Genetic structure in populations of Euterpe precatoria Mart. in the Brazilian Amazon

Euterpe precatoria is a palm tree belonging to the Arecaceae family,
occurring in Western and Central Brazilian Amazonia Its fruit, which is
very appreciated in the Amazon region, produces pulp that is consumed in
fresh form. Its production is carried out almost exclusively by extractive
farmers. In order to establish adequate strategies to sustain this genetic
resource. We need knowledge about its diversity and genetic structure in
natural populations. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of
geographic distance on genetic structure in the main extractive
populations of E. precatoria in the Brazilian Amazon. Leaves from 377
plants were collected in 19 populations located in 16 municipalities in
the State of Amazonas and three in the State of Rondônia. Twelve
microsatellite loci were used to genotype the plants. The diversity and
genetic structure among populations were estimated. The average number of
alleles per locus was 5.97. The observed heterozygosity means (HO) were
higher than expected (HE) at the population level (HO = 0.72, HE = 0.66)
and fixation index (f = -0.100) was negative. The FST value (0.1820) and
the AMOVA results (17.961) showed population structure. The populations
were clustered into three groups (K = 3) in Bayesian analysis. The
Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components (DAPC) confirmed eight
clusters, with the populations close to those identified by the Bayesian
analysis. The geographic differentiation was confirmed by the groupings
obtained in the analyses by the Structure program and the DACP function.
Information related to phenotypic, genetic and environmental
characterization of populations is important to guide conservation and
management strategies and the formulation of public species management
policies in Amazonian.