Resequencing 545 ginkgo genomes across the world reveals the evolutionary history of the living fossil.
Nat Commun, 2019/09/13;10(1):4201.
Zhao YP[1], Fan G[2], Yin PP[1, 2], Sun S[2], Li N[2, 3, 4], Hong X[2, 5], Hu G[2], Zhang H[2], Zhang FM[3, 4], Han JD[3], Hao YJ[1], Xu Q[2], Yang X[2], Xia W[2], Chen W[6], Lin HY[1], Zhang R[2], Chen J[2], Zheng XM[1], Lee SM[7], Lee J[8], Uehara K[9], Wang J[6, 10], Yang H[6, 10], Fu CX[11], Liu X[12, 13], Xu X[14, 15], Ge S[16, 17]
Affiliations
PMID: 31519986DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12133-5
Impact factor: 17.694
Abstract
As Charles Darwin anticipated, living fossils provide excellent opportunities to study evolutionary questions related to extinction, competition, and adaptation. Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) is one of the oldest living plants and a fascinating example of how people have saved a species from extinction and assisted its resurgence. By resequencing 545 genomes of ginkgo trees sampled from 51 populations across the world, we identify three refugia in China and detect multiple cycles of population expansion and reduction along with glacial admixture between relict populations in the southwestern and southern refugia. We demonstrate multiple anthropogenic introductions of ginkgo from eastern China into different continents. Further analyses reveal bioclimatic variables that have affected the geographic distribution of ginkgo and the role of natural selection in ginkgo's adaptation and resilience. These investigations provide insights into the evolutionary history of ginkgo trees and valuable genomic resources for further addressing various questions involving living fossil species.
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological; Biological Evolution; China; Fossils; Genome, Plant; Genomics; Ginkgo biloba; Phylogeny; Seeds; Selection, Genetic
More resources
Full text:
Europe PubMed Central; PubMed Central
EndNote: Download