Abstract
As highly prized, popular mushrooms, morels are widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, with China as a modern centre of speciation and diversity. Overharvesting of morels has caused concern over how to effectively preserve their biological and genetic diversity. However, little is known about their population biology and life cycle. In this study, we selected two sympatric phylogenetic species, Mel-13 (124 collections from 11 geographical locations) and Morchella eohespera (156 collections from 14 geographical locations), using fragments of 4 DNA sequences, to analyse their genetic structure. Our results indicated significant differentiation among geographic locations in both species, whereas no obvious correlation between genetic and geographic distance was identified in either species. M. eohespera exhibited a predominantly clonal population structure with limited recombination detected in only 1 of the 14 geographic locations. In contrast, relatively frequent recombination was identified in 6 of the 11 geographic locations of Mel-13. Our analysis indicated that the sympatric species Mel-13 and M. eohespera might have divergent evolutionary patterns, with the former showing signatures of recent population expansion and the latter being relatively stable. Interestingly, we found no heterozygosity but strong evidence for genealogical incongruence, indicating a high level of inbreeding and hybridisation among morel species.
Highlights
China is known for its complex geological and ecological diversity
(1) What is the spatial genetic structure, the level of genetic diversity within and among populations and the degree of population differentiation within each of the two sympatric species? (2) Are their evolutionary histories similar to or divergent from each other? (3) What are their potential modes of reproduction? Are their reproductive modes dominated by clonality, recombination or a mixture of both? Our findings will help in understanding the reproductive modes and the distributional patterns of genetic variability in natural populations of morels, which is essential for developing effective strategies for the management and conservation of these two morel species
The population genetics of two sympatric closely related species of Morchella was conducted for the first time in this study
Summary
Our recent study identified China as the modern species diversity centre of Morchella[16]. The high species diversity and sympatric species distribution pattern make China an ideal region in which to analyse and compare the genetic diversity, patterns of genetic variation and modes of reproduction of morels. We analysed and compared the genetic structure of two sympatric morel species (1) What is the spatial genetic structure, the level of genetic diversity within and among populations and the degree of population differentiation within each of the two sympatric species? Our findings will help in understanding the reproductive modes and the distributional patterns of genetic variability in natural populations of morels, which is essential for developing effective strategies for the management and conservation of these two morel species
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