Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr;234(2):392-404.
doi: 10.1111/nph.17956. Epub 2022 Jan 30.

Species divergence with gene flow and hybrid speciation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Shengdan Wu  1 , Yi Wang  2 , Zefu Wang  2 , Nawal Shrestha  1 , Jianquan Liu  1   2
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Species divergence with gene flow and hybrid speciation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Shengdan Wu et al. New Phytol. 2022 Apr.
Free article

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) sensu lato (sl), comprising the platform, the Himalaya and the Hengduan Mountains, is characterized by a large number of endemic plant species. This evolutionary cradle may have arisen from explosive species diversification because of geographic isolation. However, gene flow has been widely detected during the speciation processes of all groups examined, suggesting that natural selection may have also played an important role during species divergence in this region. In addition, natural hybrids have been recovered in almost all species-rich genera. This suggests that numerous species in this region are still 'on the speciation pathway to complete reproductive isolation (RI)'. Such hybrids could directly develop into new species through hybrid polyploidization and homoploid hybrid speciation (HHS). HHS may take place more easily than previously thought through alternate inheritance of alleles of parents at multiple RI loci. Therefore, isolation, selection and hybridization could together have promoted species diversification of numerous plant genera on the QTP sl. We emphasize the need for identification and functional analysis of alleles of major genes for speciation, and especially encourage investigations of parallel adaptive divergence causing RI across different lineages within similar but specific habitats in this region.

Keywords: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; geographic isolation; homoploid hybrid speciation; hybridization; natural selection.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abbott R, Albach D, Ansell S, Arntzen JW, Baird SJE, Bierne N, Boughman J, Brelsford A, Buerkle CA, Buggs R et al. 2013. Hybridization and speciation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 26: 229-246.
    1. Antonelli A, Kissling WD, Flantua SGA, Bermúdez MA, Mulch A, Muellner-Riehl AN, Kreft H, Linder HP, Badgley C, Fjeldså J et al. 2018. Geological and climatic influences on mountain biodiversity. Nature Geosciences 11: 718-725.
    1. Árnason Ú, Lammers F, Kumar V, Nilsson M, Janke A. 2018. Whole-genome sequencing of the blue whale and other rorquals finds signatures for introgressive gene flow. Science Advance 4: eaap9873.
    1. Chen C, Yang W, Liu J, Xi Z, Zhang L, Hu Q. 2021. Population transcriptomics reveals gene flow and introgression between two non-sister alpine gentians. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 638230.
    1. Chen CL, Zhang L, Li JL, Mao XX, Zhang LS, Hu QJ, Liu JQ, Xi ZX. 2021. Phylotranscriptomics reveals extensive gene duplication in the subtribe Gentianinae (Gentianaceae). Journal of Systematics and Evolution 59: 1198-1208.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources