Speciation rates of subviral pathogens of angiosperms abruptly decreased at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary

independent researcher, Częstochowa, Poland
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.27469v1
Subject Areas
Ecology, Evolutionary Studies, Molecular Biology, Paleontology, Virology
Keywords
viroids, mass extinctions, speciation rates, paleovirology
Copyright
© 2019 Bajdek
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Bajdek P. 2019. Speciation rates of subviral pathogens of angiosperms abruptly decreased at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27469v1

Abstract

Biogeographic distribution of infected plants and the continental drift theory allow a time calibration of the phylogenetic tree of Pospiviroidae. Viroids evolved in the late Early Cretaceous shortly after the appearance of angiosperms, which constitute their only known hosts. No decline in the estimated speciation rates of Pospiviroidae is observed during the Late Cretaceous but they abruptly decreased at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. However, an adaptive radiation of Pospiviroidae which occurred in the late Paleocene may reflect a recovery from the K–Pg mass extinction. The evolutionary history of viroids has been in part shaped by radiation and extinction events of angiosperms. Herein, for the first time I show the probable impact of a mass extinction event on the speciation rates of subviral pathogens, which are the simplest known lifeforms.

Author Comment

This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.