Amborella – Bearing Witness to the Past?

Annual Plant Reviews Online 2019 Volume 2
Issue 3, August 2019
Valérie Poncet

Valérie Poncet

UMR DIADE, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Search for more papers by this author
Philippe Birnbaum

Philippe Birnbaum

UMR AMAP, CIRAD, IRD, CNRS, INRA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

CIRAD, UMR AMAP, Nouméa, New Caledonia, France

Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), Equipe Sol & Végétation, Nouméa, New Caledonia, France

Search for more papers by this author
Valérie Burtet-Sarramegna

Valérie Burtet-Sarramegna

Institut des Sciences Exactes et Appliquées (ISEA), Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New Caledonia, France

Search for more papers by this author
Alexandre de Kochko

Alexandre de Kochko

UMR DIADE, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Search for more papers by this author
Bruno Fogliani

Bruno Fogliani

Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), Equipe ARBOREAL, Paita, New Caledonia, France

Search for more papers by this author
Gildas Gâteblé

Gildas Gâteblé

Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), Equipe ARBOREAL, Paita, New Caledonia, France

Search for more papers by this author
Sandrine Isnard

Sandrine Isnard

UMR AMAP, CIRAD, IRD, CNRS, INRA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

UMR AMAP, IRD, Herbier de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New Caledonia, France

Search for more papers by this author
Tanguy Jaffré

Tanguy Jaffré

UMR AMAP, CIRAD, IRD, CNRS, INRA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

UMR AMAP, IRD, Herbier de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New Caledonia, France

Search for more papers by this author
Dominique Job

Dominique Job

CNRS/Uni. Claude Bernard/INSA/Bayer CropScience Joint Laboratory (UMR5240), Lyon, France

Search for more papers by this author
François Munoz

François Munoz

Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, Université de Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France

Search for more papers by this author
Jérôme Munzinger

Jérôme Munzinger

UMR AMAP, CIRAD, IRD, CNRS, INRA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Search for more papers by this author
Charles P. Scutt

Charles P. Scutt

Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, Université de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, UCB Lyon-1, CNRS, INRA, Lyon, France

Search for more papers by this author
Rémi Tournebize

Rémi Tournebize

UMR DIADE, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Search for more papers by this author
Santiago Trueba

Santiago Trueba

UMR AMAP, CIRAD, IRD, CNRS, INRA, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Yohan Pillon

Yohan Pillon

UMR LSTM, IRD, INRA, CIRAD, Montpellier Supagro, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 12 August 2019
Citations: 3

Abstract

Amborella trichopoda (Amborellaceae) is a shrub endemic to New Caledonia in the Southwest Pacific region. This plant suddenly became famous when molecular phylogenetic studies revealed that this sole species is likely the sister taxon to all other angiosperms. It has thus been a prime research model for reconstructing plant evolution and gaining insight into what the earliest angiosperms looked like. A wealth of studies on Amborella have now shed considerable light on its genome, morphology, anatomy, physiology, development, and architecture – this research is reviewed in this article. While Amborella likely retained some ancestral traits, critical character reconstructions have also highlighted some derived and sometimes unique characters in this species. The history of Amborella is also tied to the South Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia, its homeland. It was part of the New Caledonian biogeography puzzle and its genetic history shed light on the dynamics of its ecosystem, the rainforest understorey. Amborella is now cultivated in botanical gardens and has been the focus of some conservation measures that will also benefit other species in this biodiversity hotspot.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.