Hybrid capture phylogenomics of the mimosoid clade (Leguminosae)

Targeted enrichment methods facilitate sequencing of hundreds of nuclear loci to enhance phylogenetic resolution and elucidate why some parts of the Tree of Life are difficult (if not impossible) to resolve. The mimosoid legumes are a prominent pantropical clade of c. 3300 species of woody angiosperms for which previous phylogenies have shown extensive lack of resolution. From a set of mimosoid transcriptomes we select low-copy nuclear genes, enrich these via hybrid capture for representative species of most mimosoid genera and analyse the resulting data using de novo assembly and various phylogenomic tools for species tree inference. Our selection of 964 nuclear genes greatly improves phylogenetic resolution across the mimosoid phylogeny and offers great potential to further enhance the phylogeny of mimosoids and the wider Caesalpinioideae with denser taxon sampling.