Revisiting phylogenetic relationships in Phoradendreae (Viscaceae): utility of the trnL-F region of chloroplast DNA and presence of a homoplasious inversion in the intergenic spacer
The utility of the trnL-F region of the chloroplast DNA for inferring relationships in 26 taxa in the mistletoe tribe Phoradendreae (Viscaceae) was compared with that of sequences from three regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA). Chloroplast- and nuclear-inferred phylogenies generally were congruent based on maximum parsimony analysis of nucleotide substitution data. Results suggested that the intron and intergenic spacer of the chloroplast partition were not sufficiently variable to resolve phylogenetic relationships among either close relatives or more distantly related species. The distribution of insertions and deletions generally supported the phylogeny inferred from nucleotide substitution data. However, presence or absence of a 59-nucleotide inversion in the trnL-F intergenic spacer of eight Phoradendron species showed no agreement with the topology inferred from molecular and morphological data. Combined analyses of the nuclear partitions and the chloroplast region (with the homoplasious inversion inserted in reverse orientation) provided strong support for P. californicum as sister to a clade uniting North American species and not as sister to a clade comprising more tropical species. Consistent with results from previous studies using nrDNA, a lineage in the Phoradendron leucarpum complex (comprising subsp. leucarpum and macrophyllum) was strongly supported, but subspecies tomentosum was not confidently placed.