Bamboo Family Tree mystery finally solved after 5 millenniums ...

For over 5 millenniums, scholars have studied the bamboo plant: its growth patterns, its peculiar flowering cycles, how it interacts with other plants in its environment, its usage and potentials. The relationship among the lineage of bamboo, termed ?tribes?, was not clearly ascertained, until now. But a recent paper published in the journal of Molecular Phylogenetics and?Evolution?unearths the past history of bamboo with the help of DNA analysis, proves the most compelling evidence of the long evolutionary history, to date.

?Higher level phylogenetic relationships within the bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) based on five?plastic?markers,? is the title given to the new paper and is authored by Scot Kelchner; an associate professor of systematic and evolution at the Idaho State University?s. He is also member of a global research unit known as Bamboo Phylogeny group. Albeit the plant being relatively unfamiliar with most American inhabitants, its significance to the sustenance and the economies of the tropical nations globally is difficult to rate. In most third world economies, bamboo stalks offer a sturdy building material for homes, furniture, tools and a plethora of other innovative uses it, in paraphernalia, kitchen utensils and fencing. Bamboo plays a very vital duty in the fragile tropical Eco-systems, more so, the mountainous habitats and the cloud forests where the species is diverse. They have shown central importance philosophical and cultural history and art of china, japan, India and the greater part of Southeast Asia. This recently published paper remonstrate the huge contribution By the Idaho State University to the ken of vital bamboo plant collection, one of close to the heart of many communities in the world.

Kelchner and his professor colleague Lynn Clark, formed the Bamboo Phylogenic Group (BPG) in 2005 at Iowa State University. The group intended to tackle the unrelenting questions about bamboo?s evolution. The group consists of team of 30 research members spread in 12 countries in the world. Kelchner arrived at Idaho state university in 2004 with an experience in bamboo research and a chance to finally tackle his queries concerning the evolutionary process of these wonderful and fascinating grass species. ISU has, with time, become one of the biggest contributor to the world?s bamboo research albeit the harsh climatic conditions in the state, that provides a difficult environment for some bamboo species (none of the bamboo species are originally from this region) to thrive. Nonetheless, Idaho has made a favorable place to carry out the data gathering and analysis part of the project.

The DNA analysis is done using leaf material from the bamboo collected by members from remote distant regions of the planets including Indonesia, Brazil, Africa, India and China. Once the tissues arrives the at the university, Kelchner and Amanda Fisher, his doctoral student, begin to work on them, unveiling a substantial portion of the DNA Sequence and their consequent computational Data analyses from the study. With an elaborate and cautious scientific methods, the contrast of DNA from distinct species can clearly show a ?Family tree? of relationships known as a phylogeny. This newly found phylogeny can be interpreted as the guide to understanding evolutionary history of the Bamboo species. The phylogeny information coupled with more data can help researcher find the region and the period of origin from a given species, the changes that took place to the bamboo bodies with time, and the spread patterns of the bamboo species throughout the tropical regions of the earth.

The two major part of this research was greatly assisted by the Idaho State University?s MRC Facility which handled the DNA Sequencing, and invaluable input from Dr. Michael?s EGG bioinformatics Department, particularly, Dr. Luobin Yang, a bioinfomaticist who played an essential role in starting up and running Kelchner?s project Database. Madagascan sample proved hard to get, but all in all the paper was the first ever to include this species in its analyses. This implies that the paper is first ever paper to include the complete and comprehensive Bamboo genealogical relationship at the most intricate tribal level. They phylogeny includes a few tested stunners. Unexpected or new formed relationship unveiled from the study necessitated altering the scientific names for a number of Bamboo groups. BPG published another paper to accompany the new paper, making a valid scientific note for the new Plant?s nomenclature used globally for the Bamboo plant. For the very first time in a long time, a taxonomical classification that stabilizes the scientific names of the bamboo species at a higher level. This was the principle reason NFS Funded the grants that enabled Kelchner and his partner Clark, to create the (BPG) to conduct the study. There are 1400 species of bamboo that are indigenous to five continents globally, with more than 40% of the species occurring southern and the central America, a surprising fact, especially to us in north America who largely assumed that Bamboo grows mainly in Asian countries mainly japan and china.

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Source: http://newscience.com.au/bamboo-family-tree-mystery-finally-solved-after-5-millenniums.php

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