Chloroplast DNA Phylogeography Reveals Repeated Range Expansion in a Widespread Aquatic Herb Hippuris vulgaris in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Adjacent Areas

BACKGROUND The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is one of the most extensive habitats for alpine plants in the world. Climatic oscillations during the Quaternary ice age had a dramatic effect on species ranges on the QTP and the adjacent areas. However, how the distribution ranges of aquatic plant species shifted on the QTP in response to Quaternary climatic changes remains almost unknown. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied the phylogeography and demographic history of the widespread aquatic herb Hippuris vulgaris from the QTP and adjacent areas. Our sampling included 385 individuals from 47 natural populations of H. vulgaris. Using sequences from four chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) non-coding regions, we distinguished eight different cpDNA haplotypes. From the cpDNA variation in H. vulgaris, we found a very high level of population differentiation (G ST = 0.819) but the phylogeographical structure remained obscure (N ST = 0.853>G ST = 0.819, P>0.05). Phylogenetic analyses revealed two main cpDNA haplotype lineages. The split between these two haplotype groups can be dated back to the mid-to-late Pleistocene (ca. 0.480 Myr). Mismatch distribution analyses showed that each of these had experienced a recent range expansion. These two expansions (ca. 0.12 and 0.17 Myr) might have begun from the different refugees before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE This study initiates a research on the phylogeography of aquatic herbs in the QTP and for the first time sheds light on the response of an alpine aquatic seed plant species in the QTP to Quaternary climate oscillations.