Abstract
Mucuna comprises 105 species with an overall pantropical distribution and is divided into three subgenera: M. subg. Mucuna, M. subg. Stizolobium and M. subg. Macrocarpa. Although phylogenetic studies have supported the occurrence of three main clades, evolutionary relationships among them are not fully resolved. The objective of this study was to examine pollen grain morphology from representatives of all three subgenera and map these onto the phylogenetic trees generated by analysis of other characters. Pollen grain surface, form, size, and aperture number were compared. A Bayesian inference tree using matK sequences was constructed. The results indicate that the representatives of M. subg. Macrocarpa have the smallest pollen grains in the genus (a synapomorphic character here identified for this subgenus) and that species of subgenus Mucuna (those with umbelliform inflorescences) have the largest pollen grains. Additional morphological diversity of the pollen grain surface was noted: reticulate and/or micro-reticulate (in all three subgenera), perforate, gemmate or verrucose (only in M. subg. Mucuna). For all studied taxa, the pollen grains are triaperturate, except for two species of M. subg. Mucuna, which have tetraperturate pollen. The phylogenetic tree obtained using the matK marker resolved M. subg. Stizolobium as the earliest diverging lineage in Mucuna. Based on this phylogeny, a reticulate ornamentation pattern of the pollen surface may represent the ancestral state for the genus, while the larger pollen size and the foraminate, gemmate, and verrucose ornamentations are derived characteristics within the genus. These putative derived ornamentations have been observed only in neotropical species.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Missouri Botanical Garden for access to herbarium specimens, literature, and the SEM laboratory. TMM also thanks the REFLORA project (granted for the years 2015–2016) for an overseas scholarship and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil, and the Science without Borders Program for the post-doctoral scholarship (process 245590/2012-9) at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew (2013–2015). We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their important suggestions and the journal editor for constructive feedback.
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Appendices
Appendix I
Genbank accessions for the phylogenetic matK analysis.
Mucuna holtonii (JQ587790.1); Mucuna mutisiana (KJ593957.1); Mucuna pruriens (JQ587787.1); Mucuna interrupta (AB627862.1); Mucuna warburgii (AB627861.1); Mucuna gigantea (AB627860.1); Mucuna monosperma (AB627859.1); Mucuna macrocarpa (AB627858.1); Mucuna hainanensis (HM049512.1); Mucuna poggei (KX146301.1).
External group: Desmodium incanum (JQ587594.1); Desmodium barbatum (JQ587587.1); Apios americana (AY386926.1).
Appendix II
Specimen vouchers at MO used to prepare the images in Fig. 1
Species | Country of origin | Voucher |
|---|---|---|
M. argyrophylla Standl. | Mexico | H. Hernández 474 |
M. birdwoodiana Tutcher | China | A.J.M. Leeuwenerg 14071 |
M. bracteata DC. ex Kurz | Thailand | C.F. van Beusekom et al. 4297 |
M. coriacea Baker | Zimbabwe | N.C. Chase 4955 |
M. gigantea (Willd.) DC. | Madagascar | S.N. Andrianarivelo et al. 43 |
M. holtonii (Kuntze) Moldenke | Nicaragua | M. Jacinto Prado 145 |
M. klitgaardiae T.M.Moura et al. | Ecuador | B.B. Klitgaard 99502 |
M. macrocarpa Wall. | Taiwan | Y. Endo 1913 |
M. membranacea Hayata | Ryukyus Ils., Japan | Hirano 4103 |
M. mollis (Kunth) DC. | Colombia | R. Romero 6129 |
M. monticola Zamora et al. | Costa Rica | A.F. Skutch 3723 |
M. neocaledonica Baker f. | New Caledonia | McPherson 5261 |
M. poggei Taub. | Zambia | Davidse and Handlos 7200 |
M. pruriens (L.) DC. | Burundi | Lewalle 4556 |
M. sloanei Fawc. & Rendle | Ghana | M. Merello et al. 1591 |
M. stans Welw. ex Baker | Rwanda | G. Troupin 5979 |
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de Moura, T.M., Bogler, D., Miranda, J.M.D. et al. Morphological variation in pollen grains of Mucuna (Leguminosae): new biogeographic and evolutionary patterns. Plant Syst Evol 304, 861–869 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-018-1516-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-018-1516-1