Plastid phylogenomics and fossil evidence provide new insights into the evolutionary complexity of the 'woody clade' in Saxifragales.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The "woody clade" in Saxifragales (WCS), encompassing four woody families (Altingiaceae, Cercidiphyllaceae, Daphniphyllaceae, and Hamamelidaceae), is a phylogenetically recalcitrant node in the angiosperm tree of life, as the interfamilial relationships of the WCS remain contentious. Based on a comprehensive sampling of WCS genera, this study aims to recover a robust maternal backbone phylogeny of the WCS by analyzing plastid genome (plastome) sequence data using Bayesian inference (BI), maximum likelihood (ML), and maximum parsimony (MP) methods, and to explore the possible causes of the phylogenetic recalcitrance with respect to deep relationships within the WCS, in combination with molecular and fossil evidence.

Results

Although the four WCS families were ident

SUBMITTER: Jia L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11010409 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature