THE TETRAPOD DNA FINGERPRINTING M-13 REPEAT PROBE REVEALS GENETIC DIVERSITY AND CLONAL GROWTH IN QUAKING ASPEN (POPULUS-TREMULOIDES, SALICACEAE)

A recently developed class of DNA endonuclease fragment probes (variously termed "minisatellite," "DNA fingerprinting," or "variable number tandem repeat loci" probes) has detected extensive intraspecific genetic variation in tetrapods. Here we use one probe from this class, the M 13 repeat probe (shown previously to yield "DNA fingerprints" in humans) to examine genetic diversity in the quaking aspen. Comparisons of endonuclease fragment profiles of individuals separated by at least 6 km reveals that diversification of alleles in this species has occurred to such an extent that the likelihood of two randomly chosen individuals having indistinguishable HaeIII fragment profiles is c. 3.17 x 10(-4). Based on this finding, members of interdigitating clones can be assigned to one or another clone with high statistical confidence. Interdigitating, morphologically cryptic clones were also identifiable. These results demonstrate that some minisatellite probes can be applied to very distant taxa to obtain useful information about genetic variation.