Conservation genomic investigation of an endangered conifer, , reveals low genetic diversity but also low genetic load.

Endangered species generally have small populations with low genetic diversity and a high genetic load. is an endangered conifer endemic to southwestern China. It was once considered extinct in the wild, but in 1999 was rediscovered.

Incomplete lineage sorting and local extinction shaped the complex evolutionary history of the Paleogene relict conifer genus, Chamaecyparis (Cupressaceae).

Inferring accurate biogeographic history of plant taxa with an East Asia (EA)-North America (NA) is usually hindered by conflicting phylogenies and a poor fossil record. The current distribution of Chamaecyparis (false cypress; Cupressaceae) with four species in EA, and one each in western and eastern NA, and its relatively rich fossil record, make it an excellent model for studying the EA-NA disjunction. Here we reconstruct phylogenomic relationships within Chamaecyparis using > 1400 homologous nuclear and 61 plastid genes.

Seeing through the hedge: Phylogenomics of Thuja (Cupressaceae) reveals prominent incomplete lineage sorting and ancient introgression for Tertiary relict flora.

The Eastern Asia (EA) - North America (NA) disjunction is a well-known biogeographic pattern of the Tertiary relict flora; however, few studies have investigated the evolutionary history of this disjunction using a phylogenomic approach. Here, we used 2369 single copy nuclear genes and nearly full plastomes to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the small Tertiary relict genus Thuja, which consists of five disjunctly distributed species. The nuclear species tree strongly supported an EA clade Thuja standishii-Thuja sutchuenensis and a "disjunct clade", where western NA species T.