High genetic diversity in population of Lepturichthys fimbriata from the Yangtze River revealed by microsatellite DNA analysis

Lepturichthys fimbriata (Gunther) is one of the benthic and rock-attached fish species that is typically found in torrential flows of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Several dams in the Yangtze River (the Ertan Dam, the Three Gorges Dam, the Gezhouba Dam, the Xiluodu Dam and the Xiangjiaba Dam (the latter two dams are under construction)) may have significant effects on the habitat and spawning behaviors of L. fimbriata, and could ultimately threaten the survival of this fish. We studied the population genetic diversity of L. fimbriata samples collected at three sites within the Yangtze River and one of its tributaries, the Yalong River. Genetic diversity patterns were determined by analyzing genetic data from 14 polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated in Jinshaia sinensis (Sauvage et Dabry). A high genetic diversity among these L. fimbriata local populations was indicated by the number of microsatellite alleles (A) and the expected heterozygosity. No reductions of genetic diversity in any L. fimbriata population were observed. However, significant population differentiations were observed among three local populations by pairwise comparisons (P<0.001). We deduced that L. fimbriata local populations were not small ones. In addition, the habitat behaviors of rock-attachment and possible residence of L. fimbriata could account for the genetic differences found in local populations.Lepturichthys fimbriata (Gunther) is one of the benthic and rock-attached fish species that is typically found in torrential flows of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Several dams in the Yangtze River (the Ertan Dam, the Three Gorges Dam, the Gezhouba Dam, the Xiluodu Dam and the Xiangjiaba Dam (the latter two dams are under construction)) may have significant effects on the habitat and spawning behaviors of L. fimbriata, and could ultimately threaten the survival of this fish. We studied the population genetic diversity of L. fimbriata samples collected at three sites within the Yangtze River and one of its tributaries, the Yalong River. Genetic diversity patterns were determined by analyzing genetic data from 14 polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated in Jinshaia sinensis (Sauvage et Dabry). A high genetic diversity among these L. fimbriata local populations was indicated by the number of microsatellite alleles (A) and the expected heterozygosity. No reductions of genetic diversity in any L. fimbriata population were observed. However, significant population differentiations were observed among three local populations by pairwise comparisons (P<0.001). We deduced that L. fimbriata local populations were not small ones. In addition, the habitat behaviors of rock-attachment and possible residence of L. fimbriata could account for the genetic differences found in local populations

Proceedings of the Meeting Botany at the intersection of Nature, Culture, Art and Sciences

The scientific meeting for which the Proceedings are published in this volume 28 of Bocconea was not organized by mere chance. It was designed as an appropriate way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Professor Werner Greuter, tireless protagonist of OPTIMA and key figure in Mediterranean, European and, by certain of his skills, indeed world botany.The two-day Symposium was sponsored by the Section of Botany and Plant Ecology of the STEBICEF Department of the University of Palermo and received substantial support from the Selinunte and Cave di Cusa Archaeological Park, the International Foundation Pro Herbario Mediterraneo, and the Foundation Herbarium Greuter. The scientific programme comprised four sessions with invited speakers, plus a poster session. About one hundred scholars from many countries, young and old, were in attendance, including the authors of reports, lectures, and posters. Some of the papers assembled in this proceedings volume have been published in advance in Flora Mediterranea, volumes 28 (2018) and 29 (2019). Also included here are texts contributed, as a testimony of esteem, by some of professor Greuter’s friends who were unable to be present at the meeting