Format: ORAL

Tom Fr1, Elika Zvesk2, Otakar da3, Axel D. Poulsen4, Jana Leong-kornickov5

1 Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic 2 Botanical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Pruhonice, Czech Republic 3 National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic 4 Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, United Kingdom 5 Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore

Hybridization plays an important role in the evolution of plants and has been observed to occur throughout the evolutionary history. Undoubtedly, determining its role is critical for understanding diversification processes at various taxonomic levels. Recent advances in genomic resources and analytical techniques have allowed for the recognition of ancient hybridization, which has been linked to evolutionary radiations while sometimes preventing further diversification. The causes of ancient hybridizations remain to be explored. The frequency and consequences of ancient hybridization events in Zingiberaceae, a tropical family of over 2000 species that includes economically important crops such as ginger, turmeric, and cardamom, are presented here. We analyzed 1094 nuclear low-copy genes from 250 species, covering most known genera and their geographical distributions. We discovered numerous instances of ancient hybridization using phylogenetic network analysis, which often predated the diversification of entire genera or larger lineages within Zingiberaceae. Such a commonness of ancient hybridization explains the inability to resolve relationships among and within certain genera, as well as the importance of including historical hybridization analysis when building phylogenies, resolving taxonomic issues, or reconstructing biogeographical history.