Phylogenetic Analysis of the "Long-lived Gilia" Clade (Polemoniaceae)

昆虫等动物传粉者在开花植物形态多样性起源中所起的重要作用已得到普遍认可。然而，我们仍然对从一种传粉综合征（例如，鸟类、蝙蝠、蜜蜂或飞蛾）到另一种传粉综合征的进化变化的实际顺序知之甚少。通过对一组已知传粉综合征植物物种形成事件的历史和谱系序列的分析，我们应该能够详细地重建新的传粉机制的进化路径。分子系统学专家j·马克·波特（J. Mark Porter）博士和植物形态学和分类学专家迪特尔·威尔肯（Dieter Wilken）博士正在共同努力，确定夹木科（Polemoniaceae）物种的系统发育。将研究约120个物种，作为该科花和传粉者多样性的代表，研究其DNA和形态特征。将对核糖体序列和叶绿体基因进行DNA分析。分子和形态分析揭示的物种分化的一致模式构成了系统发育关系的有力假设。这个谱系框架反过来又为这些植物在进化过程中与传粉者的生态转变相关的花的形状、大小和物候变化序列提供了路线图。

9509121 Porter The important role that animal pollinators like insects play in the origin of morphological diversity in flowering plants is generally appreciated. However, we still know little about the actual sequence of events associated with evolutionary change from one pollination syndrome (for example, by bird, bat, bee, or moth) to another. Through analysis of the historical, genealogical sequence of speciation events in a group of plants with well-known pollination syndromes, we should be able to reconstruct in detail the evolutionary path to new pollination mechanisms. Dr. J. Mark Porter, a specialist in molecular systematics, and Dr. Dieter Wilken, a specialist in plant morphology and taxonomy, are working together to determine the phylogeny of the species of the phlox family, Polemoniaceae. About 120 species will be studied, as representative of the floral and pollinator diversity in the family, for both DNA and morphological characteristics. DNA analyses will be conducted on nuclear ribosomal sequences and on chloroplast genes. Congruent patterns of species divergence that are revealed by both molecular and morphological analysis constitute robust hypotheses of phylogenetic relationship. This genealogical framework in turn provides a road map to the sequence of changes in floral shape, size, and phenology associated with the ecological shifts in pollinators through the course of evolution in these plants.