Genetic survey of Rhodiola rosea L. populations from the Swiss Alps based on SSR markers

Rhodiola rosea is a perennial adaptogenic medicinal plant found in the cool climates of the northern hemisphere. This species is highly variable both in morphological and phytochemical traits. The genetic diversity of five populations located in the Swiss Alps was studied with twelve SSR markers. However, only eight markers turned out to be informative in this study. The primer pairs for these eight SSR markers produced 37 fragments. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to eight. The observed heterozygosity was between 0.09 and 1.0, whereas the expected heterozygosity was between 0.13 and 0.72. The genetic diversity was in the same range for all five populations. Principal coordinate analysis revealed that individuals from different populations did not cluster together, which confirmed that diversity within and among the populations were almost equivalent. The genetic fragmentation of this alpine species despite of its fragmented and isolated habitats, did not happened yet. The results of the present study on the genetic diversity were consistent with an earlier study on the chemical diversity with the same individuals.