Southern Research Station Headquarters - Asheville, NC
Main Logo of Southern Research Station, Stating: Southern Research Station - Asheville, NC, with a saying of 'Science you can use!'
[Images] Five photos of different landscape

Publication Information

Mail this page   Give us your feedback on this publication

Title: Molecular evidence for an Asian origin and a unique westward migration of species in the genus Castanea via Europe to North America
Author(s): Lang, Ping; Dane, Fenny; Kubisiak, Thomas L.; Huang, Hongwen
Date: 2007
Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Vol. 43: 49-59
Description: The genus Castanea (Fagaceae) is widely distributed in the deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere. The striking similarity between the Xoras of eastern Asia and those of eastern North America and the divergence in chestnut blight resistance among species has been of interest to botanists for a century. To infer the biogeographical history of the genus, the phylogeny of Castanea was estimated using DNA sequence data from divergent regions of the chloroplast genome. Sequencing results support the genus Castanea as a monophyletic group with Castanea crenata as basal. The three Chinese species form a strongly supported sister clade to the North American and European clade. A unique westward expansion of extant Castanea species is hypothesized with Castanea originating in eastern Asia, an initial diversification within Asia during the Eocene followed by intercontinental dispersion and divergence between the Chinese and the European/North American species during the middle Eocene and a split between the European and the North American species in the late Eocene. The differentiation within North America and China might have occurred in early or late Miocene. The North America species are supported as a clade with C. pumila var. ozarkensis, the Ozark chinkapin, as the basal lineage, sister to the group comprising C. pumila var. pumila, the Allegheny chinkapin, and Castanea dentata, the American chestnut. Morphological evolution of one nut per bur in the genus may have occurred independently on two continents.
View and Print this Publication (572 KB)
Publication Notes:
  • We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
  • This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
  • Our on-line publications are scanned and captured using Adobe Acrobat. During the capture process some typographical errors may occur. Please contact the SRS Webmaster, srswebmaster@fs.fed.us if you notice any errors which make this publication unuseable.
[ Get Acrobat ] Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility




Publication Links:

FIA Resource Bulletins

Publications Search


Search for on-line publications
containing the following:

 


(Uncheck this box to search all R&D Publications.)

Small logo of the USDASmall logo of the Forest Service