Late Pleistocene climate change promoted divergence between Picea asperata and P. crassifolia on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau through recent bottlenecks.

ABSTRACT: Divergence during the early stage of speciation can be driven by a population bottleneck via reduced gene flow and enhanced lineage sorting. In this study, we aimed to examine whether such bottlenecks occurred during the initial speciation of two closely related spruce species Picea asperata and P. crassifolia occurring on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). We analyzed sequences of three chloroplast, two mitochondrial DNA fragments and a further 13 nuclear loci from 216 individuals of the two species. Both species showed a low level of genetic diversity in contrast to other congeners occurring in the QTP and adjacent regions. The estimated population sizes of P. asperata and P. crassifolia are less than the ancestral population size before splitting. These results together with multiple stat

SUBMITTER: Bi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4930991 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature