Scientific publications

In natural populations of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., occupying northern limits of the species range (Karelia), the level of genetic and morphophysiological diversity was evaluated. Variability of 12 morphophysiological quantitative traits and 100 RAPD loci was tested in two insular and four mainland populations. The considerable genetic diversity revealed (P = 45.96%; Hexp= 0.138) was not typical of self-pollinating plant species. It was demonstrated that genetic differentiation among the populations was rather high (39.4 %), as expected of self-pollinating species. The level of within- and amongpopulation variation of morphophysiological traits was high too, the most essential differences being between insular and mainland populations. It was suggested that the high level of Arabidopsis population polymorphism in Karelia could be associated with extreme growing conditions at the northern limits of the species range.