Climate Change during Cretaceous/Paleogene as a Driving Force for the Evolutionary Radiation of Physical Dormancy in Fabaceae

Physical dormancy (PY) due to a water-impermeable seed/fruit coat is one of the characteristic features many species Fabaceae; however, timing and context evolution this trait are poorly understood. In investigation, fossil molecular data used constrain PY. The phylogenetic reconstruction programs GB-to-TNT BEAUTi/BEAST create chloroplast gene-based (rbcL matK) phylogenies taxa with well-represented records. PY non-dormancy mapped terminals phylogeny, ancestral states reconstructed using parsimony. initial in Fabaceae have occurred sometime interval between divergence from Polygalaceae (late Campanian) diversification crown-group Paleocene) when known undergone multiple whole genome duplication (WGD) events across Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary. As Nelumbo, another taxon PY, may developed association climatic change WGD K/Pg at boundary an intriguing hypothesis that requires further investigation.