Transoceanic Dispersal and Subsequent Diversification on Separate Continents Shaped Diversity of the Xanthoparmelia pulla Group (Ascomycota)

In traditional morphology-based concepts many species of lichenized fungi have world-wide distributions. Molecular data have revolutionized the species delimitation in lichens and have demonstrated that we underestimated the diversity of these organisms. The aim of this study is to explore the phylogeography and the evolutionary patterns of the Xanthoparmelia pulla group, a widespread group of one of largest genera of macrolichens. We used a dated phylogeny based on nuITS and nuLSU rDNA sequences and performed an ancestral range reconstruction to understand the processes and explain their current distribution, dating the divergence of the major lineages in the group. An inferred age of radiation of parmelioid lichens and the age of a Parmelia fossil were used as the calibration points for the phylogeny. The results show that many species of the X. pulla group as currently delimited are polyphyletic and five major lineages correlate with their geographical distribution and the biosynthetic pathways of secondary metabolites. South Africa is the area where the X. pulla group radiated during the Miocene times, and currently is the region with the highest genetic, morphological and chemical diversity. From this center of radiation the different lineages migrated by long-distance dispersal to others areas, where secondary radiations developed. The ancestral range reconstruction also detected that a secondary lineage migrated from Australia to South America via long-distance dispersal and subsequent continental radiation

A molecular approach to cyanobacterial diversity in a rock-pool community involving gelatinous lichens and free-living Nostoc colonies

Peer reviewe

Phylogenetic relationships of Stereocaulaceae based on simultaneous analysis of beta-tubulin, GAPDH and SSU rDNA sequences

The phylogenetic relationships of the lichenised ascomycete family Stereocaulaceae were investigated with partial beta-tubulin, partial glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and SSU rDNA sequence data. Due to the marked length variation in the SSU rDNA sequences, the analyses were performed with direct optimization. The combined analysis of the beta-tubulin, GAPDH and SSU rDNA sequences as well as the separate analyses of beta-tubulin and GAPDH data recognized the monophyletic group comprising Lepraria, Muhria and Stereocaulon. In the combined analysis Stereocaulon tornense appears as a basal taxon in the Stereocaulon clade, suggesting that the crustose growth form and the absence of cephalodia are primitive features within the genus. Muhria is nested in Stereocaulon and groups with the crustose S. cumulatum and S. leucophaeopsis. The genus Lepraria is monophyletic if Leproloma is included, but species that were represented by several specimens in our study, i.e., Lepraria jackii and Leproloma membranaceun, do not appear as monophyletic entities. The genus Pilophorus is included in Cladoniaceae. Combined analysis of the three data-sets clearly led to an increase in support values compared to the separate analyses, showing high support for the monophyly of families Cladoniaceae and Stereocaulaceae and for the sistergroup relation for the two families. The relationships between higher groupings did not reach high support values probably due to the incongruencies among the three datasets

Information Flows in Future Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystems

Part 1: Sustainable ProductionInternational audienceManufacturing is the backbone of each and every society, and in order for society to sustain in long run the manufacturing has to be sustainable as well. The sustainability in the field of manufacturing has traditionally been discussed in a sense of operational efficiency and environmental metrics. Rarely the link between individuals working in the company and the efficiency of operations has been established and discussed deeply. This link is information flow that combines both tacit and formal information in a dynamically changing socio-technical environment. In this paper the information flow between individuals in different levels of company hierarchy is utilized as the observation baseline. This paper discusses the information flow within a company and outlines socio-technical challenges needed to solve in order to realize future Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystems

Phylogeny of chitinases and its implications for estimating horizontal gene transfer from chitinase-transgenic silver birch (

Chitinases are hydrolytic enzymes that have been employed in biotechnology in attempts to increase plants' resistance against fungal pathogens. Genetically modified plants have given rise to concerns of the spreading of transgenes into the environment through vertical or horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this study, chitinase-like sequences from silver birch (Betula pendula) EST-libraries were identified and their phylogenetic relationships to other chitinases were studied. Phylogenetic analyses were used to estimate the frequency of historical gene transfer events of chitinase genes between plants and other organisms, and the usefulness of phylogenetic analyses as a source of information for the risk assessment of transgenic silver birch carrying a sugar beet chitinase IV gene was evaluated. Thirteen partial chitinase-like sequences, with an approximate length of 600 bp, were obtained from the EST-libraries. The sequences belonged to five chitinase classes. Some bacterial chitinases from Streptomyces and Burkholderia, as well as a chitinase from an oomycete, Phytophthora infestans, grouped together with the class IV chitinases of plants, supporting the hypothesis that some class IV chitinases in bacteria have evolved from eukaryotic chitinases via horizontal gene transfer. According to our analyses, HGT of a chitinase IV gene from eukaryotes to bacteria has presumably occurred only once. Based on this, the likelihood for the HGT of chitinase IV gene from transgenic birch to other organisms is extremely low. However, as risk is a function of both the likelihood and consequences of an event, the effects of rare HGT event(s) will finally determine the level of the risk

Dismantling the treasured flagship lichen Sticta fuliginosa (Peltigerales) into four species in Western Europe

In the framework of a worldwide project on the phylogeny of the lichen genus Sticta, dedicated sampling was performed in four regions of Western Europe, roughly along an East-West line between N 48°02’ E 07°01’ and N 52°01’ W 09°30’, ranging from France/Vosges to Ireland/Kerry. Five clearly distinct ITS haplotypes were detected for isidia-producing species where only two were expected. Subtle anatomical and morphological characters, together with a strongly supported 4-loci molecular phylogeny, permit to distinguish, besides the easily recognized S. canariensis and S. limbata: • the two « well-known » S. fuliginosa and S. sylvatica whose type collections have been carefully reassessed; the former is widespread in both hemispheres, while the latter is correctly identified only from continental Europe and the Andes in Colombia; the barcode ITS of S. fuliginosa differs by a single substitution from S. limbata (with a single exception), and the 4-loci phylogenetic tree does not resolve them as distinct lineages, most probably highlighting a very recent divergence and incomplete lineage sorting; • three species that were formely included in S. fuliginosa: the resurrected S. ciliata Taylor, belonging to a complex group yet to be disentangled and occurring in the Neotropics, Africa, Macaronesia and Western Europe, and two species described as new for science, S. fuliginoides, found in continental Europe, the Canary Islands, eastern North America and Colombia, and S. atlantica only known from Ireland and the Azores archipelago. Molecular inferences demonstrate active divergence and dispersion within S. ciliata that may require recognition of further species. Fresh material can be identified with a morphological and anatomical preliminary key provided here. We propose that the taxonomy of all lichen species be urgently reviewed in the light of molecular data in an evolutionary context, particularly those used as bioindicators of environmental change and woodland management