Abstract Detail

Systematics Section

Duvall, Melvin R. [1], Morris, Leah M. [2], Jones, Samuel S. [2].

Chloroplast genomes from Anomochlooideae show fewer synapomorphies than expected with other Poaceae.

Features in the plastomes of Anomochloa marantoidea and Streptochaeta angustifolia, both classified in the earliest diverging subfamily of Poaceae, the Anomochlooideae, were compared against plastomes of other species in the family. The plastome gene content and order of Anomochlooideae are largely typical for the family. For example both lack functional ycf1 and ycf2 loci as in other grasses, and both show three characteristic inversions. In other respects, Anomochlooideae are distinctive. Both species were found to have an intron in rpoC1 as otherwise found in monocots excluding Poaceae. The “grass-specific” rpoC2 insert region is unusually short in A. marantoidea, but with atypically long subrepeats, suggestive of a uniquely-derived character state. In neither species of Anomochlooideae was there evidence of the ψrpl23 locus found in the rbcL - psaI spacer of all other Poaceae. Moreover, in at least A. marantoidea this spacer is atypically short. The plastomes of Anomochlooideae thus fail to show some of the expected synapomorphies with members of the spikelet clade. The unusual floral and inflorescence morphologies of Anomochlooideae assume somewhat greater significance when viewed in the molecular context of their distinctive plastome characters.

Broader Impacts:

1 - Northern Illinois University, Department of Biological Sciences, Montgomery Hall, DeKalb, Illinois, 60115-2861, USA
2 - Northern Illinois University, Biological Sciences, 1425 W Lincoln Hwy, DeKalb, IL, 60115, United States

Keywords:
Poaceae.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 26
Location: 556B/Convention Center
Date: Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Time: 8:45 AM
Number: 26004
Abstract ID:663