Abstract Detail

Botany 2015 Colloquium: Phylogenomics and the 1000 plants (1KP) initiative 

Stevenson, Dennis [1], Graham, Sean W. [2], Wickett, Norm [3], Wong, Gane Ka-Shu [4].

Linking 1KP back to plant biology, some evo/devo possibilities.

Data from the 1kp green-plant transcriptome project has produced a robust topology for green plants. It is now time to use that topology to better understand the diversity of these plants and how that came to be. Some key questions can now addressed by comparative transcriptome analyses. Given that evolution is about problem solving and that many innovations had multiple origins, we can now address issues such as the identical structure of a Polytrichum leaf and a Riccia thallus. Do the same genes or different genes produce a similar result? Have there been multiple origins of the thallus in liverworts or conversely the leafy habit, and what were the associated genetic changes? We can now begin to investigate these problems with our current data on transcriptomes of vegetative organs, as has been done, recently with Class II and Class IV HD- Zip genes. We now need to continue sampling within life cycles, for example, to understand the fundamental differences in sporophyte development of early land plants, which are represented by intercalary growth and no apical growth in hornworts versus apical growth in mosses and vascular plants. Was there more than one origin of the multicellular sporophyte from delayed meiosis? Lycophytes, seed plants, and ferns all have independent origins of heterospory. The former two also have a free-nuclear stage in the megagametophyte with subsequent and complicated cellularization, a process also occurring in some clades of green algae. Comparisons of gametophytes to corresponding sporophytes in major lineages are fundamental to understanding the evolutionary experiments in life-cycle strategies. These and other questions that need addressing using the new genomic resources provided by the 1KP project will be considered here.

1 - The NY Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY, 10458-5126, USA
2 - University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
3 - Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Apt 2, Glencoe, IL, 60022, USA
4 - University of Alberta, Biological Sciences; Medicine (Gastroenterology), CW405 Biological Sciences, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C1
Location: Salon 4/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: C1013
Abstract ID:465
Candidate for Awards:None