A morphologically intergrading population facilitates plastid introgression from diploid to tetraploid Dodecatheon (Primulaceae)

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Abstract

Polyploidy may promote diversification by generating reproductive isolation between ploidy levels, but this reproductive barrier may not be absolute. Several recent analyses of diploid-tetraploid contact zones have found evidence for hybridization. In these cases, inter-cytotype gene flow is often associated with morphologically intergrading populations. In this study, we combine cytological, fitness and population genetic data to examine the evolutionary role of a morphologically intergrading population at a contact zone between species with different ploidy levels in Dodecatheon. Diploid D. frenchii and tetraploid D. meadia are usually distinguished by leaf-shape characters. In southern Illinois, where these taxa occur in parapatry, a morphologically intergrading population includes the first documented tetraploid with D. frenchii morphology. Most plants in this intergrading population are fertile, and a nearby typical population of D. meadia has plastid DNA haplotypes that only occur in D. frenchii elsewhere in southern Illinois. These results suggest that fit neo-tetraploids in this intergrading population have facilitated local introgression between ploidy levels. Similar patterns in other regions where these taxa co-occur may explain weak range-wide genetic differentiation between these species. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London.

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Oberle, B., Montgomery, R. A., Beck, J. B., & Esselman, E. J. (2012). A morphologically intergrading population facilitates plastid introgression from diploid to tetraploid Dodecatheon (Primulaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 168(1), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2011.01191.x

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