Genomic insights into local adaptation and vulnerability of Quercus longinux to climate change.

BACKGROUND: Climate change is expected to alter the factors that drive changes in adaptive variation. This is especially true for species with long life spans and limited dispersal capabilities. Rapid climate changes may disrupt the migration of beneficial genetic variations, making it challenging for them to keep up with changing environments. Understanding adaptive genetic variations in tree species is crucial for conservation and effective forest management. Our study used landscape genomic analyses and phenotypic traits from a thorough sampling across the entire range of Quercus longinux, an oak species native to Taiwan, to investigate the signals of adaptation within this species. RESULTS: Using ecological data, phenotypic traits, and 1,933 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 205 individuals, we classified three genetic groups, which were also phenotypically and ecologically divergent. Thirty-five genes related to drought and freeze resistance displayed signatures of natural selection. The adaptive variation was driven by diverse environmental pressures such as low spring precipitation, low annual temperature, and soil grid sizes. Using linear-regression-based methods, we identified isolation by environment (IBE) as the optimal model for adaptive SNPs. Redundancy analysis (RDA) further revealed a substantial joint influence of demography, geology, and environments, suggesting a covariation between environmental gradients and colonization history. Lastly, we utilized adaptive signals to estimate the genetic offset for each individual under diverse climate change scenarios. The required genetic changes and migration distance are larger in severe climates. Our prediction also reveals potential threats to edge populations in northern and southeastern Taiwan due to escalating temperatures and precipitation reallocation. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate the intricate influence of ecological heterogeneity on genetic and phenotypic adaptation of an oak species. The adaptation is also driven by some rarely studied environmental factors, including wind speed and soil features. Furthermore, the genetic offset analysis predicted that the edge populations of Q. longinux in lower elevations might face higher risks of local extinctions under climate change.

Maintenance of species boundaries amid hybridization in two island gingers with similar ecological niches.

Understanding species boundaries maintenance in the face of hybridization/introgression is an intriguing yet complex topic in evolutionary biology. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain elusive. To address this, we propose to investigate the role of climatic shifts in shaping genetic structure and influencing species boundaries. We combine multilocus genetic data and species distribution modeling to explore how past and current climatic shifts affect the genetic structure and demographic history of two Taiwan endemic gingers, Zingiber pleiostachyum and Z. shuanglongense. We identified a well-delimited genetic structure with evidence of admixture, indicating incomplete reproductive isolation between the two gingers. This is likely due to secondary contact and range overlap during the last glacial maximum, leading to sporadic instances of hybridization. Niche overlap tests based on climate and soil data indicate that these two gingers occupy similar but nonidentical ecological niches. Furthermore, we found that the considerable differences in their current geographic distribution and altitude preferences might have resulted from different seed dispersal capabilities and competitive exclusion due to their similar niche preferences. Our results reveal a model where altitudinal differentiation and dispersal strategy synergistically reinforce the species divergence, thereby illuminating the importance of these factors in shaping and maintaining the island's biodiversity.

Enhancing patient-centred care in Taiwan's dental education system: Exploring the feasibility of doctor-patient communication education and training.

Background/purpose: Improved communication can optimize treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction. Findings emphasize the need for tailored communication strategies based on patient characteristics. Implementing communication courses can enhance patient-centered care and reduce conflicts. Therefore, this study examined the feasibility of integrating doctor-patient communication education in Taiwan's dental education system. Materials and methods: Using interviews and questionnaires, we conducted descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed-effects model analysis on the importance of doctor-patient communication from the dentist and patient perspectives. Results: More than 600 patient surveys and four interviewed dentists with 20+ years of experience stressed doctor-patient communication in dentistry. Patients' age and income were positively related to the emphasis on physician-patient communication but negatively associated with dental assistants' communication. Dentists valued communication education but differed in its execution and importance. Conclusion: It is recommended to initiate dentist-patient communication education during university studies and continue its practice to adapt to the changing societal dynamics. Individuals with higher socioeconomic status and older age show a greater appreciation for dentist-patient communication, potentially driven by self-promotion, thereby highlighting the diverse nature of doctor-patient relationships. Based on our findings, we suggest to implement the doctor-patient communication courses in Taiwan.

Ghost introgression facilitates genomic divergence of a sympatric cryptic lineage in Cycas revoluta.

A cryptic lineage is a genetically diverged but morphologically unrecognized variant of a known species. Clarifying cryptic lineage evolution is essential for quantifying species diversity. In sympatric cryptic lineage divergence compared with allopatric divergence, the forces of divergent selection and mating patterns override geographical isolation. Introgression, by supplying preadapted or neutral standing genetic variations, can promote sympatric cryptic lineage divergence via selection. However, most studies concentrated on extant species introgression, ignoring the genetic legacy of introgression from extinct or unsampled lineages ("ghost introgression"). Cycads are an ideal plant for studying the influence of ghost introgression because of their common interspecific gene flow and past high extinction rate. Here, we utilized reference-based ddRADseq to clarify the role of ghost introgression in the evolution of a previously identified sympatric cryptic lineage in Cycas revoluta. After re-evaluating the evolutionary independency of cryptic lineages, the group-wise diverged single-nucleotide polymorphisms among sympatric and allopatric lineages were compared and functionally annotated. Next, we employed an approximate Bayesian computation method for hypothesis testing to clarify the cryptic lineage evolution and ghost introgression effect. SNPs with the genomic signatures of ghost introgression were further annotated. Our results reconfirmed the evolutionary independency of cryptic lineage among C. revoluta and demonstrated that ghost introgression to the noncryptic lineage facilitated their divergence. Gene function related to heat stress and disease resistance implied ecological adaptation of the main extant populations of C. revoluta.

Measuring Depression in Young Adults: Preliminary Development of an English Version of the Teate Depression Inventory.

Depression is a common and debilitating condition that impacts individuals with various cultural backgrounds, medical conditions, and life circumstances. Thus, assessment tools need to be useful among different cultural groups. The 21-item Teate Depression Inventory (TDI) was developed in Italy, is designed to assess major depression, and focuses on cognitive and affective rather than somatic symptoms. This study aims to examine the factor structure and concurrent validity of the TDI English version among a non-clinical population in the United States. Participants included 398 adults (mean age 19.89 years, SD = 2.72, range: 18 to 46 years old) who completed the TDI and The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-Revised (CESD-R). The results supported a three-factor bifactor structure of the TDI (Positive Affect, Negative Affect, and Daily Functioning), which largely corresponds to the Tripartite Model of affective disorders. These findings support the use of TDI scores as measures of depressive symptoms among U.S. young adults, offering researchers and practitioners a brief and useful tool.

Unravelling the dynamics of soil microbial communities under the environmental selection and range shift process in afforestation ecosystems.

The process of forest range shift not only affects the vegetation aboveground but also influences the dynamics of belowground microbial communities. To investigate the changes in soil under forest range shift, we examined the natural forest soil microbiome along with its corresponding physicochemical properties, as well as the afforestation of natural forest by seedlings and sowing. By utilizing natural forests and employing different afforestation methods, we simulated the three stages of forest range shift: the staging stage, regeneration, and colonization. We employed network analysis and phylogenetic assemblages to examine the structure of soil microbial communities during these three stages in a macro-environmental change context. Ordination and regression analyses were also used to explore the correlation between microorganisms, environmental factors, and changes in their niches. The findings revealed that different afforestation (range shift) types led to distinct microbial compositions. Seedling afforestation exhibited similarities to mature forests, suggesting a significant influence on below-ground microorganisms. In contrast, sowing-based afforestation resulted in small changes in soil microbes, indicating a legacy effect on grassland soils. The impact of the rhizosphere on microbial composition remained consistent across the three forest types. Overall, this study underscores the significance of forest range shift in shaping soil microbial communities and emphasizes the need to consider these dynamics in forest management and restoration endeavours.

The Contribution of Epigenetics to Evolutionary Adaptation in Zingiber kawagoii Hayata (Zingiberaceae) Endemic to Taiwan.

We epigenotyped 211 individuals from 17 Zingiber kawagoii populations using methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) and investigated the associations of methylated (mMSAP) and unmethylated (uMSAP) loci with 16 environmental variables. Data regarding genetic variation based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were obtained from an earlier study. We found a significant positive correlation between genetic and epigenetic variation. Significantly higher mean mMSAP and uMSAP uHE (unbiased expected heterozygosity: 0.223 and 0.131, respectively, p < 0.001) per locus than that estimated based on AFLP (uHE = 0.104) were found. Genome scans detected 10 mMSAP and 9 uMSAP FST outliers associated with various environmental variables. A significant linear fit for 11 and 12 environmental variables with outlier mMSAP and uMSAP ordination, respectively, generated using full model redundancy analysis (RDA) was found. When conditioned on geography, partial RDA revealed that five and six environmental variables, respectively, were the most important variables influencing outlier mMSAP and uMSAP variation. We found higher genetic (average FST = 0.298) than epigenetic (mMSAP and uMSAP average FST = 0.044 and 0.106, respectively) differentiation and higher genetic isolation-by-distance (IBD) than epigenetic IBD. Strong epigenetic isolation-by-environment (IBE) was found, particularly based on the outlier data, controlling either for geography (mMSAP and uMSAP ßE = 0.128 and 0.132, respectively, p = 0.001) or for genetic structure (mMSAP and uMSAP ßE = 0.105 and 0.136, respectively, p = 0.001). Our results suggest that epigenetic variants can be substrates for natural selection linked to environmental variables and complement genetic changes in the adaptive evolution of Z. kawagoii populations.

Mechanistic Insight into Solution-Based Atomic Layer Deposition of CuSCN Provided by In Situ and Ex Situ Methods.

Solution-based atomic layer deposition (sALD) processes enable the preparation of thin films on nanostructured surfaces while controlling the film thickness down to a monolayer and preserving the homogeneity of the film. In sALD, a similar operation principle as in gas-phase ALD is used, however, with a broader range of accessible materials and without requiring expensive vacuum equipment. In this work, a sALD process was developed to prepare CuSCN on a Si substrate using the precursors CuOAc and LiSCN. The film growth was studied by ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM), analyzed by a neural network (NN) approach, ellipsometry, and a newly developed in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy experiment in combination with density functional theory (DFT). In the self-limiting sALD process, CuSCN grows on top of an initially formed two-dimensional (2D) layer as three-dimensional spherical nanoparticles with an average size of ∼25 nm and a narrow particle size distribution. With increasing cycle number, the particle density increases and larger particles form via Ostwald ripening and coalescence. The film grows preferentially in the ß-CuSCN phase. Additionally, a small fraction of the α-CuSCN phase and defect sites form.

Turfgrass-dependent mycotrophic change enhances soil deterioration in dry, cold and high-alkali environments.

AIMS: Soil quality is undergoing severe degradation under anthropogenic effects. Different methods of land management have been implemented for soil reclamation, such as turfing. Although widely accepted to improve soil quality, turfing in specific environments may also culminate in soil deterioration. We aim to know how turfing impacts soils by changing mycobiomes. METHODS AND RESULTS: The soil physicochemical properties and ITS metabarcoding were used to investigate mycobiome diversity and eco-function differences between the eudicot Dianthus plumarius and the monocot Poa pratensis in dry, cold, and high-alkali soil. The effects of plantation and the rhizosphere (e.g. root exudates) were tested. We showed that the change in soil mycobiomes in different planted bulk soils and rhizospheres could mainly be attributed to species turnover, with minor nestedness. Unexpectedly, the soil deteriorates more following turfing. The increasing saprotrophs in planted bulk soil were more marked in the monocot than in the eudicot, even the rhizosphere effect alleviated saprotrophic risks in the rhizosphere. CONCLUSIONS: Turfing deteriorates the health of high-alkali soil by reducing nitrification, and upshift the soil saprotrophs in a dry and cold environment.

Contribution of genetic variants associated with primary immunodeficiencies to childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematous.

BACKGROUND: A dysregulated immune response is a hallmark of autoimmune disorders. Evidence suggests that systemic autoimmune diseases and primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs) may be similar diseases with different clinical phenotypes. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the burden of PID-associated genetic variants in patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE). METHODS: We enrolled 118 cSLE patients regularly followed at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Targeted next-generation sequencing identified PID genetic variants in patients versus 1475 unrelated healthy individuals, which were further filtered by allelic frequency and various functional scores. Customized immune assays tested the functions of the identified variants. RESULTS: On filtration, 36 patients (30.5%) harbored rare variants in PID-associated genes predicted to be damaging. One homozygous TREX1 (c.294dupA) mutation and 4 heterozygous variants with possible dominant PID traits, including BCL11B (c.G1040T), NFKB1 (c.T695G), and NFKB2 (c.G1210A, c.G1651A), were discovered. With recessive traits, variants were found across all PID types; one fifth involved phagocyte number or function defects. Predicted pathogenic PID variants were more predominant in those with a family history of lupus, regardless of infection susceptibility. Moreover, mutation loads were greater among cSLE patients than controls despite sex or age at disease onset. While greater mutation loads were observed among cSLE patients with peripubertal disease onset, no significant differences in sex or phenotype were noted among cSLE patients. CONCLUSION: cSLE is mostly not monogenic. Gene-specific analysis and mutation load investigations suggested that rare and predicted damaging variants in PID-related genes can potentially contribute to cSLE susceptibility.

Pattern of Adaptive Divergence in Zingiber kawagoii Hayata (Zingiberaceae) along a Narrow Latitudinal Range.

Ecological and evolutionary processes linking adaptation to environment are related to species' range shifts. In this study, we employed amplified-fragment-length-polymorphism-based genome scan methods to identify candidate loci among Zingiber kawagoii populations inhabiting varying environments distributed at low to middle elevations (143-1488 m) in a narrow latitudinal range (between 21.90 and 25.30° N). Here, we show evidence of selection driving the divergence of Z. kawagoii. Twenty-six FST outliers were detected, which were significantly correlated with various environmental variables. The allele frequencies of nine FST outliers were either positively or negatively correlated with the population mean FST. Using several independent approaches, we found environmental variables act in a combinatorial fashion, best explaining outlier genetic variation. Nonetheless, we found that adaptive divergence was affected mostly by annual temperature range, and it is significantly positively correlated with latitude and significantly negatively correlated with the population mean FST. This study addresses a latitudinal pattern of changes in annual temperature range (which ranged from 13.8 °C in the Lanyu population to 18.5 °C in the Wulai population) and emphasizes the pattern of latitudinal population divergence closely linked to the allele frequencies of adaptive loci, acting in a narrow latitudinal range. Our results also indicate environmentally dependent local adaptation for both leading- and trailing-edge populations.

Parallel adaptation prompted core-periphery divergence of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus.

Range expansion requires peripheral populations to shift adaptive optima to breach range boundaries. Opportunities for range expansion can be assessed by investigating the associations of core-periphery environmental and genetic differences. This study investigates differences in the core-periphery adaptation of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus, a broad-leaved evergreen shrub species in a relatively homogeneous temperate Asian desert environment, to explore the environmental factors that limit the expansion of desert plants. Temperate deserts are characterized by severe drought, a large diurnal temperature range, and seasonality. Long-standing adaptation to the harsh desert environment may confine the genetic diversity of A. mongolicus, despite its distribution over a wide range of longitude, latitude, and altitude. Since range edges defined by climate niches may have different genetic responses to environmental extremes, we compared genome-wide polymorphisms between nine environmental core populations and ten fragmented peripheral populations to determine the "adaptive peripheral" populations. At least four adaptive peripheral populations had similar genetic-environmental association patterns. High elevations, summer drought, and winter cold were the three main determinants of converging these four adaptive peripheral populations. Elevation mainly caused similar local climates among different geographic regions. Altitudinal adaptation resulting from integrated environmental-genetic responses was a breakthrough in breaching niche boundaries. These peripheral populations are also located in relatively humid and warmer environments. Relaxation of the drought and cold constraints facilitated the genetic divergence of these peripheral populations from the core population's adaptive legacy. We conclude that pleiotropic selection synchronized adaptative divergence to cold and drought vs. warm and humid environments between the core and peripheral populations. Such parallel adaptation of peripheral populations relies on selection under a background of abundant new variants derived from the core population's standing genetic variation, i.e., integration of genetic surfing and local adaptation.

Divergence With Gene Flow and Contrasting Population Size Blur the Species Boundary in Cycas Sect. Asiorientales, as Inferred From Morphology and RAD-Seq Data.

The divergence process of incipient species is fascinating but elusive by incomplete lineage sorting or gene flow. Species delimitation is also challenging among those morphologically similar allopatric species, especially when lacking comprehensive data. Cycas sect. Asiorientales, comprised of C. taitungensis and C. revoluta in the Ryukyu Archipelago and Taiwan, diverged recently with continuous gene flow, resulting in a reciprocal paraphyletic relationship. Their previous evolutionary inferences are questioned from few genetic markers, incomplete sampling, and incomprehensive morphological comparison by a long-term taxonomic misconception. By whole range sampling, this study tests the geographic mode of speciation in the two species of Asiorientales by approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The individual tree was reconstructed to delimit the species and track the gene-flow trajectory. With the comparison of diagnostic morphological traits and genetic data, the allopatric speciation was rejected. Alternatively, continuous but spatially heterogeneous gene flow driven by transoceanic vegetative dispersal and pollen flow with contrasting population sizes blurred their species boundary. On the basis of morphological, genetic, and evolutionary evidence, we synonymized these two Cycas species. This study highlights not only the importance of the Kuroshio Current to species evolution but also the disadvantage of using species with geographically structured genealogies as conservation units.

Different Roles of Introgression on the Demographic Change in Two Snakebark Maples, Acer caudatifolium and A. morrisonense, with Contrasted Postglacial Expansion Routes.

Hybridization frequently occurs in plant species. With repeated backcross, the introgression may influence evolutionary trajectories through the entry of foreign genes. However, the genetic admixture via hybridization events is often confused with the ancestral polymorphism, especially in closely related species that have experienced similar evolutionary events. In Taiwan, two independent-originated endemic snakebark maples have contrasted postglacial range expansion routes: northward and upward expansion in Acer caudatifolium and downward expansion in A. morrisonense. The range expansion causes the current parapatric distribution, increasing the possibility of introgression. This study elucidates how their genetic variation reflects introgression and historical demography. With 17 EST-SSR markers among the intensely sampled 657 individuals, we confirmed that the genetic admixture between species mainly was attributed to recent introgression instead of common ancestral polymorphism. The secondary contact scenario inferred by approximate Bayesian computation suggested that A. morrisonense received more genetic variations from A. caudatifolium. Introgression occurred in colonized Taiwan around the early Last Glacial Period. Furthermore, the demography of A. caudatifolium was more severely affected by introgression than A. morrisonense, especially in the wavefront populations with high altitude range expansion, implying an altitude-related adaptive introgression. In contrast, A. morrisonense exhibited ubiquitous introgression independent of postglacial expansion, suggesting that introgression in A. morrisonense was neutral. In terms of different genetic consequences, introgression had different demographic impacts on species with different altitude expansion directions even under the same climate-change conditions within an island.

Vapor construction and modification of stem cell-laden multicomponent scaffolds for regenerative therapeutics.

Tissue engineering based on the combined use of isolated cells, scaffolds, and growth factors is widely used; however, the manufacture of cell-preloaded scaffolds faces challenges. Herein, we fabricated a multicomponent scaffold with multiple component accommodations, including bioactive molecules (BMs), such as fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) and l-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (A2-P), and living cells of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs), within one scaffold construct. We report an innovative fabrication process based on vapor-phased construction using iced templates for vapor sublimation. Simultaneously, the vaporized water molecules were replaced by vapor deposition of poly-p-xylylene (PPX, USP Class VI, highly compatible polymer, FDA-approved records), forming a three-dimensional and porous scaffold matrix. More importantly, a multicomponent modification was achieved based on using nonvolatile solutes, including bioactive molecules of FGF-2 and A2-P, and living cells of hASCs, to prepare iced templates for sublimation. Additionally, the fabrication and construction resulted in a multicomponent scaffold product comprising the devised molecules, cells, and vapor-polymerized poly-p-xylylene as the scaffold matrix. The clean and dry fabrication process did not require catalysts, initiators or plasticizers, and potentially harmful solvents, and the scaffold products were produced in simple steps within hours of the processing time. Cell viability analysis showed a high survival rate (approximately 86.4%) for the accommodated hASCs in the fabricated scaffold product, and a surprising multilineage differentiation potential of hASCs was highly upregulated because of synergistic guidance by the same accommodated FGF-2 and A2-P components. Proliferation and self-renewal activities were also demonstrated with enhancement of the multicomponent scaffold product. Finally, in vivo calvarial defect studies further revealed that the constructed scaffolds provided blood vessels to grow into the bone defect areas with enhancement, and the induced conduction of osteoblast growth also promoted bone healing toward osseointegration. The reported scaffold construction technology represents a prospective tissue engineering scaffold product to enable accommodable and customizable versatility to control the distribution and composition of loading delicate BMs and living hASCs in one scaffold construct and demonstrates unlimited applications in tissue engineering repair and regenerative medicine applications.

Local adaptation and migratory habits balance spatial-genetic structure between continental and insular chestnut tiger butterflies in East Asia.

Geographic and climatic differences between islands and continents may affect the evolution of their biota, and promote divergent selection in species distributed in both landscapes. To assess spatial-genetic structure, we genotyped 18 expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) loci and sequenced two mtDNA markers (ND5 and COI) and one nuclear marker (EF1α) in two subspecies of the butterfly Parantica sita. Compared with nuclear markers, mtDNA had a stronger signal of population structure. Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) suggested that a continuous-gene-flow model best described the data. According to this model, the two subspecies diverged approximately 23.1 kya, with 10 times more introgression from the continental (ssp. sita) to the insular subspecies (ssp. niphonica) than vice versa. Ecological niche modelling was performed to predict the paleo- and current potential distributions and elucidate the geohistorical process, which revealed a northeastern, insular origin. Winter precipitation and annual temperature range were the main determinants of the subspecies distributions. Maximum-likelihood population-effects models showed that the population differentiation of the insular and continental subspecies was primarily affected by environmental resistance and local climate. Sex-biased migration capacity and long-term precipitation-driven divergence between the continental and insular lineages shaped the current genetic structure of P. sita. Evidence from the nuclear markers confirmed intersubspecific gene flow despite adaptive divergence between the subspecies. These results imply that the continental subspecies is still capable of returning to the island and introgressing with the insular subspecies.

Physicochemical and Biotic Changes and the Phylogenetic Evenness of Microbial Community in Soil Subjected to Phytoreclamation.

Phytoreclamation is the intervention of plants to improve degraded soil quality, changing soil biotic and abiotic properties. Many studies have focused on microbial composition and bioactivity, but few explored the changes in phylogenetic assemblages of soil microbiota after phytoreclamation. This study compared microbiomes of bare land to those of planted soils and investigated how the rhizosphere environment affects microbial assemblages from monocot Poa pratensis and eudicot Dianthus plumarius plantings using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. The results showed that the biotic susceptibility of soil to the rhizosphere environment was higher than that of the abiotic. A noticeable change was in some soil physicochemical properties like Na, P, Zn, Cu, C, and sand-to-silt proportion before and after phytoreclamation, but not between the rhizosphere and bulk soil of plantings. Contrastingly, microbial composition and diversity were significantly affected by both turfing and rhizosphere effects and were more susceptible to differences in turfing or not than in planting species. In the turfgrass, the microbiome differences between plants were greater in the rhizosphere than in the surrounding bulk soil, indicating the proximal influence of root exudates. We also found that the main abiotic factors that influenced microbial composition were Na, Zn, NOx, N, and S; as for the phylogenetic assemblages, were by K levels and the increase of silt. Turfgrass decomposes soil aggregates and changes the physicochemical properties, thereby evens the phylogenetic clustering of the soil microbial community. We demonstrated that the deterministic process affects the microbial assemblage and acts as a selective agent of the soil microbiota in fundamental and realized niches. Phytoreclamation may lead to abiotic soil changes that reallocate resources to microbes. This could affect the phylogeny of the microbial assemblages and increase microbial richness.

Corrigendum: Divergence with gene flow and contrasting population size blur the species boundary in Cycas Sect. Asiorientales, as inferred from morphology and RAD-seq data.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.824158.].

Evolution of floral characters and biogeography of Heloniadeae (Melanthiaceae): an example of breeding system shifts with inflorescence change.

Heloniadeae (Melanthiaceae) presents an East Asia-North America disjunct distribution. Different molecular and morphological data nevertheless support the tribe as a monophyletic group. However, their phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history, together with the character evolution, are not clear. Therefore, we constructed a Bayesian phylogenetic tree for Heloniadeae using cpDNA and inferred the historical biogeography and floral character evolution. The results revealed that Heloniadeae was distributed in high-latitudes of East Asia and North America, originating since 22.2 mya. The East Asia clade migrated into southwest China, and subsequently colonized the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, the Ryukyus, and spread northward to Japan and southern Sakhalin. The evolution of the inflorescence and number of flowers were phylogenetically conserved, associated with the historical biogeography of Heloniadeae. The inflorescences transferred from raceme to sub-umbel, and the number of flowers decreased during the dispersal process, which may be accompanied by changes in the breeding system. Besides, the anthesis period was more affected by the habitat environment than phylogenetic constraints. The flowering temperature of was below 20 °C in most species, except H. kawanoi. Such a low temperature might not be conductive to pollinator activities, but it could be compensated by sustaining seed production with long-lasting flowers.