New paper from Besnard team!

On the origins of olive relatives in Madagascar

A paper was published during the summer in Molecular Ecology Resources on the phylogenetics of the Olive tribe (Oleeae) based on both plastid and nuclear data. In particular, we developed a new strategy to build phylogenies based on single nucleotide polymorphisms obtained using two reference nuclear genomes (the olive and ash trees). Our results showed that genome‐wide phylogenetic trees can be inferred from mid- to low‐depth sequence data sets for a plant group with complex genomes, and histories of reticulate evolution. Our phylogenies also supported that three Malagasy Oleeae lineages have colonized Madagascar from Africa. Based on our fossil calibration, Noronhia and Schrebera have arrived during the Early or Mid Miocene, while the diversification of the Madagascan species of Olea started more recently, at the Early Pliocene. Interestingly, the sister clades of these three African lineages of Oleeae are currently distributed in South-East Asia.