The continued rapid expansion of molecular biology, genetics, and macromolecular biochemistry has provided significant data for ana- lyses, interpretations, and incorporation into plant phylogenetic re- search and plant classification. These disciplines have produced techni- ques and methods which enable the evolutionary biologists to obtain new and provocative information, especially about those substances which are coupled with the genetic material. In July, 1982 these im- portant biochemical substances extracted from living plant organs, tis- sues or cells were the subject of an International Symposium held at the University of Bayreuth, Federal Republic of Germany, entitled Proteins and Nucleic Acids in Plant Systematics. At this Symposium German scientists communicated with leading scientists from eleven other countries. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft generously supported this symposium and thus enabled the exchange of data, ideas, and new scientific proposals. This book contains 26 contribu- tions delivered at the Symposium, which review the present status of Plant Macromolecular Systematics. The two editors acknowledge the effort of the Springer Verlag and their indispensable help with the preparation of this publication. Bayreuth, FRG and U. JENSEN and New Brunswick, NJ, USA D. E. FAIRBROTHERS November 1983 Contents Nucleic Acids Quantitative and Qualitative Differentiation ofNuclear DNA in Relation to Plant Systematics and Evolution F. EHRENDORFER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Phylogenetic Significance of Nucleotide Sequence Analysis H. KÖSSEL, K. EDWARDS, E. FRITZSCHE, W. KOCH, and Zs. SCHWARZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Comparative Oligonucleotide Cataloguing of 18 S Ribosomal RNA in Phylogenetic Studies of Eukaryotes L. STÖCKLEIN, W. LUDWlG, K. H. SCHLEIFER, and E. STACKEBRANDT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .