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de Portugal da Silveira Teixeira de Sousa, Filipe

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  • Increased evolutionary rates and conserved transcriptional response following allopolyploidization in brown algae
    Publication . Sousa, Filipe; Neiva, J.; Martins, Neusa; Jacinto, Rita; Anderson, Laura; Raimondi, Peter T.; Serrao, Ester; Pearson, Gareth
    Genome mergers between independently evolving lineages, via allopolyploidy, can potentially lead to instantaneous sympatric speciation. However, little is known about the consequences of allopolyploidy and the resultant "genome shock" on genome evolution and expression beyond the plant and fungal branches of the Tree of Life. The aim of this study was to compare substitution rates and gene expression patterns in two allopolyploid brown algae (Phaeophyceae and Heterokonta) and their progenitors in the genus Pelvetiopsis N. L. Gardner in the north-east Pacific, and to date their relationships. We used RNA-seq data, all potential orthologues, and putative single-copy loci for phylogenomic, divergence, and gene expression analyses. The multispecies coalescent placed the origin of allopolyploids in the late Pleistocene (0.35-0.05 Ma). Homoeologues displayed increased nonsynonymous divergence compared with parental orthologues, consistent with relaxed selective constraint following allopolyploidization, including for genes with no evidence of pseudogenization or neofunctionalization. Patterns of homoeologue-orthologue expression conservation and expression level dominance were largely shared with both natural plant and fungal allopolyploids. Our results provide further support for common cross-Kingdom patterns of allopolyploid genome evolution and transcriptional responses, here in the evolutionarily distinct marine heterokont brown algae.
  • The use of chloroplast genome sequences to solve phylogenetic incongruences in Polystachya Hook (Orchidaceae Juss)
    Publication . de Abreu, Narjara Lopes; Valka Alves, Ruy Jose; Sodre Cardoso, Sergio Ricardo; Bertrand, Yann J. K.; Sousa, Filipe; Hall, Climbie Ferreira; Pfeil, Bernard E.; Antonelli, Alexandre
    Background: Current evidence suggests that for more robust estimates of species tree and divergence times, several unlinked genes are required. However, most phylogenetic trees for non-model organisms are based on single sequences or just a few regions, using traditional sequencing methods. Techniques for massive parallel sequencing or next generation sequencing (NGS) are an alternative to traditional methods that allow access to hundreds of DNA regions. Here we use this approach to resolve the phylogenetic incongruence found in Polystachya Hook. (Orchidaceae), a genus that stands out due to several interesting aspects, including cytological (polyploid and diploid species), evolutionary (reticulate evolution) and biogeographical (species widely distributed in the tropics and high endemism in Brazil). The genus has a notoriously complicated taxonomy, with several sections that are widely used but probably not monophyletic. Methods: We generated the complete plastid genome of 40 individuals from one clade within the genus. The method consisted in construction of genomic libraries, hybridization to RNA probes designed from available sequences of a related species, and subsequent sequencing of the product. We also tested how well a smaller sample of the plastid genome would perform in phylogenetic inference in two ways: by duplicating a fast region and analyzing multiple copies of this dataset, and by sampling without replacement from all non-coding regions in our alignment. We further examined the phylogenetic implications of non-coding sequences that appear to have undergone hairpin inversions (reverse complemented sequences associated with small loops). Results: We retrieved 131,214 bp, including coding and non-coding regions of the plastid genome. The phylogeny was able to fully resolve the relationships among all species in the targeted clade with high support values. The first divergent species are represented by African accessions and the most recent ones are among Neotropical species. Discussion: Our results indicate that using the entire plastid genome is a better option than screening highly variable markers, especially when the expected tree is likely to contain many short branches. The phylogeny inferred is consistent with the proposed origin of the genus, showing a probable origin in Africa, with later dispersal into the Neotropics, as evidenced by a clade containing all Neotropical individuals. The multiple positions of Polystachya concreta (Jacq.) Garay & Sweet in the phylogeny are explained by allotetraploidy. Polystachya estrellensis Rchb.f. can be considered a genetically distinct species from P. concreta and P. foliosa (Lindl.) Rchb.f., but the delimitation of P. concreta remains uncertain. Our study shows that NGS provides a powerful tool for inferring relationships at low taxonomic levels, even in taxonomically challenging groups with short branches and intricate morphology.
  • Nuclear protein phylogenies support the monophyly of the three bryophyte groups (Bryophyta Schimp.)
    Publication . Sousa, Filipe; Foster, Peter G.; Donoghue, Philip C. J.; Schneider, Harald; J. Cox, Cymon
    Unraveling the phylogenetic relationships between the four major lineages of terrestrial plants (mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and vascular plants) is essential for an understanding of the evolution of traits specific to land plants, such as their complex life cycles, and the evolutionary development of stomata and vascular tissue. Well supported phylogenetic hypotheses resulting from different data and methods are often incongruent due to processes of nucleotide evolution that are difficult to model, for example substitutional saturation and composition heterogeneity. We reanalysed a large published dataset of nuclear data and modelled these processes using degenerate-codon recoding and tree-heterogeneous composition substitution models. Our analyses resolved bryophytes as a monophyletic group and showed that the nonnonmonophyly of the clade that is supported by the analysis of nuclear nucleotide data is due solely to fast-evolving synonymous substitutions. The current congruence among phylogenies of both nuclear and chloroplast analyses lent considerable support to the conclusion that the bryophytes are a monophyletic group. An initial split between bryophytes and vascular plants implies that the bryophyte life cycle (with a dominant gametophyte nurturing an unbranched sporophyte) may not be ancestral to all land plants and that stomata are likely to be a symplesiomorphy among embryophytes.