DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7md
title: Examining the needle in the haystack: Evolutionary relationships in the mistletoe genus Loranthus Jacq. (Loranthaceae)

description: The genus Loranthus Jacq. (Loranthaceae) consists of ca. nine Old World
 species distributed from eastern Asia to Europe. Loranthus, the type of
 the family, has had a complex taxonomic history that continues today,
 partly because most mistletoes in the family have resided in this genus.
 For this reason, there are over 1800 Loranthus species names, the vast
 majority of which are synonyms for mistletoes in other genera. The present
 work sampled representatives of nine species considered bona fide members
 of the genus. Using complete plastome sequences, nuclear ribosomal DNA,
 and mitochondrial 26S rDNA, phylogenetic gene trees were generated to
 assess interspecific relationships. The Loranthus plastomes ranged in size
 from 121 to 125 kb and exhibited the quadripartite structure seen in most
 Santalales. These plastomes have lost or pseudogenized 24 genes, including
 all of the NADH dehydrogenase complex, thus reducing the genomes to ca. 90
 functional genes. Cladistic analyses of morphological characters were
 conducted and these trees compared to the molecular trees, thus informing
 which taxonomic characters best define clades and characterize species
 within the genus. Two major clades in Loranthus were identified. The
 Europaeus clade includes the deciduous species L. europaeus, L.
 grewingkii, L. lambertianus, and L. tanakae mostly distributed above 30˚ N
 latitude. The Odoratus clade, mostly distributed below 30˚ N latitude,
 included L. guizhouensis, L. kaoi, L. odoratus, and L. pseudo-odoratus.
 The latter four species are genetically closely related, show percurrent
 (vs. pseudo-dichotomous) branching, and have evergreen leaves. Unisexual
 flowers have apparently evolved independently in each of the two clades.
 Future work should focus upon the species delimitation in the Odoratus
 clade and whether hybridization is occurring among any members.
description: DNA from the ingroup (Loranthus species) and outgroup (Cecarria,
 Moquiniella, and Nuytsia) mistletoe species was sequenced using NextGen
 technologies. Complete chloroplast genomes, the nuclear ribosomal cistron,
 and mitochonrial 26S rDNA were assembled and analyzed using maximum
 parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. The resulting phylogenetic trees
 were interpreted in terms of morphological characters (that were also
 analyzed cladistically), distribution and the presence/absence of
 deciduousness.
description: The dataset uploaded here consists of 9 Supplemental
 files: Suppl File 1 NextGen Data.xlsx (Microsoft Excel
 file) Suppl File 2 LorPlastome.nex (Nexus file, for
 phylogenetic analysis) Suppl File 3 LorRibo.nex (Nexus
 file, for phylogenetic analysis) Suppl File 4
 mt26SLoranths.nex (Nexus file, for phylogenetic analysis)
 Suppl File 5 Char comments.docx (Microsoft Word file)
 Suppl File 6 Morphology.nex (Nexus file, for phylogenetic
 analysis) Suppl File 7 Plastome Genes Summary.xlsx
 (Microsoft Excel file) Suppl file 8 26STree.pdf (pdf
 file of the mt 26S rDNA phylogenetic tree) Suppl File 9
 Character trees.docx (Microsoft Word file, showing the evolution of each
 of the 21 morphological characters)