DNA-based identification of Abies cephalonica, A. alba and their hybrid (A. × borisii-regis) at the individual-level

Abstract

Hybridization is a process of great importance in the ecology and evolution of plants. However, identifying hybrids is not an easy task, especially in cases of sympatry. Such cases are the Abies taxa in Greece; Silver fir (A. alba), Greek fir (A. cephalonica) and King Boris fir (A. × borisii-regis). The latter has been characterized as a hybrid between the first two species as its morphological traits are either a combination of the parental ones or intermediate. Besides the morphological traits, A. × borisii-regis has so far been identified only at the population level, with biochemical and DNA markers. Here, we describe the identification of A. × borisii-regis at the individual level by employing a species-specific marker in the cpDNA and another in mtDNA, taking advantage of their uniparental inheritance mode from the paternal and the maternal parent, respectively. In addition, based on these markers, essential information emerges on the distribution and the mtDNA diversity of the Abies taxa in Greece.

Keywords:

• Abies
• Abies × borisii-regis
• species-specific markers
• mtDNA
• cpDNA
• hybrid

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Prof. Dr. Thomas Geburek (BFW, Austria) and to Prof. Dr. Milic Curovic (University of Montenegro) for providing the A. alba material from Austria and Montenegro, respectively. ADD would also like to thank the local Forest Services of Greece for their help in sampling the Abies material from the Greek populations, and Dr. Despina Paitaridou for the fruitful discussion on the results of this work. The sampling was done after having obtained the appropriate permissions by the Ministry of Energy and Environment (Directorate for the Development and Protection of Forests and Natural Environment) and other competent authorities (where applicable) of Greece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research work was partially supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) under a PhD Fellowship grant to Evangelos Siskas (Fellowship Number: 1245).