Molecular signals for Late Tertiary/Early Quaternary range splits of an Eurasian steppe plant: Clausia aprica (Brassicaceae)

• Published in: Molecular Ecology
• Main Authors: FRANZKE, A., HURKA, H., JANSSEN, D., NEUFFER, B., FRIESEN, N., MARKOV, M., MUMMENHOFF, K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2004
• Subjects: Genetics; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; taiga
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294x.2004.02272.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-294X.2004.02272.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02272.x

Abstract Several vegetation belts stretch continuously from Europe to Asia, taiga and steppe being most prominent. Numerous plant species within these belts share a conspicuous distribution area, which is longitudinally contracted or disrupted approximately along longitude 70° E. To date no hypothesis for this intriguing distribution pattern has been put forward. We detected molecular footprints in the contemporary genetic composition in nuclear DNA (ITS1, ITS2) and chloroplast DNA ( trn L– trn F spacer region) of the steppe element Clausia aprica (Brassicaceae) providing evidence for a severe longitudinal range split and genetic differentiation east of the Ural Mountains about 1 million years ago caused by Quaternary climatic oscillations. Clausia aprica provides the first phylogeographical analysis on the intraspecific evolution of an Eurasian steppe plant.