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Genetic insights into the hybrid origin of Abies × borisii-regis Mattf.

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Abstract

Abies × borisii-regis Mattf. (King Boris fir) is a taxon endemic to the southern Balkan Peninsula, described as a hybrid between the widespread A. alba Mill. (Silver fir) and the Greek endemic A. cephalonica Loud (Greek fir). Even though A. × borisii-regis has attracted much research attention in the past, its origin, geographical distribution and taxonomic status are not fully elucidated and molecular evidence for hybridization is missing. To shed more light on this issue, we analyzed representative populations from these three Abies taxa using paternally inherited (chloroplast) and maternally inherited (mitochondrial) DNA markers. Both Silver and Greek fir could be clearly distinguished using mitochondrial markers, while we observed a mixture of maternal lineages in the A. × borisii-regis populations. In contrast, using chloroplast markers, we could not identify species-specific haplotypes, but a neighbor-joining analysis of population genetic distances revealed two separate clusters for the Silver fir and the Greek fir, while the A. × borisii-regis populations were placed in intermediate positions. Our results are in agreement with the hypothesis that the A. × borisii-regis populations investigated are a result of hybridization between A. cephalonica and A. alba.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was part of the Postgraduate Diploma Thesis of EB, in the Postgraduate Studies Programme “Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Exploitation of Native Plants” (http://bnp.bio.auth.gr/, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), which partially funded this work. The SSR work was carried out in the facilities of the Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology of the School of Biology and the authors are expressing their gratitude to Prof. Theodore Abatzopoulos for the use of the LI-COR® 4200L DNA Analyzer, to Prof. Anastasia Kouvatsi for the use of gel documentation equipment and to Ass. Prof. Alexandros Triantafyllidis and Dr. Nikoleta Karaiskou for their contribution in the analyses. ADD sincerely thanks the Forest Services in Amfissa, Vytina, Sparti, Konitsa, Metsovo, Cephalonia and Kalavryta, as well as the Management Authority of the Aenos National Park in Cephalonia island (Greece) for the information and the support provided during the sampling. The authors also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate Studies Program “Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Exploitation of Native Plants (BNP)”, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Eleni Bella

  2. Laboratory of Systematic Botany and Phytogeography, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 104, 54124, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Eleni Bella & Andreas D. Drouzas

  3. Conservation Biology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8, 35032, Marburg, Germany

    Sascha Liepelt

  4. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Laura Parducci

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  1. Eleni Bella
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  4. Andreas D. Drouzas
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Correspondence to Andreas D. Drouzas.

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Bella, E., Liepelt, S., Parducci, L. et al. Genetic insights into the hybrid origin of Abies × borisii-regis Mattf.. Plant Syst Evol 301, 749–759 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1113-x

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