An overlooked dispersal route of Cardueae (Asteraceae) from the Mediterranean to East Asia revealed by phylogenomic and biogeographical analyses of Atractylodes

Maoqin Xia; Minqi Cai; Hans Peter Comes; Li Zheng; Tetsuo Ohi-Toma; Joongku Lee; Zhechen Qi; Kamil Konowalik; Pan Li; Kenneth M Cameron; Chengxin Fu

doi:10.1093/aob/mcac059

An overlooked dispersal route of Cardueae (Asteraceae) from the Mediterranean to East Asia revealed by phylogenomic and biogeographical analyses of Atractylodes

Ann Bot. 2022 Jul 19;130(1):53-64. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcac059.

Authors

Maoqin Xia¹, Minqi Cai², Hans Peter Comes³, Li Zheng^{1

4}, Tetsuo Ohi-Toma⁵, Joongku Lee⁶, Zhechen Qi⁷, Kamil Konowalik⁸, Pan Li¹, Kenneth M Cameron⁹, Chengxin Fu¹

Affiliations

¹ Systematic & Evolutionary Botany and Biodiversity Group, MOE Laboratory of Biosystem Homeostasis and Protection, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Biosciences, Salzburg University, Salzburg, Austria.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Jiaxing Second Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China.
⁵ Nature Fieldwork Center, Okayama University of Science, Okayama, Japan.
⁶ Department of Environment and Forest Resources, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea.
⁷ College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China.
⁸ Department of Plant Biology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Kożuchowska 5b, 51-631, Wroclaw, Poland.
⁹ Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.

Abstract

Background and aims: The East Asian-Tethyan disjunction pattern and its mechanisms of formation have long been of interest to researchers. Here, we studied the biogeographical history of Asteraceae tribe Cardueae, with a particular focus on the temperate East Asian genus Atractylodes DC., to understand the role of tectonic and climatic events in driving the diversification and disjunctions of the genus.

Methods: A total of 76 samples of Atractylodes from 36 locations were collected for RAD-sequencing. Three single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) datasets based on different filtering strategies were used for phylogenetic analyses. Molecular dating and ancestral distribution reconstruction were performed using both chloroplast DNA sequences (127 Cardueae samples) and SNP (36 Atractylodes samples) datasets.

Key results: Six species of Atractylodes were well resolved as individually monophyletic, although some introgression was identified among accessions of A. chinensis, A. lancea and A. koreana. Dispersal of the subtribe Carlininae from the Mediterranean to East Asia occurred after divergence between Atractylodes and Carlina L. + Atractylis L. + Thevenotia DC. at ~31.57 Ma, resulting in an East Asian-Tethyan disjunction. Diversification of Atractylodes in East Asia mainly occurred from the Late Miocene to the Early Pleistocene.

Conclusions: Aridification of Asia and the closure of the Turgai Strait in the Late Oligocene promoted the dispersal of Cardueae from the Mediterranean to East China. Subsequent uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as well as changes in Asian monsoon systems resulted in an East Asian-Tethyan disjunction between Atractylodes and Carlina + Atractylis + Thevenotia. In addition, Late Miocene to Quaternary climates and sea level fluctuations played major roles in the diversification of Atractylodes. Through this study of different taxonomic levels using genomic data, we have revealed an overlooked dispersal route between the Mediterranean and far East Asia (Japan/Korea) via Central Asia and East China.

Keywords: Atractylodes; Cardueae; East Asian–Tethyan disjunction; biogeography; phylogenomics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Asia, Eastern
Atractylodes* / classification
Atractylodes* / genetics
Phylogeny*
Phylogeography
Plant Dispersal*