Population genetic variation in sainfoin (Fabaceae) revealed by RAPD markers

Studies on plants show that populations growing on the stressful environments indicate higher levels of genetic diversity, and that in outcrossing species majority of total genetic variation allocated to within population rather than between populations. We compared the level of genetic variation between populations growing in stressful and normal environments, and measured levels of within- and between population genetic variations in Onobrychis viciifolia L. (Sainfoin, Fabaceae) based on RAPDs. Our results show that populations growing on he stressful environment i.e. saline soils indicated either the lowest 0.2466) or highest (0.3186) within-population genetic variation based on Nei’s diversity. That disagrees with Niche-Width Variation Theory, which expects highest genetic diversity within stressful populations. Partitioning the total genetic variation by analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that 89.03% of total genetic diversity allocated to within populations while 10.97% of this variation dedicated to among populations, indicating predominantly outcrossing mode of pollination in sainfoin. The two population pairs growing under similar environmental stresses (cold climate and saline soil) showed higher genetic similarity. This may suggest that RAPDs patterns reflex selection rather than random drift.