title: Resolving interspecific relationships within evolutionarily young lineages using RNA-seq data: An example from Pedicularis section Cyathophora (Orobanchaceae).
abstract: Phylogenomics has shown great potential in resolving evolutionary relationships at different taxonomical levels. However, it remains controversial whether all orthologous genes under different selective pressures can be concatenated for phylogenomic reconstruction. Here we used sect. Cyathophora of Pedicularis, one of the most species-rich genera of angiosperms in the alpine and arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, as a model to investigate the efficiency of RNA-seq in resolving relationships of closely related congeneric species. Flower transcriptomes were sequenced for all species of sect. Cyathophora and two outgroup species. Forty-one highly conserved single-/low-copy nuclear genes and 1553 orthologous groups (OGs) were identified and concatenated into five datasets based on gene copy numbers and Ka/Ks values to reconstruct the phylogeny of section Cyathophora. We also tested how many genes minimally can resolve the interspecific relationships, and reconstructed the evolutionary history of some floral characters in sect. Cyathophora. The results showed that the five different datasets consistently resolved the interspecific relationships of sect. Cyathophora, and the interspecific relationships can be robustly reconstructed with maximal support when ⩾20 single-/low-copy nuclear genes or 25 OGs are used. Our study suggests that all OGs under different selective pressures can be concatenated for phylogenomic reconstruction, and provides a successful and efficient use of RNA-seq in reconstructing interspecific relationships of a non-model plant group with recent radiations.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Juan
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Fu-Sheng
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: xiaoq_wang@ibcas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiao-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001110:Arctic Regions; D001483:Base Sequence; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics; D018628:Gene Dosage; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D023281:Genomics; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D032262:Pedicularis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018749:RNA, Plant
keywords: Non-neutral gene; Phylogenomics; Phylogeny; Recent radiation; Selective pressure; Transcriptome