Genetic Diversity of Myroxylon peruiferum L.f. (Fabaceae), a Species with Medicinal Potential and Forest Restoration in the Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

The Atlantic Rainforest is one of the most important biomes of the world. It displays high biodiversity of plants, including those with in medicinal potential. The species Myroxylon peruiferum L. f. (Fabaceae ) whose metabolites have been shown to have activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium and M. kansasii, belongs to this group. The species also has great potential for reforestation in environmental recovery. The current study aims to estimate the reproductive system of the species M. peruiferum, as well as the genetic diversity found in restored and natural areas. Plants were collected from natural and restored areas of the Atlantic Rainforest and the genetic diversity was estimated by population parameters, allele frequency, observed and expected heterozygosity and F statistics. The reproductive system was estimated using the software MLTRwin. The average expected and observed heterozygosity for the populations was of 0.396 and 0.300, for restored and natural area, respectively. The average inbreeding coefficient for the population was 0.259. The figures indicate the existence of moderate to high genetic diversity within and among populations, intrapopulation diversity is slightly higher than the genetic diversity between populations. The multilocus outcrossing rate (t_m) was of 0.606 and the single-locus outcrossing rate (t_s) was of 0.569. The difference (t_m - t_s) was of 0.037, the biparental inbreeding was low. The specie has about 60.6% of the mating system attributed to outcrossing and 39.4% attributed to self-fertilization.