Genomic evidence for homoploid hybrid speciation between ancestors of two different genera

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 1987 - 9
• Main Authors: Wang, Zefu, Kang, Minghui, Li, Jialiang, Zhang, Zhiyang, Wang, Yufei, Chen, Chunlin, Yang, Yongzhi, Liu, Jianquan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.04.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 45; 631/158/2464; 631/181/2474; 631/208/182; 631/449/2669; Animals; Betulaceae - genetics; Biodiversity; Carpinus; Chromosomes; Divergence; Evolution; Genera; Genetic Speciation; Genomes; Genomic analysis; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hybridization; Hybridization, Genetic; Laboratories; multidisciplinary; Nucleotide sequence; Ostrya; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Plants; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Speciation; Species; Taxonomy; Trees
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29643-4

Homoploid hybrid speciation (HHS) has been increasingly recognized as occurring widely during species diversification of both plants and animals. However, previous studies on HHS have mostly focused on closely-related species while it has been rarely reported or tested between ancestors of different genera. Here, we explore the likely HHS origin of Carpinus sect. Distegocarpus between sect. Carpinus and Ostrya in the family Betulaceae. We generate a chromosome-level reference genome for C. viminea of sect. Carpinus and re-sequence genomes of 44 individuals from the genera Carpinus and Ostrya . Our integrated analyses of all genomic data suggest that sect. Distegocarpus , which has three species, likely originates through HHS during the early divergence between Carpinus and Ostrya . Our study highlights the likelihood of an HHS event between ancestors of the extant genera during their initial divergences, which may have led to reticulate phylogenies at higher taxonomic levels. Carpinus fangiana exhibits intermediate morphology between C. viminea and Ostrya rehderiana . Here, the authors report that Carpinus sect. Distegocarpus likely originate through homoploid hybrid speciation (HHS) during the early divergence between Carpinus and Ostrya through genomic analyses.