Microsatellites and petal morphology reveal new patterns of admixture in Orchis hybrid zones.

Premise: The genetic structure of hybrid zones provides insight into the potential for gene flow to occur between plant taxa. Four closely related European orchid species (Orchis anthropophora, O. militaris, O.

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.

Hundreds of nuclear and plastid loci yield novel insights into orchid relationships.

Premise: The inference of evolutionary relationships in the species-rich family Orchidaceae has hitherto relied heavily on plastid DNA sequences and limited taxon sampling. Previous studies have provided a robust plastid phylogenetic framework, which was used to classify orchids and investigate the drivers of orchid diversification. However, the extent to which phylogenetic inference based on the plastid genome is congruent with the nuclear genome has been only poorly assessed.

Phylogeny and biogeography of Myrcia sect. Aguava (Myrtaceae, Myrteae) based on phylogenomic and Sanger data provide evidence for a Cerrado origin and geographically structured clades.

Myrcia is one of the largest exclusively Neotropical angiosperm genera, including ca. 800 species divided into nine sections. Myrcia sect.

Combination of Sanger and target-enrichment markers supports revised generic delimitation in the problematic 'Urera clade' of the nettle family (Urticaceae).

Urera Gaudich, s.l. is a pantropical genus comprising c.

A phylogenomic analysis of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae).

Nepenthaceae is one of the largest carnivorous plant families and features ecological and morphological adaptations indicating an impressive adaptive radiation. However, investigation of evolutionary and taxonomic questions is hindered by poor phylogenetic understanding, with previous molecular studies based on limited loci and taxa. We use high-throughput sequencing with a target-capture methodology based on a 353-loci, probe set to recover sequences for 197 samples, representing 151 described or putative Nepenthes species.

Factors Affecting Targeted Sequencing of 353 Nuclear Genes From Herbarium Specimens Spanning the Diversity of Angiosperms.

The world's herbaria collectively house millions of diverse plant specimens, including endangered or extinct species and type specimens. Unlocking genetic data from the typically highly degraded DNA obtained from herbarium specimens was difficult until the arrival of high-throughput sequencing approaches, which can be applied to low quantities of severely fragmented DNA. Target enrichment involves using short molecular probes that hybridise and capture genomic regions of interest for high-throughput sequencing.

Conservation of the Threatened Species, Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. (Pasqueflower), is Aided by Reproductive System and Polyploidy.

Population loss due to habitat disturbance is a major concern in biodiversity conservation. Here we investigate the genetic causes of the demographic decline observed in English populations of Pulsatilla vulgaris and the consequences for conservation. Using 10 nuclear microsatellite markers, we compare genetic variation in wild populations with restored and seed-regenerated populations (674 samples).

A Universal Probe Set for Targeted Sequencing of 353 Nuclear Genes from Any Flowering Plant Designed Using k-Medoids Clustering.

Sequencing of target-enriched libraries is an efficient and cost-effective method for obtaining DNA sequence data from hundreds of nuclear loci for phylogeny reconstruction. Much of the cost of developing targeted sequencing approaches is associated with the generation of preliminary data needed for the identification of orthologous loci for probe design. In plants, identifying orthologous loci has proven difficult due to a large number of whole-genome duplication events, especially in the angiosperms (flowering plants).

Flower preferences and pollen transport networks for cavity-nesting solitary bees: Implications for the design of agri-environment schemes.

Floral foraging resources are valuable for pollinator conservation on farmland, and their provision is encouraged by agri-environment schemes in many countries. Across Europe, wildflower seed mixtures are widely sown on farmland to encourage pollinators, but the extent to which key pollinator groups such as solitary bees exploit and benefit from these resources is unclear. We used high-throughput sequencing of 164 pollen samples extracted from the brood cells of six common cavity-nesting solitary bee species (, , , , and ) which are widely distributed across the UK and Europe.

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in and cross-amplification in and (Rosaceae).

Premise Of The Study: Southwestern Britain is an emblematic hotspot of polyploid diversity of whitebeams ( agg.; Rosaceae) with ca. 30 polyploid endemic species.

Key processes for Cheirolophus (Asteraceae) diversification on oceanic islands inferred from AFLP data.

The radiation of the genus Cheirolophus (Asteraceae) in Macaronesia constitutes a spectacular case of rapid diversification on oceanic islands. Twenty species - nine of them included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - have been described to date inhabiting the Madeiran and Canarian archipelagos. A previous phylogenetic study revealed that the diversification of Cheirolophus in Macaronesia started less than 2 Ma.

How to open the treasure chest? Optimising DNA extraction from herbarium specimens.

Herbarium collections are potentially an enormous resource for DNA studies, but the use of herbarium specimens in molecular studies has thus far been slowed down by difficulty in obtaining amplifiable DNA. Here we compare a set of commercially available DNA extraction protocols and their performance in terms of DNA purity and yield, and PCR amplification success as measured by using three differentially sized markers, the rbcL barcoding marker (cpDNA), the LEAFY exon 3 (nrDNA), and the trnL((UAA)) P6 loop (cpDNA). Results reveal large differences between extraction methods, where DNA purity rather than yield is shown to be strongly correlated with PCR success.

Challenges in the DNA barcoding of plant material.

DNA barcoding, using a short gene sequence from a standardized region of the genome, is a species identification tool which would not only aid species discovery but would also have applications ranging from large-scale biodiversity surveys through to identification of a single fragment of material in forensic contexts. To fulfill this vision a universal, relatively cheap, scalable system needs to be in place. The mitochondrial locus being used for many animal groups and algae is not suitable for use in land plants, and an appropriate alternative is needed.

Selecting barcoding loci for plants: evaluation of seven candidate loci with species-level sampling in three divergent groups of land plants.

There has been considerable debate, but little consensus regarding locus choice for DNA barcoding land plants. This is partly attributable to a shortage of comparable data from all proposed candidate loci on a common set of samples. In this study, we evaluated the seven main candidate plastid regions (rpoC1, rpoB, rbcL, matK, trnH-psbA, atpF-atpH, psbK-psbI) in three divergent groups of land plants [Inga (angiosperm); Araucaria (gymnosperm); Asterella s.

Towards writing the encyclopedia of life: an introduction to DNA barcoding.

An international consortium of major natural history museums, herbaria and other organizations has launched an ambitious project, the 'Barcode of Life Initiative', to promote a process enabling the rapid and inexpensive identification of the estimated 10 million species on Earth. DNA barcoding is a diagnostic technique in which short DNA sequence(s) can be used for species identification. The first international scientific conference on Barcoding of Life was held at the Natural History Museum in London in February 2005, and here we review the scientific challenges discussed during this conference and in previous publications.

The effects of nuclear DNA content (C-value) on the quality and utility of AFLP fingerprints.

Background And Aims: Nuclear DNA content (C-value) varies approximately 1000-fold across the angiosperms, and this variation has been reported to have an effect on the quality of AFLP fingerprints. Various methods have been proposed for circumventing the problems associated with small and large genomes. Here we investigate the range of nuclear DNA contents across which the standard AFLP protocol can be used.