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Abstract Detail


Systematics Section/ASPT

Welch, Andreanna J. [1], Walter, Alexandria [1], Aakrosh, Ratan [2], Drautz, Daniela I. [3], Schuster, Stephan C. [2], Lindqvist, Charlotte [1].

Sequencing chloroplast genomes of native and endangered Hawaiian plants.

During a period of rapid speciation over the past 5 million years the endemic Hawaiian mints have diverged into a group of 60 species in three genera and represent a remarkable array of phenotypes. Today, many members of this group are endangered or already extinct and therefore primarily known and available only from herbarium samples collected during the last century. Phylogenetic analyses have been utilized with a gene-by-gene approach to investigate evolution in this lineage, but its recent diversification means that sequence divergence, and hence phylogenetic resolution, is low. Furthermore, incongruence exists between maternally inherited chloroplast and biparentally inherited nuclear loci, suggesting a hybrid origin for this radiation. Therefore, a genomic approach is necessary to gain a better understanding of the rapid diversification of this lineage. Unfortunately, genetic resources are limited and no genome-wide analyses have been generated for close relatives of the Hawaiian mints. We used next-generation sequencing methods to obtain sequences of the chloroplast genome for four mint species. Since chloroplast genomes are only available from distantly related species, several analytical methods were performed to assemble the sequence data. A complete, high-coverage genome has been recovered from a ca. 80-year-old herbarium sample of Stenogyne haliakalae, a species thought to be extinct and only known from the south slopes of Haleakala, Maui. This genome was used as a reference for assembling an additional three chloroplast genomes of Hawaiian Stenogyne and Phyllostegia species and can further be used to assemble genomes of other poorly known endemic mints. Based on comparative analyses of these four genomes we are identifying a set of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci that will be used to examine evolutionary relationships among and the origin of these morphologically heterogeneous plants. Such studies will help elucidate the process of rapid evolution of morphological characteristics that are related to environmental adaptation.

Broader Impacts:


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1 - University at Buffalo, Biological Sciences, 109 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA
2 - Pennsylvania State University, Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
3 - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Singapore

Keywords:
Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian mints
herbarium
next generation sequencing
Plastid genome
single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 45
Location: Delaware D/Hyatt
Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Time: 8:45 AM
Number: 45004
Abstract ID:590


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