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Asymmetric contributions of seed and pollen to gene dispersal in the marsh orchid Dactylorhiza umbrosa in Asia Minor

Hedrén, Mikael LU ; Birkedal, Sven ; de Boer, Hugo ; Ghorbani, Abdolbaset ; Gravendeel, Barbara ; Hansson, Sven ; Svensson, Åke LU and Zarre, Shahin (2021) In Molecular Ecology 30(8). p.1791-1805
Abstract

Orchids differ from other plants in their extremely small and partly air-filled seeds that can be transported long distances by wind. Seed dispersal in orchids is expected to contribute strongly to overall gene flow, and orchids generally express low levels of genetic differentiation between populations and low pollen to seed flow ratios. However, studies in orchids distributed in northern Europe have often found a poor geographic structuring of genetic variation. Here, we studied geographic differentiation in the marsh orchid Dactylorhiza umbrosa, which is widely distributed in upland regions from Asia Minor to Central Asia. These areas were less affected by Pleistocene ice ages than northern Europe and the orchid should have been able... (More)

Orchids differ from other plants in their extremely small and partly air-filled seeds that can be transported long distances by wind. Seed dispersal in orchids is expected to contribute strongly to overall gene flow, and orchids generally express low levels of genetic differentiation between populations and low pollen to seed flow ratios. However, studies in orchids distributed in northern Europe have often found a poor geographic structuring of genetic variation. Here, we studied geographic differentiation in the marsh orchid Dactylorhiza umbrosa, which is widely distributed in upland regions from Asia Minor to Central Asia. These areas were less affected by Pleistocene ice ages than northern Europe and the orchid should have been able to survive the last ice age in local refugia. In the plastid genome, which is dispersed by seeds, populations at close distance were clearly divergent, but the differentiation still increased with geographic distance, and a significant phylogeographic structure had developed. In the nuclear genome, which is dispersed by both seeds and pollen, populations showed an even stronger correlation between genetic and geographic distance, but average levels of differentiation were lower than in the plastid genome, and no phylogeographic structure was evident. Combining plastid and nuclear data, we found that the ratio of pollen to seed dispersal (mp/ms) decreases with physical distance. Comparison with orchids that grow in parts of Europe that were glaciated during the last ice suggests that a balanced structure of genetic diversity develops only slowly in many terrestrial orchids, despite efficient seed dispersal.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Dactylorhiza umbrosa, genetic diversity, nuclear microsatellites, plastid DNA, pollen to seed dispersal ratio, spatial genetic structure
in
Molecular Ecology
volume
30
issue
8
pages
1791 - 1805
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85102437303
  • pmid:33587812
ISSN
0962-1083
DOI
10.1111/mec.15848
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bd48efd7-b452-45e0-b6a0-0f2a03efa3ff
date added to LUP
2021-03-26 12:30:55
date last changed
2024-04-20 03:27:28
@article{bd48efd7-b452-45e0-b6a0-0f2a03efa3ff,
  abstract     = {{<p>Orchids differ from other plants in their extremely small and partly air-filled seeds that can be transported long distances by wind. Seed dispersal in orchids is expected to contribute strongly to overall gene flow, and orchids generally express low levels of genetic differentiation between populations and low pollen to seed flow ratios. However, studies in orchids distributed in northern Europe have often found a poor geographic structuring of genetic variation. Here, we studied geographic differentiation in the marsh orchid Dactylorhiza umbrosa, which is widely distributed in upland regions from Asia Minor to Central Asia. These areas were less affected by Pleistocene ice ages than northern Europe and the orchid should have been able to survive the last ice age in local refugia. In the plastid genome, which is dispersed by seeds, populations at close distance were clearly divergent, but the differentiation still increased with geographic distance, and a significant phylogeographic structure had developed. In the nuclear genome, which is dispersed by both seeds and pollen, populations showed an even stronger correlation between genetic and geographic distance, but average levels of differentiation were lower than in the plastid genome, and no phylogeographic structure was evident. Combining plastid and nuclear data, we found that the ratio of pollen to seed dispersal (mp/ms) decreases with physical distance. Comparison with orchids that grow in parts of Europe that were glaciated during the last ice suggests that a balanced structure of genetic diversity develops only slowly in many terrestrial orchids, despite efficient seed dispersal.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hedrén, Mikael and Birkedal, Sven and de Boer, Hugo and Ghorbani, Abdolbaset and Gravendeel, Barbara and Hansson, Sven and Svensson, Åke and Zarre, Shahin}},
  issn         = {{0962-1083}},
  keywords     = {{Dactylorhiza umbrosa; genetic diversity; nuclear microsatellites; plastid DNA; pollen to seed dispersal ratio; spatial genetic structure}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1791--1805}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Molecular Ecology}},
  title        = {{Asymmetric contributions of seed and pollen to gene dispersal in the marsh orchid Dactylorhiza umbrosa in Asia Minor}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.15848}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/mec.15848}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}