Chloroplast microsatellite variation in Abies nordmanniana and simulation of causes for low differentiation among populations.

Fifteen populations of Abies nordmanniana, originating from all main parts of its distributional area in the Caucasian region, were genotyped for three chloroplast microsatellites as well as one mitochondrial marker. The chloroplast microsatellites were highly variable, resulting in a total of 111 haplotypes in 361 analysed individuals, while the mitochondrial marker showed no variation. Analysis of molecular variance attributed 2.1% of the variation in the microsatellites to be among populations, and no correlation between geographic distribution and genetic distances among populations could be observed. A simulation study was conducted to investigate to what extent the low genetic differentiation among populations could be a result of size homoplasy in the applied microsatellites. However, the simulations indicated that the low differentiation more likely is caused by high gene flow among populations