A Foundational Population Genetics Investigation of the Sexual Systems of (Solanaceae) in the Australian Monsoon Tropics Suggests Dioecious Taxa May Benefit from Increased Genetic Admixture via Obligate Outcrossing.

section is an ideal lineage to test the theoretical framework regarding proposed evolutionary benefits of outcrossing sexual systems in comparison to cosexuality. Theoretically, non-cosexual taxa should support more genetic diversity within populations, experience less inbreeding, and have less genetic structure due to a restricted ability to self-fertilize. However, many confounding factors present challenges for a confident inference that inherent differences in sexual systems influence observed genetic patterns among populations.

Phenotypic trait variation in the North American Tragopogon allopolyploid complex.

Premise: Recently formed allopolyploids Tragopogon mirus and T. miscellus and their diploid parental species, T. dubius, T.

A basic ddRADseq two-enzyme protocol performs well with herbarium and silica-dried tissues across four genera.

Premise: The ability to sequence genome-scale data from herbarium specimens would allow for the economical development of data sets with broad taxonomic and geographic sampling that would otherwise not be possible. Here, we evaluate the utility of a basic double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) protocol using DNAs from four genera extracted from both silica-dried and herbarium tissue.

Methods: DNAs from , , , and were processed with a ddRADseq protocol.

Phylogeny of the Australian Solanum dioicum group using seven nuclear genes, with consideration of Symon's fruit and seed dispersal hypotheses.

The dioecious and andromonoecious Solanum taxa (the "S. dioicum group") of the Australian Monsoon Tropics have been the subject of phylogenetic and taxonomic study for decades, yet much of their basic biology is still unknown. This is especially true for plant-animal interactions, including the influence of fruit form and calyx morphology on seed dispersal.

New functionally dioecious bush tomato from northwestern Australia, Solanum ossicruentum, may utilize "trample burr" dispersal.

A new Australian species of functionally dioecious bush tomato of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum is described. Solanum ossicruentum Martine & J.Cantley, sp.

Solanum watneyi, a new bush tomato species from the Northern Territory, Australia named for Mark Watney of the book and film "The Martian".

A new species of andromonoecious Solanum from the Australian "bush tomato clade" of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum is described. Solanum watneyi Martine & Frawley, sp. nov.

Modified CTAB and TRIzol protocols improve RNA extraction from chemically complex Embryophyta.

Premise Of The Study: Here we present a series of protocols for RNA extraction across a diverse array of plants; we focus on woody, aromatic, aquatic, and other chemically complex taxa.

Methods And Results: Ninety-one taxa were subjected to RNA extraction with three methods presented here: (1) TRIzol/TURBO DNA-free kits using the manufacturer's protocol with the addition of sarkosyl; (2) a combination method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and TRIzol/sarkosyl/TURBO DNA-free; and (3) a combination of CTAB and QIAGEN RNeasy Plant Mini Kit. Bench-ready protocols are given.

MarkerMiner 1.0: A new application for phylogenetic marker development using angiosperm transcriptomes.

Premise Of The Study: Targeted sequencing using next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms offers enormous potential for plant systematics by enabling economical acquisition of multilocus data sets that can resolve difficult phylogenetic problems. However, because discovery of single-copy nuclear (SCN) loci from NGS data requires both bioinformatics skills and access to high-performance computing resources, the application of NGS data has been limited.

Methods And Results: We developed MarkerMiner 1.

Next-generation sequencing and genome evolution in allopolyploids.

Premise Of The Study: Hybridization and polyploidization (allopolyploidy) are ubiquitous in the evolution of plants, but tracing the origins and subsequent evolution of the constituent genomes of allopolyploids has been challenging. Genome doubling greatly complicates genetic analyses, and this has long hindered investigation in that most allopolyploid species are "nonmodel" organisms. However, recent advances in sequencing and genomics technologies now provide unprecedented opportunities to analyze numerous genetic markers in multiple individuals in any organism.