Format: ORAL

Min Li1,3, Jin-Jin Wu2, Pei-Han Huang1,2, Xiao-Hui Ma2, Hong-Hu Meng1,3, Sheng-Dan Wu2, Jie Li1,3

1 Plant Phylogenetics and Conservation Group, Center for Integrative Conservation & Yunnan Key Laboratory for Conservation of Tropical Rainforests and Asian Elephants, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China 2 State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Engelhardia is a characteristic flora of subtropical and tropical forests in South-eastern Asia, which is of great ecological and economic values. Due to its large latitude span of geographical distribution, insufficient research materials, and different names used for the same species in different regions, the species definition of Engelhardia is complicated. The classification and phylogeny of Engelhardia has always fascinated ecologists and biologists in recent decades, but there are still debatable. Even with the combined analysis of morphological and molecular data, the phylogeny and interspecific relationships of the genus were not clarified. Here, we are based on extensive resource investigation and sampling, integrating phylogenetic genomics and comparative genomics analysis methods, reconstructing the phylogenetic relationship of Engelhardia through chromosome-level genomes for the first time, and comprehensively explored the genome evolution, genetic diversity and genome structural changes of Engelhardia. Our study used genomics to advance our understanding of the evolution of characteristic taxa in biodiversity hotspots and solve the complex species delimitation. It also provide an insight of a comprehensive understanding of the causes of biodiversity in tropical and subtropical regions, the protection of the uniqueness of these regions, and the promotion of the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of global plant resources.