Abstract Detail

Systematics Section/ASPT

Moore, Michael J. [1], Mandala, Venkata Shiva [1], Douglas, Norman [1], Yang, Ya [2], Stull, Gregory [3], Brockington, Samuel F. [4], Smith, Stephen A. [2], SOLTIS, PAMELA S. [3], Soltis, Douglas E. [3].

From cacti to carnivores: Clarifying the backbone relationships of Caryophyllales using NGS data.

The Caryophyllales comprise approximately 6% of angiosperm species diversity (approximately 11,500 spp. in 34 families) and are found on all continents and in all terrestrial ecosystems, from tundra to tropical rainforests, but are particularly diverse and abundant in semiarid, saline, and temperate environments. In conjunction with this ecological variation, the clade exhibits extreme life history diversity, ranging from tropical trees, temperate annual herbs, and long-lived succulent cacti to a diverse array of carnivorous plants, including sundews and epiphytic pitcher plants. This remarkable diversity has fostered a long history of research, making Caryophyllales one of the best-characterized major angiosperm clades with respect to morphology, ecophysiology, and life history. For example, the Caryophyllales exhibit repeated origins of such fundamental morphological and ecophysiological traits as a differentiated perianth, betalain and anthocyanin pigmentation, C4 and CAM photosynthesis, and leaf and stem succulence. Hence, resolving the backbone phylogeny of Caryophyllales and its constituent families with confidence would provide the necessary framework for future comparative evolutionary analyses of these and other key traits.
 
Recent multigene phylogenetic analyses have helped to clarify the backbone relationships among many Caryophyllales lineages, but the core Caryophyllales in particular contain several relatively ancient and apparently rapid radiations that have so far proved difficult to resolve (e.g. basal core Caryophyllales, basal Portulacineae, and basal phytolaccoids).  To resolve these relationships, we employed various next-generation sequencing techniques, including genome skimming, hyb-seq, and transcriptome sequencing to generate over 60 complete plastomes for key Caryophyllales taxa, with a focus on core Caryophyllales and the phytolaccoid clade (Nyctaginaceae, Phytolaccaceae s.l., and Sarcobataceae).  We report phylogenetic analyses of these plastomes as well as changes to the gene content and structure of the plastome in a few lineages, including a clade of Molluginaceae with highly rearranged plastomes.  We also provide a brief introduction to a new, multi-institutional Caryophyllales transcriptomics project that aims to sequence at least 300 transcriptomes across the phylogenetic diversity of the clade.  The central goals of this project are to evaluate the transcriptomic and phylogenetic locations of shifts in molecular evolutionary rate and to what degree these shifts are correlated with changes in life history and ecophysiology in Caryophyllales.

1 - Oberlin College, Department of Biology, 119 Woodland St., Oberlin, OH, 44074, USA
2 - University of Michigan, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2071A Kraus Natural Science Building, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
3 - University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, PO Box 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
4 - Department Of Plant Science, Downing Site, Cambridge, N/A, CB23AE, United Kingdom

Keywords:
Caryophyllales
plastome
phylogenomics
hyb-seq
transcriptomics
Nyctaginaceae
Phytolaccaceae
Sarcobataceae
ecophysiology
Droseraceae
carnivorous plants
Cactaceae
Amaranthaceae
Chenopodiaceae
Caryophyllaceae
Polygonaceae
Plumbaginaceae
Aizoaceae
Portulacineae
Rhabdodendron
Frankeniaceae.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 14
Location: Cottonwoods North/Boise Centre
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 1:45 PM
Number: 14002
Abstract ID:237
Candidate for Awards:None