Data from: Genetic variation in Tertiary relics: the case of eastern-Mediterranean Abies (Pinaceae)

The eastern-Mediterranean Abies taxa, which include both widely distributed species and taxa with minuscule ranges, represent a good model to study the impacts of range size and fragmentation on the levels of genetic diversity and differentiation. To assess the patterns of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among eastern-Mediterranean Abies taxa, genetic variation was assessed by 8 nuclear microsatellite loci in 52 populations of Abies taxa with a focus on those distributed in Turkey and the Caucasus. Both at the population and the taxon level, the subspecies or regional populations of A. nordmanniana s.l. exhibited generally higher allelic richness, private allelic richness and expected heterozygosity compared to A. cilicica s.l. Results of both the STRUCTURE analysis and distance-based approaches showed a strong differentiation of the two A. cilicica subspecies from the rest as well as from each other, whereas the subspecies of A. nordmanniana were distinct but less differentiated. ABC simulations were run for a set of scenarios of phylogeny and past demographic changes. For A. ×olcayana the simulation gave a poor support for the hypothesis of being a taxon resulting from a past hybridization, the same is true for A. equi-trojani: both they represent evolutionary branches of A. bornmuelleriana.

东地中海冷杉类群（eastern-Mediterranean Abies taxa）涵盖广布物种与分布范围极窄的类群，是探究分布范围大小及片段化对遗传多样性水平与分化程度影响的理想研究模型。为解析东地中海冷杉类群的遗传多样性模式与系统发育关系，研究人员采用8个核微卫星位点（nuclear microsatellite loci），对52个冷杉类群种群的遗传变异展开分析，重点聚焦于土耳其与高加索地区分布的类群。无论是种群层级还是类群层级，广义诺德曼冷杉（A. nordmanniana s.l.）的亚种或区域种群，其等位基因丰富度、私有等位基因丰富度与期望杂合度整体上均高于广义西里西亚冷杉（A. cilicica s.l.）。STRUCTURE分析与基于距离的分析方法结果均显示，两个西里西亚冷杉亚种与其余类群以及彼此之间均存在显著分化；而诺德曼冷杉的亚种虽界限分明，但分化程度相对较弱。研究人员针对一系列系统发育与古种群动态变化情景开展了近似贝叶斯计算（Approximate Bayesian Computation，简称ABC）模拟。针对奥尔卡亚冷杉（A. ×olcayana），模拟结果并未为其作为过往杂交起源类群的假说提供足够支持，特洛伊冷杉（A. equi-trojani）亦是如此：二者均为博恩缪勒冷杉（A. bornmuelleriana）的演化分支。