Hidden diversity and phylogeographic history provide conservation insights for the edible seaweed Sargassum fusiforme in the Northwest Pacific

Understanding the evolutionary processes that have created diversity and the genetic potential of species to adapt to environmental change is an important premise for biodiversity conservation. Herein, we used mitochondrial trnW-L and cox3 and plastid rbcL-S data sets to analyze population genetic variation and phylogeographic history of the brown alga Sargassum fusiforme, whose natural resource has been largely exterminated in the Asia-Northwest Pacific in the past decades. Phylogenetic trees and network analysis consistently revealed three major haplotype-groups (A, B and C) in S. fusiforme, with A and B distributed in the Japan-Pacific coast. Group C consisted of three sub-groups (C1, C2 and C3) which were distributed in the Sea of Japan, the Yellow-Bohai Sea and East China Sea, respectively. Isolation-with-migration (IMa) analysis revealed that the three groups diverged approximately during the mid-Pleistocene (c. 756–1,224 ka). Extended Bayesian skyline plots (EBSP) showed that gro...阐明塑造物种多样性的演化进程以及物种适应环境变化的遗传潜力，是生物多样性保护的重要前提。本研究利用线粒体trnW-L、cox3基因以及质体rbcL-S数据集，对近数十年来亚洲西北太平洋海域天然资源已遭大规模破坏的褐藻羊栖菜（Sargassum fusiforme）的种群遗传变异与谱系地理历史展开分析。系统发育树与网络分析一致显示，羊栖菜可划分为A、B、C三个主要单倍型群：其中A与B群分布于日本-太平洋沿岸；C群包含C1、C2、C3三个亚群，分别分布于日本海、黄渤海以及东海海域。隔离与迁移（IMa）分析表明，这三个类群的分化时间大致处于中更新世中期（约75.6万至122.4万年前）。扩展贝叶斯天际线图（EBSP）显示，类群...