title: Genetic variation in natural populations of maté (Ilex paraguariensis A. st.-hil., aquifoliaceae) using RAPD markers.
abstract: This study characterized the genetic diversity of four populations of Ilex paraguariensis, a plant species native to South America, using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A total of 341 different RAPD bands were generated by the 15 primers analysed. High genetic variability was detected within each population, with an average diversity of 0.163. The within-population variation was large, probably as a result of the life history characteristics of I. paraguariensis. The average distance between individuals from each population was 0.392 and that between populations was 0.433, indicating a low between-population divergence. Most bands were common to all populations and the population-specific bands occurred at low frequencies. Partitioning of the genetic diversity indicated that 85% of the variation occurred within populations and only 15% between populations. Although most of the variability is within populations, clusterings of plants in each population were observed in the dendrogram.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gauer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cavalli-Molina
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D018744:DNA, Plant; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D014197:Trees / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D005819:Genetic Markers