Phylogeny, genome size evolution and taxonomic revision of Macropeplus perkins (Mollinedioideae, Monimiaceae)

• Grant number: 23/08915-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Jefferson Prado
• Grantee: Danilo Alvarenga Zavatin
• Supervisor: Alexandre Rizzo Zuntini
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/03949-0 - Phylogeny, evolution of genomic size and taxonomic revision of Macropeplus Perkins (Mollinedioideae, Monimiaceae)., BP.MS

Abstract

Monimiaceae comprises approximately 25 genera and 200 species of trees and shrubs. The family is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions and is divided in three subfamilies, with all five genera that occur in Brazil belonging to the subfamily Mollinedioideae. One of these genera, Macropeplus, is the object of study of this project. In the last revision of the genus, the species were circumscribed based on morphological characters and geographic distribution. However, many recent collections highlight a significant overlap of characters and distributions, hindering species identification. Although few studies have reconstructed molecular phylogenies of Monimiaceae, Macropeplus has been represented by a single accession, therefore never addressing the monophyly of the genus. Additionally, genome size estimation has been explored for Monimiaceae and had some promising results in Macropeplus species, highlighting its relevance in species delimitation. A modern taxonomic revision of Macropeplus is needed, with a broader sampling of the specimens, and using novel methods such as genome size estimation and molecular phylogenetics. Here, we aim to (1) investigate the monophyly of Macropeplus and the relationship of its species using sequence target capture, (2) recover the ancestor state of genomic size estimation (GS) and (3) integrate the GS, molecular and morphological data to better inform the taxonomic revision. (AU)