Mitoplastomic Discordance in Brassicaceae Phylogenomics Reveals Complex Evolutionary History of the Family

Strategic Insights -

New research published in Annals of Botany has shed light on the complex evolutionary history of the Brassicaceae family, a group of plants that includes broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages. The study, conducted by a team of researchers led by Kasper P. Hendriks from the National Biodiversity Center, used a combination of mitogenomic and nuclear genetic data to reconstruct the family-wide phylogeny of the Brassicaceae.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study presents the first densely sampled family-wide mitogenomic Brassicaceae phylogeny, including 167 species, 145 genera, and 40 tribes, which represents 40% and 69% of the family, respectively.
  • The researchers found strong phylogenomic discordance between the two organellar genomes (mitogenome and plastome), coined as "mitoplastomic discordance".
  • The study reveals that phylogenomic discordance in Brassicaceae is more pervasive than expected, with implications for understanding the family's evolution, taxonomy, and systematics.
  • The results have implications for understanding processes such as hybridization and genome duplication, which can result in evolutionary reticulation.
  • The study provides new insights into the placement of several rogue and previously unplaced taxa.
  • The research was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), German Research Foundation (DFG), Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, and Alberta Mennega Stichting.

Statistics:

  • 167 species were included in the study.
  • 145 genera and 40 tribes were represented, which accounts for 40% and 69% of the family, respectively.
  • The study used a combination of 281 genes from the nuclear supermatrix, 76 genes from the plastome supermatrix, and 167 genes from the mitogenomic supermatrix.
  • The researchers used a codon-aware mitogenomic supermatrix to reconstruct the family-wide mitogenomic phylogeny.
  • The study found strong phylogenomic discordance between the mitogenome and plastome, which was coined as "mitoplastomic discordance".

Sources:

  • Hendriks, K. P., et al. (2023). Global Brassicaceae phylogeny based on filtering of 1000-gene dataset. Current Biology: CB, 33, 4052-4068.e6.
  • Hendriks, K. P., et al. (2025). Mitoplastomic Discordance In Brassicaceae Phylogenomics Confirms the Complex Evolutionary History of the Family. Annals of Botany.
  • National Biodiversity Center. (2025). Data on Botany Reported by Researchers at National Biodiversity Center (Mitoplastomic Discordance In Brassicaceae Phylogenomics Confirms the Complex Evolutionary History of the Family). Life Science Weekly, July 8, 2025, p 689.