Genetic Diversity in Annual Xerohalophytes of the Family Chenopodiaceae along Soil Moisture and Salinity Gradients

Abstract

Genetic polymorphism has been studied in populations of two annual xerohalophyte species of the family Chenopodiaceae, Atriplex tatarica and Sedobassia sedoides, growing on soils with different levels of soil moisture and sodium and potassium ion contents. A tendency toward decrease in the percentage of polymorphic loci in A. tatarica at higher soil salinity and increase in the observed heterozygosity of S. sedoides populations at higher levels of soil potassium has been revealed, with parameters of genetic variation in either species showing no dependence on soil moisture. Soil potassium deficiency is a stress factor for S. sedoides at both physiological and population-genetic levels. Mechanisms controlling sodium absorption and maintaining ion homeostasis and also a high level of homozygosity in S. sedoides indicate the improvement of stress tolerance in this annual species.