Genetic diversity and differentiation of natural populations of Pinus koraiensis (Sieb. et Zucc.) in Russia

Genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of nineteen Russian populations of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis SIEB. et Zucc.) were studied analyzing allozyme variation at 26 loci. On average, the mean number of alleles per locus was 1.93, the proportion of polymorphic loci (P-0.99) was 58.7%, the observed heterozygosity was 0.182 and the expected heterozygosity was 0.183. Only 1.5% of the total genetic variability was due to variation among populations. The mean value of NEI's genetic distance (0.003) confirmed that interpopulational differentiation is low. The resulting values of genetic variation were lower in the population group of the Maliy Khingan - Kukan mountain ranges, than in the population group of the Sikhote Alin - Low Amur mountain ranges. The high gene diversity of the Sikhote Alin and Low Amur mountain range populations may provide some support to the hypothesis about longterm existence of Korean pine in these areas.