Asteraceae as a model system for evolutionary studies: from fossils to genomes

With c. 24700 species (10% of all flowering plants), Asteraceae are one of the largest and most phenotypically diverse angiosperm families, with considerable economic and ecological importance. Asteraceae are distributed worldwide, from nearly polar latitudes all the way to the tropics, and occur across a diverse range of habitats from extreme deserts to swamps and from lowland rainforests to alpine tundra. Altogether, these characteristics make this family an outstanding model system to address a broad range of eco-evolutionary questions. In this review, we summarize recent progress in our understanding of Asteraceae on the basis of joint efforts by specialists in the fields of palaeobotany, cytogenetics, comparative genomics and phylogenomics. We will highlight how these developments are opening up new possibilities for integrating fields and better comprehending evolution beyond Asteraceae.This research was supported through the project ‘COMPOSITAE’ reference number PID2020-116480GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, the ‘Ajuts a Grups de Recerca Consolidats’ (2017/SGR/1116) from the Generalitat de Catalunya, and by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2019-03011). J.P. benefited from a Ramón y Cajal grant reference number RYC-2017-2274 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘ESF Investing in your future’.Abstract INTRODUCTION UNCOVERING THE ORIGIN OF ASTERACEAE: EVIDENCE FROM THE FOSSIL RECORD EVOLUTIONARY FRAMEWORK OF ASTERACEAE IN THE AGE OF HIGH-THROUGHPUT SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGIES FROM MODEL SPECIES TO FAMILY WIDE APPROACHES: POLYPLOIDY, GENOME SIZE AND REPETITIVE DNA CONTENT IN ASTERACEAE RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR FUNCTIONAL GENOMIC STUDIES IN ASTERACEAE SUPPORTING INFORMATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS REFERENCES Author notes Supplementary dat