Effects of glaciation and whole genome duplication on the distribution of the Campanula rotundifolia polyploid complex.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to a species distribution. Among plants, the extrinsic effects of glaciation and intrinsic effects of whole genome duplication are powerful drivers of biogeographical patterns, but the interplay of these factors is poorly understood. Here, we investigate the roles glaciation and whole-genome duplication have played in the evolution of the widespread polyploid complex Campanula rotundifolia.

METHODS: We assessed the cytotype of 37 populations that spanned the geographic and cytotypic range of the C. rotundifolia complex. We constructed a chloroplast phylogeny for these populations and used RAD-seq to create nuclear phylogenies and networks for a subset of 23 populations; and estimated divergence times of major clades using Bayesian estimation of substitution rates.

KEY RESULTS: Campanula rotundifolia originated in south-central Europe and underwent range expansion throughout much of Europe and North America. Multiple genome duplications have occurred in C. rotundifolia-at least two tetraploid and three hexaploid formations.

CONCLUSIONS: Nuclear and chloroplast phylogenies are largely congruent with a history of populations surviving glacial maxima in known Pleistocene refugia in Europe and North America. Divergent European clades are consistent with two disjunct glacial refugia within Europe. North America was colonized by hexaploids derived from Western European lineages. A glacial refugium in Midwestern North America likely facilitated post-glacial recolonization of North America and limited genetic divergence. These results implicate both glaciation and whole-genome duplication as contributing factors to the extant biogeography of C. rotundifolia.