Identifying Climatic Drivers of Hybridization with a New Ancestral Niche Reconstruction Method.

Applications of molecular phylogenetic approaches have uncovered evidence of hybridization across numerous clades of life, yet the environmental factors responsible for driving opportunities for hybridization remain obscure. Verbal models implicating geographic range shifts that brought species together during the Pleistocene have often been invoked, but quantitative tests using paleoclimatic data are needed to validate these models. Here, we produce a phylogeny for Heuchereae, a clade of 15 genera and 83 species in Saxifragaceae, with complete sampling of recognized species, using 277 nuclear loci and nearly complete chloroplast genomes.

Radiation history of Asian Asarum (sect. Heterotropa, Aristolochiaceae) resolved using a phylogenomic approach based on double-digested RAD-seq data.

Background And Aims: The genus Asarum sect. Heterotropa (Aristolochiaceae) probably experienced rapid diversification into 62 species centred on the Japanese Archipelago and Taiwan, providing an ideal model for studying island adaptive radiation. However, resolving the phylogeny of this plant group using Sanger sequencing-based approaches has been challenging.

Evolutionary origin of a periodical mass-flowering plant.

The evolutionary origin of periodical mass-flowering plants (shortly periodical plants), exhibiting periodical mass flowering and death immediately after flowering, has not been demonstrated. Within the genus (Acanthaceae), which includes more than 50 periodical species, on Okinawa Island, Japan, flowers gregariously every 6 years. We investigated the life history of in other regions and that of closely related species together with their molecular phylogeny to reveal the evolutionary origin of periodical mass flowering.

The rice resistance protein pair RGA4/RGA5 recognizes the Magnaporthe oryzae effectors AVR-Pia and AVR1-CO39 by direct binding.

Resistance (R) proteins recognize pathogen avirulence (Avr) proteins by direct or indirect binding and are multidomain proteins generally carrying a nucleotide binding (NB) and a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain. Two NB-LRR protein-coding genes from rice (Oryza sativa), RGA4 and RGA5, were found to be required for the recognition of the Magnaporthe oryzae effector AVR1-CO39. RGA4 and RGA5 also mediate recognition of the unrelated M.

Bimodal expression level polymorphisms in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Differences in gene expression are termed expression level polymorphisms (ELPs). Here, we propose a new ELP class, bimodal ELPs (bELPs), as a criterion to screen for genes that are responsible for natural phenotypic variation and/or that are targeted by balancing selection. bELP genes are characterized by two expression level modes.

The evolutionary history of maternal plant-manipulation and larval feeding behaviours in attelabid weevils (Coleoptera; Curculionoidea).

Attelabid weevils manipulate specific structures of their host plants in a species-specific manner, e.g., cutting a shoot, cutting a leaf, rolling a leaf, or constructing sophisticated wrapped leaf rolls, presumably to secure the survivorship of eggs or larvae.

Entangling ancient allotetraploidization in Asian Mitella: an integrated approach for multilocus combinations.

The reconstruction of an ancient polyploidization history is often challenging, although it is a crucial step in clarifying the mechanisms underlying the contemporary success and diversity of polyploids. Phylogenetic relationships of duplicated gene pairs of polyploids, with respect to their orthologs in related diploids, have been used to address this problem, but they often result in conflicting topologies among different genes. Asimitellaria is an East Asian endemic tetraploid lineage of perennials (genus Mitella; Saxifragaceae) that has diversified in riparian habitats.

A multifaceted genomics approach allows the isolation of the rice Pia-blast resistance gene consisting of two adjacent NBS-LRR protein genes.

The Oryza sativa (rice) resistance gene Pia confers resistance to the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae carrying the AVR-Pia avirulence gene. To clone Pia, we employed a multifaceted genomics approach. First, we selected 12 R-gene analog (RGA) genes encoding nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeats (NBS-LRRs) proteins from a region on chromosome 11 that shows linkage to Pia.

Arabidopsis Qa-SNARE SYP2 proteins localized to different subcellular regions function redundantly in vacuolar protein sorting and plant development.

SYP2 proteins are a sub-family of Qa-SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) that may be responsible for protein trafficking between pre-vacuolar compartments (PVC) and vacuoles. Arabidopsis thaliana SYP22/VAM3/SGR3 and SYP21/PEP12 proteins function independently, but are both reported to be essential for male gametophytic viability. Here, we systematically examined the redundancy of three SYP2 paralogs (i.

Unveiling cryptic species diversity of flowering plants: successful biological species identification of Asian Mitella using nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences.

Background: Although DNA sequence analysis is becoming a powerful tool for identifying species, it is not easy to assess whether the observed genetic disparity corresponds to reproductive isolation. Here, we compared the efficiency of biological species identification between nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast DNA sequences, focusing on an Asian endemic perennial lineage of Mitella (Asimitellaria; Saxifragaceae). We performed artificial cross experiments for 43 pairs of ten taxonomic species, and examined their F1 hybrid pollen fertility in vitro as a quantitative measure of postzygotic reproductive isolation.

Plant-pollinator interactions in tropical monsoon forests in Southeast Asia.

Forests with different flora and vegetation types harbor different assemblages of flower visitors, and plant-pollinator interactions vary among forests. In monsoon-dominated East and Southeast Asia, there is a characteristic gradient in climate along latitude, creating a broad spectrum of forest types with potentially diverse pollinator communities. To detect a geographical pattern of plant-pollinator interactions, we investigated flowering phenology and pollinator assemblages in the least-studied forest type, i.

Parallel floral adaptations to pollination by fungus gnats within the genus Mitella (Saxifragaceae).

The widespread pattern of parallel flower evolution as an adaptation for particular pollinator agents, known as "pollination syndromes", has long drawn attention from evolutionary biologists. Here, we report parallel evolution of saucer-shaped flowers and an associated unusual pollination system within the lineage Heucherina, a group of saxifragaceous genera. Field observations reveal that 18 of 28 plant species studied are pollinated almost exclusively by fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae).

Nonuniform concerted evolution and chloroplast capture: heterogeneity of observed introgression patterns in three molecular data partition phylogenies of Asian Mitella (saxifragaceae).

Interspecific hybridization is one of the major factors leading to phylogenetic incongruence among loci, but the knowledge is still limited about the potential of each locus to introgress between species. By directly sequencing three DNA regions: chloroplast DNAs (matK gene and trnL-F noncoding region), the nuclear ribosomal external transcribed spacer (ETS) region, and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, we construct three phylogenetic trees of Asian species of Mitella (Saxifragaceae), a genus of perennials in which natural hybrids are commonly observed. Within this genus, there is a significant topological conflict between chloroplast and nuclear phylogenies and also between the ETS and the ITS, which can be attributed to frequent hybridization within the lineage.