Diversification of Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest: A case study in Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia

• Published in: Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 2016-05, Vol.98, p.346-357
• Main Authors: Goetze, Márcia, Schulte, Katharina, Palma-Silva, Clarisse, Zanella, Camila M., Büttow, Miriam V., Capra, Fernanda, Bered, Fernanda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aechmea; AFLP; Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; Argentina; Atlantic Ocean; Biogeography; Brazil; Bromeliaceae - anatomy & histology; Bromeliaceae - classification; Bromeliaceae - genetics; Bromeliaceae - physiology; Core bromelioids; Hybridization, Genetic; Inflorescence - classification; Inflorescence - genetics; Inflorescence - physiology; Interspecific relationships; Paraguay; Phylogeny; Polymorphism, Genetic - genetics; Rainforest; Speciation; Uruguay
• ISSN: 1055-7903; 1095-9513
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2016.03.001

[Display omitted] •We inferred interspecific relationships of Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia via AFLPs.•Two main groups and four subgroups were depicted within Ortgiesia.•Shallow genetic divergence among Ortgiesia species was detected.•Petal color and inflorescence type and shape have limited taxonomic value.•The southern Brazilian Atlantic rainforest was inferred as the center of diversity. Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia comprises ca. 20 species distributed in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with a center of diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. We examined interspecific relationships of Ortgiesia based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLP). Ninety-six accessions belonging to 14 species of Ortgiesia were sampled, and genotyped with 11 AFLP primer combinations. The neighbor joining (NJ) tree depicted two main genetic groups within Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia, and four subgroups. The NJ tree showed short internal branches, indicating an overall shallow genetic divergence among Ortgiesia species as expected for the recently radiated subfamily Bromelioideae. Our results suggest that hybridization and/or incomplete lineage sorting may have hampered the reconstruction of interspecific relationships in Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia. The mapping of petal color (yellow, blue, pink, or white), inflorescence type (simple or compound), and inflorescence shape (ellipsoid, subcylindric, cylindric, or pyramidal) against the NJ tree indicated that these characters are of limited taxonomic use in Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia due to homoplasy. An analysis of the current distribution of Ortgiesia identified the southern region of the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, between latitudes of 26° and 27°S, as the center of diversity for the subgenus.