Genetic diversity
Cerasus serrulata is a widely distributed species in China of the
genus Cerasus and is involved in the subtropical and temperate
monsoon climate zones. Both cpDNA (H d=0.828,P i=1.490) and ITS
(R d=0.673, P i= 2.521)
analysis proved a high genetic diversity of C. serrulata , higher
than wild C. pseudocerasus (cpDNA: h =0.557, π =2.09)
(Chen et al., 2015). The diversity based on ITS sequences was lower thanC. dielsiana (ITS: H d=0.879, π=3.56) (Zhu et al. ,
2019), which was ought to be a result of less sampling, might not really
mean a lower diversity level. The broad spreading pattern, allowed by
its high adaptation ability, must be a significant reason for the high
diversity, since diverse topographies such as alps, mountains and hills,
as well as plains, additionally along with different climate zones have
provided variant habitats for C. serrulata during adaptation in
diffusion which impelled variations and high diversity. Obviously, large
sampling, covering the most of its natural distribution records, was
also a fundamental factor. Besides, another reason may be the long
evolutionary history of C. serrulata , which was dated back to
10.60 Mya, even earlier than C. dielsiana (6.28 Mya) (Zhu et al.,
2019), because the long existence allowed a more multiple accumulation
of variants, especially strengthened by a wide and strong adaptation.