Adesmia Clade (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) as a model to understand the evolution of the dry diagnonals of South America

• Grant number: 22/10636-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: November 01, 2023 - October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Fortuna Perez
• Grantee: Ana Paula Fortuna Perez
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Annelise Frazão Nunes ; Flavia Fonseca Pezzini ; João Ricardo Vieira Iganci ; Mohammad Vatanparast ; Rafaela Jorge Trad ; Renan Pavan Campos ; Silvia Rodrigues Machado ; Tatiane Maria Rodrigues ; Thiago Cobra e Monteiro

Abstract

Dry environments occur in some of Earth's dominant biomes, covering over 40% of the planet's land area. These environments are expanding and under imminent risk of desertification due to climate change. In South America, dry environments are concentrated in two diagonals: the western South American Dry Diagonal (wSADD) which encompasses Patagonia, Puna, and the deserts of the Pacific coast, and the eastern South American Dry Diagonal (eSADD) which covers the Caatinga, Cerrado, and Chaco biomes. Both diagonals originated during the Miocene, which is evidenced by geoclimatic events and the expansion of plant groups adapted to open and dry environments at this time. Until recently, two independent bodies of literature used the SADD terminology to refer to both dry diagonals of South America indiscriminately. This academic confusion is partly because the two diagonals have distinct characteristics, and partly due to the lack of communication between Brazilian researchers (focused on eSADD) and researchers from other South American countries (studying the wSADD). This has led to the existence of a knowledge gap regarding the relationship between these two corridors of arid to dry sub-humid or seasonal environments, what were the climatic features selective in each SADD and what was the role of adjacent ecoregions in shaping the diversity of both dry diagonals, besides several other relevant questions. In this project, we aim to use the Adesmia clade, a lineage of the Leguminosae family (Papilionoideae, Tribe Dalbergieae) extremely diverse (5 genera, 330 spp) in both SADD as a model to understand the evolution, adaptation, and biogeography of the SADD's biota with a unique integrative approach. We will sequence the genome of at least 150 species of the Adesmia clade using NGS, through the targeted capture strategy, allied to an expertly curated database with occurrence, external morphology, anatomy, and floral ontogeny data. Phylogenetic trees will be inferred using Maximum Likelihood, ancestral characters and divergence time will be inferred by analyzes using the Phytools (R) package and BEAST v.2.5.2, respectively. The data will be used to address questions about biogeography and evolution, systematic and taxonomy, and structural biology. (AU)