Plant Diversity ›› 2023, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (02): 125-132.DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2022.06.001

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New insights into intergeneric relationships of Hickeliinae (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) revealed by complete plastid genomes

Rivontsoa A. Rakotonasoloa,b,c,f, Soejatmi Dransfieldd, Thomas Haevermanse, Helene Ralimananac, Maria S. Vorontsovad, Meng-Yuan Zhoua, De-Zhu Lia,f   

  1. a. Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650201, China;
    b. Department Flore, Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza, Antananarivo, 101, Madagascar;
    c. Kew Madagascar Conservation Center, Antananarivo, 101, Madagascar;
    d. Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK;
    e. Institut de Systématique Évolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Université des Antilles, Sorbonne Université, 45 Rue Buffon, CP 50, 75005, Paris, France;
    f. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
  • Received:2021-10-22 Revised:2022-05-30 Online:2023-03-25 Published:2023-06-13
  • Contact: Meng-Yuan Zhou,E-mail:zhoumengyuan@mail.kib.ac.cn;De-Zhu Li,E-mail:dzl@mail.kib.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670396 and 32120103003), the Program of Science and Technology Talents Training of Yunnan Province, China (2017HA014), and the Large-scale Scientific Facilities of the CAS (2017–LSFGBOWS–02). Special thanks to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences for the fellowship (CAS-TWAS 2016) to the first author, who worked on this study as part of his doctoral studies.

Abstract: The Hickeliinae (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) is an ecologically and economically significant subtribe of tropical bamboos restricted to Madagascar, Comoros, Reunion Island, and a small part of continental Africa (Tanzania). Because these bamboos rarely flower, field identification is challenging, and inferring the evolutionary history of Hickeliinae from herbarium specimens is even more so. Molecular phylogenetic work is critical to understanding this group of bamboos. Here, comparative analysis of 22 newly sequenced plastid genomes showed that members of all genera of Hickeliinae share evolutionarily conserved plastome structures. We also determined that Hickeliinae plastome sequences are informative for phylogenetic reconstructions. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all genera of Hickeliinae are monophyletic, except for Nastus, which is paraphyletic and forms two distant clades. The type species of Nastus (Clade II) is endemic to Reunion Island and is not closely related to other sampled species of Nastus endemic to Madagascar (Clade VI). Clade VI (Malagasy Nastus) is sister to the Sokinochloa + Hitchcockella clade (Clade V), and both clades have a clumping habit with short-necked pachymorph rhizomes. The monotypic Decaryochloa is remarkable in having the longest floret in Bambuseae and forms a distinct Clade IV. Clade III, which has the highest generic diversity, consists of Cathariostachys, Perrierbambus, Sirochloa, and Valiha, which are also morphologically diverse. This work provides significant resources for further genetic and phylogenomic studies of Hickeliinae, an understudied subtribe of bamboo.

Key words: Bamboo, Hickeliinae, Madagascar, Paleotropical, Phylogenomics, Plastome