The evolution of crop-related weeds may be constrained by recurrent gene flow from the crop. However, flowering time variation within weedy populations may open the way for weed adaptation by allowing some weeds to escape from this constraint. We investigated this link between phenology, gene flow and adaptation in weedy sunflower populations recently emerged in Europe from crop-wild hybridization. We studied jointly flowering phenology and genetic diversity for 15 microsatellite loci in six cultivated sunflower fields infested by weedy sunflower populations. The flowering overlap of cultivated and weedy sunflowers varied between and within populations: some weedy individuals were found completely isolated from the crop, the frequency of these plants being higher in populations from highly infested fields. Within weedy populations, we detected a pattern of isolation-by-time: the genetic divergence between individuals was positively correlated with their divergence in flowering period. Additionally, earlier weeds, which flowered synchronously with the crop, were genetically more similar to the cultivated varieties than late-flowering weeds. Overall our results suggest that crop-to-weed gene flow did occur but was limited by divergent phenologies. We discuss the roles of weed adaptation and population history in generating this partial reproductive isolation.

Genetypic_dataGenotypic data for 15 microsatellites for weedy individuals and 24 varieties; missing data coded as NAPhenotypic_dataThe Excel file has both the data (one worksheet per weedy population, one worksheet for phenological data of cultivated fields), and a worksheet explaining each of the columns/fields.