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Interspecific relationships and origins of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae revealed by partitioned Bayesian analyses of chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences

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Abstract

The precise delimitation of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae is not totally resolved. Some contradicting taxonomic proposals have been published, which demonstrates the difficulties in establishing a natural classification of the families and especially in proposing a relevant treatment within the genera Taxus and Cephalotaxus. The aims of this study are to contribute to the phylogeny and specific delineation of the two conifer families on the basis of molecular data. A cladistic analysis of the sequences of five chloroplast (matK, rbcL, trnL, trnL-trnF spacer, and psbA-trnH spacer) and one nuclear (ITS) molecular markers was carried out, both individually and in combination, by distance, parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian methods. The results confirm that the two families are monophyletic. In the genus Taxus, T. floridana is the first-branching taxon; T. brevifolia and T. globosa cluster together and are sister to T. baccata; the endemic T. yunnanensis clusters with T. wallichiana in subclade B and is only distantly related with the other four Taxus species in China (subclade A); T. fuana is closer to T. baccata than to other Taxus species. Torreya jackii and A. formosana are the first-branching species within Torreya and Amentotaxus, respectively. C. koreana and C. wilsoniana could be treated as two varieties of C. harringtonia. The ancestral distribution area of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae is restricted either to Southwest China or Southeast China by DIVA analysis. The relaxed molecular clock indicates that the deepest divergences in Taxus go back to the late-Cretaceous. psbA-trnH, rbcL third codon position, and matK first codon position contributed most to the separation of taxa in Discriminant function analysis. Our results confirm, on a basis of multiple molecular markers and a complete sampling of basic species, the suggested monophyly of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae and propose interspecific relationships within each group, with profound nomenclatural and taxonomic implications. Combination of partitioned Bayesian analysis and likelihood-based methods produced a more robust phylogenetic hypothesis for the two studied families.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following experts for providing the plant materials: YunFen Geng (YunNan Academy of Forestry, KunMing, China), Qing Wang (WuHan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), YinKe Zhang (HangZhou Botanical Garden, ZheJiang, China), Li Xu (Chinese Academy of Tropical Agriculture, DanZhou, HaiNan, China), Yan Liu (GuangXi Institute of Botany, GuiLin, China), Christopher Quinn (Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Australia), Ron Determann (Atlanta Botanical Garden, USA), Didier Maerki (Arboretum de Villardebelle, France), Robert G. Nicolson (Smith College, USA), Duang Buddhasukh (Chiang Mai University, Thailand), Richard W. Spjut (World Botanical Associates, California, USA), Stephane Bailleul (Montreal Botanical Garden, Canada), Bob Ursem (Botanic Garden, Delft University of Technology, Netherland), and James Stevenson (University of Oxford Botanic Garden, UK). We are grateful to Richard W. Spjut for morphology confirmation of Taxus species and Alexei Drummond (University of Auckland, New Zealand) for suggestions in divergence time estimation. This study was supported by the National 973 Project (2007CB707802) of the Ministry of Science & Technology of China and the Innovation Fund of Drug R & D (2007E11SF0052) of Dalian Bureau of Science & Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Resource Discovery, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 116023, Dalian, China

    Da Cheng Hao, Guang Bo Ge & Ling Yang

  2. Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

    Da Cheng Hao & Pei Gen Xiao

  3. LuShan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, JiangXi, China

    BeiLi Huang

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  1. Da Cheng Hao
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Correspondence to Ling Yang.

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MOESM1 Table S1. PCR and sequencing primers used (DOC 11.9 kb)

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Hao, D.C., Xiao, P.G., Huang, B. et al. Interspecific relationships and origins of Taxaceae and Cephalotaxaceae revealed by partitioned Bayesian analyses of chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences. Plant Syst Evol 276, 89–104 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-008-0069-0

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