Molecular Systematics of the Malpighiaceae

金莲花科是热带和热带地区的一个中型科 亚热带开花植物，包括约65属和1200 物种，85%的物种原产于新世界， 其余的都在古热带地区发现。 家庭内部 同质和外部隔离，也就是说，所有成员 看起来很像，显然是相关的，但不 与其他家庭非常相似。 传统的系统 方法，主要依赖于总的形态学，未能 解决家庭内部的许多关系问题， 由于上述相似性，也揭示了 这个家庭属于一个相对较大的群体 非特化的开花植物（与蔷薇属有关）， 花有五轮生的离生部分。 研究提出， 由北卡罗来纳州大学的马克·蔡斯博士和威廉· 密歇根大学的安德森旨在应用新的， 分子技术来解决这些古老而棘手的问题。 绿色植物的叶绿体中含有大量环状的 染色体，这是相对容易表征，因为 它们的DNA比巨大的核基因组少得多。 几 近年来，研究人员在使用 叶绿体DNA的比较研究，以解决 植物系统学的问题。 蔡斯和安德森医生计划 研究了金雀花科植物的cpDNA， 两种截然不同的方式， 试图回答有关内部关系的问题 家庭和家庭之间。 选择的核苷酸测序 cpDNA基因将允许构建一个信息丰富的 金雀花科及其相关科系统发育假说。 然后，利用限制性酶切位点作图技术， 比较了60种锦葵科植物的cpDNA， 代表了家庭中的大部分多样性。 内在的- 家庭遗传学将解决有关是否 功能相似甚至形态相似的果实 已经进化了一次或几次平行;如何属 两个人，彼此之间，有着怎样的联系。 反对关于家庭起源地的假设， 最早的成员的性质是正确的。 协作 两个工人之间，结合了优势， 传统形态系统学与现代分子生物学 方法，应作为未来合作的模式 和分子系统论者之间的分歧

The Malpighiaceae are a medium-sized family of tropical and subtropical flowering plants, comprising about 65 genera and 1200 species, with 85% of the species native to the New World, the rest found in the Paleotropics. The family is internally homogeneous and externally isolated, that is, the members all look a great deal alike and are clearly related, but do not closely resemble any other family. Traditional systematic methods, relying principally on gross morphology, have failed to resolve many questions of relationships within the family, because of the aforementioned similarity, and also to reveal where this family fits into the larger group of relatively unspecialized flowering plants (related to the rose group) whose flowers have free parts in whorls of five. The research proposed by Dr. Mark Chase at University of North Carolina and Dr. William Anderson at University of Michigan is designed to apply new, molecular techniques to these old, intractable problems. The chloroplasts of green plants contain numerous circular chromosomes, which are relatively easy to characterize because they hold so much less DNA than the huge nuclear genome. Several researchers have had great success in recent years at using comparative studies of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) to resolve problems in plant systematics. Drs. Chase and Anderson plan to study the cpDNA of the Malpighiaceae and representatives of several putatively related families in two quite different ways, attempting to answer questions about relationships within the family and between families. Nucleotide sequencing of selected cpDNA genes will allow construction of an informative phylogenetic hypothesis for Malpighiaceae and related families. Then, using the technique of restriction site mapping, they plan to compare the cpDNA of 60 species of Malpighiaceae that represent most of the diversity within the family. The within- family phylogeny will resolve questions about whether functionally analogous and even morphologically similar fruits have evolved once or several times in parallel; how the genera are related to one another; and which of two diametrically opposed hypotheses about the place of origin of the family and the nature of the earliest members is correct. Collaboration between the two workers, which combines the strengths of traditional morphological systematics with a modern molecular approach, should serve as a model for future collaboration between other traditional and molecular systematists.