Comparison of genetic variability in Aletes humilis, a rare plant species, and its common relative Aletes acaulis in Colorado

LINHART, Y.B. & A.C. PREMOLI

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY

BOTANICAL SOC AMER INC

Año: 1993 p. 598 - 605

0002-9122

We compared the organization of genetic variability in Aletes humilis, a species restricted to seven populations in north-central Colorado, with A. acaulis, a closely related widespread species. Genetic variability was scored at 11 electrophoretically detectable protein loci. Nine of these loci were polymorphic (i.e., P>0.95) in both taxa, and were used for interpopulation and interespecific comparisons. Levels of genetic variability and patterns of organization of this variability are very comparable in both species. In contrat to many other narrow endemics, A. humilis is not genetically depauperate when compared to its presumed progenitor. Both biochemical and morhological evidence suggest that A. humilis is derived from A. acaulis; the comparable levels of variability in the two species suggest that A. humilis was derived from a source containing a substancial portion of the original A. acaulis genome, because there is no evidence of a genetic bottleneck or appreciable loss of allelic variability.