biostudies-literatureUnknown101(3)Barkman TJAll parasites are thought to have evolved from free-living ancestors. However, the ancestral conditions facilitating the shift to parasitism are unclear, particularly in plants because the phylogenetic position of many parasites is unknown. This is especially true for Rafflesia, an endophytic holoparasite that produces the largest flowers in the world and has defied confident phylogenetic placement since its discovery >180 years ago. Here we present results of a phylogenetic analysis of 95 species of seed plants designed to infer the position of Rafflesia in an evolutionary context using the mitochondrial gene matR (1,806 aligned base pairs). Overall, the estimated phylogenetic tree is highly congruent with independent analyses and provides a strongly supported placement of Rafflesia with Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America787-92https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC321759biostudies-literatureMitochondrial DNA sequences reveal the photosynthetic relatives of Rafflesia, the world's largest flower.PMC321759Barkman TJNais JSalleh KMLim SHfalseMitochondrial DNA sequences reveal the photosynthetic relatives of Rafflesia, the world's largest flower.All parasites are thought to have evolved from free-living ancestors. However, the ancestral conditions facilitating the shift to parasitism are unclear, particularly in plants because the phylogenetic position of many parasites is unknown. This is especially true for Rafflesia, an endophytic holoparasite that produces the largest flowers in the world and has defied confident phylogenetic placement since its discovery >180 years ago. Here we present results of a phylogenetic analysis of 95 species of seed plants designed to infer the position of Rafflesia in an evolutionary context using the mitochondrial gene matR (1,806 aligned base pairs). Overall, the estimated phylogenetic tree is highly congruent with independent analyses and provides a strongly supported placement of Rafflesia with 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z2004 Jan2026-05-02T22:04:37.927Z2019-03-27T00:13:21ZS-EPMC3217591471590110.1073/pnas.0305562101