Systematics, biogeography, and character evolution of Deutzia (Hydrangeaceae) inferred from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences.

The genus Deutzia (Hydrangeaceae), containing ca. 60 species circumscribed in three sections, is disjunctly distributed in eastern Asia and Central America (Mexico). Although the genus is well delimited, its subdivisions into sections and series have not been the subject of an explicit test of monophyly based on molecular data. A comprehensive examination of the evolutionary relationships within the genus is thus still lacking. We present a fossil-calibrated, molecular phylogeny of Deutzia based on two nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS and 26S) and three chloroplast DNA regions (matK, rbcL, and trnL-F intergenic spacer). Within this framework, we examine character evolution in petal arrangement, filament shape, and the number of stamens, and infer the ancestral area and biogeographic history of the genus. Our molecular phylogeny suggests that Deutzia is monophyletic. Two major clades are recovered: one composed of the species of sect. Neodeutzia from Mexico, and the other containing all remaining Deutzia species of sections Mesodeutzia and Deutzia from SW China and Northeast Asia. The latter two Asian sections were each revealed to be polyphyletic. The induplicate petals, 2-dentate filaments, and polystemonous androecia are inferred to be ancestral character states. Biogeographic reconstructions suggest a Northeast Asian origin for the genus and subsequent spread to Mexico during the Oligocene and to SW China during the Miocene. Based on our results, a new infrageneric classification of Deutzia inferred from molecular phylogeny is required. We propose to merge sections Mesodeutzia and Deutzia to ensure the monophyly at the sectional level. Cooling trends during the Oligocene resulted in isolation, separating eastern Asian and Mexican taxa, while the warm period during the middle Miocene stimulated the diversification from Northeast Asia to SW China. The uplift in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and monsoon regimes are important in promoting high species diversification of Deutzia in SW China.

Gene network reconstruction reveals cell cycle and antiviral genes as major drivers of cervical cancer.

Although human papillomavirus was identified as an aetiological factor in cervical cancer, the key human gene drivers of this disease remain unknown. Here we apply an unbiased approach integrating gene expression and chromosomal aberration data. In an independent group of patients, we reconstruct and validate a gene regulatory meta-network, and identify cell cycle and antiviral genes that constitute two major subnetworks upregulated in tumour samples. These genes are located within the same regions as chromosomal amplifications, most frequently on 3q. We propose a model in which selected chromosomal gains drive activation of antiviral genes contributing to episomal virus elimination, which synergizes with cell cycle dysregulation. These findings may help to explain the paradox of episomal human papillomavirus decline in women with invasive cancer who were previously unable to clear the virus.