Abstract
The genus Cardamine (Brassicaceae) exhibits remarkable species diversity and endemism in the Hengduan-Himalayan Mountains (HHM) of East Asia; however, its phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history remain unclear. Here, we conducted a phylogenomic analysis of 50 species, including 45 East Asian Cardamine taxa and five Loxostemon species, based on complete chloroplast genomes and 1,081 single-copy nuclear genes. Our results indicate that: (1) Cardamine is not monophyletic, with Loxostemon nested within the genus; moreover, the diagnostic morphological characters traditionally used to delimit Loxostemon have evolved repeatedly and independently, supporting its synonymization under Cardamine. (2) Divergence time estimation and ancestral range reconstruction suggest that the core HHM clade originated approximately 4.34 Ma and rapidly radiated between 4.34 and 1.86 Ma, temporally coincident with major uplift events of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP). Integrative analyses of gene tree discordance, hybridization signals, and ploidy variation further demonstrate that this rapid diversification was driven by reticulate evolution involving incomplete lineage sorting and frequent hybridization. This study provides the first genome-scale phylogeny framework for East Asian Cardamine, highlights the central role of hybridization in generating plant diversity in the HHM, and offers a robust molecular foundation for future taxonomic revision.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Cardamine is not monophyletic, with Loxostemon nested within the genus.
- Outcome
- monophyletice1
CardamineOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The genus Cardamine (Brassicaceae) exhibits remarkable species diversity and endemism in the Hengduan-Himalayan Mountains (HHM) of East Asia”
e1“Cardamine is not monophyletic, with Loxostemon nested within the genus”
Claim · model-written summary
Diagnostic morphological characters used to delimit Loxostemon evolved repeatedly and independently.
Verbatim
e2“the diagnostic morphological characters traditionally used to delimit Loxostemon have evolved repeatedly and independently”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors support synonymizing Loxostemon under Cardamine.
- Outcome
- synonymization under Cardaminee3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“supporting its synonymization under Cardamine”
Claim · model-written summary
The core HHM clade of Cardamine originated approximately 4.34 Ma.
- Outcome
- core HHM cladee4
- Value
- approximately 4.34 Mae4
- Setting
- Hengduan-Himalayan Mountains (HHM) of East Asiae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The genus Cardamine (Brassicaceae) exhibits remarkable species diversity and endemism in the Hengduan-Himalayan Mountains (HHM) of East Asia”
e4“the core HHM clade originated approximately 4.34 Ma”
Claim · model-written summary
The core HHM clade rapidly radiated between 4.34 and 1.86 Ma, temporally coincident with major uplift events of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
- Outcome
- rapidly radiatede5
- Value
- between 4.34 and 1.86 Mae5
- Qualifier
- temporally coincident with major uplift events of the Qinghai-Tibet plateaue5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The genus Cardamine (Brassicaceae) exhibits remarkable species diversity and endemism in the Hengduan-Himalayan Mountains (HHM) of East Asia”
e5“rapidly radiated between 4.34 and 1.86 Ma, temporally coincident with major uplift events of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP)”
Claim · model-written summary
Rapid diversification of Cardamine was driven by reticulate evolution with incomplete lineage sorting and frequent hybridization.
- Outcome
- rapid diversificatione6
- Qualifier
- reticulate evolution involving incomplete lineage sorting and frequent hybridizatione6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The genus Cardamine (Brassicaceae) exhibits remarkable species diversity and endemism in the Hengduan-Himalayan Mountains (HHM) of East Asia”
e6“this rapid diversification was driven by reticulate evolution involving incomplete lineage sorting and frequent hybridization”