A genetic study of Pinus parviflora on Ulleung Island of Korea, Compared to P. parviflora of Japan and P. armandii of China

Abstract

Abstract Pinus parviflora Siebold et Zucc. on Ulleung Island, Korea, has been proposed to be more closely related to P. armandii Franch. because both have long leaves and seeds that are either wingless or have very short wings. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers using nine primers and sequence analysis of the trnG gene and the matK gene and morphological characteristics of seeds and cones were used to assess the genetic relatedness of this taxon on Ulleung Island with P. armandii in China and P. parviflora in Japan. This current study showed that Pinus armandii from China, P. parviflora from Japan, and P. parviflora populations of Ulleung Island formed distinct groups that were separated from each other. P. parviflora from Ulleung Island grouped with P. parviflora from Japan, rather than P. armandii from China based on the RAPD dendrogram and SNPs in matK. It is believed that P. parviflora on Ulleung Island is genetically well differentiated, indicating limited gene flow from Japan, although cones and seeds of P. parviflora on Ulleung Island are more similar to var. parviflora in southern Japan than P. armandii in central China. It seems that the entities that comprise P. parviflora exhibit widely overlapping ranges in morphological attributes except leaf length.