1
|
Fitzgibbons E, Lastovich J, Scott S, Groth N, Grusz AL, Busta L. Herbarium specimens as tools for exploring the evolution of fatty acid-derived natural products in plants. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 39171845 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 08/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Plants synthesize natural products via lineage-specific offshoots of their core metabolic pathways, including fatty acid synthesis. Recent studies have shed light on new fatty acid-derived natural products and their biosynthetic pathways in disparate plant species. Inspired by this progress, we set out to develop tools for exploring the evolution of fatty-acid derived products. We sampled multiple species from all major clades of euphyllophytes, including ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms (monocots and eudicots), and we show that the compositional profiles (though not necessarily the total amounts) of fatty-acid derived surface waxes from preserved plant specimens are consistent with those obtained from freshly collected tissue in a semi-quantitative and sometimes quantitative manner. We then sampled herbarium specimens representing 57 monocot species to assess the phylogenetic distribution and evolution, of two fatty acid-derived natural products found in that clade: beta-diketones and alkylresorcinols. These chemical data, combined with analyses of 26 monocot genomes, revealed a co-occurrence (though not necessarily a causal relationship) between whole genome duplication and the evolution of diketone synthases from an ancestral alkylresorcinol synthase-like polyketide synthase. Limitations of using herbarium specimen wax profiles as proxies for those of fresh tissue seem likely to include effects from loss of epicuticular wax crystals, effects from preservation techniques, and variation in wax chemical profiles due to genotype or environment. Nevertheless, this work reinforces the widespread utility of herbarium specimens for studying leaf surface waxes (and possibly other chemical classes) and reveals some of the evolutionary history of fatty acid-derived natural products within monocots.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emma Fitzgibbons
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
| | - Jacob Lastovich
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
| | - Samuel Scott
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
| | - Nicole Groth
- Department of Biology, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
| | - Amanda L Grusz
- Department of Biology, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Lucas Busta
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Austin MW, Cole PO, Olsen KM, Smith AB. Climate change is associated with increased allocation to potential outcrossing in a common mixed mating species. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2022; 109:1085-1096. [PMID: 35699252 PMCID: PMC9544429 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE Although the balance between cross- and self-fertilization is driven by the environment, no long-term study has documented whether anthropogenic climate change is affecting reproductive strategy allocation in species with mixed mating systems. Here, we test whether the common blue violet (Viola sororia; Violaceae) has altered relative allocation to the production of potentially outcrossing flowers as the climate has changed throughout the 20th century. METHODS Using herbarium records spanning from 1875 to 2015 from the central United States, we quantified production of obligately selfing cleistogamous (CL) flowers and potentially outcrossing chasmogamous (CH) flowers by V. sororia, coupled these records with historic temperature and precipitation data, and tested whether changes to the proportion of CL flowers correlate with temporal climate trends. RESULTS We find that V. sororia progressively produced lower proportions of CL flowers across the past century and in environments with lower mean annual temperature and higher total annual precipitation. We also find that both CL and CH flower phenology has advanced across this time period. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that V. sororia has responded to lower temperatures and greater water availability by shifting reproductive strategy allocation away from selfing and toward potential outcrossing. This provides the first long-term study of how climate change may affect relative allocation to potential outcrossing in species with mixed mating systems. By revealing that CL flowering is associated with low water availability and high temperature, our results suggest the production of obligately selfing flowers is favored in water limited environments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew W. Austin
- Living Earth CollaborativeWashington University in St. LouisSt. LouisMOUSA
| | - Piper O. Cole
- Division of Natural SciencesNew College of FloridaSarasotaFLUSA
| | - Kenneth M. Olsen
- Department of BiologyWashington University in St. LouisSt. LouisMOUSA
| | - Adam B. Smith
- Center for Conservation and Sustainable DevelopmentMissouri Botanical GardenSt. LouisMOUSA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Donald ML, Bolstridge N, Ridden JD. Precision glycerine jelly swab for removing pollen from small and fragile insect specimens. Methods Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marion L. Donald
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, 54 Gerald St Lincoln, NZ, 7608
| | - Nic Bolstridge
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, 54 Gerald St Lincoln, NZ, 7608
| | - Johnathon D. Ridden
- Canterbury Museum, 11 Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch Central City Christchurch, NZ, 8013
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Albani Rocchetti G, Armstrong CG, Abeli T, Orsenigo S, Jasper C, Joly S, Bruneau A, Zytaruk M, Vamosi JC. Reversing extinction trends: new uses of (old) herbarium specimens to accelerate conservation action on threatened species. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2021; 230:433-450. [PMID: 33280123 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2020] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Although often not collected specifically for the purposes of conservation, herbarium specimens offer sufficient information to reconstruct parameters that are needed to designate a species as 'at-risk' of extinction. While such designations should prompt quick and efficient legal action towards species recovery, such action often lags far behind and is mired in bureaucratic procedure. The increase in online digitization of natural history collections has now led to a surge in the number new studies on the uses of machine learning. These repositories of species occurrences are now equipped with advances that allow for the identification of rare species. The increase in attention devoted to estimating the scope and severity of the threats that lead to the decline of such species will increase our ability to mitigate these threats and reverse the declines, overcoming a current barrier to the recovery of many threatened plant species. Thus far, collected specimens have been used to fill gaps in systematics, range extent, and past genetic diversity. We find that they also offer material with which it is possible to foster species recovery, ecosystem restoration, and de-extinction, and these elements should be used in conjunction with machine learning and citizen science initiatives to mobilize as large a force as possible to counter current extinction trends.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Thomas Abeli
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Viale G. Marconi 446, Roma, 00154, Italy
| | - Simone Orsenigo
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, 27100, Italy
| | - Caroline Jasper
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Simon Joly
- Montreal Botanical Garden, Montréal, QC, H1X 2B2, Canada
- Département de Sciences Biologiques and Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H1X 2B2, Canada
| | - Anne Bruneau
- Département de Sciences Biologiques and Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H1X 2B2, Canada
| | - Maria Zytaruk
- Department of English, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Jana C Vamosi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Sullivan CN, Koski MH. The effects of climate change on floral anthocyanin polymorphisms. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202693. [PMID: 33653138 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Pigmentation affords resistance to abiotic stressors, and thus can respond adaptively or plastically to drought and extreme temperatures associated with global change. Plants frequently display variability in flower coloration that is underlain by anthocyanin pigmentation. While anthocyanin polymorphisms impact plant-animal interactions, they also impact reproductive performance under abiotic stress. We used descriptions of flower colour from over 1900 herbarium records representing 12 North American species spanning 124 years to test whether anthocyanin-based flower colour has responded to global change. Based on demonstrated abiotic associations with performance of anthocyanin colour morphs, we predicted pigmentation would increase in species experiencing increased aridity, but decline in those experiencing larger increases in temperature. We found that the frequency of reports of pigmented morphs increased temporally in some taxa but displayed subtle declines in others. Pigmentation was negatively associated with temperature and positively associated with vapour pressure deficit (a metric of aridity) across taxa. Species experiencing larger temperature increases over time displayed reductions in pigmentation, while those experiencing increases in aridity displayed increases in pigmentation. Change in anthocyanin-based floral colour was thus linked with climatic change. Altered flower coloration has the strong potential to impact plant-animal interactions and overall plant reproductive performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cierra N Sullivan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA
| | - Matthew H Koski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Koski MH, MacQueen D, Ashman TL. Floral Pigmentation Has Responded Rapidly to Global Change in Ozone and Temperature. Curr Biol 2020; 30:4425-4431.e3. [PMID: 32946752 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Revised: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Across kingdoms, organisms ameliorate UV stress by increasing UV-absorbing pigmentation. Rapid ozone degradation during the 20th century resulted in elevated UV incidence, but pigmentation responses to this aspect of global change have yet to be demonstrated. In flowering plants, UV exposure favors larger areas of UV-absorbing pigmentation on petals, which protects pollen from UV-damage. Pigmentation also affects floral thermoregulation, suggesting climate warming may additionally impact pigmentation. We used 1,238 herbarium specimens collected from 1941 to 2017 to test whether change in UV floral pigmentation was associated with altered ozone and temperature in 42 species spanning three continents. We tested three predictions: first, UV-absorbing pigmentation will increase temporally and be correlated with reduced ozone (higher UV) when accounting for effects of temperature; second, taxa that experienced larger ozone declines will display larger increases in pigmentation; and third, taxa with anthers exposed to ambient UV will respond more strongly than those with anthers protected by petals. Globally, the extent of petal UV pigmentation increased significantly across taxa by ∼2% per year. However, temporal change was species specific-increasing in some taxa but declining in others. Species with exposed anthers experiencing larger declines in ozone displayed more dramatic pigmentation increases. For taxa with anthers enclosed within petals, pigmentation declined with increases in temperature, supporting a thermoregulatory role of UV pigmentation. Results document a rapid phenotypic response of floral pigmentation to anthropogenic climatic change, suggesting that global change may alter pollination through its impact on floral color, with repercussions for plant reproductive fitness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew H Koski
- Clemson University, Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson, SC 29631, USA; University of Virginia, Department of Biology, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
| | - Drew MacQueen
- University of Virginia Library Scholars Lab, PO Box 40010, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4129, USA
| | - Tia-Lynn Ashman
- University of Pittsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Ashman TL, Alonso C, Parra-Tabla V, Arceo-Gómez G. Pollen on stigmas as proxies of pollinator competition and facilitation: complexities, caveats and future directions. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2020; 125:1003-1012. [PMID: 31985008 PMCID: PMC7262468 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcaa012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2019] [Revised: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pollen transfer via animals is necessary for reproduction by ~80 % of flowering plants, and most of these plants live in multispecies communities where they can share pollinators. While diffuse plant-pollinator interactions are increasingly recognized as the rule rather than the exception, their fitness consequences cannot be deduced from flower visitation alone, so other proxies, functionally closer to seed production and amenable for use in a broad variety of diverse communities, are necessary. SCOPE We conceptually summarize how the study of pollen on stigmas of spent flowers can reflect key drivers and functional aspects of the plant-pollinator interaction (e.g. competition, facilitation or commensalism). We critically evaluate how variable visitation rates and other factors (pollinator pool and floral avoidance) can give rise to different relationships between heterospecific pollen and (1) conspecific pollen on the stigma and (2) conspecific tubes/grain in the style, revealing the complexity of potential interpretations. We advise on best practices for using these proxies, noting the assumptions and caveats involved in their use, and explicate what additional data are required to verify interpretation of given patterns. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that characterizing pollen on stigmas of spent flowers provides an attainable indirect measure of pollination interactions, but given the complex processes of pollen transfer that generate patterns of conspecific-heterospecific pollen on stigmas these cannot alone determine whether competition or facilitation are the underlying drivers. Thus, functional tests are also needed to validate these hypotheses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tia-Lynn Ashman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- For correspondence. E-mail
| | - Conchita Alonso
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain
| | - Victor Parra-Tabla
- Department of Tropical Ecology, University of Yucatan, Mérida, Yucatán, México
| | - Gerardo Arceo-Gómez
- Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Ashman TL, Arceo-Gómez G, Bennett JM, Knight TM. Is heterospecific pollen receipt the missing link in understanding pollen limitation of plant reproduction? AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2020; 107:845-847. [PMID: 32445398 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Tia-Lynn Ashman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Gerardo Arceo-Gómez
- Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
| | - Joanne M Bennett
- Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tiffany M Knight
- Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany
- Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Straße 4, 06120, Halle(Saale), Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Duan YW, Ren H, Li T, Wang LL, Zhang ZQ, Tu YL, Yang YP. A century of pollination success revealed by herbarium specimens of seed pods. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2019; 224:1512-1517. [PMID: 31418867 DOI: 10.1111/nph.16119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
A widely observed pollinator decline around the world has led to the prediction that terrestrial ecosystems could be disrupted as plant pollination suffers, but declining pollination success has not been tested rigorously in wild plants, and it still remains unclear how pollination success of plant species responds differently in the context of pollinator decline. By viewing the number of seeds per pod as a quantitative measure of successful pollination, we examined seed pods in 4637 herbarium specimens of 109 obligately outcrossing legumes collected over the past century. We found that only 13 species showed significant temporal change with nine of those as an increase. None of the three subfamilies of legumes showed a consistent trend, and the subfamily Papilionoideae with the most specialized flowers, had increasing seed number per pod more often than decreasing. We conclude that legume pollination in China shows no sign of disruption and the effects of plant-pollinator disruption may be more complicated than simplistic predictions have allowed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuan-Wen Duan
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at Kunming, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, China
| | - Haibao Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
| | - Tao Li
- School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, 650092, China
| | - Lin-Lin Wang
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at Kunming, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, China
| | - Zhi-Qiang Zhang
- Laboratory of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China
| | - Yan-Li Tu
- Tibet Plateau Institute of Biology, Lhasa, 850001, China
| | - Yong-Ping Yang
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at Kunming, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, China
| |
Collapse
|