Review
Physics, Nuclear
M. Baldo, L. M. Robledo, X. Vinas
Summary: The foundation and applications of the Barcelona Catania Paris Madrid (BCPM) energy density functional are briefly reviewed. BCPM uses a paradigm more rooted on density functional theory and fits most of its parameters to sophisticated microscopic nuclear matter calculations. Finite nuclei are accounted for by introducing a direct finite range surface term, spin orbit potential, Coulomb interaction and pairing. Applications of this functional to the calculation of finite nuclei properties are presented as well as applications to the description of neutron star physics. The large number of applications discussed are possible because of the local character of the functional that simplifies enormously calculations in finite nuclei.
EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL A
(2023)
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Shruthi Balachandra, Sharanya Sarkar, Amanda A. Amodeo
Summary: Cell maintains a relatively constant nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio by coupling DNA content, nuclear size, and cell size, which plays a crucial role in cell growth and cycle progression to meet physiological demands.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Cristiana Bersaglieri, Jelena Kresoja-Rakic, Shivani Gupta, Dominik Baer, Rostyslav Kuzyakiv, Martina Panatta, Raffaella Santoro
Summary: The authors developed a method to map nucleolar-associated domains using DNA methylation, and characterized these domains in mouse embryonic stem cells and neural progenitor cells. They found distinct chromatin states and changes in genome architecture during differentiation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Oncology
Chi-Ju Kim, Anna L. K. Gonye, Kevin Truskowski, Cheng-Fan Lee, Yoon-Kyoung Cho, Robert H. Austin, Kenneth J. Pienta, Sarah R. Amend
Summary: The emergence of chemotherapy resistance is a major cause of cancer lethality in patients. This study investigates the cell biological characteristics of surviving cancer cells following cisplatin treatment in prostate cancer. The findings reveal that surviving cells show increased cell and nuclear size, as well as more efficient DNA damage repair. These results shed light on the mechanisms of cancer resistance and recurrence.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Rana Nandi, Subrata Pal
Summary: The detection of gravitational waves from GW170817 has provided an opportunity to study the possible existence of quarks inside neutron star cores. It was found that several nucleonic EOSs can support the presence of a pure quark matter core within a small mass and radius. Even with a nucleon-quark phase transition, the strong correlation between tidal deformability and neutron star radii persists and provides an upper limit on the radius for a 1.4M neutron star.
EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL-SPECIAL TOPICS
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Tao Fujiwara, Hongmei Liu, Esteban Meza-Torres, Rita E. Morero, Alvaro J. Vega, Zhenlong Liang, Atsushi Ebihara, Ilia J. Leitch, Harald Schneider
Summary: By recording parameters related to genome size and chromosome number, we demonstrated the importance of genome diversity and disparity in shaping fern species diversity.
Article
Plant Sciences
Radka Vozarova, Wencai Wang, Jana Lunerova, Fengqing Shao, Jaume Pellicer, Ilia J. Leitch, Andrew R. Leitch, Ales Kovarik
Summary: This study analyzed the abundance and homogeneity of telomeric repeats in a wide range of plant species and found a positive correlation between repeat abundance and intragenomic sequence heterogeneity. The research revealed unique patterns of telomeric repeat diversity in different plant taxa.
Article
Plant Sciences
Miguel Campos, Emma Kelley, Barbara Gravendeel, Frederic Medail, J. M. Maarten Christenhusz, Michael F. Fay, Pilar Catalan, Ilia J. Leitch, Felix Forest, Paul Wilkin, Juan Viruel
Summary: This study investigates taxon delimitation in the Tamus clade using an integrative approach combining phylogenomic, spatial and morphological data. The results confirm the monophyly of the two previously accepted species, D. communis and D. orientalis, in the Tamus clade. Three subclades with distinctive geographic patterns were identified within D. communis, which were also identifiable from morphometric and climatic data. It shows that integrated genomic, spatial and morphological approaches allow a more accurate definition of species boundaries and identification of previously undiscovered species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Lin Fu, Luis Palazzesi, Jaume Pellicer, Manica Balant, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Luca Pegoraro, Ivan Perez-Lorenzo, Ilia J. Leitch, Oriane Hidalgo
Summary: Asteraceae, or the daisy family, is one of the most diverse plant families, commonly found in grasslands, deserts, savannas, and high-elevation mountains. They have a unique inflorescence called the capitulum, which resembles a flower but is actually composed of tightly grouped florets. The capitulum is a key characteristic that contributes to the evolutionary success of the family and is economically important due to its use in agriculture and horticulture. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive understanding of the morphological diversity of capitula in different lineages of Asteraceae. To address this, a protocol for dissecting and characterizing the full diversity of capitula has been developed.
BOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pol Fernandez, Ilia J. Leitch, Andrew R. Leitch, Oriane Hidalgo, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Lisa Pokorny, Jaume Pellicer
Summary: Giant genomes are rare in the plant kingdom, with most research focusing on angiosperms and gymnosperms. However, a study on ferns reveals differences in genome organization and dynamics. The genus Tmesipteris has two species with giant genomes, which exhibit high repeat diversity compared to small-genome taxa.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Michael F. Fay
BOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Roberta Gargiulo, Robin S. Waples, Adri K. Grow, Richard P. Shefferson, Juan Viruel, Michael F. Fay, Tiiu Kull
Summary: Estimating effective population size (N-e) is important, but it remains challenging for organisms with complex life-history traits. In this study, we examined how clonal versus sexual reproduction affected N-e in two populations of the orchid Cypripedium calceolus. The results showed that N-e in partially clonal plants cannot be predicted solely based on the number of genets generated by sexual reproduction.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Antonia Diakostefani, Rania Velissaris, Emilia Cvijanovic, Robin Bulgin, Andriana Pantelides, Ilia J. Leitch, Sahr Mian, Joseph A. Morton, Marybel Soto Gomez, Mark A. Chapman
Summary: Underutilised crops have great potential for breeding programmes in the face of climate change and population growth due to their improved stress tolerance and/or nutrition. Therefore, developing genome resources for these crops can enhance their use by providing insights into population structure, phylogeny, candidate genes, and linkage mapping. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the nuclear and plastid genomes of five underutilised legumes and developed a pipeline to identify thousands of markers that can be used in other species. Our findings provide valuable information for genomic and population genetic studies of these crops and offer approaches for investigating other important yet underutilised crops.
GENETIC RESOURCES AND CROP EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Rowena Hill, Quentin Levicky, Frances Pitsillides, Amy Junnonen, Elena Arrigoni, J. Miguel Bonnin, Anthony Kermode, Sahr Mian, Ilia J. Leitch, Alan G. Buddie, Richard J. A. Buggs, Ester Gaya
Summary: The Ascomycota, the largest phylum in the fungal kingdom, exhibit diverse lifestyles, including associations with plants. This study focuses on the relatively understudied endophytic ascomycetes, which are asymptomatic inhabitants of plants. By sequencing and assembling genomes for 15 endophytic ascomycete strains and using phylogenetic analysis, the researchers refined the classification of taxa and provided valuable insights into plant-fungal interactions. They also demonstrated the importance of cytometric genome size estimates in assessing assembly completeness.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Theo Llewellyn, Sahr Mian, Rowena Hill, Ilia J. Leitch, Ester Gaya
Summary: Lichen-forming fungi are important symbionts with diverse genomes. Accurate genome size measurements can be obtained from lichen thalli and used to assess the completeness of metagenome-derived assemblies.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Max R. Brown, Peter M. Hollingsworth, Laura L. Forrest, Michelle L. Hart, Ilia J. Leitch, Laura Jones, Col Ford, Natasha de Vere, Alex D. Twyford
Summary: Natural hybridization can have significant evolutionary impacts, ranging from the extinction of rare taxa to the origin of new species. However, the factors that promote or prevent hybridization vary greatly among different lineages. A study on over 1,100 UK flowering plant species reveals that genetic factors, such as parental genetic distance, as well as phylogenetic position and ploidy, are key determinants of hybrid formation. Other factors like range overlap and genus size contribute less to the variation in hybrid formation. Overall, genetic factors play a crucial role in shaping the evolutionary and ecological consequences of natural hybridization in a plant flora.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jacopo Calevo, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Michael F. Fay
Summary: Orchis patens was previously believed to have three disjunct populations in northern Italy, Algeria/Tunisia, and the Canary Islands. While the population in the Canary Islands is commonly referred to as O. canariensis, there has been doubt about the name for the Italian taxon because the type specimen of O. patens is from the Algerian populations. In this study, we reviewed the taxonomic literature and provided a key based on recently published molecular data for these three taxa in the Orchis section Robustocalcare. We concluded that Orchis patens subsp. brevicornis is the correct name for the Italian taxon.
Article
Plant Sciences
Andrew R. Leitch, Lu Ma, Steven Dodsworth, Joerg Fuchs, Andreas Houben, Ilia J. Leitch
Summary: Angiosperm genomes consist of genes and their regulatory regions, repeats, semi-degraded repeats, and "dark matter". This study compares the histone modifications associated with chromatin packaging of these different genomic components in two species with significantly different genome sizes. The results reveal distinct associations between certain histone marks and different genomic features, providing insights into epigenetic profiles and chromatin organization.
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Sreetama Bhadra, Ilia J. Leitch, Renske E. Onstein
Summary: This opinion article discusses the role of genome size in angiosperm diversification and proposes a framework to understand how genome size influences trait evolution, evolutionary radiations, and the global distribution of angiosperms.
TRENDS IN GENETICS
(2023)
