A nuclear phylogenomic study of the angiosperm order Myrtales, exploring the potential and limitations of the universal Angiosperms353 probe set.

Premise: To further advance the understanding of the species-rich, economically and ecologically important angiosperm order Myrtales in the rosid clade, comprising nine families, approximately 400 genera and almost 14,000 species occurring on all continents (except Antarctica), we tested the Angiosperms353 probe kit.

Methods: We combined high-throughput sequencing and target enrichment with the Angiosperms353 probe kit to evaluate a sample of 485 species across 305 genera (76% of all genera in the order).

Results: Results provide the most comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for the order to date.

Identifying fossil Myrtaceae leaves: the first described fossils of Syzygium from Australia.

Premise Of The Study: Although leaves of Myrtaceae are easily identified to family level, very few studies have convincingly identified fossil Myrtaceae leaves to living genera. We used a broadly comparative approach with a large data set of extant taxa to confidently assign the mummified remains of myrtaceous leaves from early Miocene sediments at Kiandra (New South Wales, Australia) to a living genus.

Methods: Fossils were identified using a nearest living relative approach, against a database of 232 extant broadleaf rainforest species of Myrtaceae.

Speciation in the presence of gene flow: population genomics of closely related and diverging Eucalyptus species.

Speciation is a complex process that is fundamental to the origins of biological diversity. While there has been considerable progress in our understanding of speciation, there are still many unanswered questions, especially regarding barriers to gene flow in diverging populations. Eucalyptus is an appropriate system for investigating speciation mechanisms since it comprises species that are rapidly evolving across heterogeneous environments.

Two fossil species of (Myrtaceae) from the Oligo-Miocene Golden Fleece locality in Tasmania, Australia.

Premise Of The Study: The capsular-fruited genus (Myrtaceae) is one of the most widely distributed flowering plant genera in the Pacific but is extinct in Australia today. The center of geographic origin for the genus and the reason for and timing of its extinction in Australia remain uncertain. We identify fossil fruits from the newly discovered Golden Fleece fossil flora in the Oligo-Miocene of Tasmania, Australia, shedding further light on these problems.

Seedling response to environmental variability: The relationship between phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary history in closely related species.

Premise Of The Study: Phenotypic plasticity is an important means through which organisms cope with environmental variability. We investigated seedling plasticity in the green ash eucalypts within a phylogenetic framework to examine the relationship between plasticity and evolutionary history. The green ashes are a diverse group, which include the tallest flowering plant in the world () and a rare mallee less than 1 m tall ().

Modular Construction of Fluoroarenes from a New Difluorinated Building Block by Cross-Coupling/Electrocyclisation/Dehydrofluorination Reactions.

Palladium-catalysed coupling reactions based on a novel and easy-to-synthesise difluorinated organotrifluoroborate were used to assemble precursors to 6π-electrocyclisations of three different types. Electrocyclisations took place at temperatures between 90 and 240 °C, depending on the central component of the π-system; nonaromatic trienes were most reactive, but even systems that required the temporary dearomatisation of two arenyl subunits underwent electrocyclisation, albeit at elevated temperatures. Photochemical conditions were effective for these more demanding reactions.

Oldest record of Metrosideros (Myrtaceae): Fossil flowers, fruits, and leaves from Australia.

Premise Of The Study: Myrtaceous fossil capsular fruits and flowers from the northwest of Tasmania, in the Early Oligocene-aged Little Rapid River (LRR) deposit, are described. The reproductive organs are found in association with Myrtaceous leaves previously thought to belong to a fleshy-fruited genus, Xanthomyrtus at both LRR, and an Eocene Tasmanian site at Hasties, which are reassessed with fresh morphological evidence.

Methods: Standard Light Microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate cuticular characters and an auto-montage camera system was used to take high-resolution images of fossil and extant fruits.

Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions of iodo(difluoroenol) derivatives, fluorinated building blocks accessible at near-ambient temperatures.

A recently developed method for the near-ambient generation of difluorovinylzinc reagents has facilitated the preparation of 1-(N,N-diethylcarbamoyloxy)-2,2-difluoro-1-iodoethene and 2,2-difluoro-1-iodo-1-(2'-methoxyethoxymethoxy)ethene. The utility of these reagents has been investigated in Suzuki-Miyaura couplings with a range of potassium trifluoroborate coupling partners, with the scope of successful couplings proving wide. Deiodinated species appeared as significant side products, but a solvent change from i-PrOH to t-BuOH suppressed the pathway to these species and improved coupling yields.

Investigating the host-range of the rust fungus Puccinia psidii sensu lato across tribes of the family Myrtaceae present in Australia.

The exotic rust fungus Puccinia psidii sensu lato was first detected in Australia in April 2010. This study aimed to determine the host-range potential of this accession of the rust by testing its pathogenicity on plants of 122 taxa, representative of the 15 tribes of the subfamily Myrtoideae in the family Myrtaceae. Each taxon was tested in two separate trials (unless indicated otherwise) that comprised up to five replicates per taxon and six replicates of a positive control (Syzygium jambos).

One-pot near-ambient temperature syntheses of aryl(difluoroenol) derivatives from trifluoroethanol.

Difluoroalkenylzinc reagents prepared from 1-(2'-methoxy-ethoxymethoxy)-2,2,2-trifluoroethane and 1-(N,N-diethylcarbamoyloxy)-2,2,2-trifluoroethane at ice bath temperatures underwent Negishi coupling with a range of aryl halides in a convenient one pot procedure. While significant differences between the enol acetal and carbamate reagents were revealed, the Negishi protocol compared very favourably with alternative coupling procedures in terms of overall yields from trifluoroethanol.

Localised peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) of the conjunctiva.

A 16-year-old male presented with a 3-month history of an asymptomatic, enlarging conjunctival lesion. An excisional biopsy was performed and histologic and immunohistochemical examination showed characteristic features of a peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) adjacent to a benign compound naevus. FISH analysis, demonstrating a split-signal at 22q12, confirmed the diagnosis.