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Molecular evidence for natural hybridization in the mangrove fern genus Acrostichum.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Natural hybridization is prevalent in ferns, and plays an important role in fern evolution and speciation. In the Indo West-Pacific region, the mangrove fern genus Acrostichum consists of two largely sympatric species, A. aureum and A. speciosum. Although there has been no report of interspecific hybridization before, we found some individuals morphologically intermediate between them in Guangdong and Hainan, China, for the first time, which were suspected to be hybrids. In this study, we aimed to test the hypothesis of natural hybridization between A. aureum and A. speciosum in Guangdong and Hainan using three low-copy nuclear genes. A chloroplast intergenic spacer was used to infer the hybridization direction once the hybrid status was confirmed. In addition, we examined spore shapes and germination for these taxa. RESULTS:Both A. aureum and A. speciosum showed a low level of polymorphism at all three nuclear genes; however, they were well separated at these loci. At both locations, each individual of the putative hybrid showed additivity in chromatograms at all sites where the two species showed fixed differences. Haplotype analysis at all three nuclear genes indicated that each individual of the putative hybrid possessed two haplotypes, matching with those of A. aureum and A. speciosum, respectively. Sequencing of the chloroplast trnV-trnM regions showed that A. aureum differed from A. speciosum by eleven nucleotide substitutions and three indels (insertions/deletions), and all sampled individuals of the putative hybrid had the identical sequences with A. speciosum. Compared with A. aureum and A. speciosum, the putative hybrid had much reduced spore germination rate. CONCLUSIONS:Sequence data of the three nuclear genes provide compelling evidence for natural hybridization between A. aureum and A. speciosum, and all the hybrid individuals are likely F1s. The hybridization is unidirectional and A. speciosum is the maternal parent of the hybrid based on the assumption of maternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA. Human disturbance on mangrove habitats may facilitate the establishment of hybrids of Acrostichum.

SUBMITTER: Zhang R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3668252 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular evidence for natural hybridization in the mangrove fern genus Acrostichum.

Zhang Rongshu R Liu Ting T Wu Wei W Li Yunqin Y Chao Lifang L Huang Lishi L Huang Yelin Y Shi Suhua S Zhou Renchao R

BMC plant biology 20130501

<h4>Background</h4>Natural hybridization is prevalent in ferns, and plays an important role in fern evolution and speciation. In the Indo West-Pacific region, the mangrove fern genus Acrostichum consists of two largely sympatric species, A. aureum and A. speciosum. Although there has been no report of interspecific hybridization before, we found some individuals morphologically intermediate between them in Guangdong and Hainan, China, for the first time, which were suspected to be hybrids. In th ...[more]

PMID: 23634934

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Project description:Hybridization accompanied by polyploidization and apomixis has been demonstrated as a driving force in the evolution and speciation of many plants. A good example to study the evolutionary process of hybridization associated with polyploidy and apomixis is the genus Cotoneaster (Rosaceae), which includes approximately 150 species, most of which are polyploid apomicts. In this study, we investigated all Cotoneaster taxa distributed in a small region of Malipo, Yunnan, China. Based on the morphological characteristics, four Cotoneaster taxa were identified and sampled: C. dielsianus, C. glaucophyllus, C. franchetii, and a putative hybrid. Flow cytometry analyses showed that C. glaucophyllus was diploid, while the other three taxa were tetraploid. A total of five low-copy nuclear genes and six chloroplast regions were sequenced to validate the status of the putative hybrid. Sequence analyses showed that C. dielsianus and C. glaucophyllus are distantly related and they could be well separated using totally 50 fixed nucleotide substitutions and four fixed indels at the 11 investigated genes. All individuals of the putative hybrid harbored identical sequences: they showed chromatogram additivity for all fixed differences between C. dielsianus and C. glaucophyllus at the five nuclear genes, and were identical with C. glaucophyllus at the six chloroplast regions. Haplotype analysis revealed that C. dielsianus possessed nine haplotypes for the 11 genes, while C. glaucophyllus had ten, and there were no shared haplotypes between the two species. The putative hybrid harbored two haplotypes for each nuclear gene: one shared with C. dielsianus and the other with C. glaucophyllus. They possessed the same chloroplast haplotype with C. glaucophyllus. Our study provided convincing evidence for natural hybridization between C. dielsianus and C. glaucophyllus, and revealed that all hybrid individuals were derivatives of one initial F1 via apomixes. C. glaucophyllus served as the maternal parent at the initial hybridization event. We proposed that anthropological disturbance provided an opportunity for hybridization between C. dielsianus and C. glaucophyllus, and a tetraploid F1 successfully bred many identical progenies via apomixis. Under this situation, species integrity could be maintained for these Cotoneaster species, but attentions should be kept for this new-born hybrid.

Project description:BackgroundThe fern genus Dryopteris (Dryopteridaceae) is among the most common and species rich fern genera in temperate forests in the northern hemisphere containing 225-300 species worldwide. The circumscription of Dryopteris has been controversial and various related genera have, over the time, been included in and excluded from Dryopteris. The infrageneric phylogeny has largely remained unclear, and the placement of the majority of the supraspecific taxa of Dryopteris has never been tested using molecular data.ResultsIn this study, DNA sequences of four plastid loci (rbcL gene, rps4-trnS spacer, trnL intron, trnL-F spacer) were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Dryopteris. A total of 122 accessions are sampled in our analysis and they represent 100 species of the expanded Dryopteris including Acrophorus, Acrorumohra, Diacalpe, Dryopsis, Nothoperanema, and Peranema. All four subgenera and 19 sections currently recognized in Dryopteris s.s. are included. One species each of Arachniodes, Leptorumohra, and Lithostegia of Dryopteridaceae are used as outgroups. Our study confirms the paraphyly of Dryopteris and provides the first strong molecular evidence on the monophyly of Acrophorus, Diacalpe, Dryopsis, Nothoperanema, and Peranema. However, all these monophyletic groups together with the paraphyletic Acrorumohra are suggested to be merged into Dryopteris based on both molecular and morphological evidence. Our analysis identified 13 well-supported monophyletic groups. Each of the 13 clades is additionally supported by morphological synapomophies and is inferred to represent a major evolutionary lineage in Dryopteris. In contrast, monophyly of the four subgenera and 15 out of 19 sections currently recognized in Dryopteris s.s is not supported by plastid data.ConclusionsThe genera, Acrophorus, Acrorumohra, Diacalpe, Dryopsis, Nothoperanema, and Peranema, should all be merged into Dryopteris. Most species of these genera share a short rhizome and catadromic arrangement of frond segments, unlike the sister genus of Dryopteris s.l., Arachniodes, which has anadromic arrangement of frond segments. The non-monophyly of the 19 out of the 21 supraspecific taxa (sections, subgenera) in Dryopteris strongly suggests that the current taxonomy of this genus is in need of revision. The disagreement between the previous taxonomy and molecular results in Dryopteris may be due partly to interspecific hybridization and polyplodization. More morphological studies and molecular data, especially from the nuclear genome, are needed to thoroughly elucidate the evolutionary history of Dryopteris. The 13 well-supported clades identified based on our data represent 13 major evolutionary lineages in Dryopteris that are also supported by morphological synapomophies.

Project description:Microbial communities are an important component of mangrove ecosystems. In order to reveal the diversity of endophytic fungi in the mangrove ferns Acrostichum speciosum and A. aureum in China, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of endophytic fungi in four plant tissues (leaves, petioles, roots, and rhizomes) from three locations (Zhanjiang, Haikou, and Wenchang) were sequenced. The richness, species composition, and community similarity were analyzed. The main results are as follows: the dominant fungi in A. speciosum and A. aureum belonged to the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, accounting for more than 75% of the total identified fungi; in terms of species composition at the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) level, the endophytic fungi in A. aureum were more diverse than those in A. speciosum, and the endophytic fungi in rhizomes were more diverse than in other tissues. In Zhanjiang, both A. speciosum and A. aureum showed the richest diversity of endophytic fungi, both at the OTU classification level and in terms of species composition. Conversely, the richness of endophytic fungi in the samples of A. speciosum from Wenchang and Haikou is extremely low. The regional differences in dominant fungi increase with the degrading of taxonomic levels, and there were also significant differences in the number of unique fungi among different origins, with Zhanjiang samples having a larger number of unique fungi than the other locations. There were significant differences in the dominant fungi among different tissues, with Xylariales being the dominant fungi in rhizomes of A. speciosum and Hypocreales being the dominant fungi in the petioles, roots, and rhizomes of A. aureum. Overall, the community similarity of endophytic fungi among locations is moderately dissimilar (26-50%), while the similarity between tissues is moderately similar (51-75%). The low diversity of endophytic fungi could be one of the main reasons for the endangerment of A. speciosum. The protection of the diversity of endophytic fungi in the underground parts of A. speciosum is essential for the conservation of this critically endangered mangrove fern.

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Molecular evidence for natural hybridization in the mangrove fern genus Acrostichum.

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Molecular evidence for natural hybridization in the mangrove fern genus Acrostichum.

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