New Hot Paper Comment by Douglas and Pamela Soltis

Douglas and Pamela Soltis answer a few questions about this month's new hot paper in the field of Plant & Animal Science.

From •>>September 2004

Field: Plant & Animal Science
Article Title: Gunnerales are sister to other core eudicots: Implications for the evolution of pentamery
Authors: Soltis, DE;Senters, AE;Zanis, MJ;Kim, S;Thompson, JD;Soltis, PS;De Craene, LPR;Endress, PK;Farris, JS
Journal: AMER J BOT
Volume: 90
Page: 461-470
Year: MAR 2003
* Univ Florida, Dept Bot, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA.
* Univ Florida, Dept Bot, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA.
* Univ Florida, Genet Inst, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA.
* Washington State Univ, Sch Biol Sci, Pullman, WA 99164 USA.
* Univ Florida, Florida Museum Nat Hist, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA.
* Univ Florida, Genet Inst, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA.
* Royal Bot Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Midlothian, Scotland.
* Univ Zurich, Inst Systemat Bot, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland.
* Nat Hist Riksmuseet, Mol Systemat Lab, S-10405 Stockholm, Sweden.

Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

Perhaps because it provides what currently represents the best-resolved, and best-supported phylogenetic tree for eudicots—which represent 75% of all flowering plants. Hence, for those interested in the big picture of angiosperm relationships, it would serve as a framework.

“We were recently awarded a Tree of Life grant which has the goal of clarifying the remaining major questions of angiosperm phylogeny.”

Does it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to others?

A new discovery—resolving the basalmost relationships among core eudicots is an important finding for those interested in angiosperm evolution.

Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

Using DNA sequences from 4 genes, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis of eudicots (which represent 75% of all flowering plants). The analysis clarified some—but certainly not all—of the remaining problems of relationships among the major groups of eudicots. Gunnerales (a small, enigmatic group) was found to be the closest relatives of the core eudicots—the core eudicots are most flowering plants and include asterids and rosids; they have flower parts in multiples of 4s or 5s. However, gunnerales have flower parts arranged in pairs (dimerous), indicating that this was the evolutionary precursor floral type leading to the flower type found in the vast majority of flowering plants.

How did you become involved in this research?

Long-term interest—we and our colleagues have been investigating flowering plant relationships using molecular data for 15 years. We were recently awarded a Tree of Life grant which has the goal of clarifying the remaining major questions of angiosperm phylogeny.

Dr. Douglas Soltis
Department of Botany
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, USA

Dr. Pamela Soltis
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, USA

ESI Special Topics, September 2004
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/2004/september-04-Soltis.html