Evolution of cold tolerance in the highly stress tolerant samphires and relatives (Salicornieae: Amaranthaceae)”

Low temperature constitutes one of the main barriers to plant distributions, confining many clades to their ancestrally tropical biome. However, recent evidence suggests that transitions from tropical to temperate biomes may be more frequent than previously thought. Here, we study the evolution of cold and frost tolerance in the globally distributed and highly stress-tolerant Salicornieae (Salicornioideae, Amaranthaceae s.l.). We first generate a phylogenetic tree comprising almost all known species (85-90%), using newly generated (n = 106) and published nuclear-ribosomal and plastid sequences. Next, we use geographical occurrence data to document in which clades and geographical regions cold-tolerant species occur and reconstruct how cold tolerance evolved. Finally, we test for correlated evolution between frost tolerance and the annual life form. We find that frost tolerance has evolved independently in up to four Northern Hemisphere lineages but that annuals are no more likely to evo..., , Data associated with this research article:
Cousins-Westerberg, R., Dakin, N., Schat, L., Kadereit, G. and Humphreys, A.M. 2023. Evolution of cold tolerance in the highly stress-tolerant
samphires and relatives (Salicornieae: Amaranthaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boad009