Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Analysis of Wild Cymbidium tortisepalum Based on Chloroplast DNA in Yunnan Province of China

Cymbidium tortisepalum is a primary orchid species in Yunnan Province, China, and has an extremely high ornamental and economic value. To reveal the levels and distribution of genetic variation and structure of wild C. tortisepalum resources, sequence variations of six chloroplast DNA intergenic spacers (psbM-trnD, trnV-trnA, accD-psal, rrn23, trnk-rps16, and ycf1) were analyzed in 404 wild individuals from 28 populations in the three river area in Yunnan Province, China. The results showed that the six chloroplast DNA sequences were aligned with 61 polymorphic sites, including 50 indels and 11 haplotypes in 404 individuals, which revealed a low level of genetic diversity (total genetic diversity = 0.240, and the average value of nucleotide diversity = 0.00024). In addition, a fairly low genetic differentiation [coefficients for genetic differentiation among populations (GST) = 0.099, number of substitution (NST) = 0.081] was found among the studied populations, and NST value was less than GST, which indicated that no significant phylogeographic structure existed in those populations. Furthermore, analysis of molecular variance revealed that great genetic variance (91%) came from individuals within the populations, which indicated that there was no clear genetic differentiation among populations. On the basis of these findings, a conservation plan was proposed to sample or preserve fewer populations but with more individuals from each population.