| Abstract [eng] |
Wild red raspberry is widely spread in Lithuania, but it is poorly studied genetically. The main objective of the thesis was to fill this gap and assess the level of genetic diversity in the germplasm collection of Vilnius University and nineteen natural wild red raspberry populations in Lithuania. The influence of some environmental (soil acidity) and geographical factors (altitude and latitude) on the morphological variation and pattern of RAPD diversity in red raspberry has been shown. This study has shown that most of the genetic variation was found within populations. A rather high level (26%) of genetic differentiation among red raspberry populations was also established. A low but significant level of differentiation was observed among populations from different agroclimatic regions. RAPD analysis suggests that local site differences can promote the genetic differentiation of populations. Our results show that the level of genetic diversity in the germplasm collection represents rather well the level of genetic variation in natural red raspberry populations. Wild raspberry has a potential to be used as a source of genetic variation for useful traits in the breeding program. The molecular characterization of the level of genetic diversity in the germplasm collection, genotyping of wild raspberry accessions, development of an optimal combination of primers for studying the polymorphic RAPD loci, evaluation of the representativeness of the collection can be valuable for the conservation and utilization of wild raspberry genetic resources. Our study of genetic structure of red raspberry populations provides new information about the biological and genetic properties of this species. |
