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Transgressive character expression in hybrid zones between the native invasives Tithonia tubaeformis and Tithonia rotundifolia (Asteraceae) in Mexico

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Abstract

Natural hybridization frequently promotes gene introgression among closely related species in sympatric populations, producing complex patterns of morphological variation. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the dynamics of interspecific gene flow and its morphological patterns is of widespread interest. We tested if introgressive hybridization promotes an increase in transgressive characters in comparison with the parental species. A sunflower species complex occurring in Mexico formed by two native invasive species, Tithonia tubaeformis and Tithonia rotundifolia, was analyzed using 46 morphological characters (leaf, flower and fruit) in five hybrid zones (N = 150 individuals) and two pure sites for each parental species (N = 80 individuals). In general, T. tubaeformis differed significantly from T. rotundifolia in all the examined characters, except six foliar and one inflorescence character. Morphological characters support the hypothesis of hybridization in this complex, even though both species remain morphological distinct in mixed stands. Individual hybrids appear to be a mosaic of parent-like (24.8 % of traits), intermediate (26.1 %) and transgressive (37.8 %) phenotypes (the remaining 11.3 % of the traits did not differ significantly from both parental species). Our results suggest that individuals from the same parental species were more similar among themselves than to putative hybrids, indicating occasional hybridization with segregation in hybrid types or backcrossing to parents. Evidence indicates a unidirectional pattern of gene flow toward T. rotundifolia.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mauricio Mora Jarvio, Leonardo Beltrán, Paulette Arellano Vignettes, Tatiana Cervantes Ramírez, César Martínez Becerril, Guadalupe Rangel Altamirano, L. Márquez Valdemar, and Elgar Castillo Mendoza for technical assistance. This research was supported by grants from CONACYT-Mexico (61275) to E. T. S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-181, 04510, Delegación Coyoacán, Mexico, DF

    Alfredo López-Caamal

  2. Departamento de Sistemática y Evolución, Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, CP 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Alfredo López-Caamal, Leticia Valencia-Cuevas & Efraín Tovar-Sánchez

  3. Departamento de Medicina Genómica y Toxicología Ambiental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, C.P. 04510, Mexico, Mexico, DF

    Patricia Mussali-Galante

  4. Departamento de Biología Comparada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-181, 04510, Delegación Coyoacán, Mexico, DF

    Jaime Jiménez Ramírez & Karla Vega Flores

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  1. Alfredo López-Caamal
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  3. Leticia Valencia-Cuevas
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  6. Efraín Tovar-Sánchez
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Correspondence to Efraín Tovar-Sánchez.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Phenotypic characterization (Schwarzbach et al. 2001) procedure from the five hybrid zones of the Tithonia tubaeformis and T. rotundifolia complex in Mexico (mean ± SD). Abbreviations of characters are described in Table 2. Asterisk indicates significant differences among taxa (one-way ANOVA test; *P < 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ns no significant differences). Mean values with the same letter for each taxa did not differ at P < 0.05 after a multiple comparison test (Tukey’s test).

Appendix 2

A Principal component analysis for disk floret morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (4 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. B Principal component analysis for inflorescence morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (4 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. C Principal component analysis for phyllary morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (6 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. D Principal component analysis for pale morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (3 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. E Principal component analysis for achene morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (14 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. F Principal component analysis for leaf morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (8 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. G Principal component analysis for ligule morphology variation in Tithonia tubaeformis × T. rotundifolia complex (8 measured characters) in five hybrids zones in Mexico. Genetic identity of each individual was identified using the NewHybrids index

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López-Caamal, A., Mussali-Galante, P., Valencia-Cuevas, L. et al. Transgressive character expression in hybrid zones between the native invasives Tithonia tubaeformis and Tithonia rotundifolia (Asteraceae) in Mexico. Plant Syst Evol 299, 1781–1792 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-013-0834-6

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