Intraspecific differentiation of Limonium wrightii (Plumbaginaceae) on northwestern Pacific Islands: rate heterogeneity in nuclear rDNA and its distance-independent geographic structure

Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2009 Dec;53(3):1032-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2009.06.011. Epub 2009 Jun 23.

Abstract

We conducted a molecular phylogenetic analysis of a coastal sea lavender in NW Pacific using ITS sequences of nrDNA. As a result, the ITS sequences of populations on the oceanic Daito Islands were considerably different from conspecific others in nine apomorphic substitutions. This finding indicates a distance-independent geographical structure of the genetic variation among islands in NW Pacific. The calibrated rate of nucleotide substitutions in the ITS regions within L. wrightii (average: 1.41x10(-8) substitutions per site per year) was higher than any other instances of substitution rates in flowering plants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA, Plant / genetics
  • DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / genetics
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genetics, Population*
  • Geography
  • Haplotypes
  • Likelihood Functions
  • Models, Genetic
  • Pacific Islands
  • Phylogeny*
  • Plumbaginaceae / classification
  • Plumbaginaceae / genetics*
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • DNA, Plant
  • DNA, Ribosomal Spacer