QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION OF DNA PER CELL INPICEA GLAUCAANDPINUS BANKSIANA

Abstract

Intraspecific variation of DNA per cell was established chemically and cytophotometrically for 17 seed sources of Picea glauca, and cytophotometrically for 11 sources of Pinus banksiana. The DNA Feulgen absorption per cell varied from the lowest to the highest amount by factors of 1.6 and 1.5 for Picea glauca and Pinus banksiana, respectively. Intraspecific DNA also varies with intraspecific nuclear volume. Intraspecific variation of histone was similar to the observed DNA variation. A regression analysis between DNA per cell and latitude provided evidence that eastern and western population series of Picea glauca existed in the seed sources studied. Two-year seedling height growth results demonstrated that eastern seed sources are different from western seed sources. Seedling height in the western provenances varied inversely with DNA content; i.e., seed sources with small DNA per cell displayed greater growth, whereas the eastern sources did not display the inverse relationship between DNA amount and 2-year growth.