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Evolution of genome size in the angiosperms¹

²Department of Botany and the Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-5826 USA; ³Florida Museum of Natural History and the Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7800 USA; ⁴Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3DS, UK

Genome size varies extensively across the flowering plants, which has stimulated speculation regarding the ancestral genome size of these plants and trends in genome evolution. We investigated the evolution of C-values across the angiosperms using a molecular phylogenetic framework and C-values not previously available for crucial basal angiosperms, including Amborella, Illiciaceae, and Austrobaileya. Reconstructions of genome size across the angiosperms and extant gymnosperms indicate that the ancestral genome size for angiosperms is very small (1C 1.4 pg), in agreement with an earlier analysis of Leitch et al. (1998). Furthermore, a very small genome size (1C 1.4 pg) is ancestral not only for the angiosperms in general, but also for most major clades of flowering plants, including the monocots and the eudicots. The ancestral genome of core eudicots may also have been very small given that very low 1C-values appear to be ancestral for major clades of core eudicots, such as Caryophyllales, Saxifragales, and asterids. Very large genomes occur in clades that occupy derived positions within the monocots and Santalales.

Key Words: angiosperms • character evolution • C-values • genome size • phylogeny

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