AUTHOR=Chi Yujie , Liu Changli , Liu Wei , Tian Xufang , Hu Juan , Wang Bo , Liu Di , Liu Yifei 

TITLE=Population genetic variation and geographic distribution of suitable areas of Coptis species in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2024.1341996

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2024.1341996

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>The rhizomes of <italic>Coptis</italic> plants have been used in traditional Chinese medicine over 2000 years. Due to increasing market demand, the overexploitation of wild populations, habitat degradation and indiscriminate artificial cultivation of <italic>Coptis</italic> species have severely damaged the native germplasms of species in China.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Genome-wide simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed using the genomic data of <italic>C. chinensis</italic>. Population genetic diversity and structure of 345 <italic>Coptis</italic> accessions collected from 32 different populations were performed based on these SSRs. The distribution of suitable areas for three taxa in China was predicted and the effects of environmental variables on genetic diversity in relation to different population distributions were further analyzed.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>22 primer pairs were selected as clear, stable, and polymorphic SSR markers. These had an average of 16.41 alleles and an average polymorphism information content (PIC) value of 0.664. In the neighbor-joining (N-J) clustering analysis, the 345 individuals clustered into three groups, with <italic>C. chinensis</italic>, <italic>C. chinensis</italic> var. <italic>brevisepala</italic> and <italic>C. teeta</italic> being clearly separated. All <italic>C. chinensis</italic> accessions were further divided into four subgroups in the population structure analysis. The predicted distributions of suitable areas and the environmental variables shaping these distributions varied considerably among the three species.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Overall, the amount of solar radiation, precipitation and altitude were the most important environmental variables influencing the distribution and genetic variation of three species. The findings will provide key information to guide the conservation of genetic resources and construction of a core reserve for species.</p></sec>