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Molecular identification and phylogeny of an aquatic moss species in Antarctic lakes

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Abstract

Due to the morphological variability, the identification of moss species can be difficult when the plant grows in submerged environments. The taxonomic status of an aquatic moss found in lakes of the Sôya Coast region, East Antarctica, had been controversial, and then, it was investigated by molecular phylogenetic and haplotype network analysis of two chloroplast regions (rps4 and trnL-F) and/or the nuclear ribosomal ITS region. Based on the results of the analyses, the moss was assigned to the genus Leptobryum and determined to be conspecific with Leptobryum wilsonii (Mitt.) Broth. described from South America. Almost no genetic variation was observed between all samples from Antarctic lakes and some samples of L. wilsonii from Chile. Molecular and geohistorical evidence suggests that immigration of L. wilsonii into Antarctic lakes took place during the Holocene via long-distance dispersal from South America. This study gives a clear example of the widespread assumption that most of the Antarctic moss species are post-glacial immigrants.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Jonathan Shaw and Molly McMullen (DUKE), Dr. Tomio Yamaguchi (HIRO), and Dr. Helen Peat (AAS) for loans of herbarium specimens and Dr. Satoshi Kobayashi for providing one of the Antarctic samples. We thank Kenichi Watanabe (NIPR) for his technical assistance. This research was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 23247012) from JSPS. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive remarks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polar Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), 10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190-8518, Japan

    Kengo Kato, Satoshi Imura & Hiroshi Kanda

  2. Tottori Prefectural Museum, 2-124 Higashi-machi, Tottori, 680-0011, Japan

    Tomotsugu Arikawa

  3. National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190-8518, Japan

    Satoshi Imura & Hiroshi Kanda

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  1. Kengo Kato
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  2. Tomotsugu Arikawa
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  4. Hiroshi Kanda
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Correspondence to Kengo Kato.

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Kato, K., Arikawa, T., Imura, S. et al. Molecular identification and phylogeny of an aquatic moss species in Antarctic lakes. Polar Biol 36, 1557–1568 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-013-1373-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-013-1373-x

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