Cahyaningsih AP, Etikawati N, Yunus A. 2022. Morphological characters variation of Indonesian accession Echinacea purpurea in response to gamma-ray irradiation. Biodiversitas 23: 5351-5359. Indonesia ...was one of the countries that introduced E. purpurea as a medicinal plant. Accessions of E. purpurea that have been successfully cultivated in Indonesia have narrow genetic diversity, lack accession variation, and have almost uniform tillers. This study was conducted to determine the effect of different doses of gamma-ray irradiation on morphological characteristics of E. purpurea accession B2P2TOOT. The experimental design was a Randomized Block Design with three replications, and six doses of gamma-ray irradiation (0, 15 Gy, 20 Gy, 25 Gy, 40 Gy, and 60 Gy) were used. The qualitative morphological data were presented descriptively; quantitative data were analyzed using ANOVA followed by a DMRT test at a 5% level with SPSS 16.0 application. The Dice similarity algorithm analyzed the similarity index, group analysis, and dendrogram construction using the UPGMA method with the NTSYS 2.02 application. Gamma-ray irradiation treatment increased the survival rate of E. purpurea plants grown in tropical lowlands. A dose of 15-60 Gy gamma irradiation did not affect the qualitative morphology of E. purpurea roots, stems, and leaves. Irradiation at doses of 40 Gy and 60 Gy resulted in flowers with more variation in color, overall flower shape, and arrangement of ray floret. Gamma irradiation significantly affected plant height, leaf length, leaf area, flower angle, and the first day of flowering. The 40 and 60 Gy doses resulted in longer leaves with wider leaf surfaces. The dendrogram revealed that E. purpurea irradiation resulted in two main groups, with doses of 40 and 60 Gy forming their groups and increasing morphological variation by 30% compared to controls.
Estrada JL, Bautista NS, Dionisio-Sese ML. 2020. Morphological variation of two common sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera and Caulerpa racemosa) from selected regions in the Philippines. Biodiversitas ...21: 1823-1832. Seagrapes, locally known in the Philippines as “lato” or “ar-arusip”, are economically important macroalgae belonging to the edible species of the genus Caulerpa. This study characterized and compared distinct populations of sea grapes from selected regions in the Philippines and described the influence of physicochemical parameters of seawater on their morphology. Morphometric, cluster and principal component analyses showed that morphological plasticity exists in sea grapes species (Caulerpa lentillifera and Caulerpa racemosa) found in different sites in the Philippines. These are evident in morphometric parameters namely, assimilator height, space between assimilators, ramulus diameter and number of rhizoids on stolon wherein significant differences were found. This evident morphological plasticity was analyzed in relation to physicochemical parameters of the seawater. Assimilator height of C. racemosa is significantly associated and highly influenced by water depth, salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen whereas for C. lentillifera depth and salinity are the significant influencing factors. Highest assimilator height of sea grapes was found in Coron and Culion in Palawan due to higher salinity and temperature while in Mactan, Cebu, it is primarily attributed to lower depth and higher salinity values.
Reliable mapping of system-level individual differences is a critical first step toward precision medicine for complex disorders such as schizophrenia. Disrupted structural covariance indicates a ...system-level brain maturational disruption in schizophrenia. However, most studies examine structural covariance at the group level. This prevents subject-level inferences. Here, we introduce a Network Template Perturbation approach to construct individual differential structural covariance network (IDSCN) using regional gray-matter volume. IDSCN quantifies how structural covariance between two nodes in a patient deviates from the normative covariance in healthy subjects. We analyzed T1 images from 1287 subjects, including 107 first-episode (drug-naive) patients and 71 controls in the discovery datasets and established robustness in 213 first-episode (drug-naive), 294 chronic, 99 clinical high-risk patients, and 494 controls from the replication datasets. Patients with schizophrenia were highly variable in their altered structural covariance edges; the number of altered edges was related to severity of hallucinations. Despite this variability, a subset of covariance edges, including the left hippocampus-bilateral putamen/globus pallidus edges, clustered patients into two distinct subgroups with opposing changes in covariance compared to controls, and significant differences in their anxiety and depression scores. These subgroup differences were stable across all seven datasets with meaningful genetic associations and functional annotation for the affected edges. We conclude that the underlying physiology of affective symptoms in schizophrenia involves the hippocampus and putamen/pallidum, predates disease onset, and is sufficiently consistent to resolve morphological heterogeneity throughout the illness course. The two schizophrenia subgroups identified thus have implications for the nosology and clinical treatment.
•Relationship between secondary metabolites and morphological variations.•40 Cultivars of tartary buckwheat seeds from different regions.•Targeted metabolomics of flavonoids and ...anthraquinones.•Groats and hulls of tartary buckwheat seeds were studied respectively.
Polyphenols (flavonoids and anthraquinones) are one of the most important phytochemicals in Fagopyrum tataricum L. Gaertn. (tartary buckwheat). However, the relationship between the polyphenols of tartary buckwheat seeds and their morphological variations is unclear. We developed a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry-based targeted metabolomics method to study the chemical profiles of 60 flavonoids and 11 anthraquinones in 40 seed cultivars (groats and hulls). Both flavonoids and anthraquinones were related to variations in seed color; the fold change from yellowish-brown to black seeds was 1.24–1.55 in groats and 0.26–0.76 in hulls. Only flavonoids contributed to significant differences in seed shape; the fold change from long to short seeds was 1.29–1.78 in groats and 1.39–1.44 in hulls. Some differential metabolites were identified at higher concentrations in hulls than in groats. This study provides new insights into differences in polyphenols among tartary buckwheat seeds with different color and shape.
Abstract We analysed the genetic divergence and morphology of the aedeagus (i.e. phallobase and parameres) in Canthon cyanellus at different geographical levels. The results from both approaches were ...compared with the current taxonomic assignment of the C. cyanellus complex, which includes three subspecies. We found a high variation in all the morphological characters of the aedeagus in the populations analysed; the morphometric variation was not geographically structured, either by population or by region. The genealogical analysis indicates a significant genetic structure that does not match either the morphological variation in the male genitalia or the previous subspecific taxonomic classification. Our results suggest that the morphological variation of the aedeagus is seemingly not an isolating reproductive barrier and that the intra- and interpopulation morphological variability of the aedeagus in the C. cyanellus complex does not permit the division into several species. We suggest that other evolutionary forces, such as genetic drift and sexual selection, have influenced the evolution of the male genitalia and the incipient differentiation of this species complex.
Prions are small petrels that are abundant around the Southern Ocean. Here we use mitochondrial DNA (COI and cytochrome b) and nuclear reduced representation sequencing (ddRADseq) to examine the ...relationships within and between fairy (Pachyptila turtur) and fulmar (P. crassirostris) prions from across their distributions. We found that neither species was recovered as monophyletic, and that at least three species were represented. Furthermore, we detected several genetic lineages that are also morphologically distinct occurring in near sympatry at two locations (Snares Islands and Chatham Islands). The factors that have driven diversification in the fairy/fulmar prion complex are unclear but may include philopatry, differences in foraging distribution during breeding, differences in non-breeding distributions and breeding habitat characteristics. The observed distribution of genetic variation in the fairy/fulmar prion complex is consistent with population expansion from ice-free Last Glacial Maximum refugia into previously glaciated areas.
.— Morphometric studies often consider parts with internal left‐right symmetry, for instance, the vertebrate skull. This type of symmetry is called object symmetry and is distinguished from matching ...symmetry, in which two separate structures exist as mirror images of each other, one on each body side. We explain a method for partitioning the total shape variation of landmark configurations with object symmetry into components of symmetric variation among individuals and asymmetry. This method is based on the Procrustes superimposition of the original and a reflected copy of each landmark configuration and is compatible with the two‐factor ANOVA model customary in studies of fluctuating asymmetry. We show a fully multivariate framework for testing the effects in the two‐factor model with MANOVA statistics, which also applies to shapes with matching symmetry. We apply the new methods in a small case study of pharyngeal jaws of the Neotropical cichlid fish Amphilophus citrinellus. The analysis revealed that the symmetric component of variation in the pharyngeal jaws is dominated by the contrast between two alternative trophic morphs in this species and that there is subtle but statistically significant directional asymmetry. Finally, we provide some general recommendations for morphometric studies of symmetric shapes.
The garfish Belone belone represents the only valid endemic Belone species for the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It shows a wide global distribution range, with a high commercial ...value and ecological relevance in the pelagic domain. Despite this, there needs to be more knowledge regarding the otoliths of this species, with the total absence of descriptions regarding asterisci and lapilli from Mediterranean populations and a lack of studies on the reliability of shape analysis on its sagittae. The present paper aims to provide the first main contours description of the three otoliths pairs from a Mediterranean population, providing an accurate investigation of morphology, morphometry, and intra-specific variability of sagittae, lapilli, and asterisci. Results showed (i) the absence of directional bilateral asymmetry and sexual asymmetry for the three otoliths pairs, (ii) a different morphology and morphometry of sagittae, lapilli and asterisci than those described in the literature, and (iii) an enhanced variability between sagittae morphometry and shape between the three investigated size classes. All these data confirmed the reliability of the studied species of shape analysis, showing a geographical and size-related variability of otoliths features probably related to genetics, environmental conditions, and life habits variations.
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