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Molecular circumscription of the hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) based on the chloroplast DNA trnLtrnF region

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Abstract

In phylogenetic trees generated from partial trnL UAA intron sequences, the hornworts (represented by nine species from the genera Anthoceros, Dendroceros, Megaceros, Notothylas and Phaeoceros) are resolved as a monophyletic group and are separated from the clades of mosses, liverworts and tracheophytes. A secondary structure of the trnL UAA intron of Anthoceros agrestis is presented, displaying the arrangement of the stem-loop regions P1–P9. Compensatory base-pair changes (coevolutionary sites) are detected in regions P4/5 and P9 within the hornwort sequences. The original homology of the most variable region, P8, cannot be detected anymore due to the extremely fast divergent evolution of this segment in the major land plant groups. Similarly, a high sequence divergence occurs in the trnLtrnF intergenic spacer. Apart from synapomorphic substitutions in the trnL UAA intron, the hornworts are characterised by a large P6 region consisting of many repetitive elements. The molecular data therefore support the hornworts as representing an independent land plant lineage (Anthocerotophyta). Although relationships between hornworts and the other land plant groups remain unresolved in the trnL UAA intron trees, it is rather unlikely that bryophytes are monophyletic in their traditional circumscription, i.e. comprising hornworts, mosses and liverworts.

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Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks are due to C. Neinhuis and T. Pfeiffer for plant material, to A. Solga for determining critical specimens, to K. Yoshinaga for providing sequences of Anthoceros angustus, to T. Borsch for providing sequences of spermatophytes, to A. Wilm and G. Steger for their help with secondary structure calculations employing ConStruct V2.0, and to B. Giesicke and D. Stausberg for technical assistance.

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Stech, M., Quandt, D. & Frey, W. Molecular circumscription of the hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) based on the chloroplast DNA trnLtrnF region. J Plant Res 116, 389–398 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-003-0118-2

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