Origins and evolution of plant diversity in the Hengduan Mountains, China

1.Introduction The Hengduan Mountains region(HDM)in southwest China,one of the earth's 34 biodiversity hotspots,is characterized by its unique geology,dramatic topography,a climate where snow and below freezing temperatures can occur on any day of the year,by its location at elevations averaging between(1400e)2000 and4500(e5300)meters above sea level(m a.s.l.),and by one of

The origin and evolution of salicylic acid signaling and biosynthesis in plants

Salicylic acid(SA)plays a pivotal role in plant response to biotic and abiotic stress.Several core SA signaling regulators and key proteins in SA biosynthesis have been well characterized.However,much remains unknown about the origin,evolution,and early diversification of core elements in plant SA signaling and biosynthesis.In this study,we identified 10 core protein families in SA signaling and biosynthesis across green plant lineages.We found that the key SA signaling receptors,the nonexpresser of pathogenesis-related(NPR)proteins,originated in the most recent common ancestor(MRCA)of land plants and formed divergent groups in the ancestor of seed plants.However,key transcription factors for SA signaling,TGACG motif-binding proteins(TGAs),originated in the MRCA of streptophytes,arguing for the stepwise evolution of core SA signaling in plants.Different from the assembly of the core SA signaling pathway in the ancestor of seed plants,SA exists extensively in green plants,including chlorophytes and streptophyte algae.However,the full isochorismate synthase(ICS)-based SA synthesis pathway was first assembled in the MRCA of land plants.We further revealed that the ancient abnormal inflorescence meristem 1(AIM1)-basedβ-oxidation pathway is crucial for the biosynthesis of SA in chlorophyte algae,and this biosynthesis pathway may have facilitated the adaptation of early-diverging green algae to the high-light-intensity environment on land.Taken together,our findings provide significant insights into the early evolution and diversification of plant SA signaling and biosynthesis pathways,highlighting a crucial role of SA in stress tolerance during plant terrestrialization.

Early Cretaceous Archaefructus eoflora sp. nov. with Bisexual Flowers from Beipiao, Western Liaoning, China

Recently, whether Archaefructus has bisexual multi-parted flowers or just inflorescences of unisexual flowers, and whether it is ancestral to all angiosperms or a derived eudicot have been debated. Here, from the same Yixian Formation, NE China, we report a new Archaefructus species, A. eoflora sp. nov., with the generic characteristics of dissected leaves and bisexual reproductive axes. It is entirely preserved with roots, rhizome, shoots and protogynous reproductive organs at different developmental stages. Its lateral and main fertile shoots form a pseudo-indeterminate pattern, while the reproductive branches on the main shoot form a cymose inflorescence. Subtended by 1-2 bract-like leaves, the section of stamen clusters changes into a much shorter section of carpels that have one row of orthotropous ovules. Significantly, one cluster bearing two carpels and one stamen between the two sections demonstrates a true bisexual flower, an important step of the origin of floral bisexuality, and the homology between the stamen and carpel. The complex reproductive axes represent a mix between flowers and inflorescences, and suggest that A. eoflora sp. nov. possesses the potential to evolve into a variety of diverse flower types as found in modern basal and early fossil angiosperms. A comparison with other two species also leads to a revision of the generic diagnosis.

A Transcriptome Atlas of Physcomitrella patens Provides Insights into the Evolution and Development of Land Plants

Identifying the genetic mechanisms that underpin the evolution of new organ and tissue systems is an aim of evolutionary developmental biology. Comparative functional genetic studies between angiosperms and bryophytes can define those genetic changes that were responsible for developmental innovations. Here, we report the generation of a transcriptome atlas covering most phases in the life cycle of the model bryo- phyte Physcomitrella patens, including detailed sporophyte developmental progression. We identified a comprehensive set of sporophyte-specific transcription factors, and found that many of these genes have homologs in angiosperms that function in developmental processes such as flowering and shoot branching. Deletion of the PpTCP5 transcription factor results in development of supernumerary sporangia attached to a single seta, suggesting that it negatively regulates branching in the moss sporophyte. Given that TCP genes repress branching in angiosperms, we suggest that this activity is ancient. Finally, compar- ison of P. patens and Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptomes led us to the identification of a conserved core of transcription factors expressed in tip-growing cells. We identified modifications in the expression patterns of these genes that could account for developmental differences between P. patens tip-growing cells and A. thaliana pollen tubes and root hairs.

Major episodes of horizontal gene transfer drove the evolution of land plants

How horizontal gene transfer(HGT)has contributed to the evolution of animals and plants remains a major puzzle.Despite recent progress,defining the overall scale and pattern of HGT events in land plants has been largely elusive.In this study,we performed systematic analyses for acquired genes in different plant groups and throughout land plant evolution.We found that relatively recent HGT events occurred in char-ophytes and all major land plant groups,but their frequency declined rapidly in seed plants.Two major ep-isodes of HGT events occurred in land plant evolution,corresponding to the early evolution of strepto-phytes and the origin of land plants,respectively.Importantly,a vast majority of the genes acquired in the two episodes have been retained in descendant groups,affecting numerous activities and processes of land plants.We analyzed some of the acquired genes involved in stress responses,ion and metabolite transport,growth and development,and specialized metabolism,and further assessed the cumulative ef-fects of HGT in land plants.

Loss of two families of SPX domain-containing proteins required for vacuolar polyphosphate accumulation coincides with the transition to phosphate storage in green plants

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants.It is stored as inorganic phosphate(Pi)in the vacuoles of land plants but as inorganic polyphosphate(polyP)in chlorophyte algae.Although it is recognized that the SPX-Major Facilitator Superfamily(MFS)and VPE proteins are responsible for Pi influx and efflux,respectively,across the tonoplast in land plants,the mechanisms that underlie polyP homeostasis and the transition of phosphorus storage forms during the evolution of green plants remain unclear.In this study,we showed that CrPTCI,encoding a protein with both SPX and SLC(permease solute carrier 13)domains for Pi transport,and CrVTC4,encoding a protein with both SPX and vacuolar transporter chaperone(VTC)domains for polyP synthesis,are required for vacuolar polyP accumulation in the chlorophyte Chlamydomonas rein-hardtii.Phylogenetic analysis showed that the SPX-SLC,SPX-VTC,and SPX-MFS proteins were present in the common ancestor of green plants(Viridiplantae).The SPX-SLC and SPX-VTC proteins are conserved among species that store phosphorus as vacuolar polyP and absent from genomes of plants that store phosphorus as vacuolar Pi.By contrast,SPX-MFS genes are present in the genomes of streptophytes that store phosphorus as Pi in the vacuoles.These results suggest that loss of SPX-SLC and SPX-VTC genes and functional conservation of SPX-MFS proteins during the evolution of streptophytes accompanied the change from ancestral polyP storage to Pi storage.

Selection in monoculture vs. mixture alters plant metabolic fingerprints

Aims In grassland biodiversity experiments,positive biodiversity effects on primary productivity increase over time.recent research has shown that differential selection in monoculture and mixed-species communities leads to the rapid emergence of monoculture and mix-ture types,adapted to their own biotic community.We used eight plant species selected for 8 years in such a biodiversity experiment to test if monoculture and mixture types differed in metabolic pro-files using infrared spectroscopy.Methods Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIr)was used to assess metabolic fingerprints of leaf samples of 10 individuals of each species from either monocultures or mixtures.The FTIr spectra were analyzed using multivariate procedures to assess(i)whether indi-viduals within species could be correctly assigned to monoculture or mixture history based on the spectra alone and(ii)which parts of the spectra drive the group assignment,i.e.which metabolic groups were subject to differential selection in monocultures vs.mixtures.Important Findings Plant individuals within each of the eight species could be classified as either from monoculture or mixture selection history based on their FTIr spectra.Different metabolic groups were differentially selected in the different species;some of them may be related to defense of patho-gens accumulating more strongly in monocultures than in mixtures.The rapid selection of the monoculture and mixture types within the eight study species could have been due to a sorting-out process based on large initial genetic or epigenetic variation within the species.

Nucleotide bias of DCL and AGO in plant anti-virus gene silencing

Plant Dicer-like(DCL)and Argonaute(AGO)are the key enzymes involved in anti-virus post-transcriptional gene silencing(AV-PTGS).Here we show that AV-PTGS exhibited nucleotide preference by calculating a relative AV-PTGS efficiency on processing viral RNA substrates.In comparison with genome sequences of dicot-infecting Turnip mosaic virus(TuMV)and monocot-infecting Cocksfoot streak virus(CSV),viral-derived small interfering RNAs(vsiRNAs)displayed positive correlations between AV-PTGS efficiency and G+C content(GC%).Further investigations on nucleotide contents revealed that the vsiRNA populations had G-biases.This finding was further supported by our analyses of previously reported vsiRNA populations in diverse plant-virus associations,and AGO associated Arabidopsis endogenous siRNA populations,indicating that plant AGOs operated with G-preference.We further propose a hypothesis that AV-PTGS imposes selection pressure(s)on the evolution of plant viruses.This hypothesis was supported when potyvirus genomes were analysed for evidence of GC elimination,suggesting that plant virus evolution to have low GC%genomes would have a unique function,which is to reduce the host AV-PTGS attack during infections.