Understanding the distribution of genetic patterns and structure is an essential target in population genetics and, thereby, important for conservation genetics. The main aim of our study was to investigate the population genetics of Usnea subfloridana, a widespread lichenised fungus, focusing on a comparison of genetic variation of its populations amongst three geographically remote and disconnected regions, in order to determine relationships amongst environmental data, variation in lichen secondary chemistry and microsatellite data in genotyped populations. In all, 928 Usnea thalli from 17 populations were genotyped using seven specific fungal microsatellite markers. Different measures of genetic diversity (allelic richness, private allelic richness, Nei's unbiased genetic diversity and clonal diversity) were calculated and compared between lichen populations. Our results revealed a low genetic differentiation of U. subfloridana populations amongst three distant areas in Estonia and also a high level of gene flow. The results support suggestion of the long-range vegetative dispersal of subpendulous U. subfloridana via symbiotic propagules (soralia, isidia or fragments of thalli). Our study has also provided evidence that environmental variables, including mean annual temperature and geographical longitude, shape the genetic structure of U. subfloridana populations in Estonia. Additionally, a weak but statistically significant correlation between lichen chemotypes and microsatellite allele distribution was found in genotyped specimens.

中文翻译：

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基于微卫星的爱沙尼亚广泛附生地衣松萝（Parmeliaceae，子囊菌门）的遗传多样性：来自大陆和岛屿的种群比较。

了解遗传模式和结构的分布是群体遗传学的一个重要目标，因此对于保护遗传学也很重要。我们研究的主要目的是调查松萝（一种广泛分布的地衣真菌）的群体遗传学，重点是比较三个地理位置偏远且互不相连的地区其群体的遗传变异，以确定环境数据、环境数据变异之间的关系。基因分型群体中的地衣二级化学和微卫星数据。总之，使用 7 个特定的真菌微卫星标记对来自 17 个种群的 928 个松萝菌体进行了基因分型。计算并比较了地衣种群之间遗传多样性的不同衡量标准（等位基因丰富度、私人等位基因丰富度、Nei's 无偏遗传多样性和克隆多样性）。我们的结果揭示了爱沙尼亚三个偏远地区的亚佛罗里达州 U. subfloridana 种群的遗传分化较低，并且基因流水平较高。结果支持下垂 U. subfloridana 通过共生繁殖体（soralia、isidia 或菌体碎片）进行远距离无性传播的建议。我们的研究还提供了证据表明，包括年平均温度和地理经度在内的环境变量塑造了爱沙尼亚亚佛罗里达州U. subfloridana种群的遗传结构。此外，在基因分型样本中发现地衣化学型与微卫星等位基因分布之间存在微弱但具有统计学意义的相关性。