Dense infraspecific sampling reveals rapid and independent trajectories of plastome degradation in a heterotrophic orchid complex

Summary

• Heterotrophic plants provide excellent opportunities to study the effects of altered selective regimes on genome evolution. Plastid genome (plastome) studies in heterotrophic plants are often based on one or a few highly divergent species or sequences as representatives of an entire lineage, thus missing important evolutionary-transitory events.

• Here we present the first infraspecific analysis of plastome evolution in any heterotrophic plant. By combining genome skimming and targeted sequence capture, we address hypotheses on the degree and rate of plastome degradation in a complex of leafless orchids ( Corallorhiza striata) across its geographic range.

• Plastomes provide strong support for relationships and evidence of reciprocal monophyly between C. involuta and the endangered C. bentleyi. Plastome degradation is extensive, occurring rapidly over a few million years, with evidence of differing rates of substitution among the two principal clades of the complex. Genome skimming and targeted sequence capture differ widely in coverage depth overall, with depth in targeted sequence capture datasets varying immensely across the plastome as a function of GC content.

• These findings will help fill a knowledge gap in models of heterotrophic plastid genome evolution, and have implications for future studies in heterotrophs.