Molecular evidence for phylogenetic relationships of Jacquemontia reclinata House (Convolvulaceae) – a critically endangered species from south Florida

Abstract

Jacquemontia reclinata House (Convolvulaceae) is a federally listed endangered species endemic to coastal strand habitat of south-eastern Florida. In order to identify the closest relatives of J. reclinata, a phylogenetic reconstruction was performed based on nucleotide sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer region of nuclear ribosomal DNA and from the trnH-psbA intergenic spacer of chloroplast DNA. The three putative relatives of J. reclinata and the majority of Jacquemontia Choicy species known to occur in the Caribbean Islands were included. The strict consensus tree concurs with previous morphological studies, indicating that J. reclinata is closely related to the Caribbean species J. cayensis Britton, J. curtisii Hallier f., and J. havanensis (Jacq.) Urb. These three species and J. reclinata form an unresolved clade. Nucleotide divergence within this clade is low, suggesting that the group is recent, perhaps diversifying after the latest glacial period. These taxa need to be studied further using population-level DNA markers. Most species endemic to the Caribbean Basin form a strongly supported clade. Our phylogeny supports Convolvulus nodiflorus Desr. as part of Jacquemontia. In addition, J. ovalifolia (West) Hallier f. ssp. sandwicensis (A. Gray) K.R. Robertson is sister to the Antillean endemic J. solanifolia (L.) Hallier f.

Phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences confirm a unique plant intercontinental disjunction between tropical Africa, the Caribbean, and the Hawaiian Islands

“…The ingroup included 15 species of Jacquemontia, which has representatives from the major known clades of the genus, including early branching lineages such as J. agrestis (Choicy) Meisn., J. blanchetii Moric., and J. tamnifolia (L.) Griseb. and recently divergent assemblages such as the J. havanensis clade (Namoff et al 2007;J. de Egea and M. Carine, personal communication).…”

“…Our prior research on Jacquemontia systematics and conservation focused on the molecular phylogenetics of J. reclinata House, a critically endangered species from coastal south-east Florida (Maschinski and Wright 2006;Namoff et al 2007; Thornton et al 2008). Although the sampling for this study included mostly Jacquemontia species that occur in the Caribbean Basin, material for J. ovalifolia subsp.…”

“…was selected as the outgroup as previous molecular studies have shown this species to be a distant relative of Jacquemontia (Stefanovic et al 2002). Most of the nucleotide sequences were retrieved from GenBank and have been previously published by Namoff et al (2007). New nucleotide sequences (with GenBank numbers in parenthesis) were obtained for J. ovalifolia subsp.…”

“…DNA was isolated from silica gel-dried material (10-30 mg) using a FastPrep FP120 tissue disrupter (Thermo Electron Corporation, Waltham, MA) and FastDNA spin kit (QBIOgene, Irvine, CA). Protocols for PCR amplification, cycle sequencing, and separation of sequencing reaction products followed the procedures outlined by Namoff et al (2007).…”

Phylogenetics, Conservation, and Historical Biogeography of the West Indian Members of the Adelieae (Euphorbiaceae)

“…Several molecular phylogenies have included West Indian endemics that are restricted to serpentine soils (e.g., McDowell & Bremer, 1998, McDowell et al, 2003Lavin et al, 2001;Loockerman et al, 2003;Liu et al, 2004;Namoff et al, 2007;Cariaga et al, 2008;Michelangeli et al, 2008, pers. comm.…”