Effects of fruit dimorphism on genetic structure and gene flow in the coastal shrub Scaevola taccada.

Background And Aims: Plant propagules often possess specialized morphologies that facilitate dispersal across specific landscapes. In the fruit dimorphism of a coastal shrub, Scaevola taccada, individual plants produce either cork-morph or pulp-morph fruits. The former is buoyant and common on sandy beaches, whereas the latter does not float, is bird-dispersed, and is common on elevated sites such as slopes on sea cliffs and behind rocky shores.

Seasonality of interactions between a plant virus and its host during persistent infection in a natural environment.

Persistent infection, wherein a pathogen is continually present in a host individual, is widespread in virus-host systems. However, little is known regarding how seasonal environments alter virus-host interaction during such metastability. We observed a lineage-to-lineage infection of the host plant Arabidopsis halleri with Turnip mosaic virus for 3 years without severe damage.

Seasonal Stability and Dynamics of DNA Methylation in Plants in a Natural Environment.

DNA methylation has been considered a stable epigenetic mark but may respond to fluctuating environments. However, it is unclear how they behave in natural environments. Here, we analyzed seasonal patterns of genome-wide DNA methylation in a single clone from a natural population of the perennial .

Development of microsatellite markers for the coastal shrub Scaevola taccada (Goodeniaceae).

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite markers were developed for the coastal shrub species Scaevola taccada to estimate the population genetic structure, which may reflect different seed dispersal patterns. •

Methods And Results: Thirteen microsatellite primer sets were developed for S. taccada using 454 pyrosequencing.