Original title: One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants
Researchers sequenced the active genes of 1,124 plant species, including green plants, red algae, and glaucophytes. They compared these sequences to build a family tree of green plants. Most branches were supported by several analyses, but some genes suggested different relationships. The results point to gene-family expansions before major plant groups began, and repeated whole-genome copying in flowering plants and ferns.
Imagine sorting a big box of family photographs into a family tree. Some pictures have clear labels, but others show relatives whose links are hard to place. In this paper, the photographs are genes from many plant species, and comparing their clues helps build the plant family tree, even when a few genes disagree.
Plant evolution shaped the ecosystems people depend on, but its history is hard to reconstruct when different genes tell different stories. This study compares thousands of genes across a broad range of plants, giving researchers a framework for tracing that history and spotting where it remains uncertain.
The abstract reports a broad evolutionary framework, but it does not resolve every plant relationship: some key branches show disagreement between plastid and nuclear gene trees. It does not describe the sequencing or analysis methods in detail, quantify the support for particular branches, or establish the functions of the expanded gene families.
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One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants — One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative — Nature — doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1693-2
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.