Health condition and genetic differentiation level of beech in the Siewierz Forest District assessed with cpDNA markers

Abstract

Beech decline phenomenon has been observed in Poland since the 1980s. The reasons are still unclear but the discovery of pathogens genus Phytophthora shed a new light on it. Stems as well as roots of beech trees were severely affected by P. citricola and P. cambivora. In order to find out the genetic background of infection, three loci of chloroplast microsatellite DNA were investigated in the genetic differentiation study of beeches growing in the Siewierz Forest District in Poland. Parameters of genetic diversity (h Nei) and differentiation (GST) in the chloroplast genome were estimated and compared between healthy and damaged trees. Healthy beeches were more heterozygous (h=0.243) than the damaged ones (h=0.113), and the distribution of cpDNA alleles was different between these two groups. Healthy trees were nearly 50% more genetically diversed than declining ones