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Genome-scale data resolves the timing of divergence in Joshua trees.

Christopher Irwin Smith1, Michael R McKain2, Austin Guimond1

  • 1Department of Biology, Willamette University, 900 State Street, Salem, OR.

American Journal of Botany
|April 13, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Joshua trees diverged recently, much later than their yucca moth pollinators. This suggests coevolution reinforced reproductive isolation rather than directly driving speciation in this plant-pollinator system.

Keywords:
YuccaRADseqcoevolutionisolationmigrationplastomepollinationspeciation

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Joshua trees and yucca moths are a model for plant-pollinator coevolution and cospeciation.
  • Previous studies suggested Joshua trees diverged significantly before their pollinators, but lacked robust genetic data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate divergence times between Joshua trees and their yucca moth pollinators.
  • To investigate the role of coevolution in the speciation of this system.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of whole chloroplast genome and nuclear genome RADseq data (>5000 loci).
  • Development of a molecular clock for Asparagales and Agavoideae using fossil calibrations.
  • Bayesian inference for estimating divergence times and coalescent-based methods for population genetics.

Main Results:

  • Joshua trees are moderately genetically differentiated and diverged recently (~100-200 kya).
  • Joshua tree divergence is significantly more recent than that of their yucca moth pollinators.

Conclusions:

  • Coevolution likely reinforced reproductive isolation after initial allopatric divergence, rather than directly driving speciation.
  • The findings challenge the hypothesis of direct coevolutionary contribution to speciation in the Joshua tree-yucca moth system.