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SYDNEY SCIENTISTS HELP BUILD ‘TREE OF LIFE’ IN GLOBAL DNA STUDY
SUMMARY:
· Botanic Gardens of Sydney researchers have collaborated with an international team of 279 scientists from 27 countries to unravel the vast genetic mystery of flowering plants
· The new paper published today in the journal Nature unveils the latest research on the evolutionary history of flowering plants
· Scientists from 138 organisations used 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from 9,500 flowering plants to build groundbreaking ‘tree of life’ mapping how plants are related
· DNA sequenced from living samples and specimens dating back to 1829, including extinct and endangered species as well as many Australian natives
· The first time DNA has been sequenced from more than 800 species
· Extraordinary global effort unlocks unprecedented access to plant data that would take a single computer 18 years to process
· From identifying new plants to discovering new medicines and conserving plants amid climate change and biodiversity loss, ‘tree of life’ has multiple practical uses
Researchers from Botanic Gardens of Sydney have helped build a “flowering plant tree of life” that could aid in identifying new species and, discovering new medicines while battling biodiversity loss in the face of a changing climate.
Just like a “periodic table” for flowering plants, 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from over 9,500 samples have formed a world-first map outlining how species are related.
By comparing DNA sequences of different species and seeing their changes over time, scientists can further understand the complex history of their evolution.
The groundbreaking global study involving 138 organisation and led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, marks a major milestone for botanical science, unveiling the history of how these plants have surpassed all other forms of plant life.
Head of Plant Discovery and Evolution Research at Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Dr Hervé Sauquet described it as an incredible global effort to unravel one of the many mysteries of evolution.
“For generations, scientists struggled to understand how flowering plants came to dominate Earth’s lands,” he said.
"We now have unprecedented access to plant data dating all the way back to the late Jurassic period and discovered that early flowering plants did indeed explode in diversity in the Early Cretaceous, giving rise to over 80% of the major lineages that exist today.”
Flowering plants, known as angiosperms, exist in almost every environment and account for about 90% of all known plant life on the planet, forming vital ecosystems, habitats, and food sources.
Among the species studied for this paper, more than 800 have never had their DNA sequenced before.
Dr Hannah McPherson, Collections Manager at the National Herbarium of NSW (part of Botanic Gardens of Sydney) added the study shows how crucial herbaria are in unlocking the past.
“Some of the older plants used were collected before DNA sequencing was even possible, which is mind-blowing considering what we can now learn from these stored treasures,” she said.
The sheer amount of data collected is 15 times more than any comparable study of flowering plants and would take a single computer 18 years to process.
The study is a huge stride towards building a tree of life for all 330,000 known species of flowering plants – a massive undertaking by Kew’s Tree of Life Initiative.
Plans are now underway to use the same DNA technology at Botanic Gardens of Sydney.
“We want to create the first complete evolutionary tree for all 7,000 native seed plants in New South Wales”, revealed Dr Russell Barrett, Systematic Botanist at Botanic Gardens of Sydney.
“Understanding the history of plant evolution can help us mitigate existential threats like new diseases and climate change.”
Expert Reaction
These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.
Dr Katharina Nargar is a CSIRO Research Scientist and one of the contributing authors
The National Research Collections Australia at CSIRO hold 15 million specimens of plants, insects, fish and more. Our collections are hugely valuable in large-scale, international studies of biodiversity. They provide critical data on the many species which are only found in Australia, like the sexually deceptive hammer orchids, which trick male thynnid wasps to pollinate them by resembling female thynnid wasps.
The flowering plant tree of life will help unravel the mystery of how flowering plants evolved. For example, it will help us understand how our highly unique Australian flora was assembled and evolved over time. The Australian continent has a long history of isolation from other landmasses and underwent drastic climatic changes over geological time. Of over 21,000 Australian plant species, more than 80 per cent occur nowhere else on the planet. Where did they come from? How did a changing climate impact their evolutionary trajectory?
Dr Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn is a CSIRO Research Scientist and one of the contributing authors
The Genomics for Australian Plants consortium contributed DNA sequences of 774 Australian plant species. CSIRO, a major partner in the GAP consortium, contributed daisies and orchids from CSIRO’s National Research Collections Australia.
The flowering plant tree of life maps how the flowering plants are related to each other. This important tool will have many uses from discovering new medicines, to biological control of invasive species. This is because closely related species tend to have similar pharmaceutical properties and may be vulnerable to the same biocontrol agents. What we know about one species can guide how we study, use and manage its relatives.
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