Travel Tales of a Worldwide Weed: Genomic Signatures of Plantago major L. Reveal Distinct Genotypic Groups With Links to Colonial Trade Routes

Abstract

Retracing pathways of historical species introductions is fundamental to understanding the factors involved in the successful colonization and spread, centuries after a species’ establishment in an introduced range. Numerous plants have been introduced to regions outside their native ranges both intentionally and accidentally by European voyagers and early colonists making transoceanic journeys; however, records are scarce to document this. We use genotyping-by-sequencing and genotype-likelihood methods on the selfing, global weed, Plantago major, collected from 50 populations worldwide to investigate how patterns of genomic diversity are distributed among populations of this global weed. Although genomic differentiation among populations is found to be low, we identify six unique genotype groups showing very little sign of admixture and low degree of outcrossing among them. We show that genotype groups are latitudinally restricted, and that more than one successful genotype colonized and spread into the introduced ranges. With the exception of New Zealand, only one genotype group is present in the Southern Hemisphere. Three of the most prevalent genotypes present in the native Eurasian range gave rise to introduced populations in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, which could lend support to the hypothesis that P. major was unknowlingly dispersed by early European colonists. Dispersal of multiple successful genotypes is a likely reason for success. Genomic signatures and phylogeographic methods can provide new perspectives on the drivers behind the historic introductions and the successful colonization of introduced species, contributing to our understanding of the role of genomic variation for successful establishment of introduced taxa.

Above and Belowground Microbes Are Associated With Variation of the Leaf Metabolome; But Herbivory Has Nominal Effects

“…Finally, it is worth noting that studying the interaction between the host metabolome and their microbiota is confounded, since the secondary metabolome also varies with environment and genotypic differences. Plantago major is capable of asexual and sexual reproduction, but results here, and in a global study (Iwanycki Ahlstrand et al, 2022), suggest the plant favours asexual reproduction, and therefore has extremely low genetic variation. Therefore, genotypic effects are unlikely to be contributing to variation in the metabolome or microbiota.…”

Antimicrobial and Other Biomedical Properties of Extracts from Plantago major, Plantaginaceae

“…The flavonoids baicalein (3), hispidulin (4), plantagin (5), and scutellarin (6) have been isolated from this plant. Plantago major from Egypt was used to isolate the flavonoids luteolin 7-glucoside (7), hispidulin 7-glucuronide (8), luteolin 7-diglucoside ( 9), apigenin 7-glucoside (10), nepetin 7-glucoside, and luteolin 6-hydroxy 4 -methoxy 7-galactoside. Homoplantaginin (11) was just recently found.…”

“…Major L.) is a perennial plant belonging to the Plantagina’ceae family ( Figure 1 ) [ 4 ]. Plantago major was once distributed mainly in Europe and North and Central Asia, and is now widely distributed throughout the world [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Plantago major has been used to treat a variety of diseases, including infectious diseases [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Chloroplast genome of plantago major , a medicinal plant in China

“… 2022 ; Iwanycki Ahlstrand et al. 2022 ). Combining the released chloroplast genomes of other plants in this genus, we will be able to more clearly reveal the complex genetic relationships of this genus.…”

“…However, it has now become naturalized in most areas of the world (Iwanycki Ahlstrand et al. 2022 ). Due to the existence of a large number of transitional morphologies, the deep evolutionary relationships among different species still need further clarification, which requires more samples and DNA data to be supplemented (Bagheri et al.…”