Article
Microbiology
Niccolo Forin, Alfredo Vizzini, Federico Fainelli, Enrico Ercole, Barbara Baldan
Summary: A recent study re-examined nine different types of Rosellinia using morphological and molecular approaches, proposing new combinations for some species based on ITS sequence analysis. The study also introduced a new name for an invalid taxon and highlighted the importance of molecular studies on historical type specimens.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hongjie Li, Xue Kang, Mengyi Yang, Boris Dodji Kasseney, Xuguo Zhou, Shiyou Liang, Xiaojie Zhang, Jia-Long Wen, Baoting Yu, Ning Liu, Yufen Zhao, Jianchu Mo, Cameron R. Currie, John Ralph, Daniel J. Yelle
Summary: Plant cell walls, which are rich in organic carbon, are difficult to degrade due to lignin barriers. However, termites have evolved the ability to efficiently degrade lignified woody plants. This study reveals the mechanism of lignin depolymerization by termites, as well as the evolutionary origin of lignin degradation in termites. These findings have implications for the development of ligninolytic agents.
Article
Biology
Niwana Wangsawat, Yu-Ming Ju, Cherdchai Phosri, Anthony J. S. Whalley, Nuttika Suwannasai
Summary: Xylaria species are valued for their medicinal properties and production of bioactive compounds. This study in Thailand identified 12 new Xylaria taxa and two species resembling known species from termite nests or soil. The findings highlight the high diversity of the subgenus Pseudoxylaria in the country.
Review
Mycology
Sajeewa S. N. Maharachchikumbura, Yanpeng Chen, Hiran A. Ariyawansa, Kevin D. Hyde, Danny Haelewaters, Rekhani H. Perera, Milan C. Samarakoon, Dhanushka N. Wanasinghe, Danilo E. Bustamante, Jian-Kui Liu, Daniel P. Lawrence, Ratchadawan Cheewangkoon, Marc Stadler
Summary: Disturbances caused by human activities result in biodiversity loss and call for more effective ways to discover and delimit species. The paper reviews the main approaches used to delimit species in the phylum Ascomycota, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each species concept. The advancement in phylogenetic methods has increased the rate of species discovery, but challenges such as gene tree heterogeneity still hinder species delimitation in low-rank phylogenies.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vladislav Susoy, Aravinthan D. T. Samuel
Summary: This study describes a case of behavioral plasticity in the nematode C. elegans. The male performs parallel mating on agar plates, but performs spiral mating in liquid media. Spiral mating improves with experience and does not require long-term environmental changes.
Article
Entomology
Fang-Yu Zhao, Lan Yang, Quan-Xuan Zou, Abid Ali, Shu-Qiang Li, Zhi-Yuan Yao
Summary: Pholcus spiders were found for the first time in the Luliang Mountains of North China, and DNA analyses identified them as nine separate species, eight of which are new to science.
Article
Microbiology
Urania Lortou, Emmanuel Panteris, Spyros Gkelis
Summary: Using a polyphasic approach, this study investigated and characterized 18 Chlorophyta isolates. Results revealed the establishment of four new genera and five new species, with some of them being reported for the first time in specific aquatic environments.
Article
Zoology
Emmanouela Karameta, Petros Lymberakis, Heinz Grillitsch, Cetin Ilgaz, Aziz Avci, Yusuf Kumluta, Kamil Candan, Philipp Wagner, Spyros Sfenthourakis, Panayiotis Pafilis, Nikos Poulakakis
Summary: Situated in the Eastern Mediterranean, the region offers an ideal setting to study the effects of palaeogeography, ecology, and long human presence on animal evolution. The study on Laudakia stellio reveals its high morphological variation and suggests that it represents three distinct evolutionary entities. The research also highlights the role of humans in shaping the present distribution patterns and the importance of specific areas as refugia and diversity hotspots.
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Gustavo Silva De Miranda, Alessandro P. L. Giupponi, Nikolaj Scharff, Lorenzo Prendini
Summary: This study investigates the phylogeny and biogeography of the pantropical whip spider family Charinidae using morphology and multilocus DNA sequences. Charinidae are monophyletic, with Weygoldtia as the sister group to a monophyletic group comprising Charinus and Sarax. The divergence of Charinus and Sarax coincides with the fragmentation of Pangaea.
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Nobuaki Mizumoto, Thomas Bourguignon
Summary: The study found that the body size of termites did not unidirectionally reduce, but diversified along with speciation events. This suggests that the evolution of advanced termite societies did not lead to further body size reduction.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biology
Fabiola Lucini, Guilherme Afonso Kessler de Andrade, Filipe de Carvalho Victoria, Margeli Pereira de Albuquerque
Summary: This study characterized fungi isolated from the leaves of two plant species in Antarctica. The identified fungi were associated with the plants and showed characteristics of both plant pathogens and endophytic fungi. These findings provide important information about the relationship between endemic Antarctic biota.
Article
Mycology
Malka Saba, Abdul Nasir Khalid, Samina Sarwar
Summary: This study investigated six species of Mallocybe from Pakistan using morphological and phylogenetic methods. Two new species, M. pakistanica and M. pinicola, were discovered and described. The study also included morphological comparisons with closely-related taxa and provided a key for identifying Mallocybe species in Pakistan.
Article
Microbiology
Elisa Garrido-Huescar, Elena Gonzalez-Burgos, Paul M. Kirika, Joel Boustie, Solenn Ferron, M. Pilar Gomez-Serranillos, Helge Thorsten Lumbsch, Pradeep K. Divakar
Summary: This study used molecular data to address species delineation in the parmelioid genus Canoparmelia and identified two clades with distinct pharmacological properties. The phylogenetic analysis supported the separation of these two clades as distinct species, with the proposal of a new species C. kakamegaensis. This study highlights the importance of using molecular data to detect potential species with overlooked pharmacological properties.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Shantanu Kundu, Manokaran Kamalakannan, Ah Ran Kim, Vishwanath D. Hegde, Dhriti Banerjee, Won-Kyo Jung, Young-Mog Kim, Hyun-Woo Kim
Summary: The current study reevaluates the systematic status of Suncus niger from its original distribution in Southern India using morphology and mitochondrial genetic data. It confirms S. niger as a distinct species and adds new range extension and elevation records in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. The study highlights the importance of further genomic studies to understand the evolutionary trend of Soricomorphs.
Article
Plant Sciences
Itziar Arnelas, Ernesto Perez-Collazos, Josefa Lopez-Martinez, Juan Antonio Devesa, Pilar Catalan
Summary: This study examines the systematic value of carpological traits in the taxonomically complex genus Valerianella. The results show that these traits are useful in classifying the genus at higher taxonomic ranks, but not at the species level for certain species pairs. Genetic data support the taxonomic classification at the sectional level, but reveal admixture for some species pairs. The study also describes a new section within the genus to accommodate a highly divergent species.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Markus Osaland Fjelde, Einar Timdal, Reidar Haugan, Mika Bendiksby
Summary: This study investigated the taxonomy of the crustose lichen genus Calvitimela using molecular phylogenetics and morphological observations. The results revealed evolutionarily old and deeply divergent lineages within Calvitimela, with overlapping morphological characters between different subgenera. Chemical characters were informative at the level of subgenera but often homoplastic at the species level. A practical taxonomy of Calvitimela was proposed based on these findings.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Bo-Yang Shi, Da Pan, Kang-Qin Zhang, Tian-Yu Gu, Darren C. J. Yeo, Peter K. L. Ng, Neil Cumberlidge, Hong-Ying Sun
Summary: This study investigates the evolutionary history and speciation mechanisms of montane potamids in the Hengduan Mountains Region. The results suggest that the vicariance events of these crabs are correlated with the emergence of sky islands due to the uplift of the mountains. The mountain ridges provided corridors for their dispersal and past climatic conditions played a crucial role in their evolutionary history. The mechanisms isolating sky islands are reinforced by the climatic features of dry-hot valleys and continue to affect local diversification.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Attila Nemeth, Edvard Mizsei, Levente Laczko, David Czaban, Zsolt Hegyeli, Szabolcs Lengyel, Gabor Csorba, Gabor Sramko
Summary: Species delimitation of European blind mole rats is challenging due to their small morphological differences and complex chromosomal evolution. This study provides a comprehensive framework to improve understanding of their evolutionary history and revise their taxonomy. The results reveal the presence of multiple superspecies and species, with distinct geographic patterns and rapid chromosomal evolution.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ying Qi, Zhaoyan Zhong, Xu Liu, Xing He, Yadong Zhou, Lili Zhang, Chong Chen, Katrin Linse, Jian-Wen Qiu, Jin Sun
Summary: This study investigates the phylogenetic relationships among patellogastropod families using mitochondrial and phylogenomic data. The results show that the mitochondrial phylogeny recovers monophyly of most families, but the relationships among families are still contentious. However, a more robust family-level topology consistent with morphology is achieved by phylogenomics. Additionally, the mainly deep-water families are found to be monophyletic, suggesting a single colonization of the deep water during the Jurassic.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yu-Jie Shi, Jin -Liang Huang, Jia-Xuan Mi, Jing Li, Fan-Yu Meng, Yu Zhong, Fang He, Fei -Fei Tian, Fan Zhang, Liang-Hua Chen, Han-Bo Yang, Hong-Lin Hu, Xue-Qin Wan
Summary: Despite numerous studies on hybrid speciation, our understanding of this process remains limited. In this study, we conducted an 18-year systematic investigation on Populus taxa on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and discovered three new taxa that originated from distant hybridization between two different sections. These hybrid taxa demonstrate greater ecological adaptability than their ancestral species due to heterosis. We propose a hybrid speciation process model that can explain important evolutionary concerns.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Anna Cho, Denis Tikhonenkov, Gordon Lax, Kristina I. Prokina, Patrick J. Keeling
Summary: Unlike conspicuous ochrophytes, many small and overlooked flagellates belonging to basally branching stramenopiles remain poorly characterized at the cellular or genomic level. This study describes four new species, including two new genera, of sediment-dwelling MAST-6 and provides updated phylogenomic tree of stramenopiles. The characterization of these flagellates is important due to their phylogenetic diversity and abundance in various environments.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tian-Tian Xue, Steven B. Janssens, Bin-Bin Liu, Sheng-Xiang Yu
Summary: Phylogenomic conflicts are widespread among genomic data, with most previous studies primarily focusing on nuclear datasets instead of organellar genomes. In this study, we investigated the phylogenetic conflicts within and between plastid and mitochondrial genomes using Potentilla as a case study. We found that both plastid and mitochondrial genomes divided Potentilla into eight highly supported clades, with two newly identified clades. Our results demonstrate that mitochondrial genes can fully resolve phylogenetic relationships among major clades of Potentilla and are not always linked with plastomes in evolutionary history.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alexandra A. Grossi, Chunpo Tian, Mengjiao Ren, Fasheng Zou, Daniel R. Gustafsson
Summary: This study suggests that the coevolutionary relationships between chewing lice, endosymbiotic bacteria, and birds are not independent, but the patterns vary depending on the analysis method used. Additionally, louse host-switching does not seem to affect bacterial strains.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ingrid Olivares, Sergio Tusso, Maria Jose Sanin, Marylaure de La Harpe, Oriane Loiseau, Jonathan Rolland, Nicolas Salamin, Michael Kessler, Kentaro K. Shimizu, Margot Paris
Summary: Traditionally, differences between species have been associated with morphological variation. However, the discovery of cryptic diversity suggests that the evolution of distinct lineages can occur without morphological differences. Through genetic analysis, we found that a tropical montane plant lineage is composed of numerous unrecognized genetic groups that are not morphologically distinct. Geographic distance and topography play a crucial role in determining the genetic divergence of these groups.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2024)
