Bmc Ecology and Evolution

Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins (PEBPs) constitute a common gene family found among animals, plants and microbes. Plant PEBP proteins play an important role in regulating flowering time, plant architecture as well as seed dormancy. Though PEBP family genes have been well studied in Arabidopsis and other model species, less is known about these genes in perennial trees.

Man Zhang

Ping Li

Xiaolan Yan

Jia Wang

Tangren Cheng

Qixiang Zhang

BMC Ecology and Evolution

Genome-wide characterization of PEBP family genes in nine Rosaceae tree species and their expression analysis in P. mume

Abstract Background Dorcus stag beetles in broad sense are one of the most diverse group in Lucanidae and important saproxylic insects playing a crucial role in nutrient recycling and forest biomonitoring. However, the dazzling morphological differentiations have caused numerous systematic confusion within the big genus, especially the puzzlingly generic taxonomy. So far, there is lack of molecular phylogenetic study to address the chaotic situation. In this study, we undertook mitochondrial genome sequencing of 42 representative species including 18 newly-sequenced ones from Eastern Asia and reconstructed the phylogenetic framework of stag beetles in Dorcus sensu lato for the first time. Results The mitogenome datasets of Dorcus species have indicated the variable mitogenomic lengths ranged from 15,785 to 19,813 bp. Each mitogenome contained 13 PCGs, 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, and a control region, and all PCGs were under strong purifying selection (Ka/Ks &lt; 1). Notably, we have identified the presence of a substantial intergenic spacer (IGS) between the trnA ser (UCN) and NAD1 genes, with varying lengths ranging from 129 bp (in D. hansi ) to 158 bp (in D. tityus ). The mitogenomic phylogenetic analysis of 42 species showed that Eastern Asia Dorcus was monophyletic, and divided into eight clades with significant genetic distance. Four of them, Clade VIII, VII, VI and I are clustered by the representative species of Serrognathus Motschulsky, Kirchnerius Schenk, Falcicornis Séguy and Dorcus s.s. respectively, which supported their fully generic positions as the previous morphological study presented. The topology also showed the remaining clades were distinctly separated from the species of Dorcus sensu lato, which implied that each of them might demonstrate independent generic status. The Linnaeus nomenclatures were suggested as Eurydorcus Didier stat. res., Eurytrachellelus Didier stat. res., Hemisodorcus Thomson stat. res. and Velutinodorcus Maes stat. res. For Clade V, IV, III and II respectively. Conclusion This study recognized the monophyly of Dorcus stag beetles and provided a framework for the molecular phylogeny of this group for the first time. The newly generated mitogenomic data serves as a valuable resource for future investigations on lucanid beetles. The generic relationship would facilitate the systematics of Dorcus stag beetles and thus be useful for exploring their evolutionary, ecological, and conservation aspects.

Muhammad Jafir

Liyang Zhou

Yongjing Chen

Xia Wan

The first mitogenomic phylogenetic framework of Dorcus sensu lato (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), with an emphasis on generic taxonomy in Eastern Asia

广义锹甲属（鞘翅目：锹甲科）的第一个线粒体基因组系统发育框架，重点研究东亚的属级分类

Abstract Background The Hengduan Mountains (HDM) are one of the major global biodiversity hotspots in the world. Several evolutionary scenarios, especially in-situ diversification, have been proposed to account for the high species richness of temperate plants. However, peripatric speciation, an important mode of allopatric speciation, has seldom been reported in this region. Results Here, two chloroplast DNA regions and 14 nuclear loci were sequenced for 112 individuals from 10 populations of Torreya fargesii var. fargesii and 63 individuals from 6 populations of T. fargesii var. yunnanensis . Population genetic analyses revealed that the two varieties are well differentiated genetically ( F ST , 0.5765) and have uneven genetic diversity ( π , 0.00221 vs. 0.00073 on an average of nuclear loci). The gene genealogical relationship showed that T. fargesii var. yunnanensis is inferred as derived from T. fargesii var. fargesii , which was further supported by the coalescent simulations (DIYABC, fastsimcoal2 and IMa2). By the coalescent simulations, the divergence time (~ 2.50–3.65 Ma) and the weak gene flow between the two varieties were detected. The gene flow was asymmetrical and only occurred in later stages of divergence, which is caused by second contact due to the population expansion (~ 0.61 Ma) in T. fargesii var. fargesii . In addition, niche modeling indicated that the two varieties are differentiated geographically and ecologically and have unbalanced distribution range. Conclusions Overall, T. fargesii var. fargesii is always parapatric with respect to T. fargesii var. yunnanensis , and the latter derived from the former in peripatry of the HDM following a colonization from central China during the late Pliocene. Our findings demonstrate that peripatric speciation following dispersal events may be an important evolutionary scenario for the formation of biodiversity hotspot of the HDM.

Yixuan Kou

Dengmei Fan

Shanmei Cheng

Yi Yang

Meixia Wang

Yujin Wang

Zhiyong Zhang

BMC Ecol Evo

Peripatric speciation within Torreya fargesii (Taxaceae) in the Hengduan Mountains inferred from multi-loci phylogeography

基于多基因位点系统地理学的横断山区巴山榧树（红豆杉科）边缘隔离物种形成研究

Species generally exhibits evolutionary bias, adapting towards a specific direction rather than others, yet the underlying causes remains unknown. Here, we investigated evolutionary bias and its causes by conducting experimental evolution on Escherichia coli. We introduced an E. coli strain (lac-), initially unable to utilize lactose due to a frameshift mutation, into two different culture media: one medium (L) containing ample sodium acetate and lactose as carbon sources, and the other medium (G) containing abundant glucose and lactose as carbon sources. After 20 days of experimental evolution, our findings revealed that all L-populations underwent parallel evolution through reverse mutation to utilize lactose (lac+), resulting in a relatively higher fitness gain compared to utilizing sodium acetate. In contrast, all G-populations did not transition towards lactose utilization but instead continued to utilize glucose, which provides a higher fitness gain than utilizing lactose. These results demonstrate that our experimental populations in L and G media respectively exhibit biased evolution towards utilizing different carbon sources, yet all trajectories converge towards higher fitness gains. When lac+ (lactose-eater) and lac- (acetate-eater) were co-cultured in L medium, all lac- individuals were eventually eliminated, while lac + individuals were consistently selected and retained. Our findings indicate that species tend to evolve with a bias towards directions that offer higher fitness gains, partly because high-fitness-gain directions competitively exclude low-fitness-gain directions.

Haoyuan Wu

Yonghua Wu

Experimental evolution reveals evolutionary bias and its causes

实验进化揭示进化偏差及其原因

Abstract Under the background of global climate change, climate warming has led to an increase in insect herbivory, which significantly affects the growth, survival, and regeneration of forest plants in the warm temperate zone of China. Plants can adopt defense responses to adapt to insect defoliation. Therefore, field experiments were conducted on five common warm temperate species, Quercus acutissima , Quercus serrata , Quercus aliena , Quercus dentata , and Robinia pseudoacacia . We measured the leaf traits of healthy trees and insect defoliated trees, to explore the response strategies of common species in warm temperate zones to insect defoliation. Our results showed that native species stored more carbon in extreme environments for survival rather than growth, while the alien species R. pseudoacacia tended to adopt active resource acquisition strategies and were more inclined towards growth. The content of tannins and flavonoids in the alien species R. pseudoacacia did not significantly increase after leaf damage, while the content of secondary metabolites such as tannins, flavonoids, and total phenols in the native species Q. acutissima , Q. serrata , Q. aliena , Q. dentata increased significantly after leaf damage. This indicated that compared to alien species, native species invested more resources in defense, which might reduce resource allocation for growth. Thus, the native Quercus species have stronger resistance than the alien species R. pseudoacacia after insect defoliation.

Ning Wang

Qiang Li

Pan Wu

Shijie Yi

Hongliang Ji

Xiao Liu

Tongli He

Response strategies of five common warm temperate plant species to insect defoliation

五种常见暖温带植物对虫害食叶的响应策略

Abstract Background Evolutionary divergence and genetic variation are often linked to differences in microbial community structure and diversity. While environmental factors and diet heavily influence gut microbial communities, host species contributions are harder to quantify. Closely related species living in sympatry provide a unique opportunity to investigate species differences without the confounding effects of habitat and dietary variation. We therefore compared and contrasted the gut microbiota of three sympatric plover species: the widespread Kittlitz’s and white-fronted plovers ( Anarhynchus pecuarius and A. marginatus ) and the endemic and vulnerable Madagascar plover ( A. thoracicus ). Results We found no significant differences in the beta diversity (composition) of the gut microbiota of the three species. However, A. thoracicus exhibited higher intraspecific compositional similarity (i.e. lower pairwise distances) than the other two species; this pattern was especially pronounced among juveniles. By contrast, microbial alpha diversity varied significantly among the species, being highest in A. pecuarius , intermediate in A. marginatus and lowest in A. thoracicus . This pattern was again stronger among juveniles. Geographical distance did not significantly affect the composition of the gut microbiota, but genetic relatedness did. Conclusion While patterns of microbial diversity varied across species, the lack of compositional differences suggests that habitat and diet likely exert a strong influence on the gut microbiota of plovers. This may be enhanced by their precocial, ground-dwelling nature, which could facilitate the horizontal transmission of microbes from the environment. We hypothesise that gut microbiota diversity in plovers primarily reflects the ecological pool of microbiota, which is subsequently modified by host-specific factors including genetics. The reduced microbial and genetic diversity of the endemic A. thoracicus may hinder its ability to adapt to environmental changes, highlighting the need for increased conservation efforts for this vulnerable species.

Hugo Pereira

Nayden Chakarov

Barbara A. Caspers

Marc Gilles

William Jones

Tafitasoa Mijoro

Sama Zefania

Tamás Székely

Oliver Krüger

Joseph I. Hoffman

The gut microbiota of three avian species living in sympatry

三种共栖鸟类的肠道微生物群

Abstract Background The invasion of non-native species into ecosystems is a growing human-induced problem. To control their spread and population growth, knowledge is needed on the factors that facilitate or impede their invasions. In animals, traits often associated with invasion success are high activity, boldness, and aggression. However, these traits also make individuals susceptible to predation, which could curb population growth. We investigated if a recent invader into the Baltic Sea, the shrimp Palaemon elegans , differs in risk-taking from a native shrimp, P. adspersus . We recorded activity, habitat choice, and response to perceived predation threat of both species. Results We found the invading shrimp to take greater risks than the native one; while the native shrimp adjusted its behaviour to habitat structure and exposure to a perceived predator, the non-native shrimp did not, and it resumed normal activity sooner after a perceived predation threat. Despite the greater risk taking by the non-native shrimp, its population has grown rapidly during the last two decades in the investigated area and is now larger than that of the native shrimp. Conclusions We discuss plausible explanations for the population growth of the invader, including the recent decline in predatory fishes that could have reduced the cost of risk-taking, and anthropogenic eutrophication that has increased food abundance could have allowed the population growth. These results stress the need to assess the optimality of the behaviours of both native and non-native species when investigating the factors that influence invasion success in human-disturbed environments.

Alfredo Escanciano Gómez

Charlotte Ipenburg

Ulrika Candolin

Greater risk-taking by non-native than native shrimp: an advantage in a human-disturbed environment?

非本地虾比本地虾更冒险：在人类干扰环境中是否具有优势？

Abstract Background We focus on Haldane’s familial selection in monogamous families in a diploid population, where the survival probability of each sibling is determined by altruistic food sharing with its siblings during starvation. An autosomal recessive-dominant or intermediate allele pair uniquely determines the altruistic or selfish behavior, which are coded by homozygotes. We focus on the case when additive cost and benefit functions determine the survival probability of each full sibling. Results We provide conditions for the existence of the altruistic and selfish homozygote. We show that the condition of evolutionary stability of altruism depends on the genotype-phenotype mapping. Furthermore, if the offspring size increases then the condition of evolutionary stability of altruism becomes stricter. Contrary to that, for the evolutionary stability of selfish behavior it is enough if the classical Hamilton’s rule does not hold. Moreover, when the classical Hamilton’s rule holds and the condition of evolutionary stability of altruism does not hold, then the selfish and altruistic phenotypes coexist. Conclusions In summary, the classical Hamilton’s rule is a sufficient condition for the existence of altruism, but it alone does not imply the evolutionary stability of the pure altruistic homozygote population when the altruistic siblings share the cost of altruism.

Abbreviation	BMC Ecol Evo
Journal Impact	2.49
Quartiles(Global)	GENETICS & HEREDITY(Q3)

Publication Information	Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: Yes
Basic data	Year of publication: 2021，Proportion of original research papers: ，Self Citation Rate:， Gold OA Rate: 99.72
Journal Fees	$2790Details
Average review cycle	32 weeks

Bmc Ecology and Evolution

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Genome-wide characterization of PEBP family genes in nine Rosaceae tree species and their expression analysis in P. mume

The first mitogenomic phylogenetic framework of Dorcus sensu lato (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), with an emphasis on generic taxonomy in Eastern Asia

Peripatric speciation within Torreya fargesii (Taxaceae) in the Hengduan Mountains inferred from multi-loci phylogeography

Experimental evolution reveals evolutionary bias and its causes

Response strategies of five common warm temperate plant species to insect defoliation

Response strategies of five common warm temperate plant species to insect defoliation

Experimental evolution reveals evolutionary bias and its causes

The gut microbiota of three avian species living in sympatry

Greater risk-taking by non-native than native shrimp: an advantage in a human-disturbed environment?

Survival cost sharing among altruistic full siblings in Mendelian population