The importance of the Mexican taxa of Asteraceae in the family phylogeny

Abstract

Asteraceae is the largest plant family in México with about 417 genera and 3113 species, and with more than 60% of them being endemic. Phylogenetic relationships at subfamily and tribal levels have been previously resolved employing both nuclear and plastid molecular markers. However, Asteraceae species native to Mexico have been underrepresented in such phylogenies. To tackle this issue, the taxon sampling of this study included 90 Asteraceae species native to México, four species from the Caribbean, 119 previously sequenced species, and six outgroups. With this sampling, all the Asteraceae subfamilies and all of the tribes recognized to date are represented. The analyzed dataset consisted of eleven chloroplast markers (atpB, matK, ndhC, ndhD, ndhF, ndhI, ndhJ, ndhK, rbcL, trnL‐trnF, and 23S‐trnA). We present two phylogenetic reconstructions obtained by maximum likelihood and pseudocoalescent methods. Besides, we present a time‐calibrated phylogeny, which is used to infer the best configuration of diversification rate shifts. Our results show that Mexican species are distributed mainly in the subfamily Asteroideae (80 species), followed by Cichorioideae (6 species), Carduoideae (2 species), and Mutisioideae (2 species). Four net diversification rate shifts were found: One near the base of the tree and four within Asteroideae subfamily. Our extended sampling of the family with the representation of native species to Mexico allowed us to identify important events in the evolutionary history of the family.

The Mexican flora as a case study in systematics: a meta-analysis of GenBank accessions

“…With 122 articles per year involving Mexican species, we can suggest that there has been a notable advance in phylogenetic analysis over the last 30 years. The scope remains to be seen, but we now know that including terminals in the phylogeny will allow for a better understanding of the processes and the evolution of the groups at different geographical and taxonomic scales (Blackburn et al 2019, Rivera et al 2021. Sosa et al (2018) published the first study on the spatial phylogenetics of the Mexican vascular flora and the phylogenetic tree consisted of 9,731 terminals (species), just over 40 % of the Mexican flora.…”

Characterization of Cosmos sulphureus Cav. (Asteraceae): Phytochemical Screening, Antioxidant Activity and Chromatography Analysis

“…Mexico is considered the center of diversification of several groups of plants [ 1 ], among which the Asteraceae (Compositae) family stands out. In some studies that have been carried out on the diversity of plants in Mexico, it is mentioned that this family represents one of the most diverse, currently with 417 genera and 3113 species, which are widely distributed throughout the national territory, of which 3050 correspond to native species and 1988 to endemic species [ 2 ]. Their wide geographical distribution and richness of species are attributed to their great dispersal capacity.…”