Phylogenomics, co-evolution of ecological niche and morphology, and historical biogeography of buckeyes, horsechestnuts, and their relatives (Hippocastaneae, Sapindaceae) and the value of RAD-Seq for deep evolutionary inferences back to the Late Cretaceous

In this study, we used RAD-seq data to resolve the phylogeny of the tribe Hippocastaneae and conducted comparative analyses to gain insights into the evolution and biogeography of the group that had fossils dating back to the late Cretaceous. Hippocastaneae, including the horsechestnuts and buckeyes, is a well-supported clade in Sapindaceae that comprises 12–14 species in Aesculus, two in Billia, and one in Handeliodendron. Most species in the tribe are distributed in Eurasia and North America and exhibit a classic pattern of intercontinental disjunction in the northern hemisphere, while Billia occurs from southern Mexico to northern South America. The earliest fossils of Aesculus date back to the Late Cretaceous of western North America and the late Paleocene of both western North America and eastern Asia. The group provides an excellent system for understanding floristic disjunction in the northern hemisphere extending to the Neotropics. However, a strongly supported and well resolved phylogeny is presently lacking for the tribe. Previous phylogenetic studies using several gene regions revealed five well-supported clades in Aesculus, largely corresponding to five recognized taxonomic sections, but relationships among these clades and among Aesculus, Billia, and Handeliodendron were not well supported. In this study, we used RAD-seq data from 68 samples representing all clades and species of Hippocastaneae except one of the two in Billia to further resolve relationships wi...
Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research