Genetic structure of natural populations of Acacia auriculiformis in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Abstract

Preliminary results are briefly reported from isoenzyme analyses at 22 loci representing 17 enzymes in 18 provenances of Acacia auriculiformis from Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. Genetic variability was determined using 12 isoenzyme loci. On average, 39.8% of the loci were polymorphic, with average and effective numbers of alleles per locus of 1.5 and 1.1, respectively. Mean observed and expected heterozygosity across provenances were 0.071 and 0.081, respectively. Genetic differentiation between provenances was high (G_ST = 0.270), indicating that about 73% of isoenzyme variation was among progenies within provenances. Based on estimates of Nei's unbiased genetic distance, provenances from Northern Territory were closely related, and those from Queensland were more closely related to those from Papua New Guinea.