Intra- and interspecific phylogeny of wild Fagopyrum (Polygonaceae) species based on nucleotide sequences of noncoding regions in chloroplast DNA

The intra- and interspecific phylogeny of Fagopyrum (Polygonaceae) species was studied using nucleotide sequence data from two noncoding regions in chloroplast DNA, the trnK (UUU) intron and the trnC (GCA)-rpoB spacer. Thirty-seven accessions of ten species and two unidentified samples in the urophyllum group of Fagopyrum were analyzed. Both of the studied regions showed high variability, including nucleotide substitutions, insertion/deletions, and inversions. Separate parsimony analyses of the two regions generated phylogenies that were largely consistent with each other. A single most parsimonious tree derived from the combined data of the two regions suggested that (1) either F. statice or F. leptopodum was derived from the ancestor more than once, (2) F. gracilipes, a tetraploid species, has recently been derived from diploid ancestor and rapidly spread our to its present distribution areas, and (3) F. pleioramosum, F. macrocarpum, and F. callianthum, three newly discovered species endemic to the upper Min River valley, differentiated from their common ancestral species in the present distribution area.