XVI International Botanical Congess

Spacers between trnT-trnL, trnL-trnF, and the group I intron in trnL were proposed to study infrageneric relationships, but population-level variability has been reported. In a multidisciplinary collaborative project on Nymphaea phylogeny, trnT-trnF has been sequenced from 120 accessions covering different populations of Nymphaea species and putative outgroups. This dataset is examined for the evolution and phylogentic utility of the region. Simple sequence repeats are often conserved within species and appear synapomorphic for lineages. The region contains extremely conserved parts and mutational hotspots. Alignment with several other basal angiosperms such as Amborella, Austrobaileya, and Illicium was possible, enabling us to test outgroup effects on the phylogeny of Nymphaea.