Publications by authors named "P M Hollingsworth"

Ex situ living plant collections play a crucial role in providing nature-based solutions to twenty-first century global challenges. However, the complex dynamics of these artificial ecosystems are poorly quantified and understood, affecting biodiversity storage, conservation and utilization. To evaluate the management of ex situ plant diversity, we analysed a century of data comprising 2.

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Mountain ecosystems harbor high levels of biodiversity, but the genetic mechanisms underlying adaptation to harsh alpine conditions remain largely unknown. Bergenia purpurascens (Saxifragaceae) is an important alpine endemic species of the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (HHM), with this species being used as a source of medicine and as an ornamental plant. In this study, we generated a high-quality genome assembly comprising scaffolds representing the 17 chromosomes, with a total length of 650.

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Most studies investigating the genomic nature of species differences anticipate monophyletic species with genome-wide differentiation. However, this may not be the case at the earliest stages of speciation where reproductive isolation is weak and homogenising gene flow blurs species boundaries. We investigate genomic differences between species in a postglacial radiation of eyebrights (Euphrasia), a taxonomically complex plant group with variation in ploidy and mating system.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The Darwin Tree of Life Project (DToL) focuses on sequencing high-quality genomes for all eukaryotic species in Britain and Ireland, highlighting the importance of accurate organism identification through DNA barcoding.
  • - DNA barcoding offers a reliable method for species identification and resolving taxonomic ambiguities, but it has not been widely used in projects creating reference genomes until this initiative.
  • - The project analyzed over 12,000 specimens, revealing that up to 20% needed further verification, leading to name changes for 2% of seed plants and 3.5% of animal specimens, while also suggesting improvements for future sequencing and data analysis.
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We present a genome assembly from an individual (lesser trefoil; Tracheophyta; Magnoliopsida; Fabales; Fabaceae) as part of a collaboration between the Darwin Tree of Life and the European Reference Genome Atlas. The genome sequence is 679.1 megabases in span.

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