Multitrait Screening and SSR Fingerprinting of Calligonum Section Medusa Individuals for Desert Ecological Restoration
- 1College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, , Urumqi 830052, China; (M.D.); (Y.Y.); (J.Z.)
- 2State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, , , Urumqi 830011, China; (Z.L.); (X.W.); (J.Z.)
Abstract
Calligonum sect. Medusa is an important resource for desert ecological restoration, but practical criteria for elite germplasm screening and reliable methods for identity verification remain limited. We evaluated 13 morphological, physiological, and biochemical traits in 121 individuals conserved ex situ at the Turpan Campus of Yili-Tupan National Botanical Garden (electable) using principal component analysis, membership-function evaluation, hierarchical clustering, and stepwise regression; 20 individuals were further genotyped at 13 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci. Trait coefficients of variation ranged from 6.54% to 53.79%, and five principal components explained 68.40% of the total variation. Five candidate elite individuals (ZLY37, ZLY40, ZLY44, ZLY38, and ZLY01) were identified. A reduced six-trait model retained crown width, predawn water potential, plant height, soluble sugar content, plant-form integrity, and assimilating-branch length, from which preliminary empirical reference thresholds were derived. Of the 13 SSR loci, 10 were polymorphic (mean PIC = 0.357), and a candidate five-locus panel distinguished the same 20 individuals used for its selection and enabled fingerprint construction for the five candidates. This study provides a practical framework for preliminary elite germplasm screening and molecular identity verification in Calligonum sect. Medusa, supporting desert ecological restoration, germplasm management, and subsequent cultivar development.
Related
- Effects of Different Ecological Restoration Treatments on Plant Functional Group Characteristics and Nitrogen and Phosphorus Stoichiometry in Alpine Semi-Humid Sandy Land
- A mismatch in wildfire impact reduction and ecological restoration in western U.S. fuel treatments
- Interactions Between Mycorrhizal Fungi and Mycorrhiza Helper Bacteria: Mechanisms, Ecological Functions, and Potential Applications in Sustainable Agriculture and Ecological Restoration
- Applying ecological thresholds to inform conservation and restoration efforts for stream fishes
- Integrating MaxEnt and MaxNet for climate-resilient habitat restoration: Predicting the ecological niche of Eucalyptus tereticornis in semi-arid landscapes
BibTeX
@article{du2026multitrait,
title = {{Multitrait Screening and SSR Fingerprinting of Calligonum Section Medusa Individuals for Desert Ecological Restoration}},
author = {Mingzhi Du and Yinjuan Yao and Zhongchen Lu and Jing Zhang and Xiyong Wang and Jing Zhang and Jiancheng Wang and Wei Shi},
journal = {Plants (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/plants15203169},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13708842},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Multitrait Screening and SSR Fingerprinting of Calligonum Section Medusa Individuals for Desert Ecological Restoration
AU - Mingzhi Du
AU - Yinjuan Yao
AU - Zhongchen Lu
AU - Jing Zhang
AU - Xiyong Wang
AU - Jing Zhang
AU - Jiancheng Wang
AU - Wei Shi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
DO - 10.3390/plants15203169
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13708842
AB - Calligonum sect. Medusa is an important resource for desert ecological restoration, but practical criteria for elite germplasm screening and reliable methods for identity verification remain limited. We evaluated 13 morphological, physiological, and biochemical traits in 121 individuals conserved ex situ at the Turpan Campus of Yili-Tupan National Botanical Garden (electable) using principal component analysis, membership-function evaluation, hierarchical clustering, and stepwise regression; 20 individuals were further genotyped at 13 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci. Trait coefficients of variation ranged from 6.54% to 53.79%, and five principal components explained 68.40% of the total variation. Five candidate elite individuals (ZLY37, ZLY40, ZLY44, ZLY38, and ZLY01) were identified. A reduced six-trait model retained crown width, predawn water potential, plant height, soluble sugar content, plant-form integrity, and assimilating-branch length, from which preliminary empirical reference thresholds were derived. Of the 13 SSR loci, 10 were polymorphic (mean PIC = 0.357), and a candidate five-locus panel distinguished the same 20 individuals used for its selection and enabled fingerprint construction for the five candidates. This study provides a practical framework for preliminary elite germplasm screening and molecular identity verification in Calligonum sect. Medusa, supporting desert ecological restoration, germplasm management, and subsequent cultivar development.
SN - 2223-7747
ER -