Pharaoh’s Dance: the oak genomic mosaic

When we look at an oak, we see one organism, despite the fact that each of the estimated 25,808 genes in the oak genome has a unique history. Here I review why the evolutionary history of oaks comprises a variety of phylogenetic histories that trace disparate histories of introgression, stochastic allele extinction, and population divergence. I describe recent phylogenomic work that dissects the multiple phylogenetic histories constituting the history of white oak movements between the Americas and Eurasia. Finally, I argue that the patterns and causes of genomic mosaicism should be a central focus of inquiry for oak phylogenetic work in the coming decade.