Journal Article

The ancestral flower of angiosperms and its early diversification

Staedler, Yannick, Nadot, Sophie, Chomicki, Guillaume, Luna, Javier A., Sauquet, Hervé, Löfstrand, Stefan, dos Santos, Patrícia, Chartier, Marion, Pamperl, Susanne, Wing-Sze Leung, Amy, El Ottra, Juliana H. L., Tschan, Georg F., von Balthazar, Maria, Magallón, Susana, Jabbour, Florian, Little, Stefan A., Epicoco, Cyril, Schoonderwoerd, Kristel M., Foster, Charles S. P., Hernández, Rebeca, Reyes, Elisabeth, Bull-Hereñu, Kester, Schönenberger, Jürg, Carrive, Laetitia, Coiro, Mario, Haevermans, Thomas, Soulebeau, Anaëlle, Prieu, Charlotte, Bailes, Emily J., Cornette, Raphaël, Doyle, James A., Barroso de Morais, Erica, Endress, Peter K., Massoni, Julien, Sontag, Susanne, Haevermans, Agathe

2017

Overview

Recent advances in molecular phylogenetics and a series of important palaeobotanical discoveries have revolutionized our understanding of angiosperm diversification. Yet, the origin and early evolution of their most characteristic feature, the flower, remains poorly understood. In particular, the structure of the ancestral flower of all living angiosperms is still uncertain. Here we report model-based reconstructions for ancestral flowers at the deepest nodes in the phylogeny of angiosperms, using the largest data set of floral traits ever assembled. We reconstruct the ancestral angiosperm flower as bisexual and radially symmetric, with more than two whorls of three separate perianth organs each (undifferentiated tepals), more than two whorls of three separate stamens each, and more than five spirally arranged separate carpels. Although uncertainty remains for some of the characters, our reconstruction allows us to propose a new plausible scenario for the early diversification of flowers, leading to new testable hypotheses for future research on angiosperms. The fossil record of flowers is limited, necessitating other approaches to understanding floral evolution. Here, Sauquet and colleagues reconstruct the characteristics and diversification of ancient angiosperm flowers by combining models of flower evolution with an extensive database of extant floral traits.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 631/181/757 / 631/449/2669 / Angiosperms / basal / Biodiversity / Biologi / Biological Evolution / Biological Sciences / Bisexuality / Botanics / Carpels / correlated evolution / discrete characters / Flowers & plants / Flowers - anatomy & histology / genes / Humanities and Social Sciences / Life Sciences / likelihood approach / living angiosperms / Magnoliopsida - anatomy & histology / morphological character / multidisciplinary / Nodes / Organs / origin / Phenotype / phylogenetic analysis / Phylogeny / plastid genomes / Populations and Evolution / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Stamens / Vegetal Biology