Origin, genetic structure and evolutionary potential of the natural hybrid Ranunculus circinatus × R. fluitans

Understanding the genetic variability of hybrids provides information on their current and future evolutionary role. In this paper, we focus on the interspecific hybrid Ranunculus circinatus × R. fluitans that forms spontaneously within the group Ranuculus L. sect. Batrachium DC. (Ranunculaceae Juss.). Genome-wide DNA fingerprinting using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) was employed to determine the genetic variation among 36 riverine populations of the hybrid and their parental species. The results demonstrate a strong genetic structure of R. circinatus × R. fluitans within Poland (Central Europe), which is attributed to independent hybridization events, sterility of hybrid individuals, vegetative propagation, and isolation through geographical distance within populations. The hybrid R. circinatus × R. fluitans is a sterile triploid, but, as we have shown in this study, it may participate in subsequent hybridization events, resulting in a ploidy change that can lead to spontaneous fertility recovery. The ability to produce unreduced female gametes of the hybrid R. circinatus × R. fluitans and the parental species R. fluitans is an important evolutionary mechanism in Ranunculus sect. Batrachium that could give rise to new taxa.