Dataset Information

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and plastid DNA sequences support dysploid and polyploid chromosome number changes and reticulate evolution in the diversification of Melampodium (Millerieae, Asteraceae).

ABSTRACT: Chromosome evolution (including polyploidy, dysploidy, and structural changes) as well as hybridization and introgression are recognized as important aspects in plant speciation. A suitable group for investigating the evolutionary role of chromosome number changes and reticulation is the medium-sized genus Melampodium (Millerieae, Asteraceae), which contains several chromosome base numbers (x=9, 10, 11, 12, 14) and a number of polyploid species, including putative allopolyploids. A molecular phylogenetic analysis employing both nuclear (ITS) and plastid (matK) DNA sequences, and including all species of the genus, suggests that chromosome base numbers are predictive of evolutionary lineages within Melampodium. Dysploidy, therefore, has clearly been important during evolution of the group. Reticulate evolution is evident with allopolyploids, which prevail over autopolyploids and several of which are confirmed here for the first time, and also (but less often) on the diploid level. Within sect. Melampodium, the complex pattern of bifurcating phylogenetic structure among diploid taxa overlain by reticulate relationships from allopolyploids has non-trivial implications for intrasectional classification.

SUBMITTER: Bloch C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4268500 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and plastid DNA sequences support dysploid and polyploid chromosome number changes and reticulate evolution in the diversification of Melampodium (Millerieae, Asteraceae).

Blöch Cordula C Weiss-Schneeweiss Hanna H Schneeweiss Gerald M GM Schneeweiss Gerald M GM Barfuss Michael H J MH Rebernig Carolin A CA Villaseñor José Luis JL Stuessy Tod F TF

Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 20090309 1

Chromosome evolution (including polyploidy, dysploidy, and structural changes) as well as hybridization and introgression are recognized as important aspects in plant speciation. A suitable group for investigating the evolutionary role of chromosome number changes and reticulation is the medium-sized genus Melampodium (Millerieae, Asteraceae), which contains several chromosome base numbers (x=9, 10, 11, 12, 14) and a number of polyploid species, including putative allopolyploids. A molecular phy ...[more]

PMID: 19272456

Similar Datasets

Project description:Allopolyploidy has played an important role in the evolution of the flowering plants. Genome mergers are often accompanied by significant and rapid alterations of genome size and structure via chromosomal rearrangements and altered dynamics of tandem and dispersed repetitive DNA families. Recent developments in sequencing technologies and bioinformatic methods allow for a comprehensive investigation of the repetitive component of plant genomes. Interpretation of evolutionary dynamics following allopolyploidization requires both the knowledge of parentage and the age of origin of an allopolyploid. Whereas parentage is typically inferred from cytogenetic and phylogenetic data, age inference is hampered by the reticulate nature of the phylogenetic relationships. Treating subgenomes of allopolyploids as if they belonged to different species (i.e., no recombination among subgenomes) and applying cross-bracing (i.e., putting a constraint on the age difference of nodes pertaining to the same event), we can infer the age of allopolyploids within the framework of the multispecies coalescent within BEAST2. Together with a comprehensive characterization of the repetitive DNA fraction using the RepeatExplorer pipeline, we apply the dating approach in a group of closely related allopolyploids and their progenitor species in the plant genus Melampodium (Asteraceae). We dated the origin of both the allotetraploid, Melampodium strigosum, and its two allohexaploid derivatives, Melampodium pringlei and Melampodium sericeum, which share both parentage and the direction of the cross, to the Pleistocene ($<$1.4 Ma). Thus, Pleistocene climatic fluctuations may have triggered formation of allopolyploids possibly in short intervals, contributing to difficulties in inferring the precise temporal order of allopolyploid species divergence of M. sericeum and M. pringlei. The relatively recent origin of the allopolyploids likely played a role in the near-absence of major changes in the repetitive fraction of the polyploids' genomes. The repetitive elements most affected by the postpolyploidization changes represented retrotransposons of the Ty1-copia lineage Maximus and, to a lesser extent, also Athila elements of Ty3-gypsy family.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Species complexes or aggregates consist of a set of closely related species often of different ploidy levels, whose relationships are difficult to reconstruct. The N Hemisphere Achillea millefolium aggregate exhibits complex morphological and genetic variation and a broad ecological amplitude. To understand its evolutionary history, we study sequence variation at two nuclear genes and three plastid loci across the natural distribution of this species complex and compare the patterns of such variations to the species tree inferred earlier from AFLP data. RESULTS:Among the diploid species of A. millefolium agg., gene trees of the two nuclear loci, ncpGS and SBP, and the combined plastid fragments are incongruent with each other and with the AFLP tree likely due to incomplete lineage sorting or secondary introgression. In spite of the large distributional range, no isolation by distance is found. Furthermore, there is evidence for intragenic recombination in the ncpGS gene. An analysis using a probabilistic model for population demographic history indicates large ancestral effective population sizes and short intervals between speciation events. Such a scenario explains the incongruence of the gene trees and species tree we observe. The relationships are particularly complex in the polyploid members of A. millefolium agg. CONCLUSIONS:The present study indicates that the diploid members of A. millefolium agg. share a large part of their molecular genetic variation. The findings of little lineage sorting and lack of isolation by distance is likely due to short intervals between speciation events and close proximity of ancestral populations. While previous AFLP data provide species trees congruent with earlier morphological classification and phylogeographic considerations, the present sequence data are not suited to recover the relationships of diploid species in A. millefolium agg. For the polyploid taxa many hybrid links and introgression from the diploids are suggested.

Project description:BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Farfugium (Asteraceae) is a small genus that contains the two species F. japonicum and F. hiberniflorum and is distributed along a long archipelago in east Asia. The common taxon, F. japonicum, includes three varieties associated with a wide range of habitats, including forest understorey (sciophytes), coastal crag (heliophytes) and riverbed (rheophytes). Leaf shape is an important taxonomic character within this genus and is associated with the habitat. METHODS:Twenty populations that included all Farfugium taxa were collected throughout its range. Leaf morphology was measured to determine differences amongst the taxa. Phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of the internal transcribed spacer of nuclear rDNA and four plastid DNA regions (matK, trnL-trnF, trnH-psbA and rpl20-rps12) were conducted separately. KEY RESULTS:Leaf morphology was significantly different amongst taxa, but morphological variations were partly explained by adaptation to certain environmental conditions that each population inhabited. Molecular phylogenies for the nDNA internal transcribed spacer and cpDNA were consistent in classifying F. hiberniflorum and the Taiwanese var. formosanum, whilst suggesting polyphyletic origins for the rheophyte, sciophyte and heliophyte taxa. All samples from the southern Ryukyus (Japan) and Taiwan clustered into a monophyletic group, which corroborates the land configuration theory involving Quaternary land-bridge formation and subsequent fragmentation into islands. The incongruence between the two DNA datasets may imply traces of introgressive hybridization and/or incomplete lineage sorting. CONCLUSIONS:The occurrence of rheophyte, sciophyte and heliophyte plants within Farfugium may be attributable to their isolation on islands and subsequent adaptation to the riparian, coastal crag and forest understorey environments, following their migration over the Quaternary land-bridge formation along their distribution range. Nearly identical DNA sequences coupled with highly divergent morphologies amongst these taxa suggest that diversification was rapid.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Hieracium s.str. is a complex species-rich group of perennial herbs composed of few sexual diploids and numerous apomictic polyploids. The existence of reticulation and the near-continuity of morphological characters across taxa seriously affect species determination, making Hieracium one of the best examples of a 'botanist's nightmare'. Consequently, its species relationships have not previously been addressed by molecular methods. Concentrating on the supposed major evolutionary units, we used nuclear ribosomal (ETS) and chloroplast (trnT-trnL) sequences in order to disentangle the phylogenetic relationships and to infer the origins of the polyploids. RESULTS: Despite relatively low interspecific variation, the nuclear data revealed the existence of two major groups roughly corresponding to species with a Western or Eastern European origin. Extensive reticulation was mainly inferred from the character additivity of parental ETS variants. Surprisingly, many diploid species were of hybrid origin whilst several polyploid taxa showed no evidence of reticulation. Intra-individual ETS sequence polymorphism generally exceeded interspecific variation and was either independent of, or additional to, additive patterns accounted for by hybrid origin. Several ETS ribotypes occurred in different hybrid taxa, but never as the only variant in any species analyzed. CONCLUSION: The high level of intra-individual ETS polymorphism prevented straightforward phylogenetic analysis. Characterization of this variation as additive, shared informative, homoplasious, or unique made it possible to uncover the phylogenetic signal and to reveal the hybrid origin of 29 out of 60 accessions. Contrary to expectation, diploid sexuals and polyploid apomicts did not differ in their molecular patterns. The basic division of the genus into two major clades had not previously been intimated on morphological grounds. Both major groups are thought to have survived in different glacial refugia and to have hybridized as a result of secondary contact. Several lines of evidence suggest the data is best explained by the presence of an extinct range of variation and a larger diversity of ancestral diploids in former times rather than by unsampled variation. Extinct diversity and extensive reticulation are thought to have largely obscured the species relationships. Our study illustrates how multigene sequences can be used to disentangle the evolutionary history of agamic complexes or similarly difficult datasets.

Dataset Information

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and plastid DNA sequences support dysploid and polyploid chromosome number changes and reticulate evolution in the diversification of Melampodium (Millerieae, Asteraceae).

Publications

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and plastid DNA sequences support dysploid and polyploid chromosome number changes and reticulate evolution in the diversification of Melampodium (Millerieae, Asteraceae).

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets