[Genetic Variation, Population Structure and Differentiation in Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) from the Northeast of the Russian Plain as Inferred from the Molecular Genetic Analysis Data].

The DNA polymorphism in Pinus sylvestris from Severodvinsk, Upper Vetluga, and Vetluga-Vyatka populations, which were isolated earlier based on specific features of the geographic variation of allometric cone indices, was examined by the ISSR method. It was demonstrated that the Severodvinsk population of P. sylvestris differed from the chorologically adjacent Upper Vetluga population with respect to all of the examined genetic indices, and the Upper Vetluga population differed from the Vetluga-Vyatka population. It was suggested that the main the reason for the lack of statistically significant differences between Upper Vetluga and Vetluga-Vyatka samples of P. silvestris with respect to genetic variation indices (P95, H(E), n(a), n(e)) may be their formation based on the gene pools of two glacial refugia. It was demonstrated that the proportion of the interpopulation component of total genetic diversity (G(ST)), as calculated based on the ISSR marker polymorphism, reached a value of 0.488, which was an order of magnitude higher than the previous estimates obtained based on data from allozyme analysis. It was concluded that P. sylvestris cone allometric indices reflected the specificity of spatial population subdivision, like the genetic diversity and population genetic structure indices calculated based on ISSR-marker polymorphism. Population isolation and mapping based on two-step phenogenetic studies is suggested.

[Microsatellite Loci polymorphism of chloroplast DNA of the pine tree (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Asia and Eastern Europe].

The variability of four microsatellite loci of chloroplast DNA was studied in 38 populations of Pinus sylvestris in the European part of Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Transbaikalia and Mongolia. High variability was observed in all regions. In total, 152 haplotypes were identified. The level of population differentiation R(ST) was 2.1%. The differentiation of three geographical groups of populations (European, Siberian-Kazakhstan and Transbaikalian-Mongolian) was insignificant (R(CT) = 0.004%). At the same time, some rare haplotypes were found to be specific for a certain geographical region. Distribution of the rare haplotypes, which differentiated European populations from Asian populations and Mongolian and Transbaikalian populations from the Siberian, showed the independence of the history of these regions. This corresponds more to the hypothesis that the modern areal of Pinus sylvestris originated via settlement from many origins than to the hypothesized single center of the post-boulder-period of recolonization. The distribution of the pair differences between the individual specimens corresponded to the model of sudden population growth. The assessments of the age of this event for Pinus sylvestris (4.5-4.7 million years), which were obtained on the basis of this model, significantly exceeded the age of the quaternary period. Therefore, the revealed growth of populations is hardly due to the changes in flora related with the boulder-period, but rather mirrors the moment of the species formation.