Genetic Diversity and Demographic History of Wild and Cultivated/Naturalised Plant Populations: Evidence from Dalmatian Sage (Salvia officinalis L., Lamiaceae).

Dalmatian sage (Salvia officinalis L., Lamiaceae) is a well-known aromatic and medicinal Mediterranean plant that is native in coastal regions of the western Balkan and southern Apennine Peninsulas and is commonly cultivated worldwide. It is widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Knowledge of its genetic diversity and spatiotemporal patterns is important for plant breeding programmes and conservation. We used eight microsatellite markers to investigate evolutionary history of indigenous populations as well as genetic diversity and structure within and among indigenous and cultivated/naturalised populations distributed across the Balkan Peninsula. The results showed a clear separation between the indigenous and cultivated/naturalised groups, with the cultivated material originating from one restricted geographical area. Most of the genetic diversity in both groups was attributable to differences among individuals within populations, although spatial genetic analysis of indigenous populations indicated the existence of isolation by distance. Geographical structuring of indigenous populations was found using clustering analysis, with three sub-clusters of indigenous populations. The highest level of gene diversity and the greatest number of private alleles were found in the central part of the eastern Adriatic coast, while decreases in gene diversity and number of private alleles were evident towards the northwestern Adriatic coast and southern and eastern regions of the Balkan Peninsula. The results of Ecological Niche Modelling during Last Glacial Maximum and Approximate Bayesian Computation suggested two plausible evolutionary trajectories: 1) the species survived in the glacial refugium in southern Adriatic coastal region with subsequent colonization events towards northern, eastern and southern Balkan Peninsula; 2) species survived in several refugia exhibiting concurrent divergence into three genetic groups. The insight into genetic diversity and structure also provide the baseline data for conservation of S. officinalis genetic resources valuable for future breeding programmes.

Essential oil composition variability among natural populations of Pinus mugo Turra in Kosovo.

Pinus mugo Turra, is a native pine species in central and southern Europe, growing in high mountains area (altitudes 1.800-2.300 m.a.s.l.). In Kosovo, it is one of the native pines too, distributed in high altitudes in the Sharri Mountains and Albanian Alps Mountains. Its populations represent an important wealth of essential oil resources available, which make this species very important in terms of economic values. The chemical composition and yields of the essential oils of dwarf pine (Pinus mugo Turra) needles, twigs and cones from six wild populations in Kosovo were investigated with the aim to assess their natural variability. The identity of P. mugo was confirmed by morphology and DNA barcoding. Sixty-two compounds were identified representing 69-95 % of the total identified compounds. The yield ranged from 0.3-0.8 % v/w in needles, 1.0-2.4 % v/w in twigs and 0.1-0.5 % v/w in cones, depending on the origin of plant material and plant organs. α-Pinene (needles: 16.9-24.5 %; twigs: 4.5-8.8 %; cones: 3.1-5.6 %), ß-pinene (needles: 1.5-5.4 %; twigs: 2.2-15.4 %; cones: 1.3-14.2 %), δ-3-carene (needles: 15.4-27.8 %; twigs: 24.0-51.6 %; cones: 10.5-31.5 %), limonene + ß-phellandrene (needles: 1.9-5.9 %; twigs: 12.6-24.2 %; cones: 2.1-9.3 %), (E)-caryophyllene (needles: 4.4-8.9 %; twigs: 4.0-10.8 %; cones: 10.3-26.9 %) and germacrene D (needles: 4.0-8.3 %; twigs: 0.2-6.19 %; cones: 0.1-12.4 %) were the major components of the essential oil. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analyses (HCA) suggests that the population of P. mugo clustering is not related to their geographic location, but rather seemed to be linked to local selective forces acting on chemotype diversity. Low variability related to their geographic location has an economic importance since samples originating from different locations in Kosovo can treated with same standards.