In a two-year controlled-environment experiment, diploid and tetraploid individuals of wild-type and cultivar Marshall annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) were grown under elevated CO2 (540 vs 800 ppm) and differing evapotranspiration regimes. Elevated CO2 increased total biomass by 44% across ploidy levels, and tetraploid wild-type plants matched the improved cultivar in growth and forage quality, indicating that chromosome manipulation and wild genetic resources can enhance climate resilience.
Phylogenomic challenges in polyploid-rich lineages: Insights from paralog processing and reticulation methods using the complex genus Packera (Asteraceae: Senecioneae)
Authors: Moore-Pollard, E. R., Ellestad, P., Mandel, J.
The study examined how polyploidy, hybridization, and incomplete lineage sorting affect phylogenetic reconstructions in the genus Packera, evaluating several published paralog‑processing pipelines. Results showed that the choice of orthology and paralog handling methods markedly altered tree topology, time‑calibrated phylogenies, biogeographic histories, and detection of ancient reticulation, underscoring the need for careful methodological selection alongside comprehensive taxon sampling.
A comparative physiological study of persimmon cultivars with flat (Hiratanenashi) and round (Koushimaru) fruit shapes revealed that differences in cell proliferation, cell shape, and size contribute to shape variation. Principal component analysis of elliptic Fourier descriptors tracked shape changes, while histology and transcriptome profiling identified candidate genes, including a WOX13 homeobox gene, potentially governing fruit shape development.