Project description:The páramo ecosystem has the highest rate of diversification across plant lineages on earth, of which the genus Espeletia (Asteraceae) is a prime example. The current distribution and molecular phylogeny of Espeletia suggest the influence of Andean geography and past climatic fluctuations on the diversification of this genus. However, molecular markers have failed to reveal subtle biogeographical trends in Espeletia diversification, and metabolomic evidence for allopatric segregation in plants has never been reported. Here, we present for the first time a metabolomics approach based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for revealing subtle biogeographical trends in Espeletia diversification. We demonstrate that Espeletia lineages can be distinguished by means of different metabolic fingerprints correlated to the country of origin on a global scale and to the páramo massif on a regional scale. Distinctive patterns in the accumulation of secondary metabolites according to the main diversification centers of Espeletia are also identified and a comprehensive phytochemical characterization is reported. These findings demonstrate that a variation in the metabolic fingerprints of Espeletia lineages followed the biogeography of this genus, suggesting that our untargeted metabolomics approach can be potentially used as a model to understand the biogeographic history of additional plant groups in the páramo ecosystem.
Project description:The genus Flaveria has been extensively used as a model to study the evolution of C4 photosynthesis as it contains both C3 and C4 species as well as a number of species that exhibit intermediate types of photosynthesis. The current phylogenetic tree of the Flaveria genus contains 21 of the 23 known Flaveria species and has been constructed using a combination of morphologicial data and three non-coding DNA sequences (nuclear encoded ETS, ITS and chloroplast encoded trnl-F). However, recent studies have suggested that phylogenetic trees inferred using a small number of molecular sequences may often be incorrect. Moreover, studies in other genera have often shown substantial differences between trees inferred using morphological data and those using molecular sequence. To provide new insight into the phylogeny of the genus Flaveria we utilize RNA-Seq data to construct a multi-gene concatenated phylogenetic tree of 17 Flaveria species. Furthermore, we use this new data to identify 14 C4 specific non-synonymous mutation sites, 12 of which (86%) can be independently verified by public sequence data. We propose that the data collection method provided in this study can be used as a generic method for facilitating phylogenetic tree reconstruction in the absence of reference genomes for the target species. 18 Flaveria sample including 11 species are sequenced, other three samples were also sequenced as out-group. In all, 21 samples.
Project description:The genus Flaveria has been extensively used as a model to study the evolution of C4 photosynthesis as it contains both C3 and C4 species as well as a number of species that exhibit intermediate types of photosynthesis. The current phylogenetic tree of the Flaveria genus contains 21 of the 23 known Flaveria species and has been constructed using a combination of morphologicial data and three non-coding DNA sequences (nuclear encoded ETS, ITS and chloroplast encoded trnl-F). However, recent studies have suggested that phylogenetic trees inferred using a small number of molecular sequences may often be incorrect. Moreover, studies in other genera have often shown substantial differences between trees inferred using morphological data and those using molecular sequence. To provide new insight into the phylogeny of the genus Flaveria we utilize RNA-Seq data to construct a multi-gene concatenated phylogenetic tree of 17 Flaveria species. Furthermore, we use this new data to identify 14 C4 specific non-synonymous mutation sites, 12 of which (86%) can be independently verified by public sequence data. We propose that the data collection method provided in this study can be used as a generic method for facilitating phylogenetic tree reconstruction in the absence of reference genomes for the target species.
Project description:Genome-wide SNP genotyping array can genotyped SNP highthroughly. It can be used in many aspects, such as phylogeny relationships, genome-wide association studies, copy number identification.