RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY AND GENETIC SIMILARITY AMONG THE NATURAL POPULATIONS OF PINUS BRUTIA TEN.: ITS IMPLICATION ON GENETIC CONSERVATION

Abstract

Genetic variation in five natural populations of Pinus brutia Ten., was determined with isoenzyme analyses. Isozymes from nine enzyme systems extracted from haploid female gametophytes of the seeds were separated by horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. In the nine enzyme systems, 14 loci and 32 alleles were observed. The average proportion of polymorphic loci for the populations ranged from 64.3% to 78.6%. The average number of alleles per locus per populations was estimated 2.08 (± 0.2). The mean estimated expected-heterozygosity (He) of the populations was 0.276. A rather high proportion of genetic variation (95.8%) was due to within-population variation and the remaining (4.2%) was due to variation among populations. The level of gene flow (Nm) was 5.75 per generation. According to genetic variation parameters, although there is no significant differentiation among population, the populations in the western and central parts of Mediterranean region (Muğla, Isparta and Mersin) have relatively more genetic variation than populations in the eastern part. Therefore, these populations should be given a high priority in forest tree breeding, selection and for in situ conservation studies in the region.