DOT Project Number:  90-00-LRTF-020, 120, 203, 309

Fiscal Year:  2000-2003

Award:  $68,739.64

Principal Investigator:  Dr. James Jurgenson, Department of Biology, University of Northern Iowa, James.Jurgenson@uni.edu

Summary Report:

ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY OF IOWA'S NATIVE PLANT SPECIES USING THE BECKMAN CEQ 8000 GENETIC ANALYZER

DNA has been isolated from individual plants of Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), Oxeye false-sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida), Rough blazing-star, (Liatris aspera), Compass plant (Silphium laciniatum), and Stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida). Plants are derived from Iowa ecotype plots from collections made in the following counties: Cherokee, Clay, Osceola, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Iowa, Dubuque, Webster, Adair, Chickasaw, Bremer, Hamilton, Marshall, Cedar, Appanoose, Floyd, Hancock, Butler, Johnson, Hardin, Jasper, Black Hawk, Lucas, Union, Cerro Gordo, Kossuth, Emmett, Fayette, Story, Calhoun, Lucas, and Adair. DNA isolated from individual plants of these species was analyzed using the fluorescent AFLP technique on the Beckman CEQ8000 Genetic analyzer. This method of genomic genetic analysis has revealed a high level of genetic variability in native plant species. In most species individual remnant populations can be shown to have a distinct genetic profile with respect to other small populations separated by distances as short as 50 miles.

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