Phylogeny, evolution of genomic size and taxonomic revision of Macropeplus Perkins (Mollinedioideae, Monimiaceae).

• Grant number: 22/03949-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Jefferson Prado
• Grantee: Danilo Alvarenga Zavatin
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/08915-0 - Phylogeny, genome size evolution and taxonomic revision of Macropeplus perkins (Mollinedioideae, Monimiaceae), BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Macropeplus (Monimiaceae) is endemic to Brazil, comprising trees or shrubs that occur in forested areas in the rupestrian fields, cerrados and Atlantic Forest, above 1,000 m altitude. Currently,four species are recognized: Macropeplus dentatus (Perkins) I.Santos & Peixoto, M. friburgensis (Perkins) I.Santos & Peixoto, M. ligustrinus (Tul.) Perkins and M. schwackeanus (Perkins) I.Santos & Peixoto ; however, some taxa are difficult to delimit due the wide morphological variation. In this sense, it is necessary to revisit the delimitation of the species in the search for consistent characters to circumscribe them, such as the estimate of genomic size, which seems to be promising in Macropeplus and also in other genera of Monimiaceae. The monophyly of the genus has not been tested, with only one of the species in published molecular phylogeny at the moment. This project aims to test the monophyly of the genus, estimate the genomic size of the species and revisit its taxonomy, in the search for new characters to circumscribe the species and understand the evolution of the genomic size in the group.