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Inflorescence diversification in the “finger millet clade” (Chloridoideae, Poaceae): a comparison of molecular phylogeny and developmental morphology
Author(s) -
Liu Qing,
Peterson Paul M.,
Columbus J. Travis,
Zhao Nanxian,
Hao Gang,
Zhang Dianxiang
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.3732/ajb.94.7.1230
Subject(s) - biology , clade , eleusine , phylogenetics , monophyly , botany , molecular phylogenetics , inflorescence , phylogenetic tree , poaceae , primordium , zoology , evolutionary biology , genetics , finger millet , gene , agronomy
Within the Poaceae, inflorescence diversification and its bearing on phylogeny and evolution are exceedingly complex. We used phylogenetic information of the “finger millet clade,” a group of grasses with digitate inflorescences, to study the inflorescence diversification. This clade appears monophyletic in the morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Three well‐supported clades are shown in our cpDNA‐derived phylogeny, with clades I and III consisting of species of Chloris and Microchloa, respectively, and clade II including species of Cynodon , Dactyloctenium , and Eleusine . Variation appears at different times throughout development. Changes involving primordium number and arrangement occur very early, changes involving duration of primordium activity occur much later. Characters derived from the comparison of developmental sequences were optimized onto the most parsimonious tree. The developmental characters were congruent with the molecular phylogeny. Two developmental characters may not be homologous in the Chloris subclade and the Cynodon subclade.