Enzyme variation in natural populations of Sitka spruce (Piceasitchensis). 1. Genetic variation patterns among trees from 10 IUFRO provenances

Abstract

Genetic variation at 24 enzyme loci was studied for 10 IUFRO populations of Sitka spruce (Piceasitchensis (Bong.) Carr.). The average proportion of polymorphic loci per population was 0.51 ± 0.02 and the average proportion of heterozygous loci per individual was 0.15 ± 0.03. The following generalizations were advanced: (1) the amount of genetic polymorphism varied considerably from locus to locus; (2) many populations were similar in the amount and pattern of genetic variation for most loci; (3) but some loci had large differences among populations.Eight percent of the gene diversity was attributed to interpopulation differentiation; 92% of the total gene diversity resided within populations. Pairwise comparisons of genetic distances averaged 0.014, a value which reflected very little differentiation between geographic sources.