Evolution of androdioecy in Neotropical woody plants: a phylogenetic approach

• Grant number: 13/04902-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2013
• End date: September 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Renato de Mello-Silva
• Grantee: Jenifer de Carvalho Lopes Dantas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/09366-0 - Evolution of androdioecy in neotropical woody plants: a phylogenetic approach, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Flowers have a high diversity of sexual systems. The rarest among them is androdioecy, with few known cases, in which species present individuals with male flowers and others with bisexual flowers. The majority of androdioecious species has evolved from dioecious ancestors, usually being herbaceous plants with recurrent local extinction followed by re-colonization. Nevertheless, there are some examples of woody and androdioecious plants, whose ancestors are hermaphrodite. This is the case in Annonaceae, a pantropical family of woody and hermaphrodite plants, in which androdioecy is frequent. Androdioecious genera have arisen several times in different Annonaceae lineages, both in subfamily Annonoideae and in subfamily Malmeoideae. The majority of androdioecious genera belong to subfamily Malmeoideae, a mostly Asian group. In the Americas there are five androdioecious genera, all in tribe Malmeeae, where they compose a monophyletic group, with the exception of Pseudoxandra, which although being a member of Malmeeae, is not included in the androdioecious genera clade. Although the importance of this character, there are few studies on the androdioecious Annonaceae species. To improve the understanding of this character, the flowers of Pseudoxandra spiritus-sancti, which is an androdioecious species, will be studied by ontogenetic series of male and bisexual flowers. to In order to understand the evolution of androdioecy in tribe Malmeeae, the phylogeny of the group will be reconstructed from DNA sequences of the whole chloroplast genome. 38 taxa from tribe Malmeeae will be selected and 9 species will be used as an outer group. Sequences from chloroplast DNA genome will be obtained using next generation sequencing. For the phylogenetic reconstruction, maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference analysis will be performed. The evolution of androdioecy in Malmeeae will be analyzed through the optimization of this character in the phylogenetic hypotheses generated in this study. To the morpho-anatomical study, analysis and characterization of the structures of male and bisexual flowers will be made by optical microscopy and SEM.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LOPES, J. C.; CHATROU, L. W.; MELLO-SILVA, R.; RUDALL, P. J.; SAJO, M. G.. Phylogenomics and evolution of floral traits in the Neotropical tribe Malmeeae (Annonaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, v. 118, p. 379-391, JAN 2018. (14/09131-3, 13/04902-9, 14/09366-0)

LOPES, JENIFER DE CARVALHO; MELLO-SILVA, RENATO. REVISION AND MORPHOLOGICAL PHYLOGENY OF EPHEDRANTHUS, A NEOTROPICAL GENUS OF ANNONACEAE. ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN, v. 104, n. 2, p. 244-261, JUL 2019. (13/04902-9, 14/09366-0)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

DANTAS, Jenifer de Carvalho Lopes. Phylogenomics, morphology and taxonomy in tribe Malmeeae (Malmeoideae, Annonaceae): implications on the evolution of androdioecy. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.