Hybridization has been found as a prevalent circumstance in nature, and it plays important roles in organismal evolution, speciation and even extinction. In this study, we focus on two species of the plant genus Melastoma, which has gone through a rapid species radiation during the last one million years. We successfully detected the hybridization signal between M. malabathricum and M. laevifolium in a suspected hybrid zone in Borneo, Malaysia, by sequencing five nuclear genes and two chloroplast fragments. Most individuals of the suspected hybrids were considered as first generation hybrids, while five individuals corresponded to advanced, early generations of hybrids. Although we did not find any introgression signal between M. malabathricum and M. laevifolium, it is necessary to pay more attention to assess the extinction risk of the species with restricted distribution, here M. laevifolium. This study is the first case of natural hybridization between Melastoma species in Southeast Asia, and more cases are waiting to be found in the field.

已经发现杂交是自然界中的一种普遍情况，它在生物进化，物种形成甚至灭绝中起着重要作用。在这项研究中，我们着眼于两种植物梅拉斯托玛属，它们在最近一百万年中经历了快速的物种辐射。通过对五个核基因和两个叶绿体片段进行测序，我们成功地在了马来西亚婆罗洲的一个疑似杂种区域中检测了马拉巴特霉和拉叶青霉之间的杂交信号。可疑杂种的大多数个体被认为是第一代杂种，而五名个体对应于高级，早期的杂种。尽管我们没有发现马拉巴马拉松之间有任何渗入信号和M. laevifolium，有必要更加注意评估分布受限的物种（此处为M. laevifolium）的灭绝风险。这项研究是东南亚地区首次形成的melastoma物种之间自然杂交的案例，该领域还有更多的案例待发现。