Despite intensive research, little is known about the origin of the angiosperms and their rise to ecological dominance during the Early Cretaceous. Based on whole-genome analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana, there is compelling evidence that angiosperms underwent two whole-genome duplication events early during their evolutionary history. Recent studies have shown that these events were crucial for...

Angiosperms evolved and diversified during the Cretaceous period. Early angiosperms were short-stature weedy plants thought to have increased fire frequency and mortality in gymnosperm forest, aiding their own expansion. However, no explorations have considered whether the range of novel fuel types that diversified throughout the Cretaceous also altered fire behaviour, which should link more st...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS DEFICIENS (DEF)- and GLOBOSA (GLO)-like proteins constitute two sister clades of floral homeotic transcription factors that were already present in the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of extant angiosperms. Together they specify the identity of petals and stamens in flowering plants. In core eudicots, DEF- and GLO-like proteins are functional in the cell only as heterodim...

Since the advent of molecular phylogenetics more than 25 years ago, a major goal of plant systematists has been to discern the root of the angiosperms. Although most studies indicate that Amborella trichopoda is sister to all remaining extant flowering plants, support for this position has varied with respect to both the sequence data sets and analyses employed. Recently, Goremykin et al. (2013...

Whitehouse (1950): 1. Sudden rise of angiosperms during the Cretaceous period (144-65 million years ago) was due to the development of barriers for self-pollination forcing the flowering plants to out breed and resulted genetic variations and rapid expansion of the angiosperms. 2. 70% of the angiosperms are hermophrodite species, while no more than 5% dioecious. Such a high proportion of hermop...

The importance of angiosperms to sustaining humanity by providing a wide range of 'ecosystem services' warrants increased exploration of their genomic diversity. The nearly completed sequences for two species representing the major angiosperm subclasses, specifically the dicot Arabidopsis thaliana and the monocot Oryza sativa, provide a foundation for comparative analysis across the angiosperms...

The molecular era has fundamentally reshaped our knowledge of the evolution and diversification of angiosperms. One outstanding question is the phylogenetic placement of Amborella trichopoda Baill., commonly thought to represent the first lineage of extant angiosperms. Here, we leverage publicly available data and provide a broad coalescent-based species tree estimation of 45 seed plants. By in...

This comprehensive overview of the xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase (XTH) family of genes and proteins in bryophytes, based on research using genomic resources that are newly available for the moss Physcomitrella patens, provides new insights into plant evolution. In angiosperms, the XTH genes are found in large multi-gene families, probably reflecting the diverse roles of individual X...

Angiosperm mesofossils are described from the Lower Cretaceous Almargem Formation exposed near village of Catefica, Portugal, and thought to be Aptian-early Albian age. The mesofossil assemblage Catefica is diverse and, in addition angiosperms here, also contains a rich non-angiosperm fossils, including leafy axes bryophytes lycopsids, lycopsid salvinialean megaspores, sporangia, sori leaf frag...