Proposed Symposium Title: PHYLOGENOMICS AND EVOLUTION OF GYMNOSPERM
Abstract: Gymnosperms comprise only a little more than 1,000 species, which is in a sharp contrast to angiosperms with more than 300,000 species. However, gymnosperms account for more than 39% of the world's forest area, with huge ecological and economic values. The phylogeny and evolution of gymnosperms have attracted great attention from botanists and evolutionary biologists. The development and continual generation of genome-scale data have greatly improved our ability to reconstruct the phylogeny of gymnosperms at both higher (interfamilial and intergeneric) and lower (interspecific) taxonomic levels. In particular, the genome sequences of an increasing number of gymnosperms representing different main clades have been available since the first draft genome of Norway spruce (Picea abies) was published in 2013. In the light of these and other results, long-standing debates and hypotheses have been convincingly addressed. Moreover, integrated phylogenomic and ecological analyses have revealed the spatiotemporal evolution of some gymnosperm lineages. A specific symposium at IBC 2024 is thus needed to summarize the current research advances, to highlight the key theoretical contributions, and to point out knowledge gaps for future work by integrating powers from global scientific communities. Diverse topics addressing gymnosperm phylogeny and evolution are welcome to this symposium, in particular using genome-scale data and multidisciplinary approaches.
Speaker 1: Yun-Peng Zhao, Prof.
Zhejiang University
ypzhao@zju.edu.cn
Sex chromosome evolution of Ginkgo biloba with implication for gymnosperms
Speaker 2: Kangshan Mao, Prof.
Sichuan University
maokangshan@scu.edu.cn
Phylogenomics shed new light on the evolution and biogeography of Cupressaceae
Speaker 3: Xiao-Quan Wang, Prof.
Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences
xiaoq_wang@ibcas.ac.cn
Multidisciplinary approaches reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of gymnosperms
Topics (Up to three): Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics
Topic 2: Systematics
Topic 3: Biogeography / Phylogeography
Justification: 1. extreme importance of the taxa and questions.
2. substantial advances and remaining knowledge gaps.
3. promising prospects with increasing genome resources and tools
4. attraction to borad audience
