Review
Plant Sciences
Adrian G. Dyer, Anke Jentsch, Martin Burd, Jair E. Garcia, Justyna Giejsztowt, Maria G. G. Camargo, Even Tjorve, Kathleen M. C. Tjorve, Peter White, Mani Shrestha
Summary: Blue is a favored color among humans, but less frequently observed in flowers. Animals perceive blue differently from humans, with bee pollinators having preferences for short-wavelength reflecting colors. The evolution of blue flowers may be driven by competition for pollinators and environmental factors.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Laura A. Nunes, Christopher J. Raxworthy, Richard G. Pearson
Summary: The study demonstrates that biogeographic and ecological processes play crucial roles in driving speciation, rather than solely relying on geographic isolation. Strong bimodal peaks along a niche divergence-conservation spectrum were observed, with most sister pairs exhibiting either niche conservation or divergence.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Ana P. Dornellas, Roberta M. Graboski, Michael E. Hellberg, Tito M. C. Lotufo
Summary: The rocky intertidal gastropods Agathistoma viridulum and A. hotessierianum have an anti-tropical distribution from the Caribbean to southern Brazil, with genetic analyses revealing some phylogeographic patterns but insignificant morphological differences. Detailed taxon sampling and additional genetic data are needed to establish more robust relationships among Tegulinae.
Article
Ecology
Martin Streinzer, Johann Neumayer, Johannes Spaethe
Summary: Entomophilous plants have evolved colorful floral displays to attract flower visitors for pollination, but the underlying reasons for insect color preferences are still not well understood. Bumble bees in alpine environments show a strong innate preference for UV-blue and blue colors, but floral color is not a reliable signal for nectar reward quantity in the surveyed habitat.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
N. A. Cairns, A. S. Cicchino, K. A. Stewart, J. D. Austin, S. C. Lougheed
Summary: The spring peeper has a complex genetic history with extensive mitonuclear discordance and nuclear introgression at some contact zones, despite having ancient origins and appearing unified. Male advertisement call differentiation is incongruent with the genetic structure, indicating complex processes influencing its contemporary patterns. The Western lineage occupying the Interior Highlands of the central United States shows the most concordant mitochondrial and nuclear geographic patterns.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Review
Plant Sciences
Judith Trunschke, Klaus Lunau, Graham H. Pyke, Zong-Xin Ren, Hong Wang
Summary: The evolution of floral traits in animal-pollinated plants involves the interaction between flowers and pollinators. Research shows that pollinator-mediated selection has limited impact on continuous color variation in flowers. The complex interactions between flower colors and pollinator sensory abilities, cognitive responses, and behavior warrant further investigation in understanding the distribution of color phenotypes and fitness.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Johanne Brunet, Andrew J. Flick, Austin A. Bauer
Summary: Plants exhibit diverse floral forms and different pollinators exert varying selection patterns on floral traits. Bees select on floral display size and flower color, with correlational selection potentially facilitating flower color evolution. Different bee species exhibit similar selection patterns on some traits but different patterns on others, highlighting the importance of considering distinct pollinators in studies of floral trait evolution.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Irshad Ahmad Khan, Ke Cao, Jian Guo, Yong Li, Qi Wang, Xuanwen Yang, Jinlong Wu, Weichao Fang, Lirong Wang
Summary: Through weightage gene coexpression network analysis, a network of 15 hub genes related to the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway in peach flowers was identified, with MYB108 playing a crucial role in activating PpDFR. Additionally, the insertion of MYB binding site in the core promoter region of PpDFR in red flowers and its positive interaction with PpMYB108 further supported the role of PpMYB108 as a transcriptional activator for anthocyanin biosynthesis.
Article
Plant Sciences
Sissi Lozada-Gobilard, Nadine Nielsen, Yuval Sapir
Summary: Large flowers and black patches may act as honest signals, indicating the size of the shelter to Eucera bees. This study found a positive correlation between flower and patch size with tunnel volume, suggesting that they are honest signals under controlled and natural conditions. However, the effect on fitness was population-specific in natural populations.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Mingming Cheng, Weijun Li, Chenyan Li, Qianjin Wang, Qiuhong Tan, Weiye Yang, Yingkai Liu
Summary: Au@CuO flower-like materials (FMs) exhibited enhanced detection response to ethanol under UV light illumination, making them a promising candidate for ethanol detection.
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Mengwen Lv, Yong Yang, Patrick Choisy, Tao Xu, Karl Pays, Ling Zhang, Jin Zhu, Qianyu Wang, Shanshan Li, Liangsheng Wang
Summary: Genus Paeonia is an important ornamental and medicinal crop with flowers rich in flavonoids, which have excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, flavonoids were extracted from six popular Paeonia cultivars, and 60% ethanol showed the highest extraction efficiency. The extracts showed potential in preventing skin aging and reducing the production of reactive oxygen species and matrix metalloproteinases.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Mar Sobral, Isabelle P. Neylan, Eduardo Narbona, Rodolfo Dirzo
Summary: The study found that flower color in wild radish plants is influenced by herbivory and associated with transgenerational chromatin modifications. These results contribute to our understanding of flower color evolution, highlighting the significance of herbivory in plant populations worldwide.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Lifei Chen, Bin Xia, Ziwei Li, Xiaowei Liu, Yun Bai, Yujia Yang, Wenjie Gao, Qingran Meng, Ning Xu, Ying Sun, Qiang Li, Liran Yue, Miao He, Yunwei Zhou
Summary: We presented a chromosome-scale genome assembly of Syringa oblata and identified important genes involved in its ornamental traits. Additionally, we identified and analyzed the major floral volatiles formation genes in Syringa oblata. These results provide important references for mechanistic studies on the main ornamental traits and molecular breeding in Syringa oblata.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Marina M. Strelin, Pamela K. Diggle, Marcelo A. Aizen
Summary: Crop improvement should take into account the coordinated and predictable response of plants to genetic and environmental variation, particularly the impact of flower heterochrony on crop yield and hybrid crop varieties.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ye Ai, Qing-Dong Zheng, Meng-Jie Wang, Long-Wei Xiong, Peng Li, Li-Ting Guo, Meng-Yao Wang, Dong-Hui Peng, Si-Ren Lan, Zhong-Jian Liu
Summary: In this study, transcriptome and metabolome analyses were conducted to understand the formation mechanism of different flower colors in Cymbidium ensifolium. The results revealed differences in metabolites and expression levels of anthocyanin biosynthetic enzyme genes in different colored sepals. Key genes involved in anthocyanin production and the important role of CeMYB104 in flower color formation were also identified.
PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2023)