Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences

Hybridization is a widespread phenomenon in the evolution of plants and exploring its role is crucial to understanding diversification processes of many taxonomic groups. Recently, more attention is focused on the role of ancient hybridization that has repeatedly been shown as triggers of evolutionary radiation, although in some cases, it can prevent further diversification. The causes, frequency, and consequences of ancient hybridization remain to be explored.

Elucidating the evolution of recently diverged and polyploid-rich plant lineages may be challenging even with high-throughput sequencing, both for biological reasons and bioinformatic difficulties. Here, we apply target enrichment with genome skimming (Hyb-Seq) to unravel the evolutionary history of the Alyssum montanum-A. repens species complex. Reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships in diploids supported recent and rapid diversification accompanied by reticulation events.

Non-coding repetitive DNA (repeatome) is an active part of the nuclear genome, involved in its structure, evolution and function. It is dominated by transposable elements (TEs) and satellite DNA and is prone to the most rapid changes over time. The TEs activity presumably causes the global genome reorganization and may play an adaptive or regulatory role in response to environmental challenges.

Although whole-genome duplication (WGD) is an important speciation force, we still lack a consensus on the role of niche differentiation in polyploid evolution. In addition, the role of genome doubling per se vs. later divergence on polyploid niche evolution remains obscure. One reason for this might be that the intraspecific genetic structure of polyploid complexes and interploidy gene flow is often neglected in ecological studies. Here, we aim to investigate to which extent these evolutionary processes impact our inference on niche differentiation of autopolyploids.

Custom probe design for target enrichment in phylogenetics is tedious and often hinders broader phylogenetic synthesis. The universal angiosperm probe set Angiosperms353 may be the solution. Here, we test the relative performance of Angiosperms353 on the Rosaceae subtribe Malinae in comparison with custom probes that we specifically designed for this clade. We then address the impact of bioinformatically altering the performance of Angiosperms353 by replacing the original probe sequences with orthologs extracted from the Malus domestica genome.

Set of scripts to run STRUCTURE in parallel on computing grids like MetaCentrum. Scripts are designed for grids and clusters using PBS Pro, but can be easily adopted for another queue system.

Parallel evolution provides powerful natural experiments for studying repeatability of evolution and genomic basis of adaptation. Well-documented examples from plants are, however, still rare, as are inquiries of mechanisms driving convergence in some traits while divergence in others. Arabidopsis arenosa, a predominantly foothill species with scattered morphologically distinct alpine occurrences is a promising candidate. Yet, the hypothesis of parallelism remained untested.

Minuartia smejkalii is an obligate serpentinophyte plant endemic to the Czech Republic. Since the 1960s, the species’ habitat has undergone strong human-mediated fragmentation, resulting in extinction of some populations and dramatic size reduction of the remaining populations. Thus, contrary to the typically stable serpentine habitats, M. smejkalii habitats underwent a recent and severe decline, which can exacerbate the effects of fragmentation on population genetic structure. We examined the genetic structure of all known M.

Taraxacum koksaghyz Rodin, a dandelion from the steppes of south-eastern Kazakhstan, has been known for long time as potential rubber producer, as a temperate region alternative to the tropical rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis Müll. Arg.. In this work, we evaluate Taraxacum bicorne Dahlst. (wild populations), a closely related congener of T. koksaghyz.

Genus Taraxacum (Asteraceae), having ∼60 sections and 2,800 species, is known for its complicated evolutionary relationships and taxonomy due to processes like frequent hybridization, polyploidization, asexual reproduction, clonality and low structural morphological variability. Various taxonomical concepts and approaches are reviewed, evaluated and discussed from point of view of their ability to deal with such a complicated genera as is Taraxacum. Various processes responsible for the complicated situation within Taraxacum are discussed and reviewed. Section Dioszegia, comprising T.