ID: 613 / 211

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: RECENT ADVANCES IN THE MEGADIVERSE LEGUME SUBFAMILY PAPILIONOIDEAE - PART II

Abstract: The megadiverse legume subfamily Papilionoideae contains over 14,000 species across every major terrestrial ecosystem, with myriad lifeforms and life-histories. Its representatives are well-known for their economic and social importance (e.g., beans, peas, lentils, rosewoods and many others), and their ecological significance in nutrient cycling, habitat infrastructure and coevolution with nitrogen fixing bacteria. Although almost any evolutionary question can be asked about the papilionoids, building a comprehensive phylogeny is the first step in trying to understand the successful evolutionary history of this group. Recent molecular advances have opened new avenues and allowed systematists to include hundreds or thousands of nuclear genes, accounting for different processes and distinct gene histories. For example, it was suggested by Koenen et al. (2021) that the relationships in Papilionoideae could be better represented by a network, raising questions such as what are the causes of this reticulation?—ILS, hybridization, polyploidization or gene tree estimation error. Therefore, this symposium will focus on large-scale studies across the subfamily and key clades within it highlighting the new findings and questions that remain to be answered. This will serve as a valuable update for a wide audience as it aims to present the first comprehensive phylogeny for this subfamily generated with nuclear genes, along with talks presenting the recent advances in understanding the large Dalbergioid and Mirbelioid clades, the tribe Phaseoleae, and phylogenetic reconstruction methods. The proposed symposium will also highlight the collaborative approach of Legume Phylogeny Working Group, (LPWG), and demonstrate how collaborative networks is speeding up advances in one of the most successful angiosperm groups. The interdisciplinary approach to be presented in this symposium could serve as framework for studying other large groups of plants, making the symposium attractive to a broad audience at the IBC 2024.

Speaker 1: Flávia Fonseca Pezzini (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, United Kingdom; fpezzini@rbge.org.uk), Moabe Ferreira Fernandes (Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Rennes Drives, Exeter EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom/Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW93AE, United Kingdom; moabeffernandes@gmail.com) and Toby Pennington (Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Rennes Drives, Exeter EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom/ Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, EH3 5LR, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; t.pennington@exeter.ac.uk) – Tentative title: Combining legacy Sanger with new phylogenomic DNA sequence data to produce a densely sampled papilionoid phylogeny for comparative biology.

Speaker 2: Annah Moteeetee (University of Johannesburg, CNR University and Kingsway Road, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa, amoteetee@uj.ac.za), Tlou Manyelo (Department of Mathematics Science and Technology Education, University of Limpopo, Sovenga 0727, South Africa, tlou.manyelo@ul.ac.za) and Abdulwakeel Ayokun-nun Ajao (University of Johannesburg, CNR University and Kingsway Road, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa, jwak880@gmail.com) – Tentative title: Developments in the phylogenetic and taxonomic studies of southern African genera of the tribe Phaseoleae.

Speaker 3: James Clugston (The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, National Herbarium of New South Wales, Australian Botanic Garden, Locked Bag 6002, Mount Annan, New South Wales 2567, Australia; james.clugston@botanicgardens.nsw.gov.au) – Tentative title: Phylogenetic resolution of the Australian Bush Peas in the tribe Mirbelieae (Fabaceae).

Topics (Up to three): Systematics

Topic 2: Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics

Topic 3: Macroevolution

Justification: This symposium presents key advances in the Papilonoideae. This extremely diverse and economically important group attracts scientists across many disciplines; its members commonly function as model research systems, making it important to understand their biology and evolution. This diversity is reflected in our proposed talks and speakers, covering the entire subfamily and highlighting advances in key clades such as the Dalbergioids and Mirbelioids, and in the tribe Phaseoleae. Contacted speakers are multidisciplinary, gender-balanced and cross-generational, combining the experience of senior scientists with the potential of early-career researchers. They represent different continents, with particular strength in the global south. Topics covered: 19, 22 and 31.