Multi-locus phylogenetics, lineage sorting, and reticulation in Pinus subsection Australes

• Published in: American journal of botany Vol. 105; no. 4; pp. 711 - 725
• Main Authors: Gernandt, David S., Dugua, Xitlali Aguirre, Vázquez-Lobo, Alejandra, Willyard, Ann, Letelier, Alejandra Moreno, de la Rosa, Jorge A. Pérez, Piñero, Daniel, Liston, Aaron
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley and Sons, Inc 01.04.2018; Botanical Society of America, Inc
• Subjects: chloroplast capture; coalescence; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Discordance; DNA; Economic conditions; Economic importance; Gene Flow; Gene sequencing; Genes; Genes, Plant - genetics; Genetic Markers - genetics; hybrid; Hybridization; Hybridization, Genetic; incomplete lineage sorting; low‐copy nuclear loci; Models, Genetic; phylogenetic incongruence; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Pinaceae; pine; Pine trees; Pinus; Pinus - classification; Pinus - genetics; Plant reproduction; plastome; Plastomes; RESEARCH ARTICLE; Sequence Alignment; coalescence; hybrid; incomplete lineage sorting; Pinaceae; low-copy nuclear loci; pine; plastome; chloroplast capture; phylogenetic incongruence
• ISSN: 0002-9122; 1537-2197
• DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1052

Premise of the Study Both incomplete lineage sorting and reticulation have been proposed as causes of phylogenetic incongruence. Disentangling these factors may be most difficult in long‐lived, wind‐pollinated plants with large population sizes and weak reproductive barriers. Methods We used solution hybridization for targeted enrichment and massive parallel sequencing to characterize low‐copy‐number nuclear genes and high‐copy‐number plastomes (Hyb‐Seq) in 74 individuals of Pinus subsection Australes, a group of ~30 New World pine species of exceptional ecological and economic importance. We inferred relationships using methods that account for both incomplete lineage sorting and reticulation. Key Results Concatenation‐ and coalescent‐based trees inferred from nuclear genes mainly agreed with one another, but they contradicted the plastid DNA tree in recovering the Attenuatae (the California closed‐cone pines) and Oocarpae (the egg‐cone pines of Mexico and Central America) as monophyletic and the Australes sensu stricto (the southern yellow pines) as paraphyletic to the Oocarpae. The plastid tree featured some relationships that were discordant with morphological and geographic evidence and species limits. Incorporating gene flow into the coalescent analyses better fit the data, but evidence supporting the hypothesis that hybridization explains the non‐monophyly of the Attenuatae in the plastid tree was equivocal. Conclusions Our analyses document cytonuclear discordance in Pinus subsection Australes. We attribute this discordance to ancient and recent introgression and present a phylogenetic hypothesis in which mostly hierarchical relationships are overlain by gene flow.