Moss Diversity Project (MDP)

In collaboration with Bernard Goffinet at the University of Connecticut, Jon Shaw and Cymon Cox have been working on a project aimed at reconstructing phylogenetic relationships of mosses based on nuclear, plastid, and mitochondrial DNA sequences.

The project goal was to obtain nucleotide sequences from at least one species representing each of the approximately 865 genera of mosses, and we currently have data from about 650 genera.

An initial analysis based on sequences from eight loci from exemplars representing all of the major clades of mosses identified in previous studies yielded a well-supported "backbone" tree that resolved relationships among the major moss lineages (1). Detailed generic-level analyses of the pleurocarpous mosses indicate that the Hypnales have undergone a rapid radiation (2). A reconstruction based on four loci resolved the Ptychomniales (ord. nov.) as sister to the Hookeriales plus Hypnales, and clarified familial relationships within the Hookeriales (3).

A study of global biodiversity patterns in mosses based on regional species richness estimates and molecular diversity indicates that moss diversity is little if at all higher in the tropics than at higher latitudes. Indeed, the highest molecular diversity appears to be in the temperate Southern Hemisphere (4). The Moss Diversity Project (MDP) has also supported systematic / phylogenetic studies of selected other moss groups (5-9).

(1) Cox, C. J., B. Goffinet, A. J. Shaw, & S. B. Boles. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships among the mosses based on heterogeneous Bayesian analysis of multiple genes from multiple genomic compartments. Systematic Botany 29: 234-250.

(2) Shaw, A.J., C. J. Cox, S. B. Boles, & B. Goffinet. 2003. Phylogenetic evidence for a rapid radiation of pleurocarpous mosses (Bryopsida). Evolution 57: 2226-2241.

(3) Buck, W. R., C. J. Cox, A. J. Shaw, & B. Goffinet. In press. Ordinal relationships of pleurocarpous mosses, with special emphasis on the Hookeriales. Systematics and Biodiversity

(4) Shaw, A. J., C. J. Cox, & B. Goffinet, (In press). Global patterns of moss diversity: taxonomic and molecular inferences. Taxon

(5) Vanderpoorten, A., B. Goffinet, L. Hedenäs, C. J. Cox, & A. J. Shaw. 2003. A taxonomic reassessment of the Vittiaceae (Hypnales, Bryopsida): evidence from phylogenetic analyses of combined chloroplast and nuclear sequence data. Plant Systematics & Evolution 241: 1-12.

(6) Goffinet, B., A. J. Shaw, & C. J. Cox. 2004. Phylogenetic inferences in the dung-moss family Splachnaceae from analyses of DNA sequence data and implications for the evolution of entomophily. American Journal of Botany 91: 748-759.

(7) Vanderpoorten, A., Hedenas, L., Cox, C., & A. J. Shaw. 2002. Phylogeny and morphological evolution of the Amblystegiaceae (Bryopsida). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23: 1-21.

(8) Goffinet, B. & A.J. Shaw. 2002. Independent origins of cleistocarpy in the Splachnaceae: analysis of cpDNA sequences and polyphyly of the Voitioideae (Bryophyta). Systematic Botany 27: 203-208.

(9) Ryall, K., J. Whitton, W. B. Schofield, S. Ellis, & A. J. Shaw. (In press) Molecular phylogenetic study of interspecific variation in the moss Isothecium (Brachytheciaceae). Systematic Botany

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