genetic diversity of dahongjun, the commercially important “big red mushroom” from southern chinadahongjun遗传多样性,商业从中国南方重要的u201c大红色蘑菇u201d.pdfVIP

Genetic Diversity of Dahongjun, the Commercially Important ‘‘Big Red Mushroom’’ from Southern China 1 2 3 3 3 1¤ Mochan Li , Junfeng Liang , Yanchun Li , Bang Feng , Zhu-Liang Yang , Timothy Y. James , Jianping Xu1* 1 Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2 Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China, 3 Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, People’s Republic of China Abstract Background: In southern China, a wild ectomycorrhizal mushroom commonly called ‘‘Dahongjun’’ or ‘‘Big Red Mushroom’’ by the local residents, has been harvested, consumed, and/or exported as an exotic food for many years. Although ecologically and economically important, very little is known about this mushroom, including its diversity and population structure. Methodology and Principal Findings: In this study, we analyzed 122 samples from five local populations representing the known distribution ranges of this mushroom in southern China. We investigated the genetic diversity and geographic structure of this mushroom using sequences from four DNA fragments. Our analyses identified that this mushroom contained at least three divergent lineages: one corresponds to a recently described species Russula griseocarnosa from southern China and the remaining two likely represent two novel species. While these lineages were prominently structured geographically based on ITS sequences, evidence for ancient and/or recent gene flow was also identified within individual