Identification of Populations of Korean Mistletoe (Viscum AlbumL. Var. Coloratum) from Gangwon-Do in Korea by AFLP

ABSTRACTAmplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was used to estimate genetic diversity among seven populations of Korean mistletoes (Viscum album L. var. coloratum) from Gangwon-Do in Korea. Out of the 64 primers, 5 produced steady, distinct and polymorphic fragments. Using 5 primers, 57 fragments were generated and 18 of these fragments (31.6%) were polymophic. The percentage of polymorphic fragments (PPB) for a single primer pair ranged from 14.3% to 57.1% with an average of 29.16%. In this study, the analysis showed that the average genetic diversity by Shannon's information index ranged from 0 to 1.00 within all populations. The genetic variation within populations (Havg/Ht) was 0.82, and the genetic variation between populations [(Ht—Havg)/Ht] was 0.18. The main factor responsible for this low level of differentiation between populations may be attributed to the limited geographic origin of the collection or the dispersal of plant material outside their original range, or high levels of gene flow between populations. Concerning the management of Korean mistletoes, the low genetic differentiation of populations indicates that we need to conserve more populations of Korean mistletoe.