Primers for Castilleja and their Utility Across Orobanchaceae: II. Single‐copy nuclear loci

Premise of the study: We developed primers targeting nuclear loci in Castilleja with the goal of reconstructing the evolutionary history of this challenging clade. These primers were tested across other major clades in Orobanchaceae to assess their broader utility.Methods and Results: We assembled low-coverage genomes for three taxa in Castilleja and developed primer combinations for the single-copy conserved ortholog set (COSII) and the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) gene family. These primer combinations were designed to take advantage of the Fluidigm microfluidic PCR platform and are well suited for high-throughput sequencing applications. Eighty-seven primers were designed for Castilleja, and 27 were found to have broader utility in Orobanchaceae.Conclusions: These results demonstrate the utility of these primers, not only across Castilleja, but for other lineages within Orobanchaceae as well. This expanded molecular toolkit will be an asset to future phylogenetic studies in Castilleja and throughout Orobanchaceae

Primers for Castilleja and their utility across Orobanchaceae: I. Chloroplast primers1

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141726/1/aps31700020.pd

Primers for Castilleja and their Utility Across Orobanchaceae: I. Chloroplast Primers

Premise of the study: Chloroplast primers were developed from genomic data for the taxonomically challenging genus Castilleja. We further tested the broader utility of these primers across Orobanchaceae, identifying a core set of chloroplast primers amplifying across the clade.Methods and Results: Using a combination of three low-coverage Castilleja genomes and sequence data from 12 Castilleja plastomes, 76 primer combinations were specifically designed and tested for Castilleja. The primers targeted the most variable portions of the plastome and were validated for their applicability across the clade. Of these, 38 primer combinations were subsequently evaluated in silico and then validated across other major clades in Orobanchaceae.Conclusions: These results demonstrate the utility of these primers, not only across Castilleja, but for other clades in Orobanchaceae— particularly hemiparasitic lineages—and will contribute to future phylogenetic studies of this important clade of parasitic plants

Data from: Primers for Castilleja and their utility across Orobanchaceae: II. Single-copy nuclear loci

Premise of the study: We developed primers targeting nuclear loci in Castilleja with the goal of reconstructing the evolutionary history of this challenging clade. These primers were tested across other major clades in Orobanchaceae to assess their broader utility. Methods and Results: We assembled low-coverage genomes for three taxa in Castilleja and developed primer combinations for the single-copy conserved ortholog set (COSII) and the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) gene family. These primer combinations were designed to take advantage of the Fluidigm microfluidic PCR platform and are well suited for high-throughput sequencing applications. Eighty-seven primers were designed for Castilleja, and 27 were found to have broader utility in Orobanchaceae. Conclusions: These results demonstrate the utility of these primers, not only across Castilleja, but for other lineages within Orobanchaceae as well. This expanded molecular toolkit will be an asset to future phylogenetic studies in Castilleja and throughout Orobanchaceae

Botany is the Root and the Future of Invasion Biology

Although botanists have been at the center of invasion biology since its inception, few botanists identify as invasion biologists. Of those few, many primarily ally with associated disciplines such as weed science and agronomy. The modern field of invasion biology—the study of the introduction, establishment, evolution, and control of non-native species—was formally established when zoologist Charles Elton proposed his biodiversity-invasibility hypothesis (Elton, 1958) and has since been largely dominated by zoologists. However, plants have proven to be tractable systems for both experimental and observational studies and have played an outsized role in addressing long-standing hypotheses in invasion biology (Fig. 1). Here, we briefly review the historic and contemporary contributions that botanists have made in invasion biology and argue that botanists will continue to play a critical role in revolutionizing invasion biology

Ccus.ppr.hits

Identified PPR hits for Castilleja cusickii in fasta format

Ccus.cosii.hits

Identified COSII hits for Castilleja tenuis in fasta format

Castilleja_foliolosa_1K_CAP3

Castilleja foliolosa low-coverage genome assembly using CAP3. Culled to include contigs of 1kb or larger