3.2 | Genetic Distance and Relationships Among
Populations
The cluster analysis showed group formations among the Culimo, Cocalán
and Candelaria populations, with support of 72.2%; while the Viña del
Mar/Valparaíso population was separated from the other populations
(Figure 2, Table 4). In the PCO, the first two axes explained 61.4% of
the variance (35.0% and 26.4% respectively). There was relative
proximity between the Culimo, Cocalán and Candelaria group and the
Petorca population, while the Ocoa and Viña del Mar/Valparaíso
populations remained in opposite peripheries (Figure 3). Mantel test
results (with spearman correlation and 719 permutations) indicated that
Nei’s (1972) genetic distance matrix did not significantly correlate
with the geographic distance matrix (r = -0.214, P = 0.799),i.e ., the nearest populations did not have lower values of
genetic differentiation.