Speciation patterns of related species under the hybrid zone: A case study of three sclerophyllous oaks in the east Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains

Abstract

Speciation is often accompanied by frequent gene exchanges, which have been gradually recognized as a common phenomenon in nature. Although gene flow may influence different reproductive isolations, the specific mechanism of the process still requires more experimental evidence, especially in hybrid populations that have no significant differentiation and isolation. To address this challenge, this study aims to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of sympatry and parapatry in related species.Three sclerophyllous oaks (Quercus spinosa, Quercus aquifolioides and Quercus rehderiana), which are mainly distributed in the sympatry/parapatry of the East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains and adjacent regions, were used to explore the population dynamics and evolutionary history. Based on 12,420 genome-wide single nucleotide

Introgression and incomplete lineage sorting blurred phylogenetic relationships across the genomes of sclerophyllous oaks from southwest China

“…These species seem to be able generally to maintain their species boundaries, according to morphological observation. Introgression appears to be widespread among species in this section, but with the exception of Feng et al (2016) and Ju et al (2023), who focused on the gene flow among three species in this group using microsatellite data and specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing, respectively, no other study has examined the level and pattern of introgression among these species using molecular genetic methods. In this study, we collected samples from all the species in the clade, and used whole-genome resequencing data to study the genetic coherence of species in this group.…”