A glacial survivor of the alpine Mediterranean region: phylogenetic and phylogeographic insights into Silene ciliata Pourr. (Caryophyllaceae)
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biogeography, Evolutionary Studies, Genetics, Plant Science, Taxonomy
- Keywords
- Silene ciliata, Mediterranean Basin, cpDNA markers, Pleistocene glaciations, phylogeography, phylogeny, alpine plant, subspecies, Silene genus
- Copyright
- © 2015 Kyrkou et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2015. A glacial survivor of the alpine Mediterranean region: phylogenetic and phylogeographic insights into Silene ciliata Pourr. (Caryophyllaceae) PeerJ PrePrints 3:e889v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.889v1
Abstract
Silene ciliata Pourr. (Caryophyllaceae) is a species with a highly disjunct distribution that inhabits the alpine mountains of the Mediterranean Basin. We investigated the phylogeny and phylogeography of the species in an attempt to a) clarify the long suggested division of S. ciliata into two subspecies, b) evaluate its phylogenetic origin and c) assess whether the species´ diversification patterns were affected by the Mediterranean relief. For this purpose, we collected DNA from 25 populations of the species that inhabit the mountains of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, FYROM, Bulgaria and Greece and studied the plastid regions rbcL, rps16 and trnL. Major intraspecific variation was supported by all analyses, while the possibility of existence of more varieties or subspecies was not favoured. Plastid DNA evidence, especially in the cases of rps16 and trnL markers, was in accordance with the division of S. ciliata into the two subspecies, one spreading west (Iberian Peninsula and Central Massif) and the other east of the Alps region (Italian and Balkan Peninsula). The present study proposes that this vicariance has probably derived from the Alps acting as a barrier to the species dispersal. The monophyletic origin of the species is highly supported. Plastid DNA patterns may have resulted from a combination of geographic factors providing links and barriers, climatic adversities and evolutionary processes that took place during Quaternary glaciations. The latter might include hybridization events for the western subspecies and mutational accumulation for the eastern ones.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
Supplemental Information
Information concerning the used DNA specimens of Silene ciliata
DNA samples used for the study. The table shows the acronym given for each Silene ciliata population gathered («Name»), the «Country» where these populations were collected and the topographic details of the collection sites (Location, Altitude, MGRS coordinates). There is also a reference to the herbarium and collector that has supplied us with the sampling material («Type of collection»).
GenBank Accession Numbers of the outgroups
Outgroup species, cpDNA region and GenBank Accession Numbers of the chosen species used for the Silene phylogeny analyses.