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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioinform.
Sec. Genomic Analysis
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2024.1454689
This article is part of the Research Topic From one genome to many genomes: the evolution of computational approaches for pangenomics and metagenomics analysis View all 4 articles

Climatic factors, but not geographic distance, promote genetic structure and differentiation of Cleistogenes squarrosa (Trin.) Keng populations

Provisionally accepted
Ruyan Song Ruyan Song Zhang Xueli Zhang Xueli Chan Zhou Chan Zhou *
  • Liaoning University, Shenyang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Climate can shape plant genetic diversity and genetic structure, and genetic diversity and genetic structure can reflect the adaptation of plants to climate change. We used rbcl and trnL-trnF sequences to analyze the genetic diversity and genetic structure of C. squarrosa under the influence of different environmental factors in Inner Mongolia grassland. The results showed that the genetic diversity of this species was low. (The trnL-trnF sequences have higher genetic diversity than rbcl sequences.) C. squarrosa had low genetic diversity compared to other prairie plants, but had a more pronounced genetic structure. The haplotype network diagram of the combined sequences could be divided into two categories, and the results of the NJ, MP, and ML trees also showed that the haplotypes were divided into two branches. The results of genetic structure analysis showed that that the populations located in the desert steppe fall into exactly one cluster, and the populations located in the typical steppe fall into exactly another cluster. The neutrality tests were all negative and the mismatch distribution also showed a single peak across the population, suggesting that C. squarrosa had undergone population expansion and was well adapted to the local environment. The results of the mantel test showed that climate had a greater influence on the genetic distance of C. squarrosa, with annual precipitation having a higher influence than mean annual temperature. This study provided basic genetic information on the genetic structure of C. squarrosa and contributes to the study of genetic adaptation mechanisms in grassland plants.

    Keywords: genetic diversity, Genetic structure, Cleistogenes squarrosa Keng, climatic factors, Geographic distance

    Received: 25 Jun 2024; Accepted: 28 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Song, Xueli and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chan Zhou, Liaoning University, Shenyang, China

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