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Journal article
Endopolyploidy in Plants
Leitch, I. J. ; Dodsworth, S.
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Book chapter
“BIFloraExplorer”: A Taxonomic, Genetic, and Ecological Data Resource for the Vascular Plants of Britain and Ireland.
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Journal article
Interactions between plant genome size, nutrients and herbivory by rabbits, molluscs and insects on a temperate grassland
Angiosperm genome sizes (GS) vary ca 2400-fold. Recent research has shown that GS influences plant abundance, and plant competition. There are also tantalizing reports that herbivores may select plants as food dependent on their GS. To test the hypothesis that GS plays a role in shaping plant communities under herbivore...Guignard, Maïté ; Crawley, Michael ; Kovalenko, Dasha ; Nichols, Richard ; Trimmer, Mark …
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Journal article
Remarkable variation of ribosomal DNA organization and copy number in gnetophytes, a distinct lineage of gymnosperms
INTRODUCTION: Gnetophytes, comprising the genera Ephedra, Gnetum and Welwitschia, are an understudied, enigmatic lineage of gymnosperms with a controversial phylogenetic relationship to other seed plants. Here we examined the organization of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) across representative species. METHODS: We applied high-throughput sequencing approaches to isolate and reconstruct rDNA units and...Wang, W ; Wan, T ; Becher, H ; Kuderova, A ; Leitch, Ilia …
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Journal article
The Application of Flow Cytometry for Estimating Genome Size, Ploidy Level Endopolyploidy, and Reproductive Modes in Plants
Over the years, the amount of DNA in a nucleus (genome size) has been estimated using a variety of methods, but increasingly, flow cytometry (FCM) has become the method of choice. The popularity of this technique lies in the ease of sample preparation and in the large number of particles... -
Master's dissertation
Genome size in the UK Fabaceae flora and how this relates to their nitrogen and water tolerance
Genome size (GS) is defined as the total DNA amount in the unreplicated nucleus of an organism, often used synonymously with ‘1C value’. GS varies greatly in flowering plants. Nitrogen (N) and water are considered major limiting factors for plant growth, and their availability could correlate with plants’ GS. Nitrogen...Pollitt, Lauren
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Journal article
The Plant DNA C‐values database (release 7.1): an updated online repository of plant genome size data for comparative studies
In recent decades, interest in plant genome size (i.e. the total amount of DNA in the unreplicated haploid nucleus; Greilhuber et al., 2005) has been growing exponentially as the biological, evolutionary and ecological significance of this key biodiversity trait is increasingly recognized (e.g. see reviews by Greilhuber & Leitch, 2013;...Pellicer, Jaume ; Leitch, Ilia J.
algae , flow cytometry, C‐values, land plants, and plant DNA C‐values database
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Journal article
Evolutionary dynamics of transposable elements and satellite DNAs in polyploid Spartina species
Repeated sequences and polyploidy play a central role in plant genome dynamics. Here, we analyze the evolutionary dynamics of repeats in tetraploid and hexaploid Spartina species that diverged during the last 10 million years within the Chloridoideae, one of the poorest investigated grass lineages. From high-throughput genome sequencing, we annotated...Giraud, Delphine ; Lima, Oscar ; Huteau, Virginie ; Coriton, Olivier ; Boutte, Julien …
Transposable elements, Genome dynamics , Polyploidy, Spartina, and Satellite DNA
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Doctoral thesis
Molecular and Genome Evolution in the Malesian Slipper Orchids (Paphiopedilum section Barbata).
Paphiopedilum section Barbata (Cypripedioideae: Orchidaceae) is an evolutionarily young and charismatic group of terrestrial orchids native to the Himalayas, Indochina and Malesia. It contains several interesting species complexes, variable chromosome numbers (2n=28-42) and genome sizes (2C=55-70 pg) with hybrid speciation suspected on the basis of morphological data. In Chapter 1,...Yap, Jing Wei
Molecular evolution, Paphiopedilum section Barbata, Malesia, and Genome evolution
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Master's dissertation
Does climate influence genome size diversity? A study of genome size-environment associations across the Madagascar grass flora
Repetitive DNA accumulation and whole genome duplication are common across angiosperm lineages, resulting in some of the largest ever-recorded genomes, yet the majority of angiosperm species have small genomes. This suggests selection may be acting to reduce genome size (GS), and there is growing evidence of environmental factors influencing GS...Morton, Joseph
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Journal article
Giant Fern Genomes Show Complex Evolution Patterns: A Comparative Analysis in Two Species of Tmesipteris (Psilotaceae).
Giant genomes are rare across the plant kingdom and their study has focused almost exclusively on angiosperms and gymnosperms. The scarce genetic data that are available for ferns, however, indicate differences in their genome organization and a lower dynamism compared to other plant groups. Tmesipteris is a small genus of... -
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Journal article
Genome Insights into Autopolyploid Evolution: A Case Study in Senecio doronicum (Asteraceae) from the Southern Alps.
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Journal article
Polyploidy in the Conifer Genus Juniperus: An Unexpectedly High Rate
Recent research suggests that the frequency of polyploidy may have been underestimated in gymnosperms. While there are few reports of polyploids in the genus Juniperus, data are still missing for most species. In this study, we evaluated the extent of polyploidy in Juniperus by conducting the first comprehensive screen across...Farhat, Perla ; Hidalgo, Oriane ; Robert, Thierry ; Siljak-Yakovlev, Sonja ; Leitch, Ilia …
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Journal article
Plant genome size modulates grassland community responses to multi‐nutrient additions.
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Journal article
Revisiting the cytomolecular evolution of the Caesalpinia group (Leguminosae): a broad sampling reveals new correlations between cytogenetic and environmental variables
The pantropical Caesalpinia group includes 225 species in 27 monophyletic genera, and the group has undergone recent phylogenetic, taxonomic and biogeographic revisions. Previous works have reported a diverse pattern of heterochromatin distribution related to ecological niche/geographic distribution, and variation in genome size also correlated with environmental variables. In order to... -
Journal article
Repetitive DNA Restructuring Across Multiple Nicotiana Allopolyploidisation Events Shows a Lack of Strong Cytoplasmic Bias in Influencing Repeat Turnover
Allopolyploidy is acknowledged as an important force in plant evolution. Frequent allopolyploidy in Nicotiana across different timescales permits the evaluation of genome restructuring and repeat dynamics through time. Here we use a clustering approach on high-throughput sequence reads to identify the main classes of repetitive elements following three allotetraploid events,... -
Journal article
Biogeography and genome size evolution of the oldest extant vascular plant genus, Equisetum (Equisetaceae)
Abstract Background and Aims Extant plant groups with a long fossil history are key elements in understanding vascular plant evolution. Horsetails (Equisetum, Equisetaceae) have a nearly continuous fossil record dating back to the Carboniferous, but their phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns are still poorly understood. We use here the most extensive...Christenhusz, Maarten J M ; Chase, Mark W ; Fay, Michael F ; Hidalgo, Oriane ; Leitch, Ilia J …
living fossils, sperm cells, flagellae, molecular clocks, Sphenophyta, ferns, horsetails, and C-value
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Journal article
Do tropical plants have smaller genomes? Correlation between genome size and climatic variables in the Caesalpinia Group (Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae)
While a number of studies have suggested that temperate plants typically have larger genome sizes (GS) than tropical ones, recent analyses have not convincingly confirmed this. We have selected the widely distributed Caesalpinia Group (Leguminosae) to test this hypothesis. We used flow cytometry to estimate the amount of DNA in...Souza, Gustavo ; Costa, Lucas ; Guignard, Maïté ; Van-Lume, Brena ; Pellicer, Jaume …
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Journal article
Early consequences of allopolyploidy alter floral evolution in Nicotiana (Solanaceae)
Background: Polyploidy has played a major role in angiosperm evolution. Previous studies have examined polyploid phenotypes in comparison to their extant progenitors, but not in context of predicted progenitor phenotypes at allopolyploid origin. In addition, differences in the trends of polyploid versus diploid evolution have not been investigated. We use...McCarthy, E ; Landis, J ; Kurti, A ; Lawhorn, A ; Chase, M …
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Doctoral thesis
Species integrity and hybridization in anthropomorphic Orchis species (Orchidaceae).
Hybridization is widespread in Orchis (Orchidaceae), with 38 recorded hybrids between the 21 accepted species. The four anthropomorphic Orchis species that occur in Britain (O. anthropophora, O. militaris, O. purpurea and O. simia) are on the edge of their range and are of high conservation priority. Understanding how these species...Bersweden, Leif
Orchidaceae, Great Britain, Anthropomorphic species, Hybridization, and Orchis
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Journal article
How diverse is heterochromatin in the Caesalpinia group? Cytogenomic characterization of Erythrostemon hughesii Gagnon & G.P. Lewis (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae)
Main conclusion Cytogenomic characterization of Erythrostemon hughesii reveals a heterogeneity of repeats in its subtelomeric heterochromatin. Comparative analyses with other Caesalpinia group species reveal a significant reduction in the abundance of Ty3-gypsy/Chromovirus Tekay retrotransposons during its evolution. In numerically stable karyotypes, repetitive DNA variability is one of the main causes...Mata-Sucre, Yennifer ; Sader, Mariela ; Van-Lume, Brena ; Gagnon, Edeline ; Pedrosa-Harand, Andrea …
Genome evolution, Satellite DNA, Mobile elements, Repetitive sequences, and Cytogenetics
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Journal article
A customized nuclear target enrichment approach for developing a phylogenomic baseline for Dioscorea yams (Dioscoreaceae)
Premise We developed a target enrichment panel for phylogenomic studies of Dioscorea, an economically important genus with incompletely resolved relationships. Methods Our bait panel comprises 260 low- to single-copy nuclear genes targeted to work in Dioscorea, assessed here using a preliminary taxon sampling that includes both distantly and closely related...Soto Gomez, Marybel ; Pokorny, Lisa ; Kantar, Michael ; Forest, Félix ; Leitch, Ilia …
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Journal article
Repeat-sequence turnover shifts fundamentally in species with large genomes.
Given the 2,400-fold range of genome sizes (0.06–148.9 Gbp (gigabase pair)) of seed plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) with a broadly similar gene content (amounting to approximately 0.03 Gbp), the repeat-sequence content of the genome might be expected to increase with genome size, resulting in the largest genomes consisting almost entirely of repetitive...Novák, Petr ; Guignard, Maïté S. ; Neumann, Pavel ; Kelly, Laura J. ; Mlinarec, Jelena …
Species lineages, Genomes, Repeat turnover, Repeat-sequence content, and Genome size
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Journal article
A universe of dwarfs and giants: genome size and chromosome evolution in the monocot family Melanthiaceae.
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Journal article
Evolutionary patterns of genome size and chromosome number variation in Begoniaceae.
Cytological data resources are crucial to the study and understanding of the evolution of complex taxa. Recent research on the genus Begonia L. has provided a robust phylogenetic background for the analysis of evolutionary patterns across the group and has established that Begonia is variable in genome size and chromosome...Campos-Dominguez, Lucia ; Pellicer, Jaume ; Matthews, Andrew ; Leitch, Ilia J ; Kidner, Catherine A
Genome size, Evolution, Begoniaceae, C-values, Begonia, and Chromosomes
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Journal article
Automated video monitoring of insect pollinators in the field.
Ecosystems are at increasing risk from the global pollination crisis. Gaining better knowledge about pollinators and their interactions with plants is an urgent need. However, conventional methods of manually recording pollinator activity in the field can be time- and cost-consuming in terms of labour. Field-deployable video recording systems have become...Pegoraro, Luca ; Hidalgo, Oriane ; Leitch, Ilia J. ; Pellicer, Jaume ; Barlow, Sarah E.
Pollinators, Video monitoring, Computer vision, Insect pollinators, and Pollination ecology
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Journal article
First Whole Genome Sequence and Flow Cytometry Genome Size Data for the Lichen-Forming Fungus Ramalina farinacea (Ascomycota).
Lichen-forming fungi are a diverse and ecologically important group of obligate mutualistic symbionts. Due to difficulties with maintaining them in culture and their extremely slow growth, lichenologists are increasingly opting for metagenomic sequencing followed by symbiont genome separation using bioinformatic pipelines. However, without knowing the true genome size of the...Llewellyn, Theo ; Mian, Sahr ; Hill, Rowena ; Leitch, Ilia J ; Gaya, Ester
Lichen, Genome size, Ramalina farinacea, Symbiosis, Ramalinaceae, Long-read sequencing, and Metagenomics
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Journal article
A universe of dwarfs and giants: genome size and chromosome evolution in the monocot family elanthiaceae.
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Journal article
Genome Size Doubling Arises From the Differential Repetitive DNA Dynamics in the Genus Heloniopsis (Melanthiaceae).
Plant genomes are highly diverse in size and repetitive DNA composition. In the absence of polyploidy, the dynamics of repetitive elements, which make up the bulk of the genome in many species, are the main drivers underpinning changes in genome size and the overall evolution of the genomic landscape. The...Pellicer, Jaume ; Fernández, Pol ; Fay, Michael F. ; Michálková, Ester ; Leitch, Ilia J.
DNA repeats, C-value, Rransposable elements, Satellite DNA, Chromosome, and Heloniopsis
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Journal article
Genomic gigantism in the whisk-fern family (Psilotaceae): Tmesipteris obliqua challenges record holder Paris japonica.
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Journal article
Genome Size Evolution and Dynamics in Iris, with Special Focus on the Section Oncocyclus
Insights into genome size dynamics and its evolutionary impact remain limited by the lack of data for many plant groups. One of these is the genus Iris, of which only 53 out of c. 260 species have available genome sizes. In this study, we estimated the C-values for 41 species... -
Journal article
Erratum to: The correlation of phylogenetics, elevation and ploidy on the incidence of apomixis in Asteraceae in the European Alps.
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Journal article
The correlation of phylogenetics, elevation and ploidy on the incidence of apomixis in Asteraceae in the European Alps.
Asexual reproduction has often been regarded as an evolutionary dead end, but asexual lineages (most notably those that are apomictic) are present in several angiosperm families and often comprise a large number of taxa, both widespread and endemic. Investigating correlations between genetic, environmental and taxonomic factors and the incidence of... -
Journal article
Evolutionary convergence or homology? Comparative cytogenomics of Caesalpinia group species (Leguminosae) reveals diversification in the pericentromeric heterochromatic composition
The Caesalpinia Group includes 225 species and 27 monophyletic genera of which four occur in Northeastern Brazil: Erythrostemon (1 sp.), Cenostigma (7 spp.), Libidibia (1 sp.), and Paubrasilia (1 sp.). The last three genera are placed in different clades in the Caesalpinia Group phylogeny, and yet they are characterized by... -
Journal article
The nature of intraspecific and interspecific genome size variation in taxonomically complex eyebrights.
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Journal article
Polyploidy does not control all: Lineage‐specific average chromosome length constrains genome size evolution in ferns
Recent studies investigating the evolution of genome size diversity in ferns have shown that they have a distinctive genome profile compared with other land plants. Ferns are typically characterized by possessing medium‐sized genomes, although a few lineages have evolved very large genomes. Ferns are different from other vascular plant lineages...Liu, Hong‐Mei ; Ekrt, Libor ; Koutecky, Petr ; Pellicer, Jaume ; Hidalgo, Oriane …
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Journal article
A Target Capture-Based Method to Estimate Ploidy From Herbarium Specimens
Whole genome duplication (WGD) events are common in many plant lineages, but the ploidy status and possible occurrence of intraspecific ploidy variation are unknown for most species. Standard methods for ploidy determination are chromosome counting and flow cytometry approaches. While flow cytometry approaches typically use fresh tissue, an increasing number...Viruel, Juan ; Conejero, María ; Hidalgo, Oriane ; Pokorny, Lisa ; Powell, Robyn …
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Journal article
The ecology of palm genomes: repeat‐associated genome size expansion is constrained by aridity.
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Journal article
A taxonomic, genetic and ecological data resource for the vascular plants of Britain and Ireland.
The vascular flora of Britain and Ireland is among the most extensively studied in the world, but the current knowledge base is fragmentary, with taxonomic, ecological and genetic information scattered across different resources. Here we present the first comprehensive data repository of native and alien species optimized for fast and...Henniges, Marie C. ; Powell, Robyn F. ; Mian, Sahr ; Stace, Clive A. ; Walker, Kevin J. …
Taxonomy, Ireland, Great Britain, Plant ecology, Genetics, Biodiversity, Ecology, and Literature mining
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Journal article
Phylogeny, biogeography and ecological diversification of New Caledonian palms (Arecaceae).
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Journal article
Polyploidy in Cupressaceae: Discovery of a new naturally occurring tetraploid, Xanthocyparis vietnamensis.
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Journal article
Selecting for useful properties of plants and fungi – Novel approaches, opportunities, and challenges
Societal Impact Statement For millennia, humans have used plants and fungi, as foods, fuels, fibers, and medicines; and have developed techniques for improving their usefulness to our species, mostly through selection of desirable traits. With human populations forecast to rise, the availability of arable land likely to fall amid climate...