| Abstract Detail
Systematics Section Alexander, Patrick J. [1], Bailey, C. Donovan [2], Windham, Michael [3], Woolstenhulme, Loreen [4], Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan [5]. Waking up from a Taxonomist's Nightmare: Progress Towards a Phylogeny of Boechera (Brassicaceae). The mustard genus Boechera (rock-cresses) includes most of the North American species formerly included in Arabis sensu lato. Boechera has become a model system for diverse studies in angiosperm evolution and ecology due to its close relationship with Arabidopsis. However, research on Boechera is severely constrained by poor knowledge of the taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus. The taxonomic complexity of Boechera is common knowledge among western North American botanists. The genus currently includes 72 sexual diploid species, which have hybridized to produce a plethora of apomictic triploids containing two or even three different genomes. In an effort to clarify relationships in the genus, we present preliminary phylogenetic analyses of sexual diploid Boechera based on sequence data from nine independent loci, including one from two chloroplast sequences, the multi-copy nrDNA ITS region, and seven low-copy nuclear loci. These phylogenetic analyses were developed to address the position of Boechera within the tribe Boechereae, the monophyly of the genus, and to identify major clades within Boechera. Preliminary results include the division of Boechereae into three groups: 1) Phoenicaulis; 2) Cusickiella and Polyctenium; and 3) Anelsonia, Boechera, Nevada, and Sandbergia. Boechera is divided into four groups that include most of the western North American and boreal species of the genus, three eastern North American species, and two single species, B. canadensis and B. repanda, that do not group with other Boechera. Whether these four groups form a monophyletic Boechera remains unclear.
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1 - New Mexico State University, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 30001, Department 3AF, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003, USA
2 - New Mexico State University, Department of Biology, Po Box 30001, Department 3Af, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003-8001, USA
3 - Duke University, Department of Biology, 139 Biological Sciences Building, PO Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA
4 - Brigham Young University, Department of Integrative Biology, 401 Widtsoe Building, Provo, Utah, 84602, USA
5 - Missouri Botanical Garden, Po Box 299, St Louis, Missouri, 63166-0299, USA
Keywords:
Brassicaceae
Boechera
phylogenetics
nuclear ribosomal DNA
Chloroplast
low copy nuclear markers.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for BSA Sections
Session: 56
Location: Cottonwood C/Snowbird Center
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Time: 10:15 AM
Number: 56009
Abstract ID:313 |
