Plastid Phylogenomics Resolve Deep Relationships among Eupolypod II Ferns with Rapid Radiation and Rate Heterogeneity.

ABSTRACT: The eupolypods II ferns represent a classic case of evolutionary radiation and, simultaneously, exhibit high substitution rate heterogeneity. These factors have been proposed to contribute to the contentious resolutions among clades within this fern group in multilocus phylogenetic studies. We investigated the deep phylogenetic relationships of eupolypod II ferns by sampling all major families and using 40 plastid genomes, or plastomes, of which 33 were newly sequenced with next-generation sequencing technology. We performed model-based analyses to evaluate the diversity of molecular evolutionary rates for these ferns. Our plastome data, with more than 26,000 informative characters, yielded good resolution for deep relationships within eupolypods II and unambiguously clarified the position

SUBMITTER: Wei R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5534337 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature