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Climate Niche Evolution In C4+Cam Portulaca And Closely Related C3+Cam Lineages, Nora M. Heaphy
Climate Niche Evolution In C4+Cam Portulaca And Closely Related C3+Cam Lineages, Nora M. Heaphy
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With at least a hundred independent origins among land plants, the CAM and C4 photosynthetic pathways represent one of the most notable examples of global convergent evolution of a complex trait. While biochemically similar, CAM and C4 are generally understood to be two distinct ecological adaptations evolving along separate trajectories. However, the purslanes (Portulaca), a globally widespread clade of around 100 species of annual and perennial succulents, are able to operate both CAM and C4 cycles in the same leaf. Portulaca likely originated from a facultative CAM ancestor and then evolved a C4 system at least three times …