| 1. |
- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(author)
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TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
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In: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
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| 2. |
- Leebens-Mack, James H., et al.
(author)
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One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants
- 2019
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In: Nature. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 574:7780, s. 679-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Green plants (Viridiplantae) include around 450,000-500,000 species(1,2) of great diversity and have important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, as part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative, we sequenced the vegetative transcriptomes of 1,124 species that span the diversity of plants in a broad sense (Archaeplastida), including green plants (Viridiplantae), glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and red algae (Rhodophyta). Our analysis provides a robust phylogenomic framework for examining the evolution of green plants. Most inferred species relationships are well supported across multiple species tree and supermatrix analyses, but discordance among plastid and nuclear gene trees at a few important nodes highlights the complexity of plant genome evolution, including polyploidy, periods of rapid speciation, and extinction. Incomplete sorting of ancestral variation, polyploidization and massive expansions of gene families punctuate the evolutionary history of green plants. Notably, we find that large expansions of gene families preceded the origins of green plants, land plants and vascular plants, whereas whole-genome duplications are inferred to have occurred repeatedly throughout the evolution of flowering plants and ferns. The increasing availability of high-quality plant genome sequences and advances in functional genomics are enabling research on genome evolution across the green tree of life.
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| 3. |
- Savolainen, Vincent, et al.
(author)
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Phylogeny of the eudicots : a nearly complete familial analysis based on rbcL gene sequences
- 2000
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In: Kew bulletin. - 0075-5974 .- 1874-933X. ; 55:2, s. 257-309
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A phylogenetic analysis of 589 plastid rbcL gene sequences representing nearly all eudicot families (a total of 308 families; seven photosynthetic and four parasitic families are missing) was performed, and bootstrap re-sampling was used to assess support for clades. Based on these data, the ordinal classification of eudicots is revised following the previous classification of angiosperms by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Putative additional orders are discussed (e.g. Dilleniales, Escalloniales, Vitales), and several additional families are assigned to orders for future updates of the APG classification. The use of rbcL alone in such a large matrix was found to be practical in discovering and providing bootstrap support for most orders. Combination of these data with other matrices for the rest of the angiosperms should provide the framework for a complete phylogeny to be used in macro-evolutionary studies.
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| 4. |
- Choi, Junhong, et al.
(author)
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N-6-methyladenosine in mRNA disrupts tRNA selection and translation-elongation dynamics
- 2016
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In: Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1545-9993 .- 1545-9985. ; 23:2, s. 110-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- N-6-methylation of adenosine (forming m(6)A) is the most abundant post-transcriptional modification within the coding region of mRNA, but its role during translation remains unknown. Here, we used bulk kinetic and single-molecule methods to probe the effect of m(6)A in mRNA decoding. Although m(6)A base-pairs with uridine during decoding, as shown by X-ray crystallographic analyses of Thermus thermophilus ribosomal complexes, our measurements in an Escherichia coli translation system revealed that m(6)A modification of mRNA acts as a barrier to tRNA accommodation and translation elongation. The interaction between an m(6)A-modified codon and cognate tRNA echoes the interaction between a near-cognate codon and tRNA, because delay in tRNA accommodation depends on the position and context of m(6)A within codons and on the accuracy level of translation. Overall, our results demonstrate that chemical modification of mRNA can change translational dynamics.
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| 5. |
- Matthews, Bethany E., et al.
(author)
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Micro- and Nanoscale Surface Analysis of Late Iron Age Glass from Broborg, a Vitrified Swedish Hillfort
- 2023
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In: Microscopy and Microanalysis. - : Oxford University Press. - 1431-9276 .- 1435-8115. ; 29:1, s. 50-68
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Archaeological glasses with prolonged exposure to biogeochemical processes in the environment can be used to understand glass alteration, which is important for the safe disposal of vitrified nuclear waste. Samples of mafic and felsic glasses with different chemistries, formed from melting amphibolitic and granitoid rocks, were obtained from Broborg, a Swedish Iron Age hillfort. Glasses were excavated from the top of the hillfort wall and from the wall interior. A detailed microscopic, spectroscopic, and diffraction study of surficial textures and chemistries were conducted on these glasses. Felsic glass chemistry was uniform, with a smooth surface showing limited chemical alteration (<150 nm), irrespective of the position in the wall. Mafic glass was heterogeneous, with pyroxene, spinel, feldspar, and quartz crystals in the glassy matrix. Mafic glass surfaces in contact with topsoil were rougher than those within the wall and had carbon-rich material consistent with microbial colonization. Limited evidence for chemical or physical alteration of mafic glass was found; the thin melt film that coated all exposed surfaces remained intact, despite exposure to hydraulically unsaturated conditions, topsoil, and associated microbiome for over 1,500 years. This supports the assumption that aluminosilicate nuclear waste glasses will have a high chemical durability in near-surface disposal facilities.
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| 6. |
- Rothfels, Carl J., et al.
(author)
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The evolutionary history of ferns inferred from 25 low-copy nuclear genes
- 2015
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In: American Journal of Botany. - : Wiley. - 0002-9122 .- 1537-2197. ; 102:7, s. 1089-1107
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Understanding fern (monilophyte) phylogeny and its evolutionary timescale is critical for broad investigations of the evolution of land plants, and for providing the point of comparison necessary for studying the evolution of the fern sister group, seed plants. Molecular phylogenetic investigations have revolutionized our understanding of fern phylogeny, however, to date, these studies have relied almost exclusively on plastid data. METHODS: Here we take a curated phylogenomics approach to infer the first broad fern phylogeny from multiple nuclear loci, by combining broad taxon sampling (73 ferns and 12 outgroup species) with focused character sampling (25 loci comprising 35 877 bp), along with rigorous alignment, orthology inference and model selection. KEY RESULTS: Our phylogeny corroborates some earlier inferences and provides novel insights; in particular, we find strong support for Equisetales as sister to the rest of ferns, Marattiales as sister to leptosporangiate ferns, and Dennstaedtiaceae as sister to the eupolypods. Our divergence-time analyses reveal that divergences among the extant fern orders all occurred prior to similar to 200 MYA. Finally, our species-tree inferences are congruent with analyses of concatenated data, but generally with lower support. Those cases where species-tree support values are higher than expected involve relationships that have been supported by smaller plastid datasets, suggesting that deep coalescence may be reducing support from the concatenated nuclear data. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates the utility of a curated phylogenomics approach to inferring fern phylogeny, and highlights the need to consider underlying data characteristics, along with data quantity, in phylogenetic studies.
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