Genetic signatures of long-term evolutionary success in a genetically diverse albeit clonally reproducing herbaceous plant species in Central European woodlands
Description
Genetic diversity is associated with sexual reproduction and is a driver of plant adaptation and diversification. However, there are also successful but almost exclusively vegetatively reproducing species. Among them is the Eurasian herbaceous woodland species Cardamine bulbifera. Since the Last Glacial Maximum the species expanded as an understory woodland plant in Europe. The dodecaploid species has a Caucasian origin and stems from diploid sister species C. bipinnata and C. abchasica. We identified a genetically very diverse metapopulation in northeastern Austria (Thaya Valley) showing signatures of genetic variation from the ancestors and sister species. We explored the hypotheses that genetic diversity observed is a remnant of the reticulate past rather than contemporary geneflow. This dataset comprises all relevant Supplementary Material. Except Table S1, Table S2 and File 1 all files are presented with one single PDF. Table S1: Accession data and details for samples used for ddRAD. Table S2: Accession details for samples studied for plastome type variation using PCR AFLP. Table S3: Significance levels associations of genetic clusters and moisture. Figure S1: Woodland mapping at Thaya Valley. Figure S2: Mean SNP coverage after filtering of ddRAD data. Figure S3: Coverage distribution per sample. Figure S4: CV error for ADMIXTURE analysis of all samples. Figure S5: Allele frequency in dodecaploid SNP calling. Figure S6: CV error for ADMIXTURE analysis of Cardamine bulbifera from Thaya Valley. Figure S7: SplitsTree network based on dodecaploid variant calling. Figure S8: Associations of genetic clusters and moisture. File 1: Plastome type variation (PCR AFLPs) alignment
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Steps to reproduce
We performed ddRAD analyses and included accessions and outgroup species from across Europe as reference. A plastid DNA-based marker was applied to unravel present-day distribution of plastome types contrasting a Central European and an Eastern European/Caucasian gene pool. We used genetic assignment analysis, network analysis and comparisons of the nuclear and plastid gene pools to infer contemporary gene flow. Genotypes within the Thaya Valley were mapped and spatial distribution of both maternally and biparentally inherited genetic variation was described.