Annals of Botany 124: 791–807, 2019 doi: 10.1093/aob/mcz114, available online at www.academic.oup.com/aob Mycoheterotrophic Epirixanthes (Polygalaceae) has a typical angiosperm mitogenome but unorthodox plastid genomes G. Petersen1,2,* H. Darby3,4, V. K. Y. Lam3,4, H. Æ. Pedersen2, V. S. F. T. Merckx5, A. Zervas2,6, O. Seberg2 and S. W. Graham3,4 1Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, 2Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 3Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 4UBC Botanical Garden & Centre for Plant Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 5Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands and 6Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark * For correspondence. E-mail:
[email protected] Received: 28 January 2019 Returned for revision: 15 May 2019 Editorial decision: 27 June 2019 Accepted: 24 July 2019 Published electronically 26 July 2019 • Background and Aims Fully mycoheterotrophic plants derive carbon and other nutrients from root-associated fungi and have lost the ability to photosynthesize. While mycoheterotroph plastomes are often degraded compared with green plants, the effect of this unusual symbiosis on mitochondrial genome evolution is unknown. By pro- viding the first complete organelle genome data from Polygalaceae, one of only three eudicot families that devel- oped mycoheterotrophy, we explore how both organellar genomes evolved after loss of photosynthesis. • Methods We sequenced and assembled four complete plastid genomes and a mitochondrial genome from spe- cies of Polygalaceae, focusing on non-photosynthetic Epirixanthes. We compared these genomes with those of other mycoheterotroph and parasitic plant lineages, and assessed whether organelle genes in Epirixanthes experi- enced relaxed or intensified selection compared with autotrophic relatives.