scholarly journals Abiotic Environment Predicts Micro- but Not Macroevolutionary Patterns of Flower Color in Monkeyflowers (Phrymaceae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dena Grossenbacher ◽  
Leah Makler ◽  
Matthew McCarthy ◽  
Naomi Fraga
Keyword(s):  
Ultraviolet Radiation ◽  
Flower Color ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Blue Flower ◽  
Pollinator Attraction ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Abiotic Stressors ◽  
Polymorphic Species ◽  
Abiotic Variables

Anthocyanin pigments are responsible for many of the vivid pink, purple, red, and blue flower colors across angiosperms and frequently vary within and between closely related species. While anthocyanins are well known to influence pollinator attraction, they are also associated with tolerance to abiotic stressors such as extreme temperatures, reduced precipitation, and ultraviolet radiation. Using a comparative approach, we tested whether abiotic variables predict floral anthocyanin in monkeyflowers (Phrymaceae) across western North America. Within two polymorphic species, we found that abiotic variables predicted flower color across their geographic ranges. In Erythranthe discolor, the frequency of pink flowered (anthocyanin producing) individuals was greater in populations with reduced precipitation. In Diplacus mephiticus, the frequency of pink flowered individuals was greater at higher elevations that had reduced precipitation and lower temperatures but less ultraviolet radiation. At the macroevolutionary scale, across two parallel radiations of North American monkeyflowers, species with floral anthocyanins (pink, purple, or red corollas) occupied areas with reduced precipitation in Erythranthe but not Diplacus. However, after accounting for phylogenetic relatedness, we found no evidence for the joint evolution of flower color and environmental affinity in either clade. We conclude that although abiotic stressors may play a role in the evolution of flower color within polymorphic species, we found no evidence that these processes lead to macroevolutionary patterns across monkeyflowers.

scholarly journals Relative Role of Flower Color and Scent on Pollinator Attraction: Experimental Tests using F1 and F2 Hybrids of Daylily and Nightlily

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. e39010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun K. Hirota ◽  
Kozue Nitta ◽  
Yuni Kim ◽  
Aya Kato ◽  
Nobumitsu Kawakubo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Flower Color ◽  
Relative Role ◽  
Pollinator Attraction ◽  
F2 Hybrids

scholarly journals Colour polymorphism influences species' range and extinction risk

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 20190228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuma Takahashi ◽  
Suzuki Noriyuki
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Range Expansion ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Colour Polymorphism ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Climatic Niche ◽  
Polymorphic Species ◽  
The Stability

Polymorphisms in a population are expected to increase the growth rate and the stability of the population, leading to the expansion of geographical distribution and mitigation of extinction risk of a species. However, the generality of such ecological consequences of colour polymorphism remains uncertain. Here, via a comparative approach, we assessed whether colour polymorphisms influence climatic niche breadth and extinction risk in some groups of damselflies, butterflies and vertebrates. The climatic niche breadth was greater, and extinction risk was lower in polymorphic species than in monomorphic species in all taxa analysed. The results suggest that colour polymorphism facilitates range expansion and species persistence.

scholarly journals Cloning and Functional Characterization of Dihydroflavonol 4-Reductase Gene Involved in Anthocyanidin Biosynthesis of Grape Hyacinth

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 4743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongli Liu ◽  
Qian Lou ◽  
Junren Ma ◽  
Beibei Su ◽  
Zhuangzhuang Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Flower Colour ◽  
Flower Color ◽  
Color Variation ◽  
Blue Flower ◽  
Blue Color ◽  
Color Development ◽  
High Preference ◽  
Grape Hyacinth

Grape hyacinth (Muscari spp.) is a popular ornamental plant with bulbous flowers noted for their rich blue color. Muscari species have been thought to accumulate delphinidin and cyanidin rather than pelargonidin-type anthocyanins because their dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) does not efficiently reduce dihydrokaempferol. In our study, we clone a novel DFR gene from blue flowers of Muscari. aucheri. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and anthocyanin analysis showed that the expression pattern of MaDFR had strong correlations with the accumulation of delphinidin, relatively weak correlations with cyanidin, and no correations with pelargonidin. However, in vitro enzymatic analysis revealed that the MaDFR enzyme can reduce all the three types of dihydroflavonols (dihydrokaempferol, dihydroquercetin, and dihydromyricetin), although it most preferred dihydromyricetin as a substrate to produce leucodelphinidin, the precursor of blue-hued delphinidin. This indicated that there may be other functional genes responsible for the loss of red pelargonidin-based pigments in Muscari. To further verify the substrate-specific selection domains of MaDFR, an assay of amino acid substitutions was conducted. The activity of MaDFR was not affected whenever the N135 or E146 site was mutated. However, when both of them were mutated, the catalytic activity of MaDFR was lost completely. The results suggest that both the N135 and E146 sites are essential for the activity of MaDFR. Additionally, the heterologous expression of MaDFR in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) resulted in increasing anthocyanin accumulation, leading to a darker flower color, which suggested that MaDFR was involved in color development in flowers. In summary, MaDFR has a high preference for dihydromyricetin, and it could be a powerful candidate gene for genetic engineering for blue flower colour modification. Our results also make a valuable contribution to understanding the basis of color variation in the genus Muscari.

Designation of a neotype for the Brazilian porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2791 (1) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
YURI L. R. LEITE ◽  
VILACIO CALDARA JÚNIOR ◽  
ANA CAROLINA LOSS ◽  
LEONORA PIRES COSTA ◽  
ÉVERTON R. A. MELO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Geographic Distribution ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Type Specimen ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Central Brazil ◽  
Shed Light

The Brazilian porcupine was one of several species described and illustrated by the 17 th -century naturalist Georg Marcgrave, whose text was among the primary references upon which Linnaeus based his Hystrix prehensilis. As currently understood, Coendou prehensilis is a wide-ranging polytypic taxon that has never been revised and may represent a complex of closely related species. Given that no name-bearing type specimen of C. prehensilis is believed to be extant, and in order to avoid ambiguous application of this name, we designate a specimen collected at the type locality in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil, as the neotype for Hystrix prehensilis Linnaeus. The geographic distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes suggests that specimens from west-central Brazil previously identified as “Coendou prehensilis” belong to a different species, but only a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the genus will shed light on species limits and the geographic ranges of C. prehensilis and other congeneric forms.

Studies of haploid–diploid twins in flax (Linum usitatissimum)

1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice E. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rate ◽  
Linum Usitatissimum ◽  
Seed Set ◽  
Embryo Sac ◽  
Flower Color ◽  
Blue Flower ◽  
Linum Usitatissimum L ◽  
Chromosomal Pairing ◽  
Haploid Embryos ◽  
Double Cross

The present study was designed to investigate the origin of twin seedlings in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). The twins were derived from crosses of high-twinning × nontwinning lines. The data presented were based on the following: (i) the morphology of twins in terms of variations in the position, orientation, and size of the twin embryos in the embryo sac and in the mature seed; (ii) the cytological interpretation of meiosis in the haploid and diploid member of F2 twins, and chromosomal pairing of the F3 diploid, triploid, and trisomic progeny obtained from crossing haploid × diploid F2 twins; and (iii) the genetic analysis of twinning frequencies, seed set by twins in single and double cross progenies, and the combinations of flower color phenotypes in F2 twins derived from blue flower × white flower crosses. The results, based on the survival rate of the haploid embryos, the cytological interpretation of meiosis, the fertility in the haploids, and in particular, the flower phenotype of twins in nine F2 families, support the hypothesis that the progenitors of the twin embryos are two-megaspore nuclei rather than one.Key words: flax twins.

Section 1 Summary—Evolutionary Origins and Transitions in Developmental Mode

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Reproductive Mode ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Evolutionary Origins

Abiotic variables and biotic interactions can act on variation in life history traits, ultimately leading to divergence in reproductive mode. Marine invertebrates have a remarkable diversity in such strategies, sometimes even between closely related species. It is this natural diversity that lends itself to employing a powerful comparative approach, both for particular morphological characteristics as well as molecular signatures from developmental genes. For example, complex life histories, where a larval stage is interposed between the embryo and juvenile, likely represent the product of numerous selection pressures, historical and current, that have shaped the diversity of larval stages in extant marine species. In fact, the very question about “what is a larva?” has to be addressed, as it is so intimately connected to bentho-planktonic life cycle and metamorphosis. Furthermore, novel larval types have evolved in particular lineages and larvae have been secondarily lost in others. This in itself creates an interesting and exciting playground to test evolutionary developmental hypotheses....

Lower Devonian calmoniid trilobites from the Argentine Precordillera: new taxa of the Bouleia Group, and remarks on the tempo of calmoniid radiation

1994 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory D. Edgecombe ◽  
Norberto E. Vaccari ◽  
Beatriz G. Waisfeld
Keyword(s):  
Related Species ◽  
Lower Devonian ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Argentine Precordillera ◽  
Gradual Transformation ◽  
High Diversity ◽  
Stratigraphic Range

AbstractNew calmoniids from the Lower Devonian Talacasto Formation in the Precordillera of San Juan, Argentina, extend the stratigraphic and geographic ranges of a clade including Bouleia Kozlowski, 1923 and Parabouleia Eldredge, 1972. The new genus Talacastops accommodates the Lochkovian T. zarelae sp.nov. from the Talacasto Formation and a closely related species from western Bolivia (Talacastops sp.nov. A). The diagnosis of Parabouleia is broadened to include P. eldredgei sp.nov., from Lochkovian strata in the lower part of the Talacasto Formation. Calmoniids from below the Scaphiocoelia Assemblage Zone display morphological disparity that rivals later occurrences, and do not conform to a model of gradual transformation of an acastomorph ancestor. Stratigraphic range extensions based on correction for ghost lineages imply a high diversity within Calmoniidae very early in the Devonian.

scholarly journals Newly Elucidated Mechanism for Blue Flower Color Development

1996 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadao KONDO ◽  
Minoru UEDA ◽  
Kumi YOSHIDA
Keyword(s):  
Flower Color ◽  
Blue Flower ◽  
Color Development

The Oligocene rodent Ischyromys of the Great Plains: replacement mistaken for anagenesis

1993 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Heaton
Keyword(s):  
South Dakota ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Statistical Investigation ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
Mean Size ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Entire Distribution

Ischyromys, the most abundant early Oligocene rodent from the Great Plains, has been considered by some workers to represent a single gradually evolving lineage comprising three or more chronospecies. Statistical investigation of large samples suggest instead that two closely related species coexisted, and the shift in mean size that was thought to represent anagenesis actually represents replacement. In Nebraska and eastern Wyoming both I. parvidens (small) and I. typus (large) were rare but of equal abundance in the Chadronian, I. parvidens was more prevalent in the early Orellan, and I. typus was more prevalent in the middle and late Orellan. In northeastern Colorado, northern South Dakota, and North Dakota I. typus is the only species of Ischyromys found in Orellan deposits, thus showing that the two species had differing geographic ranges.The mean size of I. typus does increase up section at all localities, but this change is minor and not deserving of chronospecies recognition. Much of this change occurred in the latest Orellan and earliest Whitneyan as I. typus approached extinction, and it was accomplished mostly by loss of small individuals rather than a shift of the entire distribution. Rate of evolutionary change in Ischyromys is found to be inversely correlated with population size, and no new species arose during the Orellan when Ischyromys was most abundant.

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