RAPD profiling in biological conservation: An application to estimating clonal variation in rare and endangered Iliamna in Virginia

RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) profiling is a useful means of determining several genetic parameters of rare and endangered plants using minuscule amounts of leaf tissue. RAPD profiling economically and rapidly distinguishes among clonal genets and is useful for estimating both population-level and species-level genetic variation. In this study 85% of screened primers revealed DNA polymorphisms in Iliamna. Thirty-five polymorphic markers were generated using only two primers. Cluster and parsimony analysis provided additional evidence that the federally endangered Iliamna corei is genetically distinct from the recently introduced (in Virginia, perhaps 100 years) I. remota. Additionally, four clumps of plants in one Peters Mountain, Virginia population, which comprise the only extant I. corei in nature, were confirmed to be four genets that are genetically very similar to one another. Iliamna corei germplasm from seed accessions taken from duff at the Peters Mountain site had extensive genetic variation compared to the clones in the natural population.