Genome-wide analysis of Cushion willow provides insights into alpine plant divergence in a biodiversity hotspot
Abstract
The Hengduan Mountains (HDM) biodiversity hotspot exhibits exceptional alpine plant diversity. Here, we investigate factors driving intraspecific divergence within a HDM alpine species Salix brachista (Cushion willow), a common component of subnival assemblages. We produce a high-quality genome assembly for this species and characterize its genetic diversity, population structure and pattern of evolution by resequencing individuals collected across its distribution. We detect population divergence that has been shaped by a landscape of isolated sky island-like habitats displaying strong environmental heterogeneity across elevational gradients, combined with population size fluctuations that have occurred since approximately the late Miocene. These factors are likely important drivers of intraspecific divergence within Cushion willow and possibly other alpine plants with a similar distribution. Since intraspecific divergence is often the first step toward speciation, the same factors can be important contributors to the high alpine species diversity in the HDM.
Citation
Chen , J , Huang , Y , Brachi , B , Yun , Q , Zhang , W , Lu , W , Li , H , Li , W , Sun , X , Wang , G , He , J , Zhuo , Z , Chen , K , Li , Y , Shi , M , Sun , W , Yang , Y , Zhang , R , Abbott , R J & Sun , H 2019 , ' Genome-wide analysis of Cushion willow provides insights into alpine plant divergence in a biodiversity hotspot ' , Nature Communications , vol. 10 , 5230 , pp. 1-12 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13128-y
Publication
Nature Communications
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2041-1723Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly fromt he copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Description
Funding: Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA 20050203 (H.S.); Major Program of the NSFC 31590823 (H.S.); National Key R & D Program of China 2017YF0505200 (H.S.); NSFC (31670198 to J.C., 31560062 to Y.H.,31871271 to W.Z.); Science and Technology Research Program of KIB (NO.KIB2016005 to J.C.); Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS (J.C.), and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Science, the State Key Laboratory of Protein and PlantGene Research and Qidong-SLS Innovation Fund (W.Z.).Collections
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