Ways of exploiting the investigated germplasm in the breeding programs are suggested in this paper, depending on their population structure and diversity. The RAPD analysis shows potential to be applied in analysis of parental populations in semi-hybrid alfalfa breeding program in both, development of new homogenous germplasm, and identification of promising, complementary germplasm

Temporal migration rates affect the genetic structure of populations in the biennial Erysimum mediohispanicum with reproductive asynchrony

Funding was provided by projects CGL2009-07487/BOS and CGL2016-77720-P (AEI/FEDER, UE) to F.X.P., by the Impact Fellow programme from the University of Stirling to M.A. and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BPD/111015/2015) to A.J.M.-P.We are grateful to Armando Caballero, Juan Pedro Martínez Camacho, Mario Vallejo-Marin, Mohammed Bakkali, Robin S. Waples, Xavier Thibert-Plante and Antonio Castilla for their comments and discussions on a previous draft of the manuscript. Esperanza Manzano, Leticia Ayllón and Rocío Gómez assisted in the laboratory. The EVOFLOR discussion group stimulated the development of this study. We thank the Sierra Nevada National Park headquarters for the permits and the support during our samplings in the field. We thank Bioportal at the University of Oslo and Residencia de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Zaragoza in Jaca for logistic support. We also thank the staff of the laboratory of molecular ecology (LEM) of the EBD-CSIC for assistance.Migration is a process with important implications for the genetic structure of populations. However, there is an aspect of migration seldom investigated in plants: migration between temporally isolated groups of individuals within the same geographic population. The genetic implications of temporal migration can be particularly relevant for semelparous organisms, which are those that reproduce only once in a lifetime after a certain period of growth. In this case, reproductive asynchrony in individuals of the same population generates demes of individuals differing in their developmental stage (non-reproductive and reproductive). These demes are connected by temporal migrants, that is, individuals that become annually asynchronous with respect to the rest of individuals of their same deme. Here, we investigated the extent of temporal migration and its effects on temporal genetic structure in the biennial plant Erysimum mediohispanicum. To this end, we conducted two independent complementary approaches. First, we empirically estimated temporal migration rates and temporal genetic structure in four populations of E. mediohispanicum during three consecutive years using nuclear microsatellites markers. Second, we developed a demographic genetic simulation model to assess genetic structure for different migration scenarios differing in temporal migration rates and their occurrence probabilities. We hypothesized that genetic structure decreased with increasing temporal migration rates due to the homogenizing effect of migration. Empirical and modelling results were consistent and indicated a U-shape relationship between genetic structure and temporal migration rates. Overall, they indicated the existence of temporal genetic structure and that such genetic structure indeed decreased with increasing temporal migration rates. However, genetic structure increased again at high temporal migration rates. The results shed light into the effects of reproductive asynchrony on important population genetic parameters. Our study contributes to unravel the complexity of some processes that may account for genetic diversity and genetic structure of natural populations.AEI/FEDER, UE CGL2009-07487/BOS CGL2016-77720-PImpact Fellow programme from the University of StirlingPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology SFRH/BPD/111015/201

Does urbanisation lead to parallel demographic shifts across the world in a cosmopolitan plant?

Urbanisation is occurring globally, leading to dramatic environmental changes that are altering the ecology and evolution of species. In particular, the expansion of human infrastructure and the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats in cities is predicted to increase genetic drift and reduce gene flow by reducing the size and connectivity of populations. Alternatively, the ‘urban facilitation model’ suggests that some species will have greater gene flow into and within cities leading to higher diversity and lower differentiation in urban populations. These alternative hypotheses have not been contrasted across multiple cities. Here, we used the genomic data from the GLobal Urban Evolution project (GLUE), to study the effects of urbanisation on non‐adaptive evolutionary processes of white clover (Trifolium repens) at a global scale. We found that white clover populations presented high genetic diversity and no evidence of reduced Ne linked to urbanisation. On the contrary, we found that urban populations were less likely to experience a recent decrease in effective population size than rural ones. In addition, we found little genetic structure among populations both globally and between urban and rural populations, which showed extensive gene flow between habitats. Interestingly, white clover displayed overall higher gene flow within urban areas than within rural habitats. Our study provides the largest comprehensive test of the demographic effects of urbanisation. Our results contrast with the common perception that heavily altered and fragmented urban environments will reduce the effective population size and genetic diversity of populations and contribute to their isolation

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover.

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale