Resequencing 545 ginkgo genomes across the world reveals the evolutionary history of the living fossil.

ABSTRACT: As Charles Darwin anticipated, living fossils provide excellent opportunities to study evolutionary questions related to extinction, competition, and adaptation. Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) is one of the oldest living plants and a fascinating example of how people have saved a species from extinction and assisted its resurgence. By resequencing 545 genomes of ginkgo trees sampled from 51 populations across the world, we identify three refugia in China and detect multiple cycles of population expansion and reduction along with glacial admixture between relict populations in the southwestern and southern refugia. We demonstrate multiple anthropogenic introductions of ginkgo from eastern China into different continents. Further analyses reveal bioclimatic variables that have affected the geogra

SUBMITTER: Zhao YP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6744486 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature