Chloroplast phylogenomics of Passiflora

The genus Passiflora comprises about 520 species, of which 145 occur in Brazil and 83 are endemic. The classical taxonomy, proposed based on various floral and vegetative structures, subdivided the genus into 22 subgenera. However, phylogenetic analyses, based on molecular data, did not confirm this infrageneric division, and it was necessary to reduce the number of subgenera to four: Astrophea, Decaloba, Deidamioides, and Passiflora, with Astrophea being the most ancestral. Three clades were recognized as monophyletic (Astrophea, Decaloba, and Passiflora) while the position of Deidamioides remains unresolved, as this clade has shown to be paraphyletic in the data collected so far. Using sequences from the chloroplast genome (cpDNA), our group conducted phylogenomic analyses that resulted in highly supported trees, contributing to the understanding of evolutionary relationships within Malpighiales and the Fabidae clade, including, in the analysis, the cpDNA of Passiflora edulis. In this proposal, the same approach will be applied to study the evolution of the genus Passiflora, aiming to assist in understanding the status of the subgenus Deidamioides.

西番莲属（Passiflora）共计约520个物种，其中145种分布于巴西，83种为巴西特有。基于花部与营养体各类形态特征建立的经典分类系统，曾将该属划分为22个亚属。然而基于分子数据的系统发育分析并未支持这一属下分类框架，最终需将亚属数量缩减为4个：Astrophea、Decaloba、Deidamioides与Passiflora，其中Astrophea为最原始的亚属。其中Astrophea、Decaloba及Passiflora这3个支系被证实为单系支系，而Deidamioides支系的系统发育位置仍未明确——截至当前已采集的研究数据显示，该支系属于并系群。本团队此前利用叶绿体基因组（chloroplast genome, cpDNA）序列开展系统基因组学分析，构建了支持率极高的系统发育树，为理解金虎尾目（Malpighiales）与Fabidae支系内的演化关系提供了重要支撑，本次分析纳入了西番莲（Passiflora edulis）的叶绿体基因组序列。本研究提案将沿用该分析方法，对西番莲属的演化展开研究，旨在明确Deidamioides亚属的系统发育地位。