Dataset Information

Low genetic differentiation yet high phenotypic variation in the invasive populations of Spartina alterniflora in Guangxi, China.

ABSTRACT: Genetic variation and population structure may reflect important information for invasion success of exotic plant species and thus help improve management of invasive plants. Spartina alterniflora is an invasive plant that is a major threat to the economy and environment of the coastal regions in China. We analyzed the genetic structure and diversity of six populations of S. alterniflora differing in invasion histories in Guangxi, China. A total of 176 individuals from the six populations produced 348 AFLP fragments. The average heterozygosity was significantly lower than in the native population. And genetic bottlenecks were also detected in most populations. Standardized FST statistics (?pt = 0.015) and AMOVA results indicated weak genetic differentiation. Genetic admixture and obviously isolation by distance indicated populations in Guangxi come from a pre-admixed population by a single introduction. High phenotypic variations of S. alterniflora in Guangxi influenced by soil salinity and temperature might be an important reason for the successful invasion.

SUBMITTER: Li FF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6748429 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Low genetic differentiation yet high phenotypic variation in the invasive populations of Spartina alterniflora in Guangxi, China.

Li Fei-Fei FF Gong Lu L Li Jun-Sheng JS Liu Xiao-Yan XY Zhao Cai-Yun CY

PloS one 20190917 9

Genetic variation and population structure may reflect important information for invasion success of exotic plant species and thus help improve management of invasive plants. Spartina alterniflora is an invasive plant that is a major threat to the economy and environment of the coastal regions in China. We analyzed the genetic structure and diversity of six populations of S. alterniflora differing in invasion histories in Guangxi, China. A total of 176 individuals from the six populations produc ...[more]

PMID: 31527890

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Project description:Hundreds of plants and half a kilogram of seeds of Spartina alterniflora, which were collected from Morehead City in North Carolina, Sapelo Island in Georgia, and Tampa Bay in Florida, were introduced to China in 1979. However, according to documented records, S. alterniflora from different origins were introduced to different areas when the species was first introduced to the coastal areas of China in the 1980s. In order to understand the relationship between the invasive S. alterniflora populations of China and the native S. alterniflora populations of the United States, and whether the genetic structure and genetic diversity of the invasive populations of China were affected by different introductions in the 1980s, molecular markers were used to determine the levels of gene flow and its effect on population differentiation. A total of 715 samples of S. alterniflora were collected from nine invasive populations in China and nine native populations from the United States. The genetic diversity and genetic structure of invasive and native populations were compared using microsatellite markers. The heterozygosity of Chinese invasive populations of S. alterniflora (HO = 0.538, HE = 0.725) were similar with those of native populations (HO = 0.530, HE = 0.744), which may attribute to its multiple introductions with the multisource populations from different geographic areas of the United States. However, the lower allelic diversities of Chinese invasive populations were detected, which may be due to the founder effect, or the bottleneck, which supports the theory that the allelic diversity is more sensitive to population bottlenecks than heterozygosity. The results of the STRUCTURE analysis among all sampling sites showed that the value of ΔK was largest when K = 2, which indicated that the invasive S. alterniflora populations in China had completed differentiated from the native populations of the United States. This may be because of admixture and hybridization of three non-overlapping original populations, or the postintroduction rapid evolution in China, and reproductive isolation under long-term geographic isolation. There was significant differentiation among invasive populations, which was mainly affected by different human-mediated introductions in 1980s. Significant genetic structure (K = 7) and high genetic differentiation (Fst = 0.30193) were detected in Chinese invasive populations, which may due to the low natural gene flow among populations. The genetic structure of the invasive populations in China was still affected by the human-mediated introductions in the 1980s, and the different initial introductions might promote differentiation among the invasive populations. In fact, the human-mediated long-distance dispersal should take the most of responsibility for the rapid spread of S. alterniflora along the coast of China. Multisource introductions of S. alterniflora are perhaps helpful for local adaptation but itself cannot cause rapid spread along the whole coast of China. Meanwhile, we suggest that the prevention of gene exchange among populations of S. alterniflora is the first and most important step in the control of the species on the coast of China, because admixture and hybridization of isolated populations might generate new heterosis and increase the difficulty of managing S. alterniflora in China.

Project description:Spartina alterniflora, marsh grass, is a vegetative apomicticly-reproducing halophyte native to marshes along the east coast of the United States and invasive across the world. S. alterniflora provides many ecosystem services including, but not limited to, water filtration, habitats for invertebrates, and sediment retention. Widespread diebacks of longstanding marsh grass colonies launched extensive investigations into probable mechanisms leading to patchy diebacks. There is still current debate as to the causes of a marsh dieback but environmental stress is acknowledged as a constant. Spatial epigenetic variation could contribute to variation of stress susceptibility, but the scale and structure of epigenetic variation is unknown. The current study investigates patterns of epigenetic variation in a natural population of S. alterniflora. This study examines variation of global DNA methylation within and among clones of the marsh grass Spartina alterniflora using an ELISA-like microplate reaction and observed significant heterogeneity of global DNA methylation within and among clones of S. alterniflora across the North Inlet basin, as well as significant differences of global methylation between adults and sexually produced seedlings. The present study also characterized differences for plants in a section of the population that experienced an acute marsh dieback in the year 2001 and have subsequently recolonized, finding a significant positive correlation between cytosine methylation and time period of colonization. The significant heterogeneity of global DNA methylation both within and among clones observed within this natural population of S. alterniflora and potential impacts from hypersaline environments at North Inlet suggests the need for more in-depth epigenetic studies to fully understand DNA methylation within an ecological context. Future studies should consider the effects of varying saline conditions on both global DNA and gene specific methylation.

Dataset Information

Low genetic differentiation yet high phenotypic variation in the invasive populations of Spartina alterniflora in Guangxi, China.

Publications

Low genetic differentiation yet high phenotypic variation in the invasive populations of Spartina alterniflora in Guangxi, China.

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