Complete Mitogenomes of Two Species and Phylogeny of Plantagineae (Plantaginaceae, Lamiales) Using Mitochondrial Genes and the Nuclear Ribosomal RNA Repeat.

, comprising 19 high-altitude North Andean species, is one of three genera in the Plantagineae (Plantaginaceae, Lamiales), along with and . Based primarily on plastid data and nuclear ITS, is sister to a clade of + , but Plantagineae relationships have yet to be assessed using multigene datasets from the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Here, complete mitogenomes were assembled for two species of ( and ).

Plastomes from tribe Plantagineae (Plantaginaceae) reveal infrageneric structural synapormorphies and localized hypermutation for Plantago and functional loss of ndh genes from Littorella.

Tribe Plantagineae (Plantaginaceae) comprises ~ 270 species in three currently recognized genera (Aragoa, Littorella, Plantago), of which Plantago is most speciose. Plantago plastomes exhibit several atypical features including large inversions, expansions of the inverted repeat, increased repetitiveness, intron losses, and gene-specific increases in substitution rate, but the prevalence of these plastid features among species and subgenera is unknown. To assess phylogenetic relationships and plastomic evolutionary dynamics among Plantagineae genera and Plantago subgenera, we generated 25 complete plastome sequences and compared them with existing plastome sequences from Plantaginaceae.

Arms races with mitochondrial genome soft sweeps in a gynodioecious plant, Plantago lanceolata.

Biological situations involving conflict can create arms race situations with repeated fixations of different functional variants, producing selective sweeps and lowering neutral diversity in genome regions linked to the functional locus. However, they can sometimes lead to balancing selection, potentially creating long coalescent times for sites with functionally different variants, and, if recombination occurs rarely, for extended haplotypes carrying such variants. We tested between these possibilities in a gynodioecious plant, Plantago lanceolata, in which cytoplasmic male-sterility factors conflict with nuclear restorers of male fertility.

A Malvaceae mystery: A mallow maelstrom of genome multiplications and maybe misleading methods?

Previous research suggests that Gossypium has undergone a 5- to 6-fold multiplication following its divergence from Theobroma. However, the number of events, or where they occurred in the Malvaceae phylogeny remains unknown. We analyzed transcriptomic and genomic data from representatives of eight of the nine Malvaceae subfamilies.

Different outcomes for the MYB floral symmetry genes DIVARICATA and RADIALIS during the evolution of derived actinomorphy in Plantago.

The gene network that specifies flower shape in Antirrhinum majus (bilateral floral symmetry or zygomorphy) includes two MYB-class genes - RADIALIS (RAD) and DIVARICATA (DIV). RAD is involved in establishing the dorsal identity program and its role is to regulate the domain of activity of DIV (the ventral identity program) by restricting it to ventral regions of the flower. Plantago is in the same family as Antirrhinum but has small, radially symmetrical (actinomorphic) flowers derived from a zygomorphic ancestral state.

Characterization of microsatellite loci in Tilia platyphyllos (Malvaceae) and cross-amplification in related species.

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite markers in the genus Tilia were developed to investigate the genetic variation in T. platyphyllos and its relationship with T. cordata.

Genetic population structure of the ground beetle, Pterostichus oblongopunctatus, inhabiting a fragmented and polluted landscape: evidence for sex-biased dispersal.

Ground beetles are an integral and functionally important part of many terrestrial ecosystems. Habitat change often influences population genetic structure of carabid beetles. In this study, genetic variation, population differentiation, and sex-specific dispersal patterns were studied in the forest ground beetle, Pterostichus oblongopunctatus F.

Characterization of 38 microsatellite loci in the European blackbird, Turdus merula (Turdidae, AVES).

We characterized 38 microsatellite loci in the European blackbird, Turdus merula. Thirty-seven loci were identified by testing 242 loci that had been originally isolated in other avian species. One additional locus was isolated from a European blackbird genomic library.

The effect of surface colour on the adhesion strength of Elminius modestus Darwin on a commercial non-biocidal antifouling coating at two locations in the UK.

A number of factors affect the adhesion strength of organisms to fouling-release coatings, and except for a few studies focussing on black or white surfaces none have dealt specifically with the effect of coating colour. The aim was to test the effect of colour on the adhesion strength of the barnacle Elminius modestus. Panels coated in six commercial colours of Intersleek 700 were submerged at two field sites and barnacles were pushed-off using a standard assay procedure.

Eight polymorphic microsatellite markers for Rhinanthus minor.

Little research has been carried out on the genetics of Rhinanthus minor to date. To enable study of this species, eight polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed, using a genomic library enriched for microsatellites. All loci are polymorphic in the two UK populations tested, Bardister and Oxwich Bay.

Causes of size homoplasy among chloroplast microsatellites in closely related Clusia species.

Chloroplast DNA sequences and microsatellites are useful tools for phylogenetic as well as population genetic analyses of plants. Chloroplast microsatellites tend to be less variable than nuclear microsatellites and therefore they may not be as powerful as nuclear microsatellites for within-species population analysis. However, chloroplast microsatellites may be useful for phylogenetic analysis between closely related taxa when more conventional loci, such as ITS or chloroplast sequence data, are not variable enough to resolve phylogenetic relationships in all clades.

Interpreting spatial variation in ozone symptoms shown by cutleaf cone flower, Rudbeckia laciniata L.

Visible injury caused by ozone is recorded every year in native plant species growing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (USA). One of the most sensitive species, cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata L.), shows great variation in symptoms between and within populations but the causes of this variation and its ecological significance are currently unknown.