On the origins of the tetraploid Bromus species (section Bromus, Poaceae): insights from internal transcribed spacer sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA.

Abstract

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA from 22 diploid and tetraploid annual Bromus species of section Bromus (Poaceae) and three species belonging to other Bromus sections, Bromus catharticus (section Ceratochloa), Bromus anomalus (section Pnigma), and Bromus sterilis (section Genea), were investigated by PCR amplification and direct sequencing. The length of the ITS-1 region varied from 215 to 218 bp, and that of the ITS-2 region from 215 to 216 bp, in the species analyzed. ITS-1 was more variable and provided more informative sites (49) than ITS-2 (32). No variation was encountered within species. In pairwise comparison among species of section Bromus, sequence divergence ranged from 0.0 to 8.0% for the combined ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions. Parsimony analysis using Avena longiglumis and Hordeum vulgare as outgroups resulted in well-resolved phylogenetic trees and showed that section Bromus is monophyletic according to the species analyzed outside of the section. The analysis clarified the phylogenetic relationships among monogenomic (diploid) species. Introduction of the allotetraploid species did not change the general topology of the trees obtained using only the diploid species. Although some tetraploid-diploid species relationships will have to be clarified with faster evolving markers, the ITS sequences are shown to be useful for assessing evolutionary relationships among closely related Bromus species, as well as for clarifying taxonomic problems in previously controversial cases (e.g., Bromus alopecuros and Bromus caroli-henrici). New hypotheses are proposed concerning the origin of several allotetraploid species. For example, it is shown that the tetraploid Bromus hordeaceus diverged earlier than all other species of section Bromus, excluding the diploid B. caroli-henrici, which is found to be basal in this group. The tetraploid Bromus arenarius, which was considered a hybrid between sections Bromus and Genea, and the tetraploid Bromus adoensis are sister taxa within section Bromus; they belong in a weakly differentiated clade with the diploids Bromus brachystachys, Bromus japonicus, Bromus squarrosus, Bromus arvensis, and Bromus intermedius.