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Review
. 2017 Oct 4:4:17051.
doi: 10.1038/hortres.2017.51. eCollection 2017.

Water lilies as emerging models for Darwin's abominable mystery

Fei Chen  1 , Xing Liu  1 , Cuiwei Yu  2 , Yuchu Chen  2 , Haibao Tang  1 , Liangsheng Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

Water lilies as emerging models for Darwin's abominable mystery

Fei Chen et al. Hortic Res. .

Abstract

Water lilies are not only highly favored aquatic ornamental plants with cultural and economic importance but they also occupy a critical evolutionary space that is crucial for understanding the origin and early evolutionary trajectory of flowering plants. The birth and rapid radiation of flowering plants has interested many scientists and was considered 'an abominable mystery' by Charles Darwin. In searching for the angiosperm evolutionary origin and its underlying mechanisms, the genome of Amborella has shed some light on the molecular features of one of the basal angiosperm lineages; however, little is known regarding the genetics and genomics of another basal angiosperm lineage, namely, the water lily. In this study, we reviewed current molecular research and note that water lily research has entered the genomic era. We propose that the genome of the water lily is critical for studying the contentious relationship of basal angiosperms and Darwin's 'abominable mystery'. Four pantropical water lilies, especially the recently sequenced Nymphaea colorata, have characteristics such as small size, rapid growth rate and numerous seeds and can act as the best model for understanding the origin of angiosperms. The water lily genome is also valuable for revealing the genetics of ornamental traits and will largely accelerate the molecular breeding of water lilies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Water lilies are ornamental plants with beautiful flowers and leaves: (a) Nymphaea ‘Hermine’, (b) N. ‘Marliacea Chromatella’, (c) N. ‘Wanvisa’, (d) N. ‘Gigantea Hybrid1’, (e) N. colorata, (f) N. ‘Muang Wiboonlak’, (g) N. ‘Piyalarp’, (h) N. ‘Agkee Sri Non’, (i) leaf ornamental Victoria water lily.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic uncertainty among Amborella, water lily, and other angiosperms. (a) Hypothesized phylogenetic relationships of basal angiosperms. (b) Developmental evidence suggests water lily as the most basal angiosperm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Floral organs of a typical tropical water lily. (a) petal, (b) sepal, (c) stamen, (d) carpels on the receptacle, (e) numerous young seeds.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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