Confirmation of a natural hybrid species inPetrocosmea(Gesneriaceae) based on molecular and morphological evidence

Abstract

A natural hybrid species in Petrocosmea named Longianthera in Yanshan County, Yunnan Province is confirmed for the first time based on molecular and morphological evidence. The character count procedure of the variable characters show that Longianthera populations are characteristic of the intermediate morphological traits between its putative parents Yanshan and Petrocosmea martinii. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region and three chloroplast regions of matK, trnL‐F, and trnT‐L are sequenced in the putative hybrid and the related species. Both alignment of DNA sequences and the phylogenetic trees could exclude all the other species in Petrocosmea as the parental species except for Yanshan and P. martinii. Eight haplotypes in the 31 internal transcribed spacer sequences and six haplotypes in 42 cpDNA sequences were found from 14 individuals of Longianthera populations. The analyses of DNA sequences, haplotypes, and phylogenetic trees indicate that Longianthera is likely a hybrid species between its putative parents Yanshan and P. martinii, in which Yanshan might be the most possible maternal parent. Several factors may contribute to the natural hybridization between these two parental species in Petrocosmea, such as the overlapped geographic distribution, habitats, flowering periods, and shared pollinators. Finally, the new species of Yanshan and the natural hybrid species of Longianthera are described.

Distinct Regulatory Changes Underlying Differential Expression of TEOSINTE BRANCHED1-CYCLOIDEA-PROLIFERATING CELL FACTOR Genes Associated with Petal Variations in Zygomorphic Flowers of Petrocosmea spp. of the Family Gesneriaceae

“…Recent studies have shown that the spatial-temporal expression alterations of CYC-like genes are highly correlated with the diverse morphologies of zygomorphic flowers in Gesneriaceae (Du and Wang, 2008;Gao et al, 2008;Song et al, 2009;Yang et al, 2012). The genus Petrocosmea, comprising 42 species, is a midsized group in Gesneriaceae with very similar vegetative traits but extremely diverse zygomorphic flowers that are mainly reflected in size and shape variations of the dorsal petals in the second floral whorl (Li and Wang, 2004;Qiu et al, 2011Qiu et al, , 2015. Petrocosmea spp.…”

Petrocosmea chrysotricha sp. nov. (Petrocosmea, Gesneriaceae), a species previously mistaken for P. begoniifolia on marlstone cliffs in Yunnan, China

“…The images of specimens available in virtual herbaria including A, E, K, MO and P were also consulted. After reviewing all relevant literature (Wang 1985, Wang et al 1990, Burtt 1998, Li and Wang 2004, Wei and Wen 2009, Gou et al 2010, Middleton and Triboun 2010, Zhao and Shui 2010, Shaw 2011, Xu et al 2011, Qiu et al 2011, 2012, 2015a, 2015b, Wang et al 2013, Zhang et al 2013) and the specimens, we conclude that our species is morphologically distinguishable from all others and represent an undescribed species, which we describe below.…”

A new natural allotriploid, Lycoris × hubeiensis hybr. nov. (Amaryllidaceae), identified by morphological, karyological and molecular data

“…Morphological intermediacy has been reported in some artificial and natural hybrid populations (Rieseberg and Ellstrand 1993, Qiu et al 2011, Tseng and Hu 2014. However, hybrids sometimes exhibit extreme or novel characters, but this is considered to be rather rare (Rieseberg and Ellstrand 1993).…”

“…Meng (http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9839-1959), L. Zheng, J.-W. Shao, S.-B. Zhou, K. Liu (hudixiao@126.com), Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of the Conservation and Exploitation of Biological Resources, College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal Univ., Anhui, P. R. China. plastid maternal inheritance (Morgensen 1996), are commonly used to reveal the maternal parent of hybrids (Moody and Les 2002, Du et al 2009, Qiu et al 2011, Tseng and Hu 2014, Yan et al 2017. During recent years, by karyotype and molecular marker analyses many species of Lycoris have been confirmed to be of hybrid origin (Shi et al 2006, 2014, Liu et al 2011.…”