Utility of two mitochondrial markers for identification of Picea abies refugial origin

Picea abies (L.) Karst is one of the most important coniferous species of Europe from both ecological and economical points of view. Traditional methods for the gene pool conservation and biodiversity maintenance in forest ecosystems have been practiced in many countries. For progress in this field using highly polymorphic genetic molecular markers is needed. Our goal was to demonstrate the utility of two polymorphic mitochondrial markers mt15-D02 and nad1 b/c in identification native Norway spruce stands. This molecular markers were tested in 1401 individuals from 59 Polish Norway spruce populations. We detected three alleles, which are called1, 2 and3, for locus mt15-D02 and two alleles , which are called1 and2, for locus nad1 b/c in our material. All five variants of alleles indicate the natural origin of P. abies. Result of this study shows that molecular marker mt15-D02 is easy to use and more informative in compare to marker nad1 b/c.