Genetic Variation in Echinacea angustifolia Along a Climatic Gradient

Backgrounds and Aims Echinacea angustifolia is a widespread species distributed throughout the Great Plains region of North America. Genetic differentiation among populations was investigated along a 1500 km north–south climatic gradient in North America, a region with no major geographical barriers. The objective of the study was to determine if genetic differentiation of populations could be explained by an isolation-by-distance model or by associations with climatic parameters known to affect plant growth and survival. Methods Historical climatic data were used to define the nature of the climatic gradient and AFLP markers were used to establish patterns of population genetic differentiation among ten Echinacea populations collected from North Dakota to Oklahoma. A total of 1290 fragments were scored using six EcoRI/MseI and three PstI/MseI primer combinations. Assessment of the correlation between climatic, genetic and geographic distances was assessed by Mantel and partial Mantel tests. Key Results PstI/MseI combinations produced significantly fewer fragments, but a larger percentage was unique compared with EcoRI/MseI markers. Using estimates of FST, populations in Oklahoma and southern Kansas were identified as the most divergent from the other populations. Both the neighbour-joining tree and principal co-ordinate analysis clustered the populations in a north–south spatial orientation. About 60 % of the genetic variation was found within populations, 20 % among populations and the remaining 20 % was partitioned among groups that were defined by the topology of the neighbour-joining tree. Significant support was found for the isolation-by-distance model independent of the effects of annual mean precipitation, but not from annual mean temperature and freezefree days. Conclusions Echinacea angustifolia populations exhibit genetic divergence along a north–south climatic gradient. The data support an isolation-by-distance restriction in gene flow that is independent of annual mean precipitation.