Oral Paper

         Phylogenomics

Cracking the Code of the calabash tribe: A Target Sequence Capture Approach to Unraveling the Origins and Evolution of Crescentieae (Bignoniaceae)

Presenting Author
Betsabé Castro Escobar
Description
Bignoniaceae is a large and diverse family of flowering plants, comprising around 800 species and 110 genera, with charismatic qualities that are culturally significant and biologically important. The family is divided into two subfamilies, Bignoniaceae and Martyniaceae, and eight tribes, including the Crescentieae or calabash tribe. This tribe has a unique morphology and ecology that sets it apart from the rest of the Bignoniaceae family, making it of great interest to botanists and ecologists. These plants, which include lianas, shrubs, and trees, have various uses, including medicinal, edible, cultural, and ecological. In this study, we investigate the phylogeny, systematics, and biogeography of the Crescentieae tribe, which comprises 37 species divided into three genera: Amphitecna, Crescentia, and Parmentiera. Previous treatments based on two chloroplast and two nuclear loci accounted for 75% of the total diversity in the group.  To increase the amount of molecular data available for phylogenetic reconstruction within the Bignoniaceae, we developed a custom nuclear target sequence capture project. Our designed probe bait kit (Fonseca et al. 2023) targets 762 nuclear genes, including 329 genes specific to the Bignoniaceae family, 348 genes from Angiosperms, 353 genes designed for the family, and 85 low-copy genes of known function. The performance of this bait kit was tested at different taxonomic levels, and data reconstruction showed a well-supported phylogeny of the Bignoniaceae at different taxonomic scales (Fonseca et al. 2023). Our analysis sampled 94% of the overall diversity, including 35 of the 37 species, using our designed probe bait kit (Fonseca et al. 2023), which targets 762 nuclear genes. We will present preliminary results on the phylogenetic, systematic, and biogeographic analysis, revealing new insights for this botanical tribe.