Nucleotide sequence of atpB, rbcL, trnR, dedB and psaI chloroplast genes from a fern Angiopteris lygodiifolia: a possible emergence of Spermatophyta lineage before the separation of Bryophyta and Pteridophyta.

To elucidate the evolutionary relationship between the Spermatophyta, Pteridophyta and Bryophyta, we cloned a fragment of chloroplast DNA from the fern Angiopteris lygodiifolia (Pteridophyta) and determined its nucleotide sequence. The fragment contained the atpB, rbcL, trnR-CCG, dedB and psaI genes. Comparisons of the deduced amino acid and nucleotide sequences of these genes from the three plant groups indicate that Angiopteris sequences are more closely related to those of Bryophyta species (85% identity on average) than to those of seed plants (76% identity on average), supporting a hypothesis that the Bryophyta and Pteridophyta diverged more recently from one another than their common progenitor diverged from that of the Spermatophyta.