Phylogeny and comparative seed morphology of epiphytic and terrestrial species of Liparis (Orchidaceae) in Japan

Abstract

To elucidate the evolution of epiphytes in Liparis section Liparis, we examined the phylogenetic relationships of 16 species by using internal transcribed spacer regions of 18S-26S nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) and three chloroplast DNA regions (trnS-trnG spacer, trnL with trnL-trnF spacer, and partial matK). Results showed that the epiphytic L. fujisanensis is sister to the terrestrial L. koreana and L. kumokiri, while another epiphyte, L. truncata, is sister to the terrestrial L. krameri. Therefore, the two epiphytic species evolved from terrestrial species independently in section Liparis. Comparative seed morphology revealed that the epiphytes have larger embryos than their closely related terrestrial counterparts. A similar trend toward the increase of embryo size in the two epiphytic species belonging to closely related, but distinct clades suggests that the large embryo may have an advantage in the epiphytic lifestyle. The two epiphytic species share another character state, smaller air spaces in the seed than that of closely related terrestrial species, suggesting possible low dispersibility of the epiphytes.

Two New Species of the Genus Liparis (Orchidaceae) from Korea Based on Morphological and Molecular Data

“…Liparis liliifolia is used as outgroup. Liparis Types 1 and 2 were treated as L. makinoana and L. japonica in Tsutsumi et al (2007) …”

“…The data previously reported in Tsutsumi et al (2007) were also included to the analyses. Nucleotide sequences of the ITS and cpDNA regions were each aligned with gap adjustments, using the Clustal X program, followed by the manual adjustment (Gibson et al 1994;Thompson et al 1997).…”

“…And the other is similar to L. kumokiri and L. koreojaponica in having an anther cap with a mucronate apex and an excessively reflexed labellum. To clarify taxonomic treatments of the putative new taxa, a molecular phylogeny and a comparative morphology of closely related taxa with the new plants within the section Liparis in Korea and Japan (Tsutsumi et al 2007(Tsutsumi et al , 2008a were studied. Based on these results, the two new plants of Liparis on Jeju Island of Korea are herein described as new species.…”

The seeds micromorphology and morphometry of certain Dactylorhiza (Orchidaceae) species distributed in Turkey

“…Through demonstrating the diagnostic and phylogenetic value of certain quantitative and qualitative characters (Clifford and Smith 1969;Arditti et al 1979;Barthlott and Ziegler 1981;Chase and Pippen 1988;Kurzweil 1993), the studies on the seeds of various plants from the family have yielded a strong correlation between seed micromorphology and the molecular phylogeny (Tsutsumi et al 2007;Gamarra et al 2007Gamarra et al , 2008Gamarra et al , 2010Gamarra et al , 2012. It is stated that seed morphology for genus Dactylorhiza is in the shape of elongated fusiform similar to seed structures in genera Platanthera, Neotinea and Anacamptis and that testa structures differ across genera (Gamarra et al 2010).…”

Seed micromorphology in Dactylorhiza Necker ex Nevski (Orchidaceae)and allied genera

“…In addition, recent publications (Tsutsumi et al, 2007;Gamarra et al, 2007Gamarra et al, , 2008Gamarra et al, , 2010Gamarra et al, , 2012 have emphasized the strong correlation between seed micromorphology and molecular analyses, as reconstructed using DNA sequence data. Tohda (1983) analyzed 13 species of the genus Dactylorhiza (sub syn.…”