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Patterns of plastid DNA differentiation in Erythronium (Liliaceae) are consistent with allopatric lineage divergence in Europe across longitude and latitude

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Abstract

Little attention has been paid so far to the genetic legacy of the oceanic-continental gradient across Europe. Due to this gradient, steppe regions become more extensive and mesic environments become more scattered towards the East. A well-suited system to study the impact of this gradient on lineage differentiation is the temperate mesophilic plant Erythronium dens-canis (Liliaceae), which is widespread in southern Europe with a distribution gap in the Pannonian Plain. Moreover, the large disjunction between E. dens-canis and its sister species E. caucasicum coincides with the Pontic steppe region. By applying range-wide sampling of E. dens-canis and limited sampling of E. caucasicum, we explored their phylogeography using the plastid regions rpl32-trnL and rps15-ycf1. Three major phylogroups were identified: a Caucasian lineage, a highly structured and narrowly distributed Transylvanian lineage, and a more homogenous and widely distributed ‘non-Transylvanian’ lineage. Apparently, both physiographic (mountain) and climatic (steppe) barriers have caused allopatric differentiation in European Erythronium. The Southern Carpathians constitute a latitudinal barrier and the Pannonian Plain a longitudinal barrier between the Transylvanian and ‘non-Transylvanian’ lineages of E. dens-canis. The eastern Carpathian Basin likely functioned as a combination of cryptic eastern (mesic) and cryptic northern refugia for E. dens-canis during glacial periods. The Eastern Carpathians and particularly the Pontic steppe regions acted as a longitudinal barrier between E. dens-canis and E. caucasicum. Steppe-dominated gaps in the distribution range of Erythronium are mirrored by genetic discontinuities along longitudes; this highlights the important role of the oceanic-continental gradient throughout Europe for lineage differentiation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Richard Abbott and Gerald Schneeweiss for their scientific comments and linguistic improvements on the manuscript. The constructive comments of an anonymous referee on the manuscript also are appreciated. Special thanks go to the following persons for their help in providing plant material (herbarium curators have herbarium codes in parentheses): Ettore Balocchi, Sergey Banketov, Csaba Bartha, Attila Bartók, Sorina Bartok, Sandro Bogdanović, Paolo Caciagli, Ioana Ciortan, Mihály Debreczeni, Simon Dubreul, Darko Ermenc, Xermán García Romai, Schivo Gianluca, Nicole Grau, Zsolt Hegyeli, Bogdan-Iuliu Hurdu, Neus Ibáñez Cortina (BC), Satoko Kawarasaki, Nevena Kuzmanović, Pierre Laïly, Dominique Lanari-Menager, Ferran Llorrens, Dejan Mandjukovski, Patrizio Maniero, Attila Molnár V., Tetsuo Ohi-Toma (TI), David García San León (SANT), Nikolaj Stepanov, Andrada Paşcu, Milutin Praščević, Mihai Puşcaş (CL), Mirko Ruščić, Zvone Sadar, Toni Safner, Ivan A. Schanzer (MHA), Pierre-Olivier Templier, Lorenzo Testa, Stefano Zerauschek, Viktor Virók. Sampling on the Russian Caucasus was partly made during Spring educational practices of Moscow South-West High School (No. 1543) and partly funded by “Sovremennoe estestvoznanie” foundation. This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of National Education, CNCS–UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2012-4-0595. The work of Gábor Sramkó was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (projects: OTKA PD109686 and OTKA K108992).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Environmental Biology, Molecular Biology Center, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University, 42 August Treboniu Laurean Street, 400271, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    László Bartha & Horia L. Banciu

  2. Department of Botany, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Debrecen, 4032, Hungary

    Gábor Sramkó

  3. MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány, 1/C, Budapest, 1117, Hungary

    Gábor Sramkó

  4. Moscow South-West High School No. 1543, 26 Bakinskikh komissarov Street 3-5, 119571, Moscow, Russia

    Polina A. Volkova

  5. Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, 8 Glagoljaška Street, 6000, Koper, Slovenia

    Boštjan Surina

  6. Department of Botany, North Caucasian Federal University, 1 Pushkin Street, 355009, Stavropol, Russia

    Alexander L. Ivanov

  7. Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, 5-7 Clinicilor Street, 400006, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    László Bartha & Horia L. Banciu

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  1. László Bartha
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  2. Gábor Sramkó
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  3. Polina A. Volkova
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  4. Boštjan Surina
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Correspondence to László Bartha.

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Bartha, L., Sramkó, G., Volkova, P.A. et al. Patterns of plastid DNA differentiation in Erythronium (Liliaceae) are consistent with allopatric lineage divergence in Europe across longitude and latitude. Plant Syst Evol 301, 1747–1758 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1190-x

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