Phylogenetic analyses of four Chinese endemic wheat landraces based on two single copy genes

Abstract

Chinese endemic wheat landraces possess unique morphological features and desirable traits, useful for wheat breeding. It is important to clarify the relationship among these landraces. In this study, 21 accessions of the four Chinese endemic wheat landrace species were investigated using single-copy genes encoding plastid Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (Acc-1) and 3-phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk-1) in order to estimate their phylogenetic relationship. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using maximum parsimony (MP), maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian, and TCS network and gene flow values. The A and B genome sequences from the Pgk-1 loci indicated that three accessions of Triticum petropavlovskyi were clustered into the same subclade, and the T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum and the Sichuan white wheat accessions were grouped into a separate subclade. Based on the Acc-1 gene, T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum and T. aestivum ssp. yunnanense were grouped into one subclade in the A genome; the B genome from T. petropavlovskyi and T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum, and the Sichuan white wheat complex and T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum were grouped in the same clades. The D genome of T. aestivum ssp. yunnanense clustered with T. petropavlovskyi. Our findings suggested that (1) T. petropavlovskyi is distantly related to the Sichuan white wheat complex; (2) T. petropavlovskyi, T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum and T. aestivum ssp. yunnanense are closely related; (3) T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum is closely related to T. aestivum ssp. yunnanense and the Sichuan white wheat complex; and (4) T. aestivum ssp. tibetanum may be an ancestor of Chinese endemic wheat landraces.