ABR: Molecular Systematics of the Lamiales

9509804自达尔文时代以来，系统学家一直致力于对生物进行分类，以代表它们之间的进化或谱系关系。达尔文之前的植物分类在许多群体中一直延续到今天，这一事实证明了生殖结构变化的保守性，这些生殖结构被林奈和后来的植物学家用作主要特征。Richard Olmstead博士和其他几个人对开花植物的DNA核苷酸序列变异的研究发现，在薄荷、马鞭草、琉球藻和金鱼草等几个著名的植物类群中，传统的家族级分类与基于DNA的分类之间存在严重差异。子房和果实形态上的相似性显然误导了分类学家在同一科内将谱系上不同的组联合起来。Olmstead博士正在继续对紫草科、水叶科和玄参科的代表性样本中的叶绿体基因进行DNA测序研究，这些大科广泛分布于世界温带地区。同事和其他人正在对旋花科(牵牛花科)、唇形科(薄荷科)和马鞭草科等相关类群进行研究。基于DNA的亲缘关系分析将为这一大群高级双子叶植物提供一个系统发育框架，独立于基于传统形态特征的方案，从而作为对它们的测试。因为像金鱼草这样的分类群是实验室的模式生物，所以了解它们在进化上的近亲对于推断遗传和生理发现是很重要的。

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.