Chloroplast DNA phylogeny and biogeography of Lepidium (Brassicaceae).

Two intergenic spacers, trnT-trnL and trnL-trnF, and the trnL intron of cpDNA were sequenced to study phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of 73 Lepidium taxa. Insertions/deletions of ≥3 bp (base pairs) provided reliable phylogenetic information whereas indels ≤2 bp, probably originating from slipped-strand mispairing, are prone to parallelism in the context of our phylogenetic framework. For the first time, an hypothesis of the genus Lepidium is proposed based on molecular phylogeny, in contrast to previous classification schemes into sections and greges (the latter category represents groups of related species within a given geographic region), which are based mainly on fruit characters. Only a few of the taxa as delimited in the traditional systems represent monophyletic lineages. The proposed phylogeny would suggest three main lineages, corresponding to (1) sections Lepia and Cardaria, (2) grex Monoplocoidea from Australia, and (3) remaining taxa, representing the bulk of Lepidium species with more or less resolved sublineages that sometimes represent geographical correspondence. The fossil data, easily dispersible mucilaginous seeds, widespread autogamous breeding systems, and low levels of sequence divergence between species from different continents or islands suggest a rapid radiation of Lepidium by long-distance dispersal in the Pliocene/Pleistocene. As a consequence of climatic changes in this geological epoch, arid/semiarid areas were established, providing favorable conditions for the radiation of Lepidium by which the genus attained its worldwide distribution.