Rapid radiation and sporophyte evolution in the Funariaceae: inferences from phylogenomics and cross generational cuticle development studies

自5亿年前人类征服陆地以来，植物进化的一个主要趋势是复杂性不断增加。然而，复杂的创新有时会被物种抛弃，而倾向于更简单，因此成本更低的特征。极端的建筑简化模糊了进化历史的记录，使其难以识别促进多样化和生态成功的特征。藓科真菌在大约2000万年前经历了一次爆炸性的辐射，导致物种跨越了广泛的形态复杂性。该家族的进化历史，从广泛的基因组数据推断，将提供一个框架，以测试这一假设，即物种与显着简化的形态可以产生后代与复杂的architecture.This研究的重点是性状的进化，帮助植物适应土地，这是他们目前的能力，以适应不断变化的环境条件。苔藓在当今许多生态系统中发挥着重要的生态作用，了解它们的生殖特征如何在短时间内进化，可以深入了解它们应对未来快速全球变化的潜力。具有简化形态的物种是进化的死胡同的概念被广泛接受，但很少测试，目前缺乏植物界的明确例子。

A major trend during the evolution of plants since the conquest of land some 500 million years ago is one of increasing complexity. However complex innovations are sometimes abandoned by species in favor of simpler and hence less costly traits. Extreme architectural simplification obscures the record of evolutionary history, making it difficult to identify traits that foster diversification and ecological success. The moss family Funariaceae underwent an explosive radiation about 20 million years ago, resulting in species spanning a broad range of morphological complexities. The evolutionary history of this family, inferred from extensive genomic data, will provide the framework to test the hypothesis that species with dramatically simplified morphologies can give rise to descendants with complex architectures.This study focuses on the evolution of traits that helped plants adapt to land, and that are fundamental to their current ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Mosses fulfill important ecological roles in many ecosystems today, and understanding how their reproductive traits evolved over short periods of geological time provides insights into their potential to respond to future rapid global change. The concept of species with simplified morphologies being evolutionary dead ends is widely accepted but rarely tested, and unambiguous exampled from the plant kingdom are currently lacking.