Geographical patterns of genetic variation in rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) in the Mediterranean basin

Abstract

Climate changes during the Quaternary had important effects on the evolution of European plant species. The distribution of genetic variability in rosemary, a strictly Mediterranean species of reputed Plio‐Quaternary origin for which the diversification centre is hypothesized to be located in the western part of the Mediterranean basin, was investigated across the species range by using plastid microsatellites [plastid simple sequence repeat (cpSSR)] markers. Seven out of the 17 primer pairs screened were polymorphic, with up to four alleles, yielding a total of 17 size variants combined into ten haplotypes. A permutation test to investigate for geographical structure showed no significant differences between RST and GST, indicating that the species lacks geographical structure. Low correlation between genetic and geographical distances was shown by the Mantel test. Bayesian analysis identified two coancestry groups of populations. The distribution of genetic diversity supports the hypothesized origin in the western Mediterranean basin, and with the demographic expansion test indicates three different routes of migration: a northern route expanding along the northern side of the Mediterranean and two southern routes, one from west to east through North Africa and reaching Cyrenaica, and a second to the south‐west of the Iberian Peninsula, from where it came back to the south–central areas. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London,

High throughput measure of diversity in cytoplasmic and nuclear traits for unravelling geographic distribution of rosemary

“…According to the authors, all of the 10 population belonged to the same cluster of genetical diversity, with some populations collected in Spain and Portugal forming another cluster. Our results are perfectly compatible with those of Mateu‐Andrés et al (), who evidenced the prevalence of H4 haplotype (and its derivate H5 and H6) in continental France, the prevalence of H2 haplotype in southern Italy and south Sardinia, and a mixture of H4, H2 and H1 in the two Corse populations. Nonetheless in the present work, due to a major number of marker analyzed, a more sensitive detection technique and a more detailed sampling in Italy and France, the presence of three genetic clusters in this region was demonstrated, as well as a major richness in rosemary biodiversity in Sardinia/Corse region compared to the rest of France and Italy.…”

“…The intra‐population genetic distances, corresponding to a geographic distance of 0 km, ranged from 0.22 (CIR population) to 0.56 (GON population) and showed an average value of 0.34 with a standard deviation of 0.10. A negative (slope = −9 × 10 −5 ) but weak ( R = 0.1488) correlation was found between these values and the respective distance from the diversification center of the species localized in the southern east of the Hiberian peninsula by Mateu‐Andrés et al (). The 703 average inter‐population genetic distances ranged from 0.28 to 0.82, with an average value of 0.58 and a standard deviation of 0.11.…”

“…In the above‐mentioned work by Mateu‐Andrés et al (), 10 of the 47 examined populations were collected in Italy and France. Among these, H2 and H4 were the most detected haplotype.…”

Ecological and historical determinants of population genetic structure and diversity in the Mediterranean shrubRosmarinus officinalis(Lamiaceae)

“…Whether morphological variation and ecological amplitude are the consequence of similarly high levels of genetic variation and how life‐history traits affect genetic diversity and structure have not yet been addressed in R. officinalis . Phylogeographical studies based on plastid microsatellites, however, revealed a small number of haplotypes across the distribution range of the species (Mateu‐Andrés et al ., ), which is consistent with a rapid population expansion scenario but is in strong contrast to other studies indicating higher amounts of genetic variation at nuclear loci (Zaouali & Boussaïd, ; Segarra‐Moragues & Gleiser, ). Rosmarinus officinalis populations inhabit fire‐prone habitats and are therefore likely to have short generation spans.…”

Humans and other animals and the plants they ingest

“…() use DNA barcoding for a complex in Thymus L. (thyme) and Mateu‐Andres et al . () use patterns of genetic variation for studying biogeographic patterns in Rosmarinus L. (rosemary).…”