title: The emergence of the hyperinvasive vine, Mikania micrantha (Asteraceae), via admixture and founder events inferred from population transcriptomics.
abstract: Biological invasions that involve well-documented rapid adaptations to new environments provide unequalled opportunities for testing evolutionary hypotheses. Mikania micrantha Kunth (Asteraceae), a perennial herbaceous vine native to tropical Central and South America, successfully invaded tropical Asia in the early 20th century. It is regarded as one of the most aggressive weeds in the world. To elucidate the molecular and evolutionary processes underlying this invasion, we extensively sampled this weed throughout its invaded range in South-East and South Asia and surveyed its genetic structure using variants detected from population transcriptomics. Clustering results suggest that more than one source population contributed to this invasion. Computer simulations using genomewide genetic variation support a scenario of admixture and founder events during invasion. The genes differentially expressed between native and invasive populations were found to be involved in oxidative and high light intensity stress responses, pointing to a possible ecological mechanism of adaptation. Our results provide a foundation for further detailed mechanistic and population studies of this ecologically and economically important invasion. This line of research promises to provide new mitigation strategies for invasive species as well as insights into mechanisms of adaptation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ziwen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yelin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yubin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Wildlife Protection Administration, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Wildlife Protection Administration, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Wildlife Protection Administration, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yanwu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Bayesic Research, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Renchao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xuejun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Chung-I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Suhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D018703:Founder Effect; D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D058865:Introduced Species; D035742:Mikania / Q000235:genetics*; D057685:Plant Weeds / Q000235:genetics; D013020:South America; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: admixture; approximate Bayesian computation; invasive species; population genetics; transcriptomics