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Quentin C.B. Cronk

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Quentin Cronk's Recent Papers (as indexed by PubMed)

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Evolution in reverse gear: the molecular basis of loss and reversal.

Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 2009;74:259-66

Authors: Cronk QC

Three types of regressive evolution are reviewed: loss, reversal, and regain after loss. Loss refers to the loss of a physical entity, either a structure or an organ, whereas reversals apply to character states returning to plesiomorphic from apomorphic conditions. The regain of characters after their loss represents a third type of evolutionary character change. The reconstruction of multiple losses and gains of characters by mapping on phylogenies is often problematic because of a lack of information about the relative likelihood of losses and gains. A developmental genetic approach using morphological, developmental, and molecular analysis is therefore an extremely important adjunct to phylogenetic approaches in interpreting losses, reversals, and regains. The molecular developmental basis of character loss and reversal is gradually becoming better understood. Loss of organs can occur by gain-of-function mutations (suppression) and loss-of-function mutations (that often leave a vestigial structure). The regain of characters after loss may occur by regulatory capture (a gain-of-function mutation) or by loss of function in suppressor genes. Reversals may occur by cryptic innovation (the formation of a new structure that mimics the old structure by gain-of-function mutations) or by loss of gene function associated with the apomorphic state (although this may have pleitropic or neomorphic effects). The genetic landscape of reversal is illustrated by the reversal to polysymmetry from monosymmetry in flowers. The range of observed phenotypes, loss with vestige, cryptic innovation, and loss with neomorphism matches the range of changes predicted."In plants with separated sexes, the male flowers often have a rudiment of a pistil; and Kolreuter found that by crossing such male plants with an hermaphrodite species, the rudiment of the pistil in the hybrid offspring was much increased in size; and this shows that the rudiment and the perfect pistil are essentially alike in nature" (Darwin 1859).

PMID: 19955256 [PubMed - in process]

Link to abstract on PubMed: Evolution in reverse gear: the molecular basis of loss and reversal.

Evolution of petal epidermal micromorphology in Leguminosae and its use as a marker of petal identity.

Ann Bot. 2009 Nov;104(6):1099-110

Authors: Ojeda I, Francisco-Ortega J, Cronk QC

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The legume flower is highly variable in symmetry and differentiation of petal types. Most papilionoid flowers are zygomorphic with three types of petals: one dorsal, two lateral and two ventral petals. Mimosoids have radial flowers with reduced petals while caesalpinioids display a range from strongly zygomorphic to nearly radial symmetry. The aims are to characterize the petal micromorphology relative to flower morphology and evolution within the family and assess its use as a marker of petal identity (whether dorsal, lateral or ventral) as determined by the expression of developmental genes. METHODS: Petals were analysed using the scanning electron microscope and light microscope. A total of 175 species were studied representing 26 tribes and 89 genera in all three subfamilies of the Leguminosae. KEY RESULTS: The papilionoids have the highest degree of variation of epidermal types along the dorsiventral axis within the flower. In Loteae and genistoids, in particular, it is common for each petal type to have a different major epidermal micromorphology. Papillose conical cells are mainly found on dorsal and lateral petals. Tabular rugose cells are mainly found on lateral petals and tabular flat cells are found only in ventral petals. Caesalpinioids lack strong micromorphological variation along this axis and usually have only a single major epidermal type within a flower, although the type maybe either tabular rugose cells, papillose conical cells or papillose knobby rugose cells, depending on the species. CONCLUSIONS: Strong micromorphological variation between different petals in the flower is exclusive to the subfamily Papilionoideae. Both major and minor epidermal types can be used as micromorphological markers of petal identity, at least in papilionoids, and they are important characters of flower evolution in the whole family. The molecular developmental pathway between specific epidermal micromorphology and the expression of petal identity genes has yet to be established.

PMID: 19789174 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: Evolution of petal epidermal micromorphology in Leguminosae and its use as a marker of petal identity.

An apparent reversal in floral symmetry in the legume Cadia is a homeotic transformation.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Aug 8;103(32):12017-20

Authors: Citerne HL, Pennington RT, Cronk QC

Within papilionoid legumes, characterized by flowers with strong bilateral symmetry, a derived condition within angiosperms, Cadia (Cadia purpurea) has reverted to radially symmetrical flowers. Here, we investigate the genetic basis of this morphological reversal. Two orthologues of the floral symmetry gene CYCLOIDEA (CYC) demarcate the adaxial (dorsal) region of the flower in typical papilionoid legumes. In the model legume Lotus japonicus, one of these LegCYC genes has been shown, like CYC, to be required for the establishment of floral bilateral symmetry. This study shows that these genes are expressed in the adaxial region of the typical papilionoid flower of Lupinus, which belongs to the same papilionoid subclade as Cadia. In Cadia, these genes also are expressed, but the expression pattern of one of these has expanded from the adaxial to the lateral and abaxial regions of the corolla. This result suggests that the radial flowers of Cadia are dorsalized and, therefore, are not a true evolutionary reversal but an innovative homeotic transformation, where, in this case, all petals have acquired dorsal identity. This study raises a question over other putative reversals in animals and plants, which also may be cryptic innovations.

PMID: 16880394 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: An apparent reversal in floral symmetry in the legume Cadia is a homeotic transformation.

Use of Ecotilling as an efficient SNP discovery tool to survey genetic variation in wild populations of Populus trichocarpa.

Mol Ecol. 2006 Apr;15(5):1367-78

Authors: Gilchrist EJ, Haughn GW, Ying CC, Otto SP, Zhuang J, Cheung D, Hamberger B, Aboutorabi F, Kalynyak T, Johnson L, Bohlmann J, Ellis BE, Douglas CJ, Cronk QC

Abstract Ecotilling was used as a simple nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery tool to examine DNA variation in natural populations of the western black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa, and was found to be more efficient than sequencing for large-scale studies of genetic variation in this tree. A publicly available, live reference collection of P. trichocarpa from the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden was used in this study to survey variation in nine different genes among individuals from 41 different populations. A large amount of genetic variation was detected, but the level of variation appears to be less than in the related species, Populus tremula, based on reported statistics for that tree. Genes examined varied considerably in their level of variation, from PoptrTB1 which had a single SNP, to PoptrLFY which had more than 23 in the 1000-bp region examined. Overall nucleotide diversity, measured as (Total), was relatively low at 0.00184. Linkage disequilibrium, on the other hand, was higher than reported for some woody plant species, with mean r2 equal to 0.34. This study reveals the potential of Ecotilling as a rapid genotype discovery method to explore and utilize the large pool of genetic variation in tree species.

PMID: 16626459 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: Use of Ecotilling as an efficient SNP discovery tool to survey genetic variation in wild populations of Populus trichocarpa.

Legume flowers bear fruit.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Mar 28;103(13):4801-2

Authors: Cronk QC

PMID: 16567659 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: Legume flowers bear fruit.

Plant eco-devo: the potential of poplar as a model organism.

New Phytol. 2005 Apr;166(1):39-48

Authors: Cronk QC

Ecological developmental genetics is the study of how ecologically significant traits originate in the genome and how the allelic combinations responsible are maintained in populations and species. Plant development involves a continuous feedback between growth and environment and the success of individual genotype x environment interactions determines the passage of alleles to the next generation: the adaptive recursion. Outbreeding plants contain a large amount of genetic variation, mostly in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). One of the challenges of eco-devo is to distinguish neutral SNPs from those with ecological consequences. The complete genome sequence of Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray will be a significant aid in this endeavour. Occurring from California to Alaska, this is the first ecologically 'keystone' species to be sequenced. It has a rich natural history and is an obligate outbreeder. The individual sequenced, Nisqually-1, appears to be heterozygous on average about every 100 bp over the c. 500 million bp of the genome. Overlaid on this within-individual variation is some ecologically based between-individual genotypic variation evident across the distribution of the species. The synthesis of information from genomics and ecology is now in prospect. This 'ecomolecular synthesis' is likely to provide a rich insight into the genomic basis of plant adaptation.

PMID: 15760349 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: Plant eco-devo: the potential of poplar as a model organism.

The development of immunoassays to identify and quantify species source of gum arabic.

J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Dec 29;52(26):7804-8

Authors: Ireland HE, Clutterbuck A, Cloquet JP, Thurston MI, Williams PA, Cronk QC, Dewey FM, Williams JH

Gum arabic from Acacia senegal is commonly used as an additive in foodstuffs. Adulteration of gum arabic by other gums is a potential problem for reasons of safety and quality. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the detection of potential adulterants of gum arabic. Indirect competitive ELISAs (IC-ELISAs) were developed using the monoclonal antibodies SY CC7 (A. senegal), SY HH3 (Acacia seyal), and SY J1A1 (Combretum erythrophyllum). All IC-ELISAs had a working range of 0.005-10 mg/mL. The antibodies used were tested using the IC-ELISAs for cross-reactivity with other Acacia species and other gums. The antibodies were very specific for their respective antigens. Significant cross-reactivity was found for SY CC7 (between A. senegal and A. melliferae) and SY J1A1 (between C. erythrophyllum and A. seyal). The IC-ELISA was adapted further to test confectionery samples for the presence of gum arabic, which was successful, although recovery rates were reduced. Both IC- and plate trapped antigen ELISA (PTA-ELISA) formats were able to distinguish an adulterated sample of gum arabic when blended with either A. seyal or C. erythrophyllum. The PTA-ELISA was more sensitive for A. seyal than the IC-ELISA, but both were equally sensitive for C. erythrophyllum. The results suggest that the antibodies SY CC7, SY HH3, and SY J1A1 could be used in combination with each other for the detection of potential adulterants of A. senegal and the detection of gum arabic in foodstuffs.

PMID: 15612759 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: The development of immunoassays to identify and quantify species source of gum arabic.

Introduction and synthesis: Plant phylogeny and the origin of major biomes.

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004 Oct 29;359(1450):1455-64

Authors: Pennington RT, Cronk QC, Richardson JA

Phylogenetic trees based upon DNA sequence data, when calibrated with a dimension of time, allow inference of: (i) the pattern of accumulation of lineages through time; (ii) the time of origin of monophyletic groups; (iii) when lineages arrived in different geographical areas; (iv) the time of origin of biome-specific morphologies. This gives a powerful new view of the history of biomes that in many cases is not provided by the incomplete plant fossil record. Dated plant phylogenies for angiosperm families such as Leguminoaceae (Fabaceae), Melastomataceae sensu stricto, Annonaceae and Rhamnaceae indicate that long-distance, transoceanic dispersal has played an important role in shaping their distributions, and that this can obscure any effect of tectonic history, previously assumed to have been the major cause of their biogeographic patterns. Dispersal from other continents has also been important in the assembly of the Amazonian rainforest flora and the Australian flora. Comparison of dated biogeographic patterns of plants and animals suggests that recent long-distance dispersal might be more prevalent in plants, which has major implications for community assembly and coevolution. Dated plant phylogenies also reveal the role of past environmental changes on the evolution of lineages in species-rich biomes, and show that recent Plio-Pleistocene diversification has contributed substantially to their current species richness. Because of the critical role of fossils and morphological characters in assigning ages to nodes in phylogenetic trees, future studies must include careful morphological consideration of fossils and their extant relatives in a phylogenetic context. Ideal study systems will be based upon DNA sequence data from multiple loci and multiple fossil calibrations. This allows cross-validation both of age estimates from different loci, and from different fossil calibrations. For a more complete view of biome history, future studies should emphasize full taxon sampling in ecologically important groups, and should focus on geographical areas for which few species-level phylogenies are available, such as tropical Africa and Asia. These studies are urgent because understanding the history of biomes can both inform conservation decisions, and help predict the effects of future environmental changes at a time when biodiversity is being impacted on an unprecedented scale.

PMID: 15519964 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Link to abstract on PubMed: Introduction and synthesis: Plant phylogeny and the origin of major biomes.

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