Michelle M Mcmahon

Michelle M Mcmahon

Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Associate Research Professor
Curator, Herbarium
Associate Director, Academic Programs
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 621-7243

Research Interest

Research in Dr. McMahon's lab focuses on the analysis of biological diversity, particularly through phylogenetic systematics of plants. Lab-based work includes comparative molecular sequencing, aimed at inferring evolutionary relationships among lineages in the legume family (Fabaceae), and using the resulting phylogenies to infer historical rates and modes of floral morphological evolution. Computational research includes testing data from public molecular sequence databases for the ability to construct large-scale phylogenetic trees for all 1.7 million known species, investigating theoretical limits to phylogenetic inference, and developing software for analyzing the effects of fragmentation in phylogenetic and phylogenomic data sets

Publications

Hufford, L., McMahon, M. M., O'Quinn, R., & Poston, M. E. (2005). A phylogenetic analysis of loasaceae subfamily loasoideae based on plastid DNA sequences. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 166(2), 289-300.

Abstract:

Questions of tribal and generic circumscriptions and relationships in Loasaceae subfamily Loasoideae are addressed in phylogenetic analyses that apply four plastid regions in parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses. As circumscribed in the influential monograph of Urban and Gilg, Loaseae are paraphyletic to the sister clades Klaprothieae (Klaprothia, Plakothira, and Xylopodia) and Kissenieae (Kissenia). This problem centers on the paraphyly of Huidobria: Huidobria chilensis is sister to Klaprothieae + Kissenieae, and Huidobria fruticosa is sister to all other Loasoideae. Parametric bootstrapping finds topologies that force the monophyly of Huidobria to be significantly different from the optimal topologies in which the genus is paraphyletic; however, Templeton and Shimodaira-Hasegawa tests did not distinguish between these phylogenetic alternatives. We recognize a strongly supported Loaseae sensu stricto (s.str.) as a clade consisting of Nasa, Aosa, Chichicaste, Presliophytum, Blumenbachia, Cajophora, Loasa sect. Loasa, and Scyphanthus. In Loaseae s.str., the monophyly of each of the following has strong support: (1) Nasa, (2) Aosa + Chichicaste, (3) Presliophytum + Loasa malesherbioides, and (4) a higher Loaseae clade that consists of Blumenbachia, Cajophora, Scyphanthus, and the Loasa complex (=sect. Loasa, excluding L. malesherbioides). Blumenbachia, Cajophora (including exemplars from sections Bialatae and Bicallosae), and Scyphanthus are independently monophyletic, and clades of the Loasa complex are mixed among them. The paraphyletic Loasa complex includes the following clades: (1) ser. Pinnatae, (2) ser. Acaules + Volubile, (3) ser. Macrospermae, placed as the sister of Blumenbachia, and (4) ser. Acanthifolia + Floribundae + Deserticolae, which includes the type for Loasa and is the group we recommend as the basis for a revised circumscription of Loasa. © 2005 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Bruneau, A., Doyle, J. J., Herendeen, P., Hughes, C., ..., .. .., McMahon, M. M., & ..., .. .. (2013). Legume phylogeny and classification in the 21st century: Progress, prospects and lessons for other species-rich clades. Taxon, 62(2), 217-248.

Group Author: Legume Phylogeny Working Group. Thirty-seven authors in total; McMahon is 24th.

Sanderson, M. J., Copetti, D., Burquez, A., Bustamante, E., Charboneau, J. L., Eguiarte, L. E., Kumar, S., Lee, H. O., Lee, J., McMahon, M., Steele, K., Wing, R., Yang, T., Zwickl, D., & Wojciechowski, M. F. (2015). Exceptional reduction of the plastid genome of saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea): Loss of the ndh gene suite and inverted repeat. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 102(7), 1115-1127.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Land-plant plastid genomes have only rarely undergone significant changes in gene content and order. Thus, discovery of additional examples adds power to tests for causes of such genome-scale structural changes.

McMahon, M., & Hufford, L. (2005). Evolution and development in the amorphoid clade (Amorpheae: Papilionoideae: Leguminosae): Petal loss and dedifferentiation. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 166(3), 383-396.

Abstract:

We used comparative developmental morphology to study the evolution of nonpapilionaceous corollas in the amorphoid clade of the tribe Amorpheae (Papilionoideae). This clade consists of five genera in which there are no papilionaceous corollas (five petals differentiated into one banner, two wing, and two keel petals). We studied the ontogenies of three nonpapilionaceous forms: corollas consisting of one petal (exemplified by Amorpha canescens), no petals (Parryella filifolia), and five petals in two types (Errazurizia megacarpa). We compared these to the ontogeny of a papilionaceous corolla (exemplified by the closely related Psorothamnus scoparius). In A. canescens, all petals initiated, but four did not grow beyond the primordial stage. In P. filifolia, no distinct petal primordia were visible. The corolla of E. megacarpa, which has only two types of petals, exhibits nonpapilionaceous characteristics at an early ontogenetic stage. Aside from the earliest primordial mounds, the petals of Psorothamnus and Errazurizia do not resemble each other, indicating that paedomorphosis is not responsible for the nonpapilionaceousness of Errazurizia. Comparing the morphological results to a phylogeny, we infer a single origin of the characteristics that differentiate Errazurizia petals from Psorothamnus petals, and we infer at least two evolutionary events leading to the reduced corolla in Parryella, Amorpha, and Errazurizia rotundata. When considered in the context of the remaining Amorpheae, in which additional floral diversification has occurred, and in the context of the entire papilionoid group, in which floral form is relatively conserved, our results indicate a relaxation of selective or developmental constraint within the clade Amorpheae. © 2005 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.