Abstract Detail

Systematics

Köhler, Matias [1], Font, Fabián [2], Oakley, Luis J. [3], Chies, Tatiana [1], Majure, Lucas [4].

Phylogenomics of a prickly history: new insights into the evolution of Opuntia (Cactaceae).

The genus Opuntia Mill., popularly known as nopal, tunas or prickly-pears, is one of the largest of the cactus family (Cactaceae) with enormous cultural, ecological and economic importance. The clade likely evolved in southern South America and then dispersed into the Central and North American arid regions, now being broadly distributed throughout the Americas from southern Argentina to Canada. Recent phylogenetic analyses have reinforced the monophyly of the genus and have shed light on the broader relationships among major clades of the prickly pear cacti. However, those previous analyses were very limited in numbers of species used, especially for South American taxa, thereby missing phylogenetic information for a comprehensive understanding of the earliest diverging clades and subclades of the genus. Likewise, the relationship of the iconic Galapagos Island species to the southern South American species has not yet been fully resolved. Here, we present a phylogenomic analysis using plastome data of Opuntia with the most comprehensive taxon sampling to date for the southern South American species, incorporating next-generation sequencing data acquired via paired-end read sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq X Ten platform. We tested the monophyly of the southern South American species, as well as the phylogenetic relationship of the Galapagos’ species with those taxa. Morphological and ploidy evolution, as well as the biogeographic history of the group also are discussed in the context of our comprehensive sampling strategy.

1 - Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Botanica, Departamento de Botanica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Goncalves, 9500, Porto Alegre, RS, 91501970, Brazil
2 - Herbario Museo de Farmacobotánica "Juan A. Domínguez" (BAF), Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, 1113, Argentina
3 - Catedra de Botanica, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Campo Experimental Villarino, CC Nº 14, Zavalla, Santa Fe, S2125ZAA, Argentina
4 - Florida Museum Of Natural History, 1659 Museum Rd. , Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States

Keywords:
molecular phylogenetics
plastome
systematics
cacti
prickly pear
polyploidy
hibridization
biogeography.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: COOL1, ASPT Cooley Award Talks
Location: Tucson C/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 10:45 AM
Number: COOL1010
Abstract ID:738
Candidate for Awards:George R. Cooley Award