Received: December 1, 2011 Revised: December 9, 2011 Accepted: December 14, 2011
Abstract
The sequence data of the plastid DNA (trnL-F IGS, trnL intron, and trnH-psbA) and nuclear DNA (RNApol2_i23) markers were utilized to study phylogenetic relationships among the taxa in the Polygonatum odoratum complex (Ruscaceae). European P. odoratum individuals form a clade with a high bootstrap value, which is a sister to the clade of Korean P. odoratum var. odoratum, P. odoratum var. pluriflorum and P. robustum. The formation of the clade with P. odoratum var. odoratum, P. robustum, and one accession of P. odoratum var. pluriflorum indicates geological speciation in isolated populations in the islands following dispersal events from the mainlands. All data sets form two major clades, which are congruent with the subgroups divided by the basic chromosome numbers (x = 9 and x = 10). Although it is not easy to test the hypothesis of the decrease in the basic chromosome number due to scatter taxon sampling in this study, the molecular data strongly suggested that aneuploidy plays an important role in lineage diversification in the genus Polygonatum. The cytological data was not strongly supported by the cpDNA sequences. Further investigations of the cytological, morphological, and geographical characteristics with comprehensive sampling are desired to understand the evolution and lineage diversification in the genus.
PDF Links
Full text via DOI
Download Citation 
