title: Genetic diversity and  differentiation in Camellia reticulata (Theaceae) polyploid complex  revealed by ISSR and ploidy.
abstract: Camellia  reticulata is a well-known ornamental and oil plant that is  endemic to southwest China. This species shows three cell ploidies, i.e.,  diploidy, tetraploidy and hexaploidy. We made the first investigation of  genetic diversity and differentiation of natural populations of C.  reticulata, and 114 individuals from 6 populations were sampled.  Cytogeography results showed that ploidy is invariable within populations and  evenly distributed. A relatively high level of genetic diversity was found in C.  reticulata, both at the species level (PPB = 88.89%; H = 0.2809; I =  0.4278) and at the population level (mean PPB = 42.13%; mean H = 0.14; mean I =  0.21). We found a relatively low degree of differentiation among ploidies (G(ST) = 0.2384;  AMOVA = 10.26%) and a relatively high degree of differentiation among  populations (G(CS) = 0.3807;  AMOVA = 48.75%). The high genetic diversity can be explained by its biological  character, wide distribution and ploidies, and the special genetic structure  can be ascribed to polyploid origin from hybridization with different Camellia spp. This information will be useful for the introduction, conservation and  further studies of C. reticulata and related species.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Resource Insects, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming, PR China. wbykm@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: B-Y
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Z-Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Ruan
mesh_terms: D028244:Camellia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D014644:Genetic Variation; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D011003:Ploidies