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Morphological and genetic variation in populations in a hybrid zone between Leucosceptrum japonicum and L. stellipilum (Lamiaceae) in the central Japanese mainland

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Abstract

Hybrid zones between two species can reflect the combined effects of gene flow, genetic novelty, selection, and isolation barriers. Leucosceptrum japonicum and L. stellipilum are two morphologically distinct species belonging to Lamiaceae, which are endemic to Japan with partially overlapping distributions. In the present study, morphological and genetic variation in 11 populations in a putative hybrid zone between L. japonicum and L. stellipilum were investigated. No introgression was observed in the sympatric parental populations based on the cpDNA haplotype. Morphological intermediacy, ITS additivity and reduced pollen fertility confirmed the occurrence of hybridization between L. japonicum and L. stellipilum. Hybrid individuals appear to be not only early hybrid generation, but also advanced hybrid generation and/or backcross hybrids. The morphology of the putative early hybrid generation was too variable to distinguish all these hybrids from the parental species. The factors that facilitated and maintained hybridization between L. japonicum and L. stellipilum are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to MM. We are grateful to the following for their efforts in sampling, comments, and technical advice: S. Horie, T. Yamada, K. Yonekura, Y. Tsujita, Y. Sakamoto and K. Shimizu. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. The stay of YL in Japan is supported by the China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan

    Yue Li & Tomomi Itoi

  2. Botanical Gardens, Tohoku University, Kawauchi 12-2, Sendai, 980-0862, Japan

    Yue Li & Masayuki Maki

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Gifu University, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan

    Hiroshi Takahashi

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  1. Yue Li
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  2. Tomomi Itoi
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  4. Masayuki Maki
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Correspondence to Yue Li.

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Y. Li and T. Itoi contributed equally to this work.

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Li, Y., Itoi, T., Takahashi, H. et al. Morphological and genetic variation in populations in a hybrid zone between Leucosceptrum japonicum and L. stellipilum (Lamiaceae) in the central Japanese mainland. Plant Syst Evol 301, 1029–1041 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1134-5

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