Convergent Isobilateral Leaves Increase the Risk for Mangroves Facing Human-Induced Rapid Environmental Changes.

Understanding plant adaptations in extreme environments is crucial, as these adaptations often confer advantages for survival. However, a significant gap exists regarding the genetic mechanisms underlying these adaptations and their responses to human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC). This study addresses the question of whether genetic convergence occurs among plants with similar adaptive features, specifically focusing on isobilateral leaves in mangrove species.

Molecular mechanism of vivipary as revealed by the genomes of viviparous mangroves and non-viviparous relatives.

Vivipary is a prominent feature of mangroves, allowing seeds to complete germination while attached to the mother plant, and equips propagules to endure and flourish in challenging coastal intertidal wetlands. However, vivipary-associated genetic mechanisms remain largely elusive. Genomes of two viviparous mangrove species and a non-viviparous inland relative were sequenced and assembled at the chromosome level.

The past, present, and future of ecogeographic isolation between closely related plants.

Quantifying the strength of the ecogeographic barrier is an important aspect of plant speciation research, and serves as a practical step to understanding the evolutionary trajectory of plants under climate change. Here, we quantified the extent of ecogeographic isolation in four closely related species that radiated in the Mountains of SW China and adjacent regions, often lacking intrinsic barriers. We used environmental niche models to predict past, present, and future species potential distributions and compared them to determine the degree of overlap and ecogeographic isolation.

Uninterrupted embryonic growth leading to viviparous propagule formation in woody mangrove.

Vivipary is a rare sexual reproduction phenomenon where embryos germinate directly on the maternal plants. However, it is a common genetic event of woody mangroves in the Rhizophoraceae family. The ecological benefits of vivipary in mangroves include the nurturing of seedlings in harsh coastal and saline environments, but the genetic and molecular mechanisms of vivipary remain unclear.

Automaton models of computational genetic regulatory networks with combinatorial gene-protein interactions.

In this paper, we present an approach for modeling computational genetic regulatory networks with multi-threshold protein concentration and combinatorial gene-protein interactions. We first present a gene automata model that describes the activities of a single gene, and discuss the construction of a network automaton model that describes the complete behavior of a gene network. To model the gene-protein interaction in the given gene network, we define the basic interaction, in the form of an automaton, that characterizes the interaction between a protein and a gene.