Genetic diversity of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) in the Thompson River valley of British Columbia

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Abstract
Bluebunch wheatgrass ( Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) A. Löve) is a cool-season perennial grass native to semi-arid regions of western North America and has been used for habitat restoration. However, the genetic diversity of this species is poorly understood. A total of 172 expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat (eSSR) primer pairs that had been developed for wheat were characterized for genetic diversity studies of bluebunch wheatgrass. Of these, 12 eSSR primer pairs were found to be informative and were applied to screen 216 plants collected from six locations with two different elevations in the Thompson River valley of British Columbia. These analyses revealed a total of 106 eSSR polymorphic alleles (or bands) scorable for each sample. The number of polymorphic bands per primer pair ranged from 2 to 17 with a mean of 8.8. The frequencies of these bands ranged from 0.005 to 0.995 and averaged 0.146. Most (92.6%) of the eSSR variation detected was present within the 12 populations assessed. The between-population eSSR variability was significantly associated with their geographic distances, but not with their elevations. These findings are useful for genetic diversity and genetic mapping studies of this grass species and should facilitate the sampling and development of bluebunch wheatgrass germplasm for germplasm conservation and habitat restoration.