Primers for four loci that amplify cpDNA regions have been designed for population genetic analyses in Dicranum scoparium Hedw. and compared with trnL(UAA)5'exon-trnF. All loci showed intraspecific variation with a number of haplotypes ranging between two and six. trnH-psbA(Dic) showed an intercontinental disjunction, but no variability within the four Swiss populations surveyed, whereas the three remaining loci displayed intrapopulation variability in at least one population (rps19-rpl2, rpoB, trnT-rps4). These primers were additionally tested on 22 bryophytes and three fern species. The primers amplified mostly in mosses and liverworts, but less well in ferns, pointing to their evolutionary distance from the bryophytes.
© 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.