Phylogeny, biogeography and ecological diversification of New Caledonian palms (Arecaceae).

Background And Aims: The geographical origin and evolutionary mechanisms underpinning the rich and distinctive New Caledonian flora remain poorly understood. This is attributable to the complex geological past of the island and to the scarcity of well-resolved species-level phylogenies. Here, we infer phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of New Caledonian palms, which comprise 40 species.

The X-ray fluorescence screening of multiple elements in herbarium specimens from the Neotropical region reveals new records of metal accumulation in plants.

Plants have developed a diversity of strategies to take up and store essential metals in order to colonize various types of soils including mineralized soils. Yet, our knowledge of the capacity of plant species to accumulate metals is still fragmentary across the plant kingdom. In this study, we have used the X-ray fluorescence technology to analyze metal concentration in a wide diversity of species of the Neotropical flora that was not extensively investigated so far.

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.

Phylogenomics and biogeography of Cunoniaceae (Oxalidales) with complete generic sampling and taxonomic realignments.

Premise: Cunoniaceae are a family of shrubs and trees with 27 genera and ca. 335 species, mostly confined to tropical and wet temperate zones of the southern hemisphere. There are several known issues regarding generic limits, and the family also displays a number of intriguing long-range disjunctions.

A New Species of (Argophyllaceae) with Notes on the Species from New Caledonia and Nickel Hyperaccumulation.

The taxonomy of (Argophyllaceae) in New Caledonia is reviewed here. All names validly published in in this archipelago are discussed and lectotypified when necessary. A new species is described, (The LSID for the name is: 77216335-1) Pillon and Hequet sp.

Wide cross-species RNA-Seq comparison reveals convergent molecular mechanisms involved in nickel hyperaccumulation across dicotyledons.

The Anthropocene epoch is associated with the spreading of metals in the environment increasing oxidative and genotoxic stress on organisms. Interestingly, c. 520 plant species growing on metalliferous soils acquired the capacity to accumulate and tolerate a tremendous amount of nickel in their shoots.

Primers for low-copy nuclear genes in Metrosideros and cross-amplification in Myrtaceae.

Premise Of The Study: Primers were developed to amplify low-copy nuclear genes in Hawaiian Metrosideros (Myrtaceae). •

Methods And Results: Data from a pooled 454 Titanium run of the partial transcriptomes of four Metrosideros taxa were used to identify the loci of interest. Ten exon-primed intron-crossing (EPIC) markers were amplified and sequenced directly with success in Metrosideros, as well as in a representative selection of Myrtaceae, including Syzygium, Psidium, and Melaleuca for most of the markers.

Cryptic adaptive radiation in tropical forest trees in New Caledonia.

The causes of the species richness of tropical trees are poorly understood, in particular the roles of ecological factors such as soil composition. The nickel(Ni)-hyperaccumulating tree genus Geissois (Cunoniaceae) from the South-west Pacific was chosen as a model of diversification on different substrates. Here, we investigated the leaf element compositions, spatial distributions and phylogeny of all species of Geissois occurring on New Caledonia.

New Caledonian lineages of Psychotria (Rubiaceae) reveal different evolutionary histories and the largest documented plant radiation for the archipelago.

New Caledonia is a remote archipelago of the South-West Pacific, whose flora is rich, distinctive, and disharmonic. The interest of botanists has long been attracted by the spatio-temporal origin of this flora, but little attention has been paid to the modes of colonization and the diversification processes that have led to the archipelago's modern flora. To date, no explosive plant radiation has yet been highlighted for New Caledonia.

Phylogeography and niche modelling of the relict plant Amborella trichopoda (Amborellaceae) reveal multiple Pleistocene refugia in New Caledonia.

Amborella trichopoda Baill. (Amborellaceae, Amborellales), the sole living member of the sister group to all other extant angiosperms, is endemic to New Caledonia. We addressed the intraspecific phylogeography of Amborella by investigating whether its present population genetic structure could be related to its current and past habitats.

The metal hyperaccumulators from New Caledonia can broaden our understanding of nickel accumulation in plants.

While an excess of metals such as zinc, cadmium or nickel (Ni) is toxic for most plants, about 500 plant species called hyperaccumulators are able to accumulate high amounts of these metals. These plants and the underlying mechanisms are receiving an increasing interest because of their potential use in sustainable biotechnologies such as biofortification, phytoremediation, and phytomining. Among hyperaccumulators, about 400 species scattered in 40 families accumulate Ni.

Primers for low-copy nuclear genes in the Hawaiian endemic Clermontia (Campanulaceae) and cross-amplification in Lobelioideae.

Premise Of The Study: Primers were developed to amplify 12 intron-less, low-copy nuclear genes in the Hawaiian genus Clermontia (Campanulaceae), a suspected tetraploid. •

Methods And Results: Data from a pooled 454 titanium run of the partial transcriptomes of seven Clermontia species were used to identify the loci of interest. Most loci were amplified and sequenced directly with success in a representative selection of lobeliads even though several of these loci turned out to be duplicated.

Gene discordance in phylogenomics of recent plant radiations, an example from Hawaiian Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae).

Resolving species relationships within recent radiations requires analysis at the interface of phylogenetics and population genetics, where coalescence and hybridization may confound our understanding of relationships. We developed 18 new primer pairs for nuclear loci in Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae), one of the largest plant radiations in the Pacific Islands, and tested the concordance of 14 loci in establishing the phylogenetic relationships of a small number of Hawaiian species. Four genes yielded tree topologies conflicting with the primary concordance tree, suggesting plastid capture and horizontal transfer via hybridization.

Potential use of low-copy nuclear genes in DNA barcoding: a comparison with plastid genes in two Hawaiian plant radiations.

Background: DNA barcoding of land plants has relied traditionally on a small number of markers from the plastid genome. In contrast, low-copy nuclear genes have received little attention as DNA barcodes because of the absence of universal primers for PCR amplification.

Results: From pooled-species 454 transcriptome data we identified two variable intron-less nuclear loci for each of two species-rich genera of the Hawaiian flora: Clermontia (Campanulaceae) and Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae) and compared their utility as DNA barcodes with that of plastid genes.

Microsatellite markers for Amborella (Amborellaceae), a monotypic genus endemic to New Caledonia.

Premise Of The Study: Informative markers are required for assessing the diversity of Amborella trichopoda, the only species of its order, endemic to New Caledonia and considered to be the sister species to all flowering plants. Therefore, expressed sequence tag (EST)-based microsatellite markers were developed. •

Methods And Results: Fifty-five microsatellite loci were characterized in 14896 putative unigenes, which were generated by assembling A.

Phylogeny of the Asparagales based on three plastid and two mitochondrial genes.

Premise Of The Study: The Asparagales, with ca. 40% of all monocotyledons, include a host of commercially important ornamentals in families such as Orchidaceae, Alliaceae, and Iridaceae, and several important crop species in genera such as Allium, Aloe, Asparagus, Crocus, and Vanilla. Though the order is well defined, the number of recognized families, their circumscription, and relationships are somewhat controversial.

Reticulate evolution on a mosaic of soils: diversification of the New Caledonian endemic genus Codia (Cunoniaceae).

We reconstructed the evolutionary history of Codia, a plant genus endemic to the New Caledonia biodiversity hotspot in the southwest Pacific, using three single-copy nuclear genes. It seems likely that more than half of Codia species have a hybrid origin, but in the absence of cytological information, it is not known whether polyploids occur. Adaptation to ultramafic soils is possibly a plesiomorphic character for the entire genus.

Taxonomic exaggeration and its effects on orchid conservation.

Orchids are the largest family of flowering plants, encompassing several times as many species as birds or mammals. Because of their diversity, charisma, and threats from overcollection and habitat loss, they are a key group in conservation. Nevertheless, preservation of this group is plagued by taxonomic problems, particularly in Europe, where new taxa are actively being described.

Dactylorhiza (Orchidaceae) in European Russia: combined molecular and morphological analysis.

Four plastid and two nuclear (internal transcribed spacer [ITS] ribosomal DNA) markers were used in this study of the Dactylorhiza maculata and D. incarnata complexes (Orchidaceae: Orchidinae) to determine diversity and taxonomic distribution of haplotypes, hybridization frequencies, and maternal parentage of hybrids in 125 samples from 78 populations from European Russia and the Caucasus. A morphometric study of all populations revealed significant correspondence between morphological and plastid DNA data.