中科院植物研究所系统与进化植物学国家重点实验室陈之端研究组利用四个DNA片段（rbcL、matK、trnL-F和26S rDNA）和65个广义形态学形状重建毛茛目的系统发育关系，并更新了毛茛目的分类系统。该成果发表在《植物生态学、进化与分类学展望》（Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (2009, 11: 81-110)）杂志上。
毛茛目(Ranunculales) 是真双子叶植物最基部的分支之一，在被子植物大类群演化中起着承前启后的作用，系统位置极为关键。通过选取毛茛目7科99属植物，利用最大简约法和贝叶斯法，在属的水平上构建了毛茛目的系统发育关系。根据所建立的高置信度的系统发育框架，重新界定了毛茛目各科及科内亚科或族；探讨了不同分类阶元的鉴别性性状；澄清了目内一些孤立属的系统位置和分类等级。综合分子和形态学证据，更新了毛茛目的分类系统，包括把防己科划分为两个新的亚科（Menispermoideae and Tinosporoideae)，为毛茛科的美花草属(Callianthemum)建立了一新族Callianthemeae。
该研究成果对理解毛茛目进化的大格局和进化的脉络，以及理解整个被子植物，特别是真双子叶植物的多样性和花部式样的演化规律有重要意义。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics Volume 11, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 81-110
Phylogeny and classification of Ranunculales: Evidence from four molecular loci and morphological data
Wei Wanga, An-Ming Lua, Yi Renb, Mary E. Endressc and Zhi-Duan Chena, ,
aState Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing 100093, PR China
bKey Laboratory of Medicinal Plant Resource and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, PR China
cInstitute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
Previous phylogenetic analyses of Ranunculales, which have mostly been focused on an individual family and were based on molecular data alone, have recovered three main clades within the order. However, support for relationships among these three clades was weak. Earlier hypotheses were often hampered by limited taxon sampling; to date less than one-tenth of the genera in the order have been sampled. In this study, we used a greatly enlarged taxon sampling (105 species, representing 99 genera of all seven families in the order). Our study is, furthermore, the first to employ morphology (65 characters) in combination with sequence data from four genomic regions, including plastid rbcL, matK and trnL-F, and nuclear ribosomal 26S rDNA to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within Ranunculales. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference were performed on the individual and combined data sets. Our analyses concur with those of previous studies, but in most cases provide stronger support and better resolution for relationships among the three main clades retrieved. The first, comprised solely of the monogeneric family Eupteleaceae, is the earliest-diverging lineage. The second clade is composed exclusively of taxa of Papaveraceae, which is sister to the third clade, the core Ranunculales, comprising the other five families of the order. Circaeasteraceae and Lardizabalaceae form a strongly supported clade. Pteridophyllum is supported as sister to Hypecoum, contradicting the viewpoint that the former is the earliest-diverging genus in Papaveraceae. Glaucidium is basalmost in Ranunculaceae. Within this phylogenetic framework, the evolution of selected characters is inferred and diagnostic morphological characters at different taxonomic levels are identified and discussed. Based on both morphological and molecular evidence, a classification outline for Ranunculales is presented, including the proposal of two new subfamilies, Menispermoideae and Tinosporoideae in Menispermaceae and a new tribe, Callianthemeae, for the genus Callianthemum (Ranunculaceae).
