Abstract
The Japanese archipelago exhibits a notable difference in snow depth in winter, deep snow on the Sea of Japan side and low snow cover on the Pacific Ocean side. This contrasting pattern has shaped the distribution of infraspecific taxon pairs in a range of woody plants, with taxa found on the Sea of Japan side typically exhibiting a stunted shrub form with multiple decumbent stems. The phylogenetic origin of these taxon pairs is unknown, i.e., whether the two taxa diverged from the same species or if they have different origins. This study aimed to reveal the phylogenetic origin of two varieties of Torreya nucifera (Taxaceae); var. nucifera is a tree found on the Pacific Ocean side, whereas var. radicans is a shrub found on the Sea of Japan side. We examined the phylogenetic relationships of the two varieties and worldwide Torreya taxa using whole chloroplast genomes, chloroplast DNA fragments, and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS). The whole chloroplast genome phylogeny indicated that T. nucifera var. radicans was a sister taxon to Chinese T. grandis, rather than to var. nucifera. In contrast, the nuclear ITS phylogeny indicated that while several haplotypes of T. nucifera var. radicans were closely related to T. grandis, most haplotypes of T. nucifera var. radicans formed a single clade with those of var. nucifera. This implies that the homogenization of the ITS has occurred between the two taxa, while taxon-specific chloroplast DNA haplotypes were retained. These discordant phylogenies suggested that the two taxa have different phylogenetic origins, but have an intricate evolutionary history, involving inter-taxa hybridization and gene flow, possibly when their distributions were confined to sympatric refugia. Given the genetic evidence and distinct difference in growth form, we propose that T. nucifera var. radicans should be taxonomically treated as a distinct species, T. fruticosa.
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source data and codes by A. Takenaka (http://takenaka-akio.org/etc/j_map/). Distribution information of the taxa was based on Hayashi (1960), Mitake (2016), and observations in the present study
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the University forest staff and prefectural forestry offices for permitting sampling. We are grateful to T. Kurosawa (Fukushima University) for supporting the description of taxonomic treatment and S. Nemoto (the herbarium of the University of Tokyo) for providing information of type specimens. We wish to thank H. Yoshimaru (Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute) for providing a report of genetic identification of Torreya. We wish to thank the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University for providing the living Torreya grandis collections (Accession No. 1088-89A, 1088-89B, and 479-80C) used as reference samples in the present study through a scholarship to access the collections (project No. 9-2015) and M. S. Dosmann and K. Richardson (the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University) for their kind help with permission and sampling. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive suggestions.
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Aizawa, M., Worth, J.R.P. Phylogenetic origin of two Japanese Torreya taxa found in two regions with strongly contrasting snow depth. J Plant Res 134, 907–919 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01301-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01301-8