Genetic diversity of the endangered endemic milkvetch Astragalus sericeocanus Gontsch., Fabaceae from the Lake Baikal region

• Genetic diversity and population genetic structure in six populations of Astragalus sericeocanus, a rare species endemic to Lake Baikal, are studied.
• The Nei’s gene diversity (He) was estimated to be 0.112 within populations, and 0.191 at the species level.

Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to assess the genetic diversity and population genetic structure in six populations of Astragalus sericeocanus, a rare species endemic to the Lake Baikal region. Six selected primers amplified 91 bands with 87.9% being polymorphic. The Nei's gene diversity (He) was estimated to be 0.112 within populations (range 0.086–0.150), and 0.191 at the species level. The genetic differentiation among populations (GST) was 0.415. There is a significant relationship between genetic distance and geographic distance among the A. sericeocanus populations by Mantel's test. Low genetic diversity observed for A. sericeocanus may be imputed mainly to habitat degradation caused by human activity. There is an urgent need to take effective measures to protect A. sericeocanus against the loss of genetic diversity.