Resolving complicated relationships of the Panax bipinnatifidus complex in southwestern China by RAD-seq data

The P. binpinnatifidus complex included most of the Panax species distributed in Sino-Himalaya regions except for P. pseudoginseng, P. stipuleanatus and P. notoginseng. However, the delimitation and identification of these taxa within the species complex are very difficult due to the existence of morphological intermediates, and their evolutionary relationships remain unresolved despite several studies have been carried out based on traditional DNA markers. The taxonomic uncertainty hinders the identification, conservation and exploration of these wild populations of Panax. To study this species complex, we employed ddRAD-seq data of these taxa from 18 different localities of southwestern China, using two RAD analysis pipelines, STACKS and pyRAD. Based on the results of phylogenetic analysis, the species complex was divided into four clades with high supports, which largely agreed with morphologically described species. Two clades, corresponding to P. vietnamensis and P. zingiberensis, respectively, were sister groups, indicating that these two species had a closer genetic relationship; the third clade was consisted of samples with bamboo-like rhizomes named as P. wangianus clade, and the fourth one with moniliform rhizomes was named as P. bipinnatifidus clade. The population genetic structure analysis and D-statistics test showed the localized admixture among these species, which indicated that introgression had occurred among the related lineages continuously distributed in southeastern Yunnan and adjacent regions.