Professor Zhongjian Liu from the National Orchid Center, leading an international research team composed of experts from Ghent University (Belgium), National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan，China), Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Saitama University (Japan), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Tsinghua University, and other academic and research institutions, used Apostasia shenzhenica from Shenzhen as a breakthrough model. Through whole-genome sequencing of Apostasia shenzhenica and resequencing of Phalaenopsis equestris (a species of butterfly orchid) and Dendrobium catenatum (a species of Dendrobium), along with transcriptomic and gene functional analyses of other orchids and non-orchid plants, the team revealed the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary pathways behind the origin of orchids, the development and growth habits of floral organs, and the formation of diversity within the orchid family. This research successfully unraveled the century-old mystery of orchid evolution. The findings, titled "The Apostasia genome and the evolution of orchids" were published on September 13, 2017, in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23897