Mitochondrial and chloroplast haplotype variation in Norway spruce (Picea abies) indicatea markedf ounder effect during postglacial re-colonisationo f the Alps

Abstract

Organelle genomes provide suitable molecular markers to elucidate migration pathways because they are uniparentally inherited. Recombination is merely absent, and effective population size is lower than that of nuclear loci. In most conifers, cytoplasmic organelles are differentially inherited: mitochondrial (mt) DNA is maternally transferred as in most angiosperms, whereas paternal inheritance is the rule rather than the exception for chloroplast (cp) DNA. As a consequence, mtDNA markers are dispersed through seed only.
whereas cpDNA markers are spread through pollen and through seed. This differentially affects the geographic patterns of genetic variation derived from molecular markers of either of the two genomes and thus influences the detected degrees of population differentiation.