Population structure of Betula albosinensis and Betula platyphylla: evidence for hybridization and a cryptic lineage.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Differences in local abundance and ploidy level are predicted to impact the direction of introgression between species. Here, we tested these hypotheses on populations of Betula albosinensis (red birch) and Betula platyphylla (white birch) which were thought to differ in ploidy level, the former being tetraploid and the latter diploid.

Methods

We sampled 391 birch individuals from nine localities in China, and classified them into species based on leaf morphology. Twelve nuclear microsatellite markers were genotyped in each sample, and analysed using principal coordinates analysis and STRUCTURE software. We compared the effects of two different methods of scoring polyploid genotypes on population genetic analyses. We analysed the effect of ploidy, local s

SUBMITTER: Hu YN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6612935 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature