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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Plastid atpA data provide improved support for deep relationships among ferns
Contributor:
Schuettpelz, Eric;
Korall, Petra;
Pryer, Kathleen M.
imprint:
Wiley, 2006
Published in:TAXON
Language:
English
DOI:
10.2307/25065684
ISSN:
1996-8175;
0040-0262
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>DNA sequence data and phylogenetic approaches have contributed greatly to our understanding of fern relationships. Nonetheless, the datasets analyzed to date have not been sufficient to definitively resolve all parts of the global fern phylogeny; additional data and more extensive sampling are necessary. Here, we explore the phylogenetic utility of the plastid <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> gene. Using newly designed primers, we obtained <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> sequences for 52 fern and 6 outgroup taxa, and then evaluated the capabilities of <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> relative to four other molecular markers, as well as the contributions of <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> in combined analyses. The five single‐gene datasets differed markedly in the number of variable characters they possessed; and although the relationships resolved in analyses of these datasets were largely congruent, the robustness of the hypotheses varied considerably. The <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> dataset had more variable characters and resulted in a more robustly supported phylogeny than any of the other single gene datasets examined, suggesting that <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> will be exceptionally useful in more extensive studies of fern phylogeny and perhaps also in studies of other plant lineages. When the <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> data were analyzed in combination with the other four markers, an especially robust hypothesis of fern relationships emerged. With the addition of the <jats:italic>atpA</jats:italic> data, support increased substantially at several nodes; three nodes, which were not well‐supported previously, received both good posterior probability and good bootstrap support in the combined 5‐gene (> 6 kb) analyses.</jats:p>