Genetic diversity and population structure of endangered Glehnia littoralis (Apiaceae) in China based on AFLP analysis

Genetic diversity studies of endangered plants help to understand the endangering causes and evolutionary history of species. To provide reliable data on the protection of the endangered species Glehnia littoralis, we assessed its genetic diversity and genetic structure based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). A total of 127 individuals from 9 wild populations were detected by 10 pairs of AFLP primers. The results showed high levels of genetic diversity in G. littoralis. Ten primer combinations produced a total of 1929 DNA bands with a polymorphic frequency of 100%. The overall gene diversity (Ht) was 0.182, average gene diversity within populations (Hw) was 0.168, Nei’s genetic diversity (Hj) of different populations ranged from 0.142 (Zh15) to 0.1908 (Gld15), and Shannon’s information index (I) was 0.238. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that the variation within populations accounted for 84.2% of the total variation, indicating the differentiation mainly existed within populations. The gene flow (Nm) among populations was 2.665, revealing more gene communication between populations. The UPGMA cluster analysis, the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), and the result of mantel test (r = −0.0898, p = 0.259) all showed that there was no obvious correlation between genetic distance and geographical distribution. In conclusion, we speculate that the endangered status of this species could be attributed to the destruction of wildlife habitats rather than to the loss of genetic diversity. Therefore, we suggest strengthening the germplasm resources conservation and doing ecological conservation and restoration work to protect the wild populations of G. littoralis