Open AccessGenetic Divergence between Camellia sinensis and Its Wild Relatives Revealed via Genome-Wide SNPs from RAD Sequencing
Author(s) -
Hua Yang,
Chaoling Wei,
Hongwei Liu,
Jiandong Wu,
Zhengguo Li,
Liang Zhang,
Jianbo Jian,
Yeyun Li,
Yuling Tai,
Jing Zhang,
Zhengzhu Zhang,
Changjun Jiang,
Tao Xia,
Xiaochun Wan
Publication year - 2016
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.0151424
Subject(s) - camellia sinensis , biology , genome , phylogenetic tree , domestication , genetics , loss of heterozygosity , camellia , dna sequencing , ploidy , single nucleotide polymorphism , genetic divergence , evolutionary biology , genetic diversity , botany , gene , genotype , allele , population , demography , sociology
Tea is one of the most popular beverages across the world and is made exclusively from cultivars of Camellia sinensis . Many wild relatives of the genus Camellia that are closely related to C . sinensis are native to Southwest China. In this study, we first identified the distinct genetic divergence between C . sinensis and its wild relatives and provided a glimpse into the artificial selection of tea plants at a genome-wide level by analyzing 15,444 genomic SNPs that were identified from 18 cultivated and wild tea accessions using a high-throughput genome-wide restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) approach. Six distinct clusters were detected by phylogeny inferrence and principal component and genetic structural analyses, and these clusters corresponded to six Camellia species/varieties. Genetic divergence apparently indicated that C . taliensis var. bangwei is a semi-wild or transient landrace occupying a phylogenetic position between those wild and cultivated tea plants. Cultivated accessions exhibited greater heterozygosity than wild accessions, with the exception of C . taliensis var. bangwei . Thirteen genes with non-synonymous SNPs exhibited strong selective signals that were suggestive of putative artificial selective footprints for tea plants during domestication. The genome-wide SNPs provide a fundamental data resource for assessing genetic relationships, characterizing complex traits, comparing heterozygosity and analyzing putatitve artificial selection in tea plants.