Comparative organellar genomics places two East Asian simple-leaved Sorbus species within the East Asian lineage

A comparative organellar-genomics study reported in the abstract of an open-access BMC Plant Biology article placed the East Asian simple-leaved species Sorbus medogensis and S. thibetica within the East Asian simple-leaved lineage of Sorbus sensu lato, a taxonomically complex group in the rose family. The study assembled and compared their complete chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes with representative taxa from Sorbus s.l. and related Maleae. The available abstract describes a genome-level comparison rather than a field, clinical or population-based investigation.

The chloroplast genomes were highly conserved in structure and gene content, while sequence divergence was concentrated in 16 hypervariable regions, including trnH-psbA, atpF and accD. The authors identified these regions as potential molecular markers for future phylogenetic and population-level studies. In contrast, mitochondrial genomes showed substantial variation in genome size and extensive structural rearrangements, including inversions of up to 322 kilobases and translocations. The mitochondrial comparison also found interspecific differences in the abundance and size distribution of simple sequence repeats and long sequence repeats.

Additional analyses indicated that mitochondrial protein-coding genes were generally under strong purifying selection, and the researchers detected abundant predicted C-to-U RNA-editing sites. The study identified 114 inter-organellar gene-transfer events, mainly representing chloroplast-derived sequences in mitochondrial genomes; three events involved complete transfer of tRNA genes. Chloroplast phylogenomic analysis recovered four major lineages within Sorbus s.l. The more limited mitochondrial dataset produced a broadly similar division of the major lineages but differed in the placement of several European and East Asian simple-leaved taxa. Both S. medogensis and S. thibetica were nested within the East Asian simple-leaved lineage.

These results, as summarized in the article abstract, show contrasting evolutionary patterns between chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes in Sorbus s.l. and clarify the phylogenetic placement of the two focal species within the East Asian simple-leaved lineage. The authors emphasize that broader mitochondrial and nuclear-genomic sampling is needed to resolve the group’s complex evolutionary history, which the abstract describes as involving extensive hybridization, polyploidization and morphological convergence. Because the supplied evidence is the abstract rather than the full methods and results, the sampling scope, analytical procedures and complete data set cannot be assessed here. The publisher notes that the early article version remains subject to further edits and will be replaced by the final version of record.

Subject of Research: Comparative chloroplast and mitochondrial genomics and phylogeny of East Asian simple-leaved Sorbus species

Article Title: Comparative organellar genomics of two East Asian simple-leaved Sorbus species reveals insights into organelle evolution and phylogeny of Sorbus sensu lato

Article References: Li, X., Feng, Y., Liu, C.-W., Qiu, Y.-L., Li, J.-T., Ju, W.-B., & Xu, B. (2026). Comparative organellar genomics of two East Asian simple-leaved Sorbus species reveals insights into organelle evolution and phylogeny of Sorbus sensu lato. BMC Plant Biology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09950-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12870-026-09950-4

Keywords: Sorbus sensu lato, Sorbus medogensis, Sorbus thibetica, organellar genomics, chloroplast genomes, mitochondrial genomes, phylogenomics, gene transfer, Rosaceae, Comparative, organellar, genomics