Diversification of Biscutella ser. Biscutella (Brassicaceae) followed post-Miocene geologic and climatic changes in the Mediterranean basin

Publication date: Available online 10 October 2019Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionAuthor(s): Ma Ángeles Alonso, Alicia Vicente, Manuel B. CrespoAbstractBiscutella ser. Biscutella (≡ ser. Lyratae Malin.) is a group of mostly annual or short-lived perennial plants, with petals gradually tapering at the base and lateral intrastaminal nectaries, endemic to the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. Recent taxonomic work has revealed that a relative morphological homogeneity occurs in Europe and Asia, but a high plasticity in found in N Africa for most of the characters traditionally used for taxonomic arrangements. This fact had generally led to overestimation of the number of taxa, which currently is reduced to ten (namely 7 species and 3 additional varieties), some of them being narrow endemics. In the present contribution, on the basis of a previous detailed morphological study carried out by the authors, the first comprehensive phylogeny based on 47 DNA sequence data including concatenation of two plastid (rpl32-trnL and trnV) and one nuclear (ITS) regions, together with the first time-calibrated phylogenetic tree, allows reappraisal of evolutionary and biogeographic relationships among the accepted taxa in the series. According to all evidence gathered in the present study, the current distribution of B. ser. Biscutella, mostly centred in the southern parts of the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, suggests that it evolved in relation with the major g...
Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research