Liriodendron tulipifera Genome sequencing. Liriodendron tulipifera

The mitochondrial genomes of flowering plants vary greatly in size, gene content, gene order, mutation rate, and level of RNA editing. However, lack of genomic data from non-crop lineages has limited our ability to reconstruct these traits in the ancestral flowering plant and, therefore, to infer subsequent patterns of evolution across angiosperms. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of Liriodendron tulipifera, the first angiosperm genome from outside the monocots or eudicots. This 553,721 bp mitochondrial genome has evolved remarkably slowly in all respects, with the lowest genome-wide silent substitution rate of any sequenced genome, retention of genes frequently lost in other angiosperm lineages, and conservation of ancestral gene clusters.