• Title/Summary/Keyword: angiosperms

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Endless debates on the extant basal-most angiosperm (현생 기저 피자식물에 대한 끝나지 않는 논쟁)

  • Kim, Sangtae
    • Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.1-15
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    • 2010
  • Recognizing a basal group in a taxon is one of the most important factors involved in understanding the evolutionary history of that group of life. Many botanists have suggested a sister to all other angiosperms to understand the origin and rapid diversification of angiosperms based on morphological and fossil evidence. Recent technical advances in molecular biology and the accumulation of molecular phylogenetic data have provided evidence of the extant basal-most angiosperm which is a sister to all other angiosperms. Although it is still arguable, most plant taxonomists agree that Amborella trichopoda Baill., a species (monotypic genus and monotypic family) distributed in New Caledonia, is a sister to all other extant angiosperms based on evidence from the following molecular approaches: 1) classical phylogenetic analyses based on multiple genes (or DNA regions), 2) analyses of a tree network of duplicated gene families, and 3) gene-structural evidence. As an alternative hypothesis with relatively minor evidence, some researchers have also suggested that Amborella and Nymphaeaceae form a clade that is a sister to all other angiosperms. Debate regarding the basal-most angiosperms is still ongoing and is currently one of the hot issues in plant evolutionary biology. We expect that sequencing of the whole genome of Amborella as an evolutionary model plant and subsequent studies based on this genome sequence will provide information regarding the origin and rapid diversification of angiosperms, which is Darwin's so called abominable mystery.

On the Structure of th haustoria of Some Parasitic Flowering Plants (기생현화식물의 흡기 구조에 관하여)

  • 이규배
    • Journal of Plant Biology
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.173-182
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    • 1992
  • The parasitic flowering plants obtain nutrients and water from their host plants through a parasitic organ, haustorium, which connects both structurally and physiologically host and parasite. The parasitism in angiosperms thus can be understood from the knowledge of the haustorial structure. The haustoria have evolve convergently and independently in several unrelated taxa; therefore, they have similar morphology. Many anatomical studies on the haustoria in several parasites in the pst have been carried out by light microscopy. Ultrastructural studies on the haustoria, which are started from the end of 1060s', have provided new information relating to the phenomenon of parasitism in angiosperms. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and compare the structure of haustoria between parasitic plants. The results may help an understanding of phylogenetic relationships of parasitic angiosperms. The haustoria of some families, such as Santalaceae, Orobancaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Loranthaceae (or Viscaceae), and Convolvulaceae (Cuscuta) will be discussed.

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Ecological Correlates of Flowering Seasons in Korean Angiosperms

  • Kang, Hye-Soon;Jang, Sun-Young
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.353-360
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    • 2006
  • Ecological correlates of flowering times often are examined to infer evolutionary mechanisms for flowering time diversities. We examined ecological characteristic associations such as growth habits and pollination modes with flowering times among 3,037 Korean angiosperms experiencing strong climatic seasonalities. We first examined taxonomic membership effects on flowering times across diverse taxonomic levels. Phylogeny constrained flowering times at all levels down to the genus level. We then analyzed the effects of ecological characteristics using subset data consisting of species randomly selected from each genus to control phylogenetic effects. The commonly observed patterns of early flowering of woody species in temperate regions existed. Spring flowering shrubs and trees, however, both being woody, were involved with biotic and abiotic vectors, respectively. In two herbaceous groups of annuals and perennials, annuals flowered later in the growing season than perennials although both herbs tended to be associated with abiotic vectors when flowering in autumn. These results support our hypothesis that species able to decouple vegetative and reproductive growth flower in spring's dry season, but species with different habits, even when they flower within the same season, are subjected to different selective pressures for efficient pollination.

Evo-Devo of Leaf Shape Control with a Special Emphasis on Unifacial Leaves in Monocots

  • Yamaguchi, Takahiro;Tsukaya, Hirokazu
    • Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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    • v.37 no.4
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    • pp.351-361
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    • 2007
  • In angiosperms, leaves typically develop as three-dimensional structure with dorsoventral, longitudinal, and lateral axes. We have shown that the control of two axes of leaves, longitudinal and lateral axis, can be genetically separable, and four classes of genes are responsible for the polar cell expansion and polar cell proliferation in Arabidopsis. In monocots, unifacial leaf, in which leaf surface consists only of abaxial identity, has been evolved in a number of divergent species. The unifacial leaves provide very unique opportunities for the developmental studies of the leaf axes formation in monocots, because their leaf polarities are highly disorganized. In addition, the mechanism of the parallel evolution of such drastic changes in leaf polarities is of interest from an evolutionary viewpoint. In this article, we describe our recent approaches to reveal the mechanism of unifacial leaf development and evolution, including recent advances in the leaf polarity specification in angiosperms.

Analysis of Some Korean Terminologies on the Flower Structures of Angiosperms in Plant Morphology (식물형태학에서 사용하는 피자식물의 꽃 구조에 관한 한글 용어의 분석)

  • Lee, Kyu Bae
    • Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.86-100
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    • 2009
  • Korean terminologies on flower structures of angiosperms in plant morphology, written incorrectly in many books, were analysed to suggest accurately expressed terminologies. 24 books in areas such as general biology, plant biology, plant morphology, and biological dictionaries and glossaries were selected to analyse the accuracy of the terminologies for seed structures, e.g., crassinucellate (ovule), tenuinucellate (ovule), placentation, free cental placentation, herkogamy or hercogamy, heterostyly or heterostylous, distyly or distylous, tristyly or tristylous, and hypanthium. The definition and etymology of the terminologies were traced in 4 textbooks of plant anatomy and 2 dictionaries of biology and botany written in English. On the basis of the definition, etymology, and principles for terminology formation according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 704:2000), accurately and reasonably expressed Korean terminologies were proposed. The 9 terminologies examined in this study were found in the glossary of biological terminologies, published by the Korean Association of Biological Sciences in 2005, and designated as an editorial source for science and biology textbooks for middle and high schools by Ministry of Education in 2007. However, none of the 9 terminologies described in the glossary were consistent with those proposed in the present study. The inconsistencies indicated the need for a reassessment of this glossary of biological terminologies. The new, proposed terminologies would facilitate mutual understanding between teachers and students of plant biology.

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A genetic approach to comprehend the complex and dynamic event of floral development: a review

  • Jatindra Nath Mohanty;Swayamprabha Sahoo;Puspanjali Mishra
    • Genomics & Informatics
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.40.1-40.8
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    • 2022
  • The concepts of phylogeny and floral genetics play a crucial role in understanding the origin and diversification of flowers in angiosperms. Angiosperms evolved a great diversity of ways to display their flowers for reproductive success with variations in floral color, size, shape, scent, arrangements, and flowering time. The various innovations in floral forms and the aggregation of flowers into different kinds of inflorescences have driven new ecological adaptations, speciation, and angiosperm diversification. Evolutionary developmental biology seeks to uncover the developmental and genetic basis underlying morphological diversification. Advances in the developmental genetics of floral display have provided a foundation for insights into the genetic basis of floral and inflorescence evolution. A number of regulatory genes controlling floral and inflorescence development have been identified in model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus using forward genetics, and conserved functions of many of these genes across diverse non-model species have been revealed by reverse genetics. Transcription factors are vital elements in systems that play crucial roles in linked gene expression in the evolution and development of flowers. Therefore, we review the sex-linked genes, mostly transcription factors, associated with the complex and dynamic event of floral development and briefly discuss the sex-linked genes that have been characterized through next-generation sequencing.