Genetic diversity of Styrax obassia Sieb. et Zucc. based on AFLP markers

• Genetic diversity and relationships of Styrax obassia from five natural populations using AFLP markers were studied.
• High genetic diversity was revealed at the species and the population levels.
• Most of the genetic differentiation existed within populations.
• A strategy for the conservation of S. obassia was proposed.

Styrax obassia Sieb. et Zucc. is an industrially important landscape tree that produces storax, a resin with pharmacological properties. Studies were initiated to analyze the genetic diversity and relationships of 76 individuals of S. obassia from five natural populations using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers in Shandong Province, China. Eight AFLP primers selected from 64 primers were used to generate 1343 discernible DNA bands, of which 1338 (99.6%) were polymorphic. High genetic diversity was revealed at the species level (number of different alleles Na = 1.9960, number of effective alleles Ne = 1.2782, Nei's gene diversity H = 0.1764, Shannon's information index I = 0.2883) and at the population level (H = 0.1451, I = 0.2289). At a similarity coefficient threshold of 0.57, all individuals were divided into three groups. The population KY1 localized in Mt. Kunyu harbored the most abundant genetic diversity. Most of the genetic differentiation existed within populations, while genetic differentiation among populations was 11.5% with P > 0.05. There was no significant correlation (r = 0.4727, P = 0.9106) between genetic distance and geographical distance among the populations. On the basis of these results, we propose a strategy for the conservation of S. obassia germplasm.