Maintenance of Genetic Structure in Progenies of Marginal Mountainous and Steppe Populations of Three Species of Pinaceae Lindl. Family in Ukraine

Comparative investigations of the genetic variation have been conducted at 8 to 10 polymorphic allozyme loci in samples of embryos and maternal plants from marginal populations of Abies alba Mill., Pinus pallasiana D. Don and Pinus sylvestris var cretacea Kalenicz. ex Kom. in Ukraine. It was found that the allele frequencies of the loci analysed were maintained in progenies of maternal plants of these populations. However, the population genotype structure of embryos was shifted towards an excess of homozygous genotypes. The highly variable loci of the maternal plants make the greatest contribution to the homozygotation of progenies.