Comparative and Phylogenetic Analysis of Anthurium andraeanum Hybridization Based on Molecular and Morphological Traits

Abstract

Hybridization is considered an important mode of species evolution, but the genetic evolutionary process of Anthurium andraeanum hybridization is still poorly characterized. In order to provide the molecular and morphological basis for phylogenetic analysis in A. andraeanum hybridization, we analyzed the morphological, nuclear genomic, and chloroplast genomic data of five A. andraeanum cultivars and explored the correlations between different traits and nuclear and chloroplast genome characteristics. A. andraeanum hybrid 1 is an A. andraeanum ‘Baron’ (♀) × A. andraeanum ‘Spice’ (♂) cross, and A. andraeanum hybrid 2 is an A. andraeanum ‘Cheers’ (♀) × A. andraeanum hybrid 1 (♂) cross. The A. andraeanum hybrids reflected their parents’ heterozygous features in their morphologies, nuclear genomes, and chloroplast genomes. The morphological traits in the F1 generation were widely separated, showing continuous variation. Based on cluster analysis, the five A. andraeanum cultivars could be divided into two groups. The ISSR analysis results were highly correlated with the spathe color. Among the five A. andraeanum cultivars, the composition and structure features of chloroplast genomes were completely the same or highly similar, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete chloroplast genome data showed that the genetic stability of the chloroplast is high in A. andraeanum, manifested as uniparental maternal inheritance, where the chloroplast genome composition and structural features of hybrids are highly similar to those of the maternal parent.