Evolutionary history of the Pasque-flowers (Pulsatilla, Ranunculaceae): molecular phylogenetics, systematics and rDNA evolution

Publication date: Available online 1 March 2019Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionAuthor(s): Gábor Sramkó, Levente Laczkó, Polina A. Volkova, Richard M. Bateman, Jelena MlinarecAbstractPulsatilla (Anemoneae, Ranunculaceae) is sister to Anemone s.s. and contains ca 40 perennial species of considerable horticultural and medical importance. We sequenced 31 of those species, plus nine subspecies, two cultivars and six outgroups, for two nuclear regions (high-copy nrITS and low-copy MLH1) and three plastid regions (rbcL, accD–psaI, trnL intron) in order to generate the first comprehensive species-level phylogeny of the genus. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using both concatenation-based (maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference) and coalescence methods. The better supported among the internal nodes were subjected to molecular clock dating and ancestral area reconstruction, and karyotypic characters identified by us using Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization were mapped across the tree. The preferred species tree from the coalescence analysis formed the basis of a new infrageneric classification based on monophyly plus degree of divergence. The earliest divergent of the three subgenera, Kostyczewianae, is represented by only a single species that is morphologically intermediate between Anemone s.s. and 'core' Pulsatilla. Subgenus Pulsatilla is considerably richer in species than its sister subgenus Preonanthus and contains three monophyletic sections. Species pos...

Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - March 4, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research