Click on this picture to listen to the podcast of Ricardo Rozzi, former EEB student, now professor at UNT and at the Universidad de Magallanes, telling the story of the motivation underlying the creation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, the bryophytes!

Simon A., J. Di Meglio, T. Goward, K. Dillman, T. Spribille & B. Goffinet. 2018. Sticta torii sp. nov., a remarkable lichen of high conservation priority from northwestern North America. Graphis Scripta 30: 105–114. pdf

Abstract reads: Sticta torii Simon & Goward sp. nov. is an isidiate lichen on Alnus, Malus and Picea branches in hypermaritime regions of northwestern North America. It is a rare species, currently known from only a few localities along a narrow longitudinal range in Southeast Alaska, British Columbia and Oregon. It differs from S. fuliginosa and S. sylvatica in its smaller, more irregular lobes and generally well-developed fringe of marginal isidia, and from S. beauvoisii in its smaller size, less elongate lobes and distinctly arbuscular to penicillate marginal isidia. Also diagnostic are the cyphellae, the basal portions of which bear cells with numerous papillae – a feature shared with a small group of closely allied neotropical species including the recently described S. arbuscula and S. arbusculotomentosa. These latter species, however, bear tomentum over the upper surface, unlike S. torii, which is glabrous.

The holotype is deposited in the CONN herbarium.

 

The National Science Foundation awarded today (May 30th, 2018) a grant to University of Connecticut (i.e., our lab!) for support of the project DEB-1753811 entitled “Collaborative research: Diversity of the moss Physcomitrium pyriforme: significance of autopolyploidy within a phylogenomic and experimental framework“.

Collaborators: Matthew Johnson (Texas Tech. University) and Rafael Medina (Augustana College, IL).

Overview: Whole genome duplication or autopolyploidy occurred repeatedly during the evolution of land plants and likely act as a major driver of evolutionary change. Such duplications first occurred within species, likely reproductively isolating autopolyploids. They may also trigger significant genomic restructuring, preventing meiotic pairing and hence interbreeding between two independent autodiploids. Genome duplications are thus effective mechanisms of microevolutionary change. They characterize many macroevolutionary lineages, and are expected to be frequent enough within species, for some to give rise to new evolutionary lineages. This  project seeks to test whether shifts in ploidy are phylogenetically structured within a complex of cryptic moss species, the Physcomitrium pyriforme complex. It harbors seven karyotypes worldwide and exhibits much morphological variation, as reflected by its 29 synonyms. These annual, bisexual and selfing mosses are easily grown, and genome doubling is readily induced in vitro from sporophytic tissue, enabling tests of reproductive isolation among wild and artificial autopolyploids. This project addresses four objectives toward assessing the evolutionary significance of autopolyploidy: (1) reconstruct the phylogeny of the complex based on sub genome data,(2) infer frequencies of ploidal shifts within the complex; (3) identify morphological signatures of artificial genome duplication and through comparison with wild populations test whether these erode through time; and (4) test if wild and artificial polyploids are reproductively isolated.

Widhelm T.J., F.R. Bertoletti, M.J. Asztalos, J.A. Mercado-Díaz, J.-P. Huang, B. Moncada, R. Lücking, N. Magain, E. Sérusiaux, B. Goffinet, N. Crouch, R. Mason-Gamer & H. T. Lumbsch. 2018. Oligocene origin and drivers of diversification in the genus Sticta (Lobariaceae, Ascomycota). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 126: 58–73. pdf

Abstract reads: A major challenge to evolutionary biologists is to understand how biodiversity is distributed through space and time and across the tree of life. Diversification of organisms is influenced by many factors that act at different times and geographic locations but it is still not clear which have a significant impact and how drivers interact. To study diversification, we chose the lichen genus Sticta, by sampling through most of the global range and producing a time tree. We estimate that Sticta originated about 30 million years ago, but biogoegraphic analysis was unclear in estimating the origin of the genus. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of dispersal ability finding that Sticta has a high dispersal rate, as collections from Hawaii showed that divergent lineages colonized the islands at least four times. Symbiont interactions were investigated using BiSSE to understand if green-algal or cyanobacterial symbiont interactions influenced diversification, only to find that the positive results were driven almost completely by Type I error. On the other hand, another BiSSE analysis found that an association with Andean tectonic activity increases the speciation rate of species.

Widhelm T.J., F.R. Bertoletti, M.J. Asztalos, J.A. Mercado-Díaz, J.-P. Huang, B. Moncada, R. Lücking, N. Magain, E. Sérusiaux, B. Goffinet, N. Crouch, R. Mason-Gamer & H. T. Lumbsch. 2018. Oligocene origin and drivers of diversification in the genus Sticta(Lobariaceae, Ascomycota). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution(in press). pdf

Abstract reads: A major challenge to evolutionary biologists is to understand how biodiversity is distributed through space and time and across the tree of life. Diversification of organisms is influenced by many factors that act at different times and geographic locations but it is still not clear which have a significant impact and how drivers interact. To study diversification, we chose the lichen genus Sticta, by sampling through most of the global range and producing a time tree. We estimate that Sticta originated about 30 million years ago, but biogoegraphic analysis was unclear in estimating the origin of the genus. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of dispersal ability finding that Sticta has a high dispersal rate, as collections from Hawaii showed that divergent lineages colonized the islands at least four times. Symbiont interactions were investigated using BiSSE to understand if green-algal or cyanobacterial symbiont interactions influenced diversification, only to find that the positive results were driven almost completely by Type I error. On the other hand, another BiSSE analysis found that an association with Andean tectonic activity increases the speciation rate of species.

 

Simon A., B. Goffinet, N. Magain & E. Sérusiaux. 2018. High diversity, high insular endemism and recent origin in the lichen genus Sticta (lichenized Ascomycota, Peltigerales) in Madagascar and the Mascarene archipelago. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 122: 15–28. pdf

Abstract reads: Lichen biodiversity and its generative evolutionary processes are practically unknown in the MIOI¹ biodiversity hotspot (including Madagascar and the neighboring Mascarene archipelago, formed by Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues). We sought to test the hypothesis that lichenized fungi in this region have undergone a rapid radiation, following a single colonization event, giving rise to narrow endemics, as is characteristic of other lineages of plants. We extensively sampled specimens of the lichen genus Sticta in the Mascarene archipelago (mainly Réunion) and in Madagascar, mainly in the northern range (Amber Mt and Marojejy Mt) and produced the fungal ITS barcode sequence for 148 thalli. We further produced a four-loci data matrix for 68 of them, representing the diversity and geographical distribution of ITS haplotypes. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships within this group, established species boundaries with morphological context, and estimated the date of the most recent common ancestor. Our inferences resolve a robust clade comprising 31 endemic species of Sticta that arose from the diversification following a single recent (c. 11 Mya) colonization event. All but three species have a very restricted range, endemic to either the Mascarene archipelago or a single massif in Madagascar. The first genus of lichens to be studied with molecular data in this region underwent a recent radiation, exhibits micro-endemism, and thus exemplifies the biodiversity characteristics found in other taxa in Madagascar and the Mascarenes.

Dong S., J.-Y. Xue, S. Zhang, L. Zhang, H. Wu, Z. Chen, B. Goffinet & Yang Liu. 2018. Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Anthoceros angustus: conservative evolution of mitogenome in hornworts. The Bryologist 121: 14–22. pdf

Abstract reads: The architecture and composition of the mitochondrial genome of bryophytes is currently considered much more stable and invariant than that of vascular plants. For example, liverworts and mosses appear to have nearly static mitochondrial genomes, whereas neither of two vascular plant mitogenomes sequenced to date share the same gene order. By contrast, the two available mitogenomes of hornworts, Nothoceros aenigmaticus and Phaeoceros laevis, show high consistency in gene content but differ in their gene order. To explore the patterns of hornwort mitogenome structure at a broader phylogenetic breadth and provide insights into plant mitogenome evolution, we assembled the complete mitochondrial genome from a third hornwort species, Anthoceros angustus Steph. Its mitogenome comprises 242,410 base pairs, and encodes 21 protein coding genes, three rRNA genes and 20 tRNA genes, with 38 introns disrupting 16 protein-coding genes, including three newly described introns, making it the most intron-rich plant mitochondrial genome determined to date. A total of ten putatively pseudogenized protein coding genes were found in Anthoceros; eight of them are shared with Nothoceros and Phaeoceros. The genic composition of the Anthoceros mitogenome differs from that of the other two hornworts by only one or two gene insertions or losses. The gene order in the Anthoceros mtDNA differs from that in Phaeoceros and Nothoceros by only one and three events of inversion or translocations, respectively. Overall, hornworts appear to have kept a stable mt genome structure, which could have characterized early land plant mt genome evolution.

An assessment of the diversity and relationships of a group of lichenized basidiomycetes, has been completed and resulted in a global circumscription of the Lepidostromatales: Liu D., B. Goffinet, D. Ertz, A. De Kesel, Z.G. Qian, X.Y. Wang, H.X. Shi, Y.Y. Zhang, J.W. Li, X. Ye, J.S. Hur & L.S. Wang. 2017 (2018). Circumscription and phylogeny of the Lepidostromatales (lichenized Basidiomycota) following discovery of new species from China and Africa. Mycologia 109: 730–748. pdf.

Abstract reads: Based on an exhaustive sampling of all known Lepidostromatales, a lineage of clavarioid lichen-forming basidiomycetes, we assess (i) the phylogenetic affinities of the six Chinese species currently accommodated in Multiclavula(Cantharellales) based on inferences from the 18S and 28S subunits of the nuclear ribosomal DNA repeat and (ii) the phylogenetic structure among Chinese populations of Lepidostromatales, based on the nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) regions. Multiclavula fossicola and M. sinensis belong to the Lepidostromatales, and are transferred to Sulzbacheromyces. Chinese reports of M. clara and M. vernalis belong to species of Lepidostromatales and specimens identified as M. mucida belong to the non-lichenized genus Clavaria. Hence, evidence of Multiclavula occurring in China is lacking. Similarly, L. calocerum is excluded from the Chinese flora. The recently described L. asianum should be regarded as conspecific with S. sinensis. Three new species of Sulzbacheromyces are described: S. bicolor and S. yunnanensis from China, and S. miomboensis from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Consequently, Sulzbacheromyces is new to Asia and Africa. A world-wide key to the species of Lepidostromatales is provided.

The recent exploration of the bryophyte and lichen flora of the Diego Ramirez archipelago South of Cape Horn in subantarctic Chile contributed to the development of a proposal for the extension of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, an effort led by Dr. Ricardo Rozzi, a former student in EEB and now Professor at the University of North Texas and the Universidad de Magallanes (Chile). Click on the image for access to the on-line publication.

The bryophyte collections from Gonzalo Island, the first from this island about 100 km SW of Cape Horn, are being studied and the inventory of the tiny, low elevation and treeless island will be shared through a co-authored publication involving Dr. J. Engel and M. von Konrat from the Field Museum and of course our Chilean colleagues. Unicates will be deposited in the herbarium of the University of Concepcion (Chile) and duplicates in CONN and F.

Medina R., M. Johnson, Y. Liu, N. Wilding, T. Hedderson, N. Wickett & B. Goffinet. 2018. Evolutionary dynamism in bryophytes: Phylogenomic inferences confirm rapid radiation in the family Funariaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 120: 240–247. pdf

Abstract reads: Rapid diversifications of plants are primarily documented and studied in angiosperms, which are perceived as evolutionarily dynamic. Recent studies have, however, revealed that bryophytes have also undergone periods of rapid radiation. The speciose family Funariaceae, including the model taxon Physcomitrella patens, is one such lineage. Here, we infer relationships among major lineages within the Entosthodon-Physcomitrium complex from virtually complete organellar exomes (i.e., 123 genes) obtained through high throughput sequencing of genomic libraries enriched in these loci via targeted locus capture. Based on these extensive exonic data we (1) reconstructed a robust backbone topology of the Funariaceae, (2) confirmed the monophyly of Funariaand the polyphyly of Entosthodon, Physcomitrella, and Physcomitrium, and (3) argue for the occurrence of a rapid radiation within the Entosthodon-Physcomitrium complex that began 28 mya and gave rise more than half of the species diversity of the family. This diversification may have been triggered by a whole genome duplication and coincides with global Eocene cooling that continued through the Oligocene and Miocene. The Funariaceae join a growing list of bryophyte lineages whose history is marked by at least one burst of diversification, and our study thereby strengthens the view that bryophytes are evolutionarily dynamic lineages and that patterns and processes characterizing the evolution of angiosperms may be universal among land plants.