Dense infraspecific sampling reveals rapid and independent trajectories of plastome degradation in a heterotrophic orchid complex.

ABSTRACT: Heterotrophic plants provide excellent opportunities to study the effects of altered selective regimes on genome evolution. Plastid genome (plastome) studies in heterotrophic plants are often based on one or a few highly divergent species or sequences as representatives of an entire lineage, thus missing important evolutionary-transitory events. Here, we present the first infraspecific analysis of plastome evolution in any heterotrophic plant. By combining genome skimming and targeted sequence capture, we address hypotheses on the degree and rate of plastome degradation in a complex of leafless orchids (Corallorhiza striata) across its geographic range. Plastomes provide strong support for relationships and evidence of reciprocal monophyly between C. involuta and the endangered C. bentleyi

SUBMITTER: Barrett CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5902423 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature