Genetic diversity of Pinus kesiya in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Abstract Four Pinus kesiya natural populations in the Central Highland region of Vietnam, separated from one another by distances of 75 to 380km, were examined using tetranucleotide microsatellite markers to evaluate their genetic diversity and population structure. The surveyed populations displayed relatively high level of genetic variation (HE = 0.671). Only between the Kon Tum and Dak Nong populations was the pairwise value FST significant. These two populations, separated by 300 km, also showed the greatest separation in the UPGMA cluster analysis using Nei’s pairwise genetic distance. The UPGMA analysis clustered the four populations into two geographic groups (1) the Kon Tum population, which is located in the North of the Central Highlands and (2) the remaining three populations (Gia Lai, Dak Nong and Dak Lak). Within group 2, Gia Lai and Dak Lak located in the center area of the Central Highland, clustered into the same subgroup with the southern Dak Nong population a single subgroup. This topology was essentially in agreement with the geographic distribution of the studied populations. The implications for conservation and development programs for this species are also reported and discussed.