Prickly waterlily and rigid hornwort genomes shed light on early angiosperm evolution
Yongzhi Yang, Pengchuan Sun, Leke Lv, Donglei Wang, Dafu Ru, Ying Li, Tao Ma, Lei Zhang, Xing‐Xing Shen, Fanbo Meng, Beibei Jiao, Lanxing Shan, Man Liu, Qingfeng Wang, Zhiji Qin, Zhenxiang Xi, Xiyin Wang, Charles C. Davis, Jianquan Liu
Abstract
. A key reason for this impasse is the paucity of complete genomes representing early-diverging angiosperms. Here, we present high-quality, chromosomal-level genome assemblies of two aquatic species-prickly waterlily (Euryale ferox; Nymphaeales) and the rigid hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum; Ceratophyllales)-and expand the genomic representation for key sectors of the angiosperm tree of life. We identify multiple independent polyploidization events in each of the five major clades (that is, Nymphaeales, magnoliids, monocots, Ceratophyllales and eudicots). Furthermore, our phylogenomic analyses, which spanned multiple datasets and diverse methods, confirm that Amborella and Nymphaeales are successively sister to all other angiosperms. Furthermore, these genomes help to elucidate relationships among the major subclades within Mesangiospermae, which contain about 350,000 species. In particular, the species-poor lineage Ceratophyllales is supported as sister to eudicots, and monocots and magnoliids are placed as successively sister to Ceratophyllales and eudicots. Finally, our analyses indicate that incomplete lineage sorting may account for the incongruent phylogenetic placement of magnoliids between nuclear and plastid genomes.