title: Conservation genetics of an endangered lady's slipper orchid: Cypripedium japonicum in China.
abstract: Knowledge about the population genetic variation of the endangered orchid, Cypripedium japonicum, is conducive to the development of conservation strategies. Here, we examined the levels and partitioning of inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) diversity (109 loci) in five populations of this orchid to gain insight into its genetic variation and population structure in Eastern and Central China. It harbored considerably lower levels of genetic diversity both at the population (percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) = 11.19%, Nei's gene diversity (H) = 0.0416 and Shannon's information index (I) = 0.0613) and species level (PPL = 38.53%, H = 0.1273 and I = 0.1928) and a significantly higher degree of differentiation among populations (the proportion of the total variance among populations (Φpt) = 0.698) than those typical of ISSR-based studies in other orchid species. Furthermore, the Nei's genetic distances between populations were independent of the corresponding geographical distances. Two main clusters are shown in an arithmetic average (UPGMA) dendrogram, which is in agreement with the results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) analysis and the STRUCTURE program. In addition, individuals within a population were more similar to each other than to those in other populations. Based on the genetic data and our field survey, the development of conservation management for this threatened orchid should include habitat protection, artificial gene flow and ex situ measures.
authors.affiliation: Research Institution of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang 311400, China. qianxin090@163.com.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Sciences Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai 201602, China. lqj170209@163.com.
authors.forename: Quan-Jian
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China. liufen0424@126.com.
authors.forename: Fen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Research Institution of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang 311400, China. gmj0718joe@163.com.
authors.forename: Mao-Jiang
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Research Institution of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang 311400, China. cxwanghn@163.com.
authors.forename: Cai-Xia
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Institution of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang 311400, China. tmin115@163.com.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D056727:Endangered Species; D051456:Gene Flow; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D029595:Orchidaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic