Taxonomic treatment of the Mesoamerican genus Rovaeanthus (Rondeletieae, Rubiaceae)

Phytotaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 403 (2) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
ALEJANDRO TORRES-MONTÚFAR ◽  
HELGA OCHOTERENA

Rovaeanthus (Rondeletieae, Rubiaceae) is a Mesoamerican endemic genus of two species, characterized by a fleshy, pubescent ring at the corolla mouth. Despite the molecular evidence, which suggested that Rovaeanthus shares a most recent common ancestor with the rest of the tribe Rondeletieae, it was treated as a synonym of Rogiera (Guettardeae), with which it shares the pubescent ring at the corolla mouth. Although the species circumscription of Rovaeanthus is clear, its recognition as a separate genus is not yet widely accepted. An updated identification key for the two species of Rovaeanthus, descriptions, distribution maps, phenological data, conservation status, and illustrations are provided.

Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 150 (3) ◽  
pp. 1187-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikkel H Schierup ◽  
Xavier Vekemans ◽  
Freddy B Christiansen

Abstract Expectations for the time scale and structure of allelic genealogies in finite populations are formed under three models of sporophytic self-incompatibility. The models differ in the dominance interactions among the alleles that determine the self-incompatibility phenotype: In the SSIcod model, alleles act codominantly in both pollen and style, in the SSIdom model, alleles form a dominance hierarchy, and in SSIdomcod, alleles are codominant in the style and show a dominance hierarchy in the pollen. Coalescence times of alleles rarely differ more than threefold from those under gametophytic self-incompatibility, and transspecific polymorphism is therefore expected to be equally common. The previously reported directional turnover process of alleles in the SSIdomcod model results in coalescence times lower and substitution rates higher than those in the other models. The SSIdom model assumes strong asymmetries in allelic action, and the most recessive extant allele is likely to be the most recent common ancestor. Despite these asymmetries, the expected shape of the allele genealogies does not deviate markedly from the shape of a neutral gene genealogy. The application of the results to sequence surveys of alleles, including interspecific comparisons, is discussed.


Author(s):  
Wenjun Cheng ◽  
Tianjiao Ji ◽  
Shuaifeng Zhou ◽  
Yong Shi ◽  
Lili Jiang ◽  
...  

AbstractEchovirus 6 (E6) is associated with various clinical diseases and is frequently detected in environmental sewage. Despite its high prevalence in humans and the environment, little is known about its molecular phylogeography in mainland China. In this study, 114 of 21,539 (0.53%) clinical specimens from hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) cases collected between 2007 and 2018 were positive for E6. The complete VP1 sequences of 87 representative E6 strains, including 24 strains from this study, were used to investigate the evolutionary genetic characteristics and geographical spread of E6 strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on VP1 nucleotide sequence divergence showed that, globally, E6 strains can be grouped into six genotypes, designated A to F. Chinese E6 strains collected between 1988 and 2018 were found to belong to genotypes C, E, and F, with genotype F being predominant from 2007 to 2018. There was no significant difference in the geographical distribution of each genotype. The evolutionary rate of E6 was estimated to be 3.631 × 10-3 substitutions site-1 year-1 (95% highest posterior density [HPD]: 3.2406 × 10-3-4.031 × 10-3 substitutions site-1 year-1) by Bayesian MCMC analysis. The most recent common ancestor of the E6 genotypes was traced back to 1863, whereas their common ancestor in China was traced back to around 1962. A small genetic shift was detected in the Chinese E6 population size in 2009 according to Bayesian skyline analysis, which indicated that there might have been an epidemic around that year.


Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 1217-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Wiuf ◽  
Jotun Hein

Abstract In this article we discuss the ancestry of sequences sampled from the coalescent with recombination with constant population size 2N. We have studied a number of variables based on simulations of sample histories, and some analytical results are derived. Consider the leftmost nucleotide in the sequences. We show that the number of nucleotides sharing a most recent common ancestor (MRCA) with the leftmost nucleotide is ≈log(1 + 4N Lr)/4Nr when two sequences are compared, where L denotes sequence length in nucleotides, and r the recombination rate between any two neighboring nucleotides per generation. For larger samples, the number of nucleotides sharing MRCA with the leftmost nucleotide decreases and becomes almost independent of 4N Lr. Further, we show that a segment of the sequences sharing a MRCA consists in mean of 3/8Nr nucleotides, when two sequences are compared, and that this decreases toward 1/4Nr nucleotides when the whole population is sampled. A measure of the correlation between the genealogies of two nucleotides on two sequences is introduced. We show analytically that even when the nucleotides are separated by a large genetic distance, but share MRCA, the genealogies will show only little correlation. This is surprising, because the time until the two nucleotides shared MRCA is reciprocal to the genetic distance. Using simulations, the mean time until all positions in the sample have found a MRCA increases logarithmically with increasing sequence length and is considerably lower than a theoretically predicted upper bound. On the basis of simulations, it turns out that important properties of the coalescent with recombinations of the whole population are reflected in the properties of a sample of low size.


Botany ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (9) ◽  
pp. 605-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Ciotir ◽  
Chris Yesson ◽  
Joanna Freeland

Understanding the spatial distribution of genetic diversity and its evolutionary history is an essential part of developing effective biodiversity management plans. This may be particularly true when considering the value of peripheral or disjunct populations. Although conservation decisions are often made with reference to geopolitical boundaries, many policy-makers also consider global distributions, and therefore a species’ global status may temper its regional status. Many disjunct populations can be found in the Great Lakes region of North America, including those of Bartonia paniculata subsp. paniculata, a species that has been designated as threatened in Canada but globally secure. We compared chloroplast sequences between disjunct (Canada) and core (USA) populations of B. paniculata subsp. paniculata separated by 600 km, which is the minimum distance between disjunct and core populations in this subspecies. We found that although lineages within the disjunct populations shared a relatively recent common ancestor, the genetic divergence between plants from Ontario and New Jersey was substantially greater than expected for a consubspecific comparison. A coalescence-based analysis dated the most recent common ancestor of the Canadian and US populations at approximately 534 000 years ago with the lower confidence estimate at 226 000 years ago. This substantially predates the Last Glacial Maximum and suggests that disjunct and core populations have followed independent evolutionary trajectories throughout multiple glacial–interglacial cycles. Our findings provide important insight into the diverse processes that have resulted in numerous disjunct species in the Great Lakes region and highlight a need for additional work on Canadian B. paniculata subsp. paniculata taxonomy prior to a reevaluation of its conservation value.


Author(s):  
Satoshi Nakano ◽  
Takao Fujisawa ◽  
Bin Chang ◽  
Yutaka Ito ◽  
Hideki Akeda ◽  
...  

After the introduction of the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, the global spread of multidrug resistant serotype 19A-ST320 strains became a public health concern. In Japan, the main genotype of serotype 19A was ST3111, and the identification rate of ST320 was low. Although the isolates were sporadically detected in both adults and children, their origin remains unknown. Thus, by combining pneumococcal isolates collected in three nationwide pneumococcal surveillance studies conducted in Japan between 2008 and 2020, we analyzed 56 serotype 19A-ST320 isolates along with 931 global isolates, using whole-genome sequencing to uncover the transmission route of the globally distributed clone in Japan. The clone was frequently detected in Okinawa Prefecture, where the U.S. returned to Japan in 1972. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the isolates from Japan were genetically related to those from the U.S.; therefore, the common ancestor may have originated in the U.S. In addition, Bayesian analysis suggested that the time to the most recent common ancestor of the isolates form Japan and the U.S. was approximately the 1990s to 2000, suggesting the possibility that the common ancestor could have already spread in the U.S. before the Taiwan 19F-14 isolate was first identified in a Taiwanese hospital in 1997. The phylogeographical analysis supported the transmission of the clone from the U.S. to Japan, but the analysis could be influenced by sampling bias. These results suggested the possibility that the serotype 19A-ST320 clone had already spread in the U.S. before being imported into Japan.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-79
Author(s):  
Cristina Sousa

The origin of life is one of the most interesting and challenging questions in biology. This article discusses relevant contemporary theories and hypotheses about the origin of life, recent scientific evidence supporting them, and the main contributions of several scientists of different nationalities and specialties in different disciplines. Also discussed are several ideas about the characteristics of the most recent common ancestor, also called the “last universal common ancestor” (or LUCA), including cellular status (unicellular or community) and homogeneity level.


1998 ◽  
Vol 95 (16) ◽  
pp. 9402-9406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce G. Baldwin ◽  
Michael J. Sanderson

Comparisons between insular and continental radiations have been hindered by a lack of reliable estimates of absolute diversification rates in island lineages. We took advantage of rate-constant rDNA sequence evolution and an “external” calibration using paleoclimatic and fossil data to determine the maximum age and minimum diversification rate of the Hawaiian silversword alliance (Compositae), a textbook example of insular adaptive radiation in plants. Our maximum-age estimate of 5.2 ± 0.8 million years ago for the most recent common ancestor of the silversword alliance is much younger than ages calculated by other means for the Hawaiian drosophilids, lobelioids, and honeycreepers and falls approximately within the history of the modern high islands (≤5.1 ± 0.2 million years ago). By using a statistically efficient estimator that reduces error variance by incorporating clock-based estimates of divergence times, a minimum diversification rate for the silversword alliance was estimated to be 0.56 ± 0.17 species per million years. This exceeds average rates of more ancient continental radiations and is comparable to peak rates in taxa with sufficiently rich fossil records that changes in diversification rate can be reconstructed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 2907-2908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stilianos Louca

Abstract Motivation The birth-death (BD) model constitutes the theoretical backbone of most phylogenetic tools for reconstructing speciation/extinction dynamics over time. Performing simulations of reconstructed trees (linking extant taxa) under the BD model in backward time, conditioned on the number of species sampled at present day and, in some cases, a specific time interval since the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), is needed for assessing the performance of reconstruction tools, for parametric bootstrapping and for detecting data outliers. The few simulation tools that exist scale poorly to large modern phylogenies, which can comprise thousands or even millions of tips (and rising). Results Here I present efficient software for simulating reconstructed phylogenies under time-dependent BD models in backward time, conditioned on the number of sampled species and (optionally) on the time since the MRCA. On large trees, my software is 1000–10 000 times faster than existing tools. Availability and implementation The presented software is incorporated into the R package ‘castor’, which is available on The Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


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