School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2023 May 30;23(1):289. doi: 10.1186/s12870-023-04277-w.
Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski is a prevalent and widely distributed invasive plant in South China. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying its rapid adaptation, we employed DNA methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis to study 60 S. trilobata individuals collected from Fuzhou (FZ), Haikou (HK), Jinghong (JH) and Guangzhou (GZ).
In this study, we computed the Shannon diversity index (I) of SSR and MSAP as 0.354 and 0.303, respectively. The UPGMA phylogenetic tree and PCoA analyses showed that MSAP had a better discriminatory power to distinguish populations from different regions. Notably, the GZ population was found to be the most distinct from the other three populations. Moreover, Mantel analysis revealed a significantly higher correlation between epigenetic distance and geographic distance as compared to genetic distance and geographic distance. Consequently, the correlation between epigenetic distance and geographic distance observed to be markedly stronger than that between genetic distance and geographical distance on Mantel analysis.
The S. trilobata populations in various regions displayed a high of complementary genetic and epigenetic diversity, which was a key feature contributing to their rapid invasion. Interestingly, the correlation between epigenetics and geographical distance was significantly stronger than that observed for genetics and geographical distance. These findings indicated that the epigenetic mechanism of S. trilobar exhibited high plasticity, leading to significant differences in methylation pattern across different populations.
三叶鬼针草（L.）普鲁斯基是华南地区普遍存在且分布广泛的入侵植物。为了探究其快速适应的分子机制，我们采用 DNA 甲基化敏感扩增多态性（MSAP）和简单序列重复（SSR）分析方法，对来自福州（FZ）、海口（HK）、景洪（JH）和广州（GZ）的 60 个三叶鬼针草个体进行了研究。
本研究计算 SSR 和 MSAP 的香农多样性指数（I）分别为 0.354 和 0.303。UPGMA 系统发育树和 PCoA 分析表明，MSAP 具有更好的区分来自不同地区种群的能力。值得注意的是，GZ 种群与其他三个种群的差异最大。此外，Mantel 分析表明，与遗传距离和地理距离相比，表观遗传距离与地理距离之间具有更高的相关性。因此，在 Mantel 分析中，表观遗传距离与地理距离之间的相关性明显强于遗传距离与地理距离之间的相关性。
不同地区的三叶鬼针草种群表现出较高的遗传和表观遗传多样性，这是其快速入侵的关键特征。有趣的是，表观遗传学与地理距离之间的相关性明显强于遗传学与地理距离之间的相关性。这些发现表明，三叶鬼针草的表观遗传机制具有较高的可塑性，导致不同种群之间的甲基化模式存在显著差异。
