XVI International Botanical Congess

The spacer that lies immediately downstream from the plastid rbcL gene is functional but highly divergent in sequence for all groups of non-flowering land plants. Sequences from several diverse bryophyte taxa were obtained and compared using computer-based algorithms that calculate and image secondary structure. The taxa compared consist largely of exemplars from the moss family Calymperaceae but also include representatives from the major moss lineages (e.g. Sphagnum palustre, Andreaea rothii, Takakia lepidozioides, Polytrichum commune, and Funaria hygrometrica). Similarities (or dissimilarities) in secondary structure indicate that structural motifs might be phylogenetically useful, despite high divergence in the primary nucleotide sequence.