Mapping nutrient resorption efficiencies of subarctic cryptogams and seed plants onto the Tree of Life

Nutrient resorption from senescing photosynthetic organs is a powerful mechanism for conserving nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in infertile environments. Evolution has resulted in enhanced differentiation of conducting tissues to facilitate transport of photosynthate to other plant parts, ultimately leading to phloem. Such tissues may also serve to translocate N and P to other plant parts upon their senescence. Therefore, we hypothesize that nutrient resorption efficiency (RE, % of nutrient pool exported) should correspond with the degree of specialization of these conducting tissues across the autotrophic branches of the Tree of Life. To test this hypothesis, we had to compare members of different plant clades and lichens within a climatic region, to minimize confounding effects of climatic drivers on nutrient resorption. Thus, we compared RE among wide‐ranging basal clades from the principally N‐limited subarctic region, employing a novel method to correct for mass loss during senescence. Even with the limited numbers of species available for certain clades in this region, we found some consistent patterns. Mosses, lichens, and lycophytes generally showed low RE_N (<20%), liverworts and conifers intermediate (40%) and monilophytes, eudicots, and monocots high (>70%). RE_P appeared higher in eudicots and liverworts than in mosses. Within mosses, taxa with more efficient conductance also showed higher RE_N. The differences in RE_N among clades broadly matched the degree of specialization of conducting tissues. This novel mapping of a physiological process onto the Tree of Life broadly supports the idea that the evolution of conducting tissues toward specialized phloem has aided land plants to optimize their internal nitrogen recycling. The generality of evolutionary lines in conducting tissues and nutrient resorption efficiency needs to be tested across different floras in different climatic regions with different levels of N versus P availability.     

林木遗传连锁图谱构建研究进展与发展方向

本文就目前国内外林木连锁遗传图谱领域的研究进展进行了综述,指出了该领域研究中存在的主要问题,即一方面是作图个体的数量有限,另一方面是采用的标记以随机标记为主,导致了建成的图谱以及利用图谱获得的数量性状基因位点（QTLs）信息具有杂交组合特异性,造成了QTLs的可信度和在林木遗传改良以及标记辅助选择中的实用性降低等现象。针对存在的问题,讨论了根据林木生物学特点选择合适遗传标记的意义,指出进行林木比较作图研究的重要性和必要性。文中接着较为详尽地介绍了国外重要林木表达序列标签（EST）测序项目的研究进展,论述了功能已知和种间高度保守的表达序列标签多态性（ESTP）标记的由来,阐述了获得ESTP标记的主要方法,并指出应当利用ESTP标记进行林木遗传图谱构建、QTL定位和比较作图的研究。文中最后讨论了未来林木遗传图谱构建和QTL定位研究的发展方向,并探讨了我国在该领域取得重大进展的突破口,指出我国应首先进行杨树尤其是中国乡土杨树树种该方面的研究。 Abstract:The research progress in genetic linkage map construction of forest tree species both at home and abroad were reviewed in the paper.Two main problems involved in the field were discussed.One was the limitation of the number of individuals of mapping populations and the other was the random markers mostly employed by the majority of studies.These problems have resulted in crossing combination specificity in the constructed maps and the QTLs located on the basis of the maps.As a result,the QTLs discovered up to now have low credibility and poor practicability in marker-assisted selection.Therefore considering the biological characteristics of forest tree species,the selection of the most suitable genetic markers is crucial to obtain a high quality genetic linkage map,and it is both important and necessary to carry out comparative genetic mapping.Progress in the ongoing expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing projects were summarized and EST polymorphism (ESTP),the most informative and highly conservative marker with known function,as well as the main ESTP detection techniques were elaborated.It was pointed out that ESTP markers should be integrated into the present studies of genetic linkage map construction,QTL mapping and genome comparative mapping.Finally the future prospects in the fields of genetic linkage map and QTL mapping were discussed.In China,Such studies around Populus,especially in the local Populus species should make a breakthrough in the related fields.     

Depicting the Tree of Life: the Philosophical and Historical Roots of Evolutionary Tree Diagrams

It is a popularly held view that Darwin was the first author to draw a phylogenetic tree diagram. However, as is the case with most popular beliefs, this one also does not hold true. Firstly, Darwin never called his diagram of common descent a tree. Secondly, even before Darwin, tree diagrams were used by a variety of philosophical, religious, and secular scholars to depict phenomena such as “logical relationships,” “affiliations,” “genealogical descent,” “affinity,” and “historical relatedness” between the elements portrayed on the tree. Moreover, historically, tree diagrams themselves can be grouped into a larger class of diagrams that were drawn to depict natural and/or divine order in the world. In this paper, we trace the historical roots and cultural meanings of these tree diagrams. It will be demonstrated that tree diagrams as we know them are the outgrowth of ancient philosophical attempts to find the “true order” of the world, and to map the world “as it is” (ontologically), according to its true essence. This philosophical idea would begin a fascinating journey throughout Western European history. It lies at the foundation of the famous “scala naturae,” as well as religious and secular genealogical thinking, especially in regard to divine, familial (kinship), and linguistic pedigrees that were often depicted by tree images. These scala naturae would fuse with genealogical, pedigree thinking, and the trees that were the result of this blend would, from the nineteenth century onward, also include the element of time. The recognition of time would eventually lead to the recognition of evolution as a fact of nature, and subsequently, tree iconographies would come to represent exclusively the evolutionary descent of species.     

DNA Ligases: Progress and Prospects

DNA ligases seal 5′-PO₄ and 3′-OH polynucleotide ends via three nucleotidyl transfer steps involving ligase-adenylate and DNA-adenylate intermediates. DNA ligases are essential guardians of genomic integrity, and ligase dysfunction underlies human genetic disease syndromes. Crystal structures of DNA ligases bound to nucleotide and nucleic acid substrates have illuminated how ligase reaction chemistry is catalyzed, how ligases recognize damaged DNA ends, and how protein domain movements and active-site remodeling are used to choreograph the end-joining pathway. Although a shared feature of DNA ligases is their envelopment of the nicked duplex as a C-shaped protein clamp, they accomplish this feat by using remarkably different accessory structural modules and domain topologies. As structural, biochemical, and phylogenetic insights coalesce, we can expect advances on several fronts, including (i) pharmacological targeting of ligases for antibacterial and anticancer therapies and (ii) the discovery and design of new strand-sealing enzymes with unique substrate specificities.     

Single-cell Proteomics: Progress and Prospects

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Highlights

• •Label-free and isobaric labeling approaches for in-depth profiling of single cells.
• •Miniaturization and simplification of sample processing reduce surface losses.
• •Nanoflow separations enhance ionization efficiency and reduced chemical noise.
• •Ultrasensitive mass spectrometry and gas-phase separation add selectivity.

     

生命条形码与生命之树

生命条形码和生命之树的研究与应用在近十年内备受关注,成为生命科学研究领域的两个热点。本文综述了生命条形码和生命之树的概念来源、研究现状、面临问题与解决方案,并对其发展前景进行了展望。生命之树概念的形成有着悠久的历史渊源,DNA条形码的提出和实施则只有十年的历史,两者均得益于测序技术和生物信息技术的蓬勃发展;但两者的目的不同,生命条形码技术旨在实现对物种的快速鉴定,而生命之树研究的主要目的则是重建生命世界的起源和进化历史以及各生物类群之间的亲缘关系,因此应根据两者不同的目标任务而采取相应的发展思路和顶层设计。本文针对目前生命条形码和生命之树研究领域遇到的瓶颈和问题进行了阐述,并提出了相应的解决方案。最后,作者建议我国学者抓住机遇．与多个领域的学者和工程技术人员广泛合作,推动DNA条形码鉴定技术和生命之树理论研究的快速发展。     

Rooting the Animal Tree of Life

Identifying our most distant animal relatives has emerged as one of the most challenging problems in phylogenetics. This debate has major implications for our understanding of the origin of multicellular animals and of the earliest events in animal evolution, including the origin of the nervous system. Some analyses identify sponges as our most distant animal relatives (Porifera-sister hypothesis), and others identify comb jellies (Ctenophora-sister hypothesis). These analyses vary in many respects, making it difficult to interpret previous tests of these hypotheses. To gain insight into why different studies yield different results, an important next step in the ongoing debate, we systematically test these hypotheses by synthesizing 15 previous phylogenomic studies and performing new standardized analyses under consistent conditions with additional models. We find that Ctenophora-sister is recovered across the full range of examined conditions, and Porifera-sister is recovered in some analyses under narrow conditions when most outgroups are excluded and site-heterogeneous CAT models are used. We additionally find that the number of categories in site-heterogeneous models is sufficient to explain the Porifera-sister results. Furthermore, our cross-validation analyses show CAT models that recover Porifera-sister have hundreds of additional categories and fail to fit significantly better than site-heterogenuous models with far fewer categories. Systematic and standardized testing of diverse phylogenetic models suggests that we should be skeptical of Porifera-sister results both because they are recovered under such narrow conditions and because the models in these conditions fit the data no better than other models that recover Ctenophora-sister.     

Speciation across the Tree of Life

Much of what we know about speciation comes from detailed studies of well-known model systems. Although there have been several important syntheses on speciation, few (if any) have explicitly compared speciation among major groups across the Tree of Life. Here, we synthesize and compare what is known about key aspects of speciation across taxa, including bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and major animal groups. We focus on three main questions. Is allopatric speciation predominant across groups? How common is ecological divergence of sister species (a requirement for ecological speciation), and on what niche axes do species diverge in each group? What are the reproductive isolating barriers in each group? Our review suggests the following patterns. (i) Based on our survey and projected species numbers, the most frequent speciation process across the Tree of Life may be co-speciation between endosymbiotic bacteria and their insect hosts. (ii) Allopatric speciation appears to be present in all major groups, and may be the most common mode in both animals and plants, based on non-overlapping ranges of sister species. (iii) Full sympatry of sister species is also widespread, and may be more common in fungi than allopatry. (iv) Full sympatry of sister species is more common in some marine animals than in terrestrial and freshwater ones. (v) Ecological divergence of sister species is widespread in all groups, including ~70% of surveyed species pairs of plants and insects. (vi) Major axes of ecological divergence involve species interactions (e.g. host-switching) and habitat divergence. (vii) Prezygotic isolation appears to be generally more widespread and important than postzygotic isolation. (viii) Rates of diversification (and presumably speciation) are strikingly different across groups, with the fastest rates in plants, and successively slower rates in animals, fungi, and protists, with the slowest rates in prokaryotes. Overall, our study represents an initial step towards understanding general patterns in speciation across all organisms.     

Synergy of Energy and Semiosis: Cooperation Climbs the Tree of Life

The course of biological evolution is regarded by many authors as an ascending path toward higher levels of variety, complexity and integration. There are similar but partly conflicting accounts of the nature and causes of this ascending course. With the aim of reaching a unified conception I start by summarily reviewing three notable examples. These are, in their latest presentations, those of Hoffmeyer and Stjernfelt 2015, Szathmáry 2015, and Lane 2015a. Comparison of their commonalities and divergences, combined with further reflections, leads to the following views: 1) cooperation (synergy) between preexistent traits and processes is the primary determinant in the emergence of evolutionary novelty; 2) cooperation is a triadic relation similar to semiosis (while semiosis is a particular form of cooperation); 3) regulation, the key element of both metabolism and replication, results from the cooperation of energetic and semiotic causation; 4) conceptual generalization (as in scientific reasoning) and concrete generalization (as in biological evolution) are fruits of cooperation. Conceptual generalizations spring from the cooperation of ideas. I believe these realizations supply essential elements for a unified view of the ascent of biological evolution towards higher levels of organization. Some of these conceptions are also applicable to similar ascending trajectories through the stages of cultural and technological evolution.     

The Tree versus the Forest: The Fungal Tree of Life and the Topological Diversity within the Yeast Phylome

A recurrent topic in phylogenomics is the combination of various sequence alignments to reconstruct a tree that describes the evolutionary relationships within a group of species. However, such approach has been criticized for not being able to properly represent the topological diversity found among gene trees. To evaluate the representativeness of species trees based on concatenated alignments, we reconstruct several fungal species trees and compare them with the complete collection of phylogenies of genes encoded in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. We found that, despite high levels of among-gene topological variation, the species trees do represent widely supported phylogenetic relationships. Most topological discrepancies between gene and species trees are concentrated in certain conflicting nodes. We propose to map such information on the species tree so that it accounts for the levels of congruence across the genome. We identified the lack of sufficient accuracy of current alignment and phylogenetic methods as an important source for the topological diversity encountered among gene trees. Finally, we discuss the implications of the high levels of topological variation for phylogeny-based orthology prediction strategies.     

Calibrating the Tree of Life: fossils, molecules and evolutionary timescales

Background

Molecular dating has gained ever-increasing interest since the molecular clock hypothesis was proposed in the 1960s. Molecular dating provides detailed temporal frameworks for divergence events in phylogenetic trees, allowing diverse evolutionary questions to be addressed. The key aspect of the molecular clock hypothesis, namely that differences in DNA or protein sequence between two species are proportional to the time elapsed since they diverged, was soon shown to be untenable. Other approaches were proposed to take into account rate heterogeneity among lineages, but the calibration process, by which relative times are transformed into absolute ages, has received little attention until recently. New methods have now been proposed to resolve potential sources of error associated with the calibration of phylogenetic trees, particularly those involving use of the fossil record.

Scope and Conclusions

The use of the fossil record as a source of independent information in the calibration process is the main focus of this paper; other sources of calibration information are also discussed. Particularly error-prone aspects of fossil calibration are identified, such as fossil dating, the phylogenetic placement of the fossil and the incompleteness of the fossil record. Methods proposed to tackle one or more of these potential error sources are discussed (e.g. fossil cross-validation, prior distribution of calibration points and confidence intervals on the fossil record). In conclusion, the fossil record remains the most reliable source of information for the calibration of phylogenetic trees, although associated assumptions and potential bias must be taken into account.     

Mapping of Bancroftian Filariasis in Cameroon: Prospects for Elimination

BackgroundLymphatic filariasis (LF) is one of the most debilitating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It still presents as an important public health problem in many countries in the tropics. In Cameroon, where many NTDs are endemic, only scant data describing the situation regarding LF epidemiology was available. The aim of this study was to describe the current situation regarding LF infection in Cameroon, and to map this infection and accurately delineate areas where mass drug administration (MDA) was required.MethodologyThe endemicity status and distribution of LF was assessed in eight of the ten Regions of Cameroon by a rapid-format card test for detection of W. bancrofti antigen (immunochromatographic test, ICT). The baseline data required to monitor the effectiveness of MDA was collected by assessing microfilariaemia in nocturnal calibrated thick blood smears in sentinel sites selected in the health districts where ICT positivity rate was ≥ 1%.Conclusion/significanceICT card test results showed that LF was endemic in all the Regions and in about 90% of the health districts surveyed. All of these health districts qualified for MDA (i.e. ICT positivity rate ≥ 1%). Microfilariaemia data collected as part of this study provided the national program with baseline data (sentinel sites) necessary to measure the impact of MDA on the endemicity level and transmission of LF important for the 2020 deadline for global elimination.