Paper wins award

Our paper “Phylogenomic delineation of Physcomitrium (Bryophyta: Funariaceae) based on targeted sequencing of nuclear exons and their flanking regions.” has won the 2019 Outstanding Papers by Young Investigators Award by the Journal of Systematics and Evolution! The paper, which uses a phylogeny of over 600 nuclear loci to identify relationships within Physcomitrium and Entosthodon, was led by Rafael Medina. One of the key findings of the paper was that single-taxon genera with reduced sporophytes, like Physcomitrella, Physcomitridium, and Aphannoregma are embedded within Physcomitrium representing parallel evolution. The rejection of the reduced-sporophyte genera results in a reclasification of the model moss, P. patens, which is now Physcomitrium patens

The JSE Young Investigators Award is given to outstanding papers from first authors who received their Ph.D. degree within 7 years and includes a cash award. The authors have decided to donate the prize to the International Association of Bryologists to support student research awards.

You can read the full paper (open access) here.