scholarly journals Transcriptome-based phylogeny of the semi-aquatic bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) reveals patterns of lineage expansion in a series of new adaptive zones

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Armisén ◽  
Séverine Viala ◽  
Isabelle da Rocha Silva Cordeiro ◽  
Antonin Jean Johan Crumèire ◽  
Elisa Hendaoui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Surface ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Species Diversification ◽  
Initial Event ◽  
Air Interface ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Aquatic Bugs

Key innovations enable access to new adaptive zones and are often linked to increased species diversification. As such, they have attracted much attention, yet their concrete consequences on the subsequent evolutionary trajectory and diversification of the bearing lineages remain unclear. The monophyletic group of water striders and relatives (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) represent a group of insects that transited to live on the water-air interface and diversified to occupy ponds, puddles, streams, mangroves and even oceans. This lineage offers an excellent model to study the patterns and processes underlying species diversification following the conquest of new adaptive zones. However, such studies require a reliable and comprehensive phylogeny of the infraorder. Based on whole transcriptomic datasets of 97 species and fossil records, we reconstructed a new phylogeny of the Gerromorpha that resolved inconsistencies and uncovered strong support for previously unknown relationships between some important taxa. We then used this phylogeny to reconstruct the ancestral state of a set of adaptations associated with water surface invasion (fluid locomotion, dispersal and transition to saline waters) and sexual dimorphism. Our results uncovered important patterns and dynamics of phenotypic evolution revealing how the initial event of water surface invasion enabled multiple subsequent transitions to new adaptive zones, representing distinct niches of water surfaces, and further diversification of the group. This phylogeny and the associated transcriptomic datasets constitute highly valuable resources, making Gerromorpha an attractive model lineage to study phenotypic evolution.

scholarly journals Adsorption Properties of Hydrocarbon and Fluorocarbon Surfactants Ternary Mixture at the Water-Air Interface

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4313
Author(s):  
Bronisław Jańczuk ◽  
Katarzyna Szymczyk ◽  
Anna Zdziennicka
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Standard Free Energy ◽  
Ternary Mixtures ◽  
Free Energy Of Adsorption ◽  
Interface Tension ◽  
Air Interface ◽  
Surface Excess Concentration ◽  
Tail Water ◽  
Triton X

Measurements were made of the surface tension of the aqueous solutions of p-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl) phenoxypoly(ethylene glycols) having 10 oxyethylene groups in the molecule (Triton X-100, TX100) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) with Zonyl FSN-100 (FC6EO14, FC1) as well as with Zonyl FSO-100 (FC5EO10, FC2) ternary mixtures. The obtained results were compared to those provided by the Fainerman and Miller equation and to the values of the solution surface tension calculated, based on the contribution of a particular surfactant in the mixture to the reduction of water surface tension. The changes of the aqueous solution ternary surfactants mixture surface tension at the constant concentration of TX100 and CTAB mixture at which the water surface tension was reduced to 60 and 50 mN/m as a function of fluorocarbon surfactant concentration, were considered with regard to the composition of the mixed monolayer at the water-air interface. Next, this composition was applied for the calculation of the concentration of the particular surfactants in the monolayer using the Frumkin equation. On the other hand, the Gibbs surface excess concentration was determined only for the fluorocarbon surfactants. The tendency of the particular surfactants to adsorb at the water-air interface was discussed, based on the Gibbs standard free energy of adsorption which was determined using different methods. This energy was also deduced, based on the surfactant tail surface tension and tail-water interface tension.

scholarly journals Flowering plant embryos: How did we end up here?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan A. Rensing ◽  
Dolf Weijers
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
General Structure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
Flowering Plant ◽  
Adult Plant ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Current State ◽  
Plant Embryo

AbstractThe seeds of flowering plants are sexually produced propagules that ensure dispersal and resilience of the next generation. Seeds harbor embryos, three dimensional structures that are often miniatures of the adult plant in terms of general structure and primordial organs. In addition, embryos contain the meristems that give rise to post-embryonically generated structures. However common, flowering plant embryos are an evolutionary derived state. Flowering plants are part of a much larger group of embryo-bearing plants, aptly termed Embryophyta. A key question is what evolutionary trajectory led to the emergence of flowering plant embryos. In this opinion, we deconstruct the flowering plant embryo and describe the current state of knowledge of embryos in other plant lineages. While we are far yet from understanding the ancestral state of plant embryogenesis, we argue what current knowledge may suggest and how the knowledge gaps may be closed.

scholarly journals Mountain colonisation, miniaturisation and ecological evolution in a radiation of direct-developing New Guinea Frogs (Choerophryne, Microhylidae)

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Oliver ◽  
Amy Iannella ◽  
Stephen J. Richards ◽  
Michael S.Y. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Tropical Mountains ◽  
Climatic Oscillations ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Montane Biodiversity ◽  
Male Calling

AimsMountain ranges in the tropics are characterised by high levels of localised endemism, often-aberrant evolutionary trajectories, and some of the world’s most diverse regional biotas. Here we investigate the evolution of montane endemism, ecology and body size in a clade of direct-developing frogs (Choerophryne,Microhylidae) from New Guinea.MethodsPhylogenetic relationships were estimated from a mitochondrial molecular dataset using Bayesian and maximum likelihood approaches. Ancestral state reconstruction was used to infer the evolution of elevational distribution, ecology (indexed by male calling height), and body size, and phylogenetically corrected regression was employed to examine the relationships between these three traits.ResultsWe obtained strong support for a monophyletic lineage comprising the majority of taxa sampled. Within this clade we identified one subclade that appears to have diversified primarily in montane habitats of the Central Cordillera (>1,000 m a.s.l.), with subsequent dispersal to isolated North Papuan Mountains. A second subclade (characterised by moderately to very elongated snouts) appears to have diversified primarily in hill forests (<1,000 m a.s.l.), with inferred independent upwards colonisations of isolated montane habitats, especially in isolated North Papuan Mountains. We found no clear relationship between extremely small body size (adult SVL less than 15 mm) and elevation, but a stronger relationship with ecology—smaller species tend to be more terrestrial.ConclusionsOrogeny and climatic oscillations have interacted to generate high montane biodiversity in New Guinea via both localised diversification within montane habitats (centric endemism) and periodic dispersal across lowland regions (eccentric endemism). The correlation between extreme miniaturisation and terrestrial habits reflects a general trend in frogs, suggesting that ecological or physiological constraints limit niche usage by miniaturised frogs, even in extremely wet environments such as tropical mountains.

scholarly journals Mountain colonisation, miniaturisation and ecological evolution in a radiation of direct developing New Guinea Frogs (Choerophryne, Microhylidae)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Oliver ◽  
Amy Iannella ◽  
Stephen J Richards ◽  
Michael S.Y Lee
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Tropical Mountains ◽  
Climatic Oscillations ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Montane Biodiversity ◽  
Male Calling

Aims. Mountain ranges in the tropics are characterised by high levels of localised endemism, often-aberrant evolutionary trajectories, and some of the world’s most diverse regional biotas. Here we investigate the evolution of montane endemism, ecology and body size in a clade of direct-developing frogs (Choerophryne, Microhylidae) from New Guinea. Methods. Phylogenetic relationships were estimated from a mitochondrial molecular dataset using Bayesian and maximum likelihood approaches. Ancestral state reconstruction was used to infer the evolution of elevational distribution, ecology (indexed by male calling height), and body size, and phylogenetically corrected regression was employed to examine the relationships between these three traits. Results. We obtained strong support for a monophyletic lineage comprising the majority of taxa sampled. Within this clade we identified one subclade that appears to have diversified primarily in montane habitats of the Central Cordillera (> 1000 m. a.s.l), with subsequent dispersal to isolated North Papuan Mountains. A second subclade (characterised by moderately to very elongated snouts) appears to have diversified primarily in hill forests (< 1000 m a.s.l.), with inferred independent upwards colonisations of isolated montane habitats, especially in isolated North Papuan Mountains. We found no clear relationship between extremely small body size (adult SVL less than 15mm) and elevation, but a stronger relationship with ecology – smaller species tend to be more terrestrial. Conclusions. Orogeny and climatic oscillations have interacted to generate high montane biodiversity in New Guinea via both localised diversification within montane habitats (centric endemism) and periodic dispersal across lowland regions (eccentric endemism). The correlation between extreme miniaturisation and terrestrial habits reflects a general trend in frogs, suggesting that ecological or physiological constraints limit niche usage by miniaturised frogs, even in extremely wet environments such as tropical mountains.

scholarly journals Tarantula phylogenomics: A robust phylogeny of multiple tarantula lineages inferred from transcriptome data sheds light on the prickly issue of urticating setae evolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Foley ◽  
Tim Lueddecke ◽  
Dong-Qiang Chen ◽  
Henrik Krehenwinkel ◽  
Sven Kuenzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Transcriptome Data ◽  
Large Size ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
First Time

Mygalomorph spiders of the family Theraphosidae, known to the broader public as tarantulas, are among the most recognizable arachnids on earth due to their large size and widespread distribution. Their use of urticating setae is a notable adaptation that has evolved exclusively in certain New World theraphosids. Thus far, the evolutionary history of Theraphosidae remains poorly understood; theraphosid systematics still largely relies on morphological datasets, which suffer from high degrees of homoplasy, and traditional targeted sequencing of preselected genes failed to provide strong support for supra-generic clades (i.e. particularly those broader than subfamilies). In this study, we provide the first robust phylogenetic hypothesis of theraphosid evolution inferred from transcriptome data. A core ortholog approach was used to generate a phylogeny from 2460 orthologous genes across 25 theraphosid genera, representing all of the major theraphosid subfamilies, except Selenogyrinae. For the first time our phylogeny recovers a monophyletic group that comprises the vast majority of New World theraphosid subfamilies including Aviculariinae and Theraphosinae. Concurrently, we provide additional evidence for the integrity of questionable subfamilies, such as Poecilotheriinae and Psalmopoeinae, and support the non-monophyly of Ischnocolinae. The deeper relationships between almost all subfamilies are confidently inferred for the first time. We also used our phylogeny in tandem with published morphological data to perform ancestral state analyses on urticating setae. This revealed that the evolution of this important defensive trait might be explained by three equally parsimonious scenarios.

Dynamic biogeographic models and dinosaur origins

2018 ◽  
Vol 109 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Y. LEE ◽  
Matthew G. BARON ◽  
David B. NORMAN ◽  
Paul M. BARRETT
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Geographic Origin ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Ancestral Area ◽  
Southern South America ◽  
Divergence Dating ◽  
High Connectivity ◽  
Dynamic Time

ABSTRACTA comprehensive analysis of early dinosaur relationships raised the possibility that the group may have originated in Laurasia (Northern Hemisphere), rather than Gondwana (Southern Hemisphere) as often thought. However, that study focused solely on morphology and phylogenetic relationships and did not quantitatively evaluate this issue. Here, we investigate dinosaur origins using a novel Bayesian framework uniting tip-dated phylogenetics with dynamic, time-sliced biogeographic methods, which explicitly account for the age and locality of fossils and the changing interconnections of areas through time due to tectonic and eustatic change. Our analysis finds strong support for a Gondwanan origin of Dinosauria, with 99 % probability for South America (83 % for southern South America). Parsimony analysis gives concordant results. Inclusion of time-sliced biogeographic information affects ancestral state reconstructions (e.g., high connectivity between two regions increases uncertainty over which is the ancestral area) and influences tree topology (disfavouring uniting fossil taxa from localities that were widely separated during the relevant time slice). Our approach directly integrates plate tectonics with phylogenetics and divergence dating, and in doing so reaffirms southern South America as the most likely area for the geographic origin of Dinosauria.

scholarly journals The achaete–scute complex contains a single gene that controls bristle development in the semi-aquatic bugs

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1892) ◽  
pp. 20182387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cédric Finet ◽  
Amélie Decaras ◽  
David Armisén ◽  
Abderrahman Khila
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Body Weight ◽  
Rna Interference ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Water Striders ◽  
Functional Efficiency ◽  
Water Surfaces ◽  
Aquatic Bugs

The semi-aquatic bugs (Heteroptera, Gerromorpha) conquered water surfaces worldwide and diversified to occupy puddles, ponds, streams, lakes, mangroves and even oceans. Critical to this lifestyle is the evolution of sets of hairs that allow these insects to maintain their body weight on the water surface and protect the animals against wetting and drowning. In addition, the legs of these insects are equipped with various grooming combs that are important for cleaning and tidying the hair layers for optimal functional efficiency. Here we show that the hairs covering the legs of water striders represent innervated bristles. Genomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed that in water striders the achaete–scute complex, known to control bristle development in flies, contains only the achaete–scute homologue ( ASH ) gene owing to the loss of the gene asense. Using RNA interference, we show that ASH plays a pivotal role in the development of both bristles and grooming combs in water striders. Our data suggest that the ASH locus may have contributed to the adaptation to water surface lifestyle through shaping the hydrophobic bristles that prevent water striders from wetting and allow them to exploit water surface tension.

scholarly journals Mountain colonisation, miniaturisation and ecological evolution in a radiation of direct developing New Guinea Frogs (Choerophryne, Microhylidae)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Oliver ◽  
Amy Iannella ◽  
Stephen J Richards ◽  
Michael S.Y Lee
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Tropical Mountains ◽  
Climatic Oscillations ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Montane Biodiversity ◽  
Male Calling

Aims. Mountain ranges in the tropics are characterised by high levels of localised endemism, often-aberrant evolutionary trajectories, and some of the world’s most diverse regional biotas. Here we investigate the evolution of montane endemism, ecology and body size in a clade of direct-developing frogs (Choerophryne, Microhylidae) from New Guinea. Methods. Phylogenetic relationships were estimated from a mitochondrial molecular dataset using Bayesian and maximum likelihood approaches. Ancestral state reconstruction was used to infer the evolution of elevational distribution, ecology (indexed by male calling height), and body size, and phylogenetically corrected regression was employed to examine the relationships between these three traits. Results. We obtained strong support for a monophyletic lineage comprising the majority of taxa sampled. Within this clade we identified one subclade that appears to have diversified primarily in montane habitats of the Central Cordillera (> 1000 m. a.s.l), with subsequent dispersal to isolated North Papuan Mountains. A second subclade (characterised by moderately to very elongated snouts) appears to have diversified primarily in hill forests (< 1000 m a.s.l.), with inferred independent upwards colonisations of isolated montane habitats, especially in isolated North Papuan Mountains. We found no clear relationship between extremely small body size (adult SVL less than 15mm) and elevation, but a stronger relationship with ecology – smaller species tend to be more terrestrial. Conclusions. Orogeny and climatic oscillations have interacted to generate high montane biodiversity in New Guinea via both localised diversification within montane habitats (centric endemism) and periodic dispersal across lowland regions (eccentric endemism). The correlation between extreme miniaturisation and terrestrial habits reflects a general trend in frogs, suggesting that ecological or physiological constraints limit niche usage by miniaturised frogs, even in extremely wet environments such as tropical mountains.

scholarly journals Evolution of Bird and Insect Flower Traits in Fritillaria L. (Liliaceae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Roguz ◽  
Laurence Hill ◽  
Agata Roguz ◽  
Marcin Zych
Keyword(s):  
Ancestral State ◽  
Insect Pollination ◽  
Physiological Mechanisms ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Flower Traits ◽  
Nectar Sugar ◽  
Pollinator Shift ◽  
Future Work

Pollinators are often perceived as a primary selective agent influencing flower traits such as colour, size, and nectar properties. The genus Fritillaria L. (Liliaceae), comprising approximately 150 species, is described as generally insect pollinated. However, there are at least three exceptions: two hummingbird-pollinated North American species and one passerine-pollinated Asian species. Despite this variation in pollination, little is known about flower traits that may accompany this shift in fritillaries. In this study, we aimed to assess the attractiveness of the floral traits for (new) pollinators and track the evolution of flowers traits in the context of a shift in the principal pollinator. Therefore, we studied 14 flower traits related to the pollination in 60 Fritillaria species and traced the evolutionary trajectory of these traits. We used a phylogenetic tree of the genus, based on five DNA markers (matK, rpl16, and rbcL, 18S, and ITS) to reconstruct the ancestral state of studied flower traits. The results show that in bird-pollinated species several new traits evolved. For example, flower colouration, nectar sugar, and amino acid concentration and composition fulfil the criteria of ornithophilous flowers, although flower traits do not exclude insect pollinators in bird-pollinated fritillaries. Interestingly, we recorded potential reversals from bird to insect pollination. Our analysis, showing a broad study of flower traits among closely related species in the context of pollinator shift, serves as a starting point for future work exploring the genetic and physiological mechanisms controlling flower traits in the genus Fritillaria.

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