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Clonal identification by microsatellite loci in sporadic flowering of a dwarf bamboo species, Sasa cernua

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Abstract

Dwarf bamboo species are monocarpic. They flower simultaneously and die after several decades. The type of flowering in the genus Sasa ranges from sporadic to gregarious. In order to determine whether or not the sporadic flowering of dwarf bamboo is fixed genetically, we investigated the distribution of clones using eight microsatellite (SSR) loci in a sporadic flowering patch of Sasa cernua Makino, a major dwarf bamboo species found in central Hokkaido. In May 2006, flowering occurred on 60.5% of living culms in a 1600 m2 patch. We established a 50 × 10 m study plot in this patch and noted 1267 clumps consisting of 2529 living culms. We investigated all 1267 clumps and identified six multilocus genotypes as clones using five variable SSR loci. All flowering clumps belonged to the same clone. On the other hand, non-flowering vegetative clumps were also discovered to be of the same clone. These data suggest that all flowering culms originated from a single clone of a sporadic flowering patch of S. cernua. Clonal analysis for investigation of sporadic flowering of S. cernua revealed that only a portion of a clone flowers and dies instead of the whole clone.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yoshihisa Suyama and Teruyoshi Nagamitsu for their technical advice and discussions, and Wajiro Suzuki for critical reading of the manuscript. We are also grateful to Makoto Kobayashi, Yukiko Sakamoto, and Akiko Yonezawa for their assistance in field and laboratory. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (18580153, 20580167) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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  1. Forest Dynamics and Diversity Group, Hokkaido Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 7 Hitsujigaoka, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, 062-8516, Japan

    Keiko Kitamura & Takayuki Kawahara

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  1. Keiko Kitamura
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  2. Takayuki Kawahara
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Correspondence to Keiko Kitamura.

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Kitamura, K., Kawahara, T. Clonal identification by microsatellite loci in sporadic flowering of a dwarf bamboo species, Sasa cernua . J Plant Res 122, 299–304 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0220-1

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