The Bayesian trees of the nuclear gene DMC1 and the chloroplast gene rps16 sequences

Some plants with low fertility are morphologically intermediate between
Roegneria stricta and Roegneria turczaninovii, and were suspected to be
natural hybrids between these species. In this study, karyotype analysis
showed that natural hybrids and its putative parents were tetraploids (2n
= 4x = 28). Meiotic pairing in natural hybrids is more irregular than its
putative parents. Results of genomic in situ hybridization and
fluorescence in situ hybridization indicate that natural hybrids contain
the same genome as its putative parents. The nuclear gene DNA meiotic
recombinase 1 (DMC1) and the chloroplast gene rps16 of natural hybrids and
its putative parents were analyzed for evidence of hybridization. The
results from molecular data supported by morphology and cytology
demonstrated that the plants represent natural hybrids between R. stricta
and R. turczaninovii. The study is important understanding species
evolution in the genus since it demonstrates for the first time the
existence of populations of natural homoploid hybrids in Roegneria. The
study also reports for the first time that the composition of the genomic
formula of R. turczaninovii is StY, confirming that the current taxonomic
status is correct.