| Abstract Detail
Systematics Section/ASPT Hodkinson, Brendan P. [1], Lendemer, James C. [2]. Next-Generation Systematic Botany: A pyrosequencing-based approach for elucidating the phylogeny and informing the taxonomy of sterile crustose lichens. Despite significant progress recently in the systematics of lichen-forming fungi, many aspects of lichen biology and taxonomy remain poorly understood and critically understudied. These factors converge noticeably in a highly speciose assemblage of lichens known as sterile asexually-reproducing crustose lichens, or more simply, "sterile crusts." These taxa do not represent a monophyletic group, but rather are treated together because they have all evolved to reproduce primarily through the dispersal of lichenized diaspores (specialized dispersal units that include the major constituents of the lichen microbiome). Species that employ this mode of reproduction have evolved in nearly all of the diverse lineages that comprise lichen-forming fungi. In an effort to overcome the taxonomic impasse in this group, we have developed a set of high-throughput procedures to test for correlations between molecular sequence data and non-molecular character data to phylogenetically place and phenotypically define a large number of species so that they can be formally described and subsequently integrated into conservation and management plans. This work includes using slower-evolving loci (e.g., mtSSU and nucLSU) to place many of the 'incertae sedis' taxa into a higher-level framework and testing species boundaries using the ITS fungal 'barcode' region. Broader Impacts:
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1 - New York Botanical Garden, International Plant Science Center, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458-5126, USA
2 - New York Botanical Garden, Institute for Systematic Botany, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458-5126, USA
Keywords:
next generation sequencing
lichens
Phylogenetics
fungi
Systematics.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 45
Location: Delaware D/Hyatt
Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: 45001
Abstract ID:760 |
