Data from: Where do monomorphic sexual systems fit in the evolution of dioecy? Insights from the largest family of angiosperms

A range of hypothesized evolutionary pathways has been proposed for describing the evolution of dioecy. However, the evolutionary links between other sexual systems not directly involved in dioecy evolution remain largely unexplored, and hence, a comprehensive picture of evolutionary transitions between sexual systems is still lacking. We explored the diversity and evolution of sexual systems in Asteraceae, the largest family of flowering plants, where almost all sexual systems are present. We used a phylogenetic approach to build a model of evolutionary transitions between sexual systems. The best model involved nine transitions, including those from hermaphroditism to andromonoecy, gynomonoecy and gynodioecy, those from gynomonoecy to monoecy and trimonoecy, two transitions to dioecy -one through gynodioecy and the other through monoecy-, and reversals from monoecy to gynomonoecy and from gynomonoecy to hermaphroditism. Our reconstruction of the evolution of sexual systems in Asteraceae provided for the first time a joint view of the evolutionary transitions between seven sexual systems, unveiling the evolutionary links between monomorphic sexual systems. A pathway from hermaphroditism to monoecy through gynomonoecy instead of from andromonoecy was highly supported which was consistent with a gradient of floral gender specialization.Sexual system data for 1597 genera of AsteraceaeThis file includes sexual system data for 1597 genera of Asteraceae collected by R. Torices. If you have any question related with this data set, please contact with Rubén Torices (rubentorices@gmail.com). The file includes two worksheets: "Data" and "References". In "Data" are the sexual system information, whereas in "References" are the bibliographic references cited in "Data" and used to collect sexual system information.1_fulldata.xlsPhylogenetic supertree of AsteraceaePhylogenetic supertree of Asteraceae family in NEXUS format obtained from Funk VA, Bayer R, Keeley S, Chan R, Watson L, Gemeinholzer B, Schilling E, Panero J, Baldwin B, García-Jacas NT, et al. 2005. Everywhere but Antarctica: Using a supertree to understand the diversity and distribution of the Compositae. Biologiske Skrifter 55: 343-374.2_funketal2005.treAsteraceae supertree with branch lengths from Torices (2010)Asteraceae supertree from Funk et al. (2005) where those genera having more than one sexual system were split into as many separate clades as sexual systems present. Branch lengths were obtained from Torices R. 2010. Adding time-calibrated branch lengths to the Asteraceae supertree. Journal of Systematic and Evolution 48: 271-278. The file is in NEXUS format.3_funketal2005_dated.tre500 dichotomous supertrees from randomly resolving polytomies500 dichotomous supertrees obtained from randomly resolving polytomies from "2_funketal2005_dated.tre". The file is in NEXUS format.4_funketal2005_500random_modified_trees.treSexual system matrixMatrix with sexual system data for taxa included in phylogenetic hypotheses. Sexual system was extracted from "fulldata.xls". 0 = hermaphroditism, 1 = andromonoecy, 2 = gynomonoecy, 3 = monoecy, 4 = dioecy, 5 = gynodioecy, 6 = trimonoecy.5_sex_system.ne