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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 23(1)

DNA sequences from three genomes reveal multiple long-distance dispersals and non-monophyly of sections in Australasian Plantago (Plantaginaceae)

Mei Lin Tay A C , Heidi M. Meudt A B , Philip J. Garnock-Jones A and Peter A. Ritchie A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.

B Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, PO Box 467, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.

C Corresponding author. Email: meilin.tay@gmail.com

Australian Systematic Botany 23(1) 47-68 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB09040
Submitted: 15 September 2009  Accepted: 18 December 2009   Published: 17 February 2010

Abstract

We examined the geographic origins and taxonomic placements of New Zealand and Australian Plantago (Plantaginaceae) by using molecular phylogenetic data. Plantago comprises over 200 species distributed worldwide. Analyses of three markers from the nuclear (ITS), chloroplast (ndhF–rpl32) and mitochondrial (coxI) genomes showed that the New Zealand species form three distinct, well supported clades that are not each others’ closest relatives, and were each derived relative to the sampled Australian species. Therefore, at least three long-distance directional dispersal events into New Zealand can be inferred for Plantago, likely from Australian ancestors. This result differs from the biogeographic pattern often reported for New Zealand plant genera of a single dispersal event followed by rapid radiation, and may be attributed to ready biotic dispersal of mucilaginous seeds and habitat similarities of the Australasian species. Molecular dating placed the arrival time and diversification of the New Zealand species between 2.291 and 0.5 million years ago, which coincides with the geological dates for the uplift of mountain ranges in New Zealand. The mitochondrial DNA substitution rate of the Australasian clade relative to the rest of the genus is discussed, as well as implications of the non-monophyly of sections Oliganthos, Mesembrynia and Plantago within subgenus Plantago.

Additional keywords: biogeography, cpDNA, dispersal, molecular dating, molecular phylogeny, mtDNA, nrDNA.


Acknowledgements

The authors thank Lara Shepherd, Vincent Woo and Stephanie Greaves at the Victoria University Molecular Ecology Laboratory, and Lesley Milicich for technical support. We also thank Barbara Briggs, Lara Shepherd, Leon Perrie, Bill Malcolm, Nancy Malcolm, Kerry Ford, Colin Ogle, Peter Heenan, Peter Lockhart, Barry Sneddon, Mike Thorsen, Peter Beveridge, Rodney Lewington, Ines Schönberger and Rewi Elliot for help with sample collection; and Barbara Briggs (National Herbarium of New South Wales) and Allan Herbarium (CHR), Landcare Research, Lincoln, Canterbury, for supplying information about morphology and geographic distributions of Plantago during the course of this research. For financial support, we acknowledge the following: the Morton family (the Alison Morton Postgraduate Scholarship for Ecology and Marine Biology), New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology through the Defining New Zealand’s Land Biota OBI, the Wellington Botanical Society, and Victoria University of Wellington (the VUW Post Graduate Scholarship for Masters Study, VUW Small Grants Scheme).


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Appendix 1.  Details of Plantago samples that were included in the ITS phylogeny
Samples that were collected and sequenced (DNA) for this study are indicated in bold, with details of collection location. n.a. = not available
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Appendix 1.  Continued.
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Appendix 2.  A list of voucher information and GenBank accession numbers of ITS sequences for individuals of Plantago used for molecular dating in this study
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Appendix 3.  Neighbour-net analyses of the concatenated regions ITS, ndhF–rpl32 and cox1 of the Australasian species of Plantago using SplitsTree ver. 4.8 (using samples listed in Table 1)
TA3