Open AccessExtensive Hybridization and Introgression between Melastoma candidum and M. sanguineum
Author(s) -
Ting Liu,
Yunyun Chen,
Lifang Chao,
Shuqiong Wang,
Wei Wu,
Seping Dai,
Feng Wang,
Qingxia Fan,
Renchao Zhou
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0096680
Subject(s) - introgression , biology , hybrid , backcrossing , botany , genetics , evolutionary biology , gene
Natural hybridization can lead to various evolutionary outcomes in plants, including hybrid speciation and interspecific gene transfer. It can also cause taxonomic problems, especially in plant genera containing multiple species. In this study, the hybrid status of Melastoma affine , the most widespread taxon in this genus, and introgression between its putative parental species, M. candidum and M. sanguineum , were assessed on two sites, Hainan and Guangdong, using 13 SSR markers and sequences of a chloroplast intergenic spacer. Bayesian-based STRUCTURE analysis detected two most likely distinct clusters for the three taxa, and 76.0% and 73.9% of the morphologically identified individuals of M. candidum and M. sanguineum were correctly assigned, respectively. 74.5% of the M. affine individuals had a membership coefficient to either parental species between 0.1 and 0.9, suggesting admixture between M. candidum and M. sanguineum . Furthermore, NewHybrids analysis suggested that most individuals of M. affine were F2 hybrids or backcross hybrids to M. candidum , and that there was extensive introgression between M. candidum and M. sanguineum . These SSR data thus provides convincing evidence for hybrid origin of M. affine and extensive introgression between M. candidum and M. sanguineum. Chloroplast DNA results were consistent with this conclusion. Much higher hybrid frequency on the more disturbed Guangdong site suggests that human disturbance might offer suitable habitats for the survival of hybrids, a hypothesis that is in need of further testing.