Collaborative Research: Resolving the relationships of Melastomataceae, one of the world's most diverse flowering plant radiations

木樨科是地球上第八大开花植物家族，有超过5600种，其中大部分生长在新世界热带地区。目前尚不清楚为什么这个家族如此多样化，但它的一些有趣的结构变体可能发挥了作用。该科具有几个不寻常的特征，包括特殊的结构，房屋蚂蚁或螨，修改花的部分，并在水果类型的广泛变化。植物的生长形式也各不相同，从一年生植物到灌木再到树木，甚至是附生植物或藤蔓植物。该项目旨在探索这些因素中的任何一个是否可能有助于通过使用基因组数据来构建来自该家族的大约3000个物种的进化树，从而实现Mexiataceae的极端多样性。然后，研究人员将测试该家族在大陆和环境中的地理起源和随后的运动，形态和遗传特征的演变，以及在全世界分布的Mendriataceae中相关的多样化率变化。这个合作项目代表了一个处理物种和广泛的热带植物辐射的模型，并将揭示地球上最大的热带植物家族之一的起源和随后的多样化。两名博士后学者和一名研究生将接受培训，研究人员将为各种学生提供短期培训课程。该项目的发现将在佛罗里达自然历史博物馆和纽约植物园展出，这两个博物馆每年的参观人数超过50万人。由于缺乏足够的主要辐射的系统发育数据，了解全球热带被子植物多样性的产生往往很复杂。鉴于其广泛的地理分布，其形态多样性和其大小，Maplataceae是一个理想的模型，用于开发一个全面的基因组数据集，以测试地理起源，形态进化和多样化率的主要热带辐射，一个任务目前棘手的基础上有限的全球数据集。采用Hyb-seq方法，该项目将使用384个核基因座和整个质体产生多个基因组数据集，以重建Mexicataceae所有主要谱系中至少3000个物种的遗传。该项目的五个主要目标是：1）产生一个强大的系统发育假说之间的关系，所有主要群体; 2）估计关键的进化事件的时间和多样化率在整个家庭，包括与形态进化的相关性; 3）分析地理情景，并确定家庭的起源，以及多样化率和主要地理变化之间的相关性; 4）使用来自我们的核基因座的等位基因频率来估计整个家族的多倍性程度，以推断整个树的染色体进化;以及5）基于我们的系统发育假设开发稳健的分类，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查评估的支持的搜索.

The Melastomataceae are the eighth largest family of flowering plants on the planet with more than 5600 species, most of which grow in the New World tropics. It is not known why this family is so diverse, but some of its interesting structural variants may have played a role. The family exhibits several unusual traits, including special structures that house ants or mites, modified floral parts, and wide variation in fruit type. The plants’ growth form also varies, ranging from annuals to shrubs to trees, and even epiphytes or vines. This project aims to explore whether any of these factors may have contributed to the extreme diversity of Melastomataceae by using genomic data to build an evolutionary tree for approximately 3000 species from the family. The researchers will then test the geographic origin and subsequent movement of the family across continents and environments, the evolution of morphological and genetic features, and associated diversification rate shifts throughout the worldwide distribution of Melastomataceae. This collaborative project represents a model for tackling speciose and widespread tropical plant radiations and will shed light on the origin and subsequent diversification of one of the largest tropical plant families on the planet. Two postdoctoral scholars and a graduate student will be trained, and the researchers will offer short training courses to a variety of students. The project’s discoveries will be highlighted in exhibits at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the New York Botanical Garden, which have a combined annual visitation of over 500,000 people.Understanding the generation of tropical angiosperm diversity worldwide is often complicated by the lack of sufficient phylogenetic data for major radiations. Given its broad geographic distribution, its morphological diversity, and its size, the Melastomataceae is an ideal model for developing a comprehensive phylogenomic dataset to test geographic origins, morphological evolution, and diversification rates of a major tropical radiation, a task currently intractable based on limited global datasets. Taking a Hyb-seq approach, the project will produce phylogenomic datasets using 384 nuclear loci and entire plastomes to reconstruct the phylogeny of at least 3000 species across all major lineages of the Melastomataceae. The five principal goals of the project are to: 1) generate a robust phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships among all major groups; 2) estimate the timing of key evolutionary events and diversification rates across the family, including correlations with morphological evolution; 3) analyze biogeographic scenarios and determine the origin of the family, as well as correlations between diversification rates and major biogeographical shifts; 4) estimate the degree of polyploidy across the family using allele frequencies from our nuclear loci to infer chromosomal evolution across the tree; and 5) develop robust classifications based on our phylogenetic hypotheses, incorporating morphological characters delineating major lineages.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.