Origin of angiosperms and the puzzle of the Jurassic gap
Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Li, Hong-Tao
Yi, Ting-Shuang
Gao, Lian-Ming
Ma, Peng-Fei
Zhang, Ting
Yang, Jun-Bo
Gitzendanner, Matthew
Fritsch, Peter
Cai, Jie
Luo, Yang
Wang, Hong
van der Bank, Michelle
Zhang, Shu-Dong
Wang, Qing-Feng
Wang, Jian
Zhang, Zhi-Rong
Fu, Chao-Nan
Yang, Jing
Hollingsworth, Peter
Chase, Mark
Soltis, Douglas
Soltis, Pamela
Li, De-Zhu
Date published
May 1, 2019
Abstract
Angiosperms are by far the most species-rich clade of land plants, but their origin and early evolutionary history remain poorly understood. We reconstructed angiosperm phylogeny based on 80 genes from 2,881 plastid genomes representing 85% of extant families and all orders. With a well-resolved plastid tree and 62 fossil calibrations, we dated the origin of the crown angiosperms to the Upper Triassic, with major angiosperm radiations occurring in the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous. This estimated crown age is substantially earlier than that of unequivocal angiosperm fossils, and the difference is here termed the ‘Jurassic angiosperm gap’. Our time-calibrated plastid phylogenomic tree provides a highly relevant framework for future comparative studies of flowering plant evolution.
Journal title
Nature Plants
Volume
5
Issue
5
ISSN
2055-0278
Rights statement
In Copyright