Exploring the evolutionary landscape of mitochondrial genomes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)

doi:10.1016/j.pld.2025.12.013

Plant Diversity ›› 2026, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (02): 278-288.DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2025.12.013

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Exploring the evolutionary landscape of mitochondrial genomes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)

Zhixi Fu^a,b,c, Penghao Yang^d, Jiazhen Wu^b, Guojin Zhang^e, Yanlei Feng^f

a. Key Laboratory of Land Resources Evaluation and Monitoring in Southwest, Sichuan Normal University, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610101, China;
b. College of Life Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China;
c. Sustainable Development Research Center of Resources and Environment of Western Sichuan, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China;
d. Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, China;
e. College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China;
f. Zhejiang-Israel Joint Laboratory of Self-Assembling Functional Materials, Zhejiang-Ireland Joint Laboratory of Bio-Organic Dielectrics & Devices, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311215, China

Received:2025-10-14 Revised:2025-12-24 Online:2026-05-19 Published:2026-03-25
Contact: Guojin Zhang,E-mail:guojin_zhang@163.com;Yanlei Feng,E-mail:fengyanlei@outlook.com
Supported by:
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32000158 and 32400188), the National Science & Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program of China (No. 2021XJKK0702), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2025JJ60203). We thank Jiahao Shen from Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden and Caifei Zhang from Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences for providing some of the plant photographs.

Exploring the evolutionary landscape of mitochondrial genomes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)

Zhixi Fu^a,b,c, Penghao Yang^d, Jiazhen Wu^b, Guojin Zhang^e, Yanlei Feng^f

a. Key Laboratory of Land Resources Evaluation and Monitoring in Southwest, Sichuan Normal University, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610101, China;
b. College of Life Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China;
c. Sustainable Development Research Center of Resources and Environment of Western Sichuan, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China;
d. Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, China;
e. College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China;
f. Zhejiang-Israel Joint Laboratory of Self-Assembling Functional Materials, Zhejiang-Ireland Joint Laboratory of Bio-Organic Dielectrics & Devices, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311215, China

通讯作者: Guojin Zhang,E-mail:guojin_zhang@163.com;Yanlei Feng,E-mail:fengyanlei@outlook.com
基金资助:
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32000158 and 32400188), the National Science & Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program of China (No. 2021XJKK0702), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2025JJ60203). We thank Jiahao Shen from Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden and Caifei Zhang from Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences for providing some of the plant photographs.

Abstract

Abstract: Asteraceae, the largest family of flowering plants, comprises more than 26,000 species worldwide, many of which serve as crops, medicinal herbs, and ornamentals. While substantial genomic resources are available for nuclear and chloroplast genomes, mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) in this family remain poorly explored, limiting an integrated understanding of its genomic evolution. Here, we assembled 38 complete mitogenomes representing 12 subfamilies and 22 tribes. Our analyses revealed substantial size variation, with notably larger mitogenomes in early-diverging lineages. We also observed extensive structural rearrangements across subfamilies and tribes. Although the gene content is largely conserved, we identified notable mutations, horizontal gene transfer events, and losses of RNA editing sites. We reconstructed a comprehensive mitochondrial phylogeny of Asteraceae, which revealed both congruent and conflicting relationships with phylogenies based on plastid and nuclear markers. Furthermore, our fragment analysis of total mitochondrial DNA demonstrated that the differential retention of ancestral sequences significantly influences mitogenome size variation in Asteraceae. This study provides a systematic mitogenomic resource, offering novel insights into the evolutionary dynamics of this major plant family.

Key words: Asteraceae, Mitochondrial genome, Phylogeny, Genome size variation, Horizontal gene transfer

摘要： Asteraceae, the largest family of flowering plants, comprises more than 26,000 species worldwide, many of which serve as crops, medicinal herbs, and ornamentals. While substantial genomic resources are available for nuclear and chloroplast genomes, mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) in this family remain poorly explored, limiting an integrated understanding of its genomic evolution. Here, we assembled 38 complete mitogenomes representing 12 subfamilies and 22 tribes. Our analyses revealed substantial size variation, with notably larger mitogenomes in early-diverging lineages. We also observed extensive structural rearrangements across subfamilies and tribes. Although the gene content is largely conserved, we identified notable mutations, horizontal gene transfer events, and losses of RNA editing sites. We reconstructed a comprehensive mitochondrial phylogeny of Asteraceae, which revealed both congruent and conflicting relationships with phylogenies based on plastid and nuclear markers. Furthermore, our fragment analysis of total mitochondrial DNA demonstrated that the differential retention of ancestral sequences significantly influences mitogenome size variation in Asteraceae. This study provides a systematic mitogenomic resource, offering novel insights into the evolutionary dynamics of this major plant family.

关键词: Asteraceae, Mitochondrial genome, Phylogeny, Genome size variation, Horizontal gene transfer

Zhixi Fu, Penghao Yang, Jiazhen Wu, Guojin Zhang, Yanlei Feng. Exploring the evolutionary landscape of mitochondrial genomes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)[J]. Plant Diversity, 2026, 48(02): 278-288.

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Exploring the evolutionary landscape of mitochondrial genomes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)

Exploring the evolutionary landscape of mitochondrial genomes in the sunflower family (Asteraceae)

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