ABR: Molecular Systematics of the Lamiales

小行星9509804 自达尔文时代以来，系统分类学家一直致力于对生物体进行分类，以反映它们之间的进化或谱系关系。 前达尔文时代的植物分类法一直沿用至今，这一事实证明了林奈和后来的植物学家们把生殖结构的变化作为主要特征的保守性。 Richard Olmstead博士和其他几个人对开花植物DNA核苷酸序列变异的研究揭示了传统的家族水平分类和基于DNA的分组之间的严重差异，对于几个众所周知的植物群体，包括薄荷，马鞭草，琉璃苣和金鱼草家族。 在子房和果实形态上的相似性显然误导了分类学家将同一科中系谱上分离的类群结合起来。 Olmstead博士正在继续对紫草科、Hydrophyllaceae和玄参科的代表性样品中叶绿体基因的DNA测序研究，这些大科在世界温带地区广泛分布。 相关的类群如旋花科（牵牛花科）、唇形科（薄荷科）和马鞭草科正在被同事和其他人研究。 基于DNA的关系分析将提供一个系统发育框架，这一大群先进的双子叶植物，独立于传统的形态特征的基础上的计划，从而作为一个测试。 由于金鱼草（Antilrhinum）、金鱼草（snapdragon）等类群是实验室模式生物，因此了解它们的进化近亲以推断遗传和生理学发现非常重要。

9509804 Olmstead Since the time of Darwin, systematists have worked to produce classifications of organisms that represent the evolutionary or genealogical relationships among them. The fact that pre-Darwinian classifications of plants have persisted to this day for many groups attests to the conservative nature of change in the reproductive structures that were used as primary characters by Linnaeus and subsequent botanists. Research on DNA nucleotide sequence variation in flowering plants by Dr. Richard Olmstead and several others has revealed serious discrepancies between traditional family-level classification and DNA-based groupings, for several well known groups of plants including the mint, verbena, borage, and snapdragon families. Similarities in ovary and fruit morphology have apparently misled taxonomists to unite genealogically separate groups within the same family. Dr. Olmstead is continuing DNA sequencing studies of genes of the chloroplast in representative samples of Boraginaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, and Scrophulariaceae, large families with widespread distributions in temperate regions of the world. Related groups such as Convolvulaceae (morning glory family), Labiatae (mints), and Verbenaceae are being studied by colleagues and others. The DNA-based analyses of relationships will provide a phylogenetic framework for this large group of advanced dicots, independent of the schemes based on traditional morphological features and thus serving as a test of them. Because such taxa as Antirrhinum, the cultivated snapdragon, serve as model laboratory organisms, it is important to know their close evolutionary relatives in order to extrapolate genetic and physiological findings.