Independent recruitment of a conserved developmental mechanism during leaf evolution

Vascular plants evolved in the Middle to Late Silurian period, about 420 million years ago. The fossil record indicates that these primitive plants had branched stems with sporangia but no leaves. Leaf-like lateral outgrowths subsequently evolved on at least two independent occasions. In extant plants, these events are represented by microphyllous leaves in lycophytes (clubmosses, spikemosses and quillworts) and megaphyllous leaves in euphyllophytes (ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms). Our current understanding of how leaves develop is restricted to processes that operate during megaphyll formation. Because microphylls and megaphylls evolved independently, different mechanisms might be required for leaf formation. Here we show that this is not so. Gene expression data from a microphyllous lycophyte, phylogenetic analyses, and a cross-species complementation experiment all show that a common developmental mechanism can underpin both microphyll and megaphyll formation. We propose that this mechanism might have operated originally in the context of primitive plant apices to facilitate bifurcation. Recruitment of this pathway to form leaves occurred independently and in parallel in different plant lineages.     

泥盆纪枝蕨纲的分支系统学研究

枝蕨纲是中泥盆世至早石炭世的一个重要的植物类群。作者对枝蕨纲代表植物进行了尝试性的分支系统学研究。枝蕨纲中可识别出伊瑞蕨目、瘤指蕨目和其他一些过渡类型。伊瑞蕨目和瘤指蕨目演化关系密切,二者分别以营养性末级附枝的顶端回弯和具瘤指蕨型的植物体组构为近裔共性。中国中上泥盆统的Metacladophyton和Polypetalophyton比伊瑞蕨目和瘤指蕨目进化程度要高,可能代表枝蕨纲内的一个新的高级分类单元,以具片化的末级附枝及次生生长为特征。伊瑞蕨目和瘤指蕨目出现在中泥盆世,而以Metacladophyton和Polypetalophyton为代表的进化类型出现在中泥盆世晚期至晚泥盆世早期。从伊瑞蕨目、瘤指蕨目到Metacladophyton和Polypetalophyton,侧生分枝系统显示了从三维的枝系统向似羽片状系统逐渐演化的趋势。     

泥盆纪枝蕨纲的分支系统学研究

枝蕨纲是中泥盆世至早石炭世的一个重要的植物类群。作者对枝蕨纲代表植物进行了尝试性的分支系统学研究。枝蕨纲中可识别出伊瑞蕨目、瘤指蕨目和其他一些过渡类型。伊瑞蕨目和瘤指蕨目演化关系密切,二者分别以营养性末级附枝的顶端回弯和具瘤指蕨型的植物体组构为近裔共性。中国中上泥盆统的Metacladophyton和Polypetalophyton比伊瑞蕨目和瘤指蕨目进化程度要高,可能代表枝蕨纲内的一个新的高级分类单元,以具片化的末级附枝及次生生长为特征。伊瑞蕨目和瘤指蕨目出现在中泥盆世,而以Metacladophyton和Polypetalophyton为代表的进化类型出现在中泥盆世晚期至晚泥盆世早期。从伊瑞蕨目、瘤指蕨目到Metacladophyton和Polypetalophyton,侧生分枝系统显示了从三维的枝系统向似羽片状系统逐渐演化的趋势。     

Evolution of leaf-form in land plants linked to atmospheric CO2 decline in the Late Palaeozoic era

The widespread appearance of megaphyll leaves, with their branched veins and planate form, did not occur until the close of the Devonian period at about 360 Myr ago. This happened about 40 Myr after simple leafless vascular plants first colonized the land in the Late Silurian/Early Devonian, but the reason for the slow emergence of this common feature of present-day plants is presently unresolved. Here we show, in a series of quantitative analyses using fossil leaf characters and biophysical principles, that the delay was causally linked with a 90% drop in atmospheric pCO2 during the Late Palaeozoic era. In contrast to simulations for a typical Early Devonian land plant, possessing few stomata on leafless stems, those for a planate leaf with the same stomatal characteristics indicate that it would have suffered lethal overheating, because of greater interception of solar energy and low transpiration. When planate leaves first appeared in the Late Devonian and subsequently diversified in the Carboniferous period, they possessed substantially higher stomatal densities. This observation is consistent with the effects of the pCO2 on stomatal development and suggests that the evolution of planate leaves could only have occurred after an increase in stomatal density, allowing higher transpiration rates that were sufficient to maintain cool and viable leaf temperatures.     

Adakites related to subduction in the northern margin of Junggar arc for the Late Paleozoic: Products of slab melting

Volcanic rocks with adakitic compositional signature have been recognized in the northern margin of ancient Junggar island arc for the Late Paleozoic. These adakites for the early Devonian from the Tuoranggekudouke Group (D_1t) are characteristic of high Sr, Sr/Y and (La/Yb)_N but low Y, Yb and HREE. Their compositional characteristics are much similar to those of the typical adakites in the world but distinct from those of the normal arc volcanic rocks from the same Group. We conclude that these adakitic volcanic rocks were produced by slab melting during the early period of Paleoasia-ocean lithosphere subduction. This infers that the Paleoasia Ocean in the north Junggar area began a new subduction process in the early Devonian.     

陆生植物的起源和维管植物的早期演化

陆生植物的起源和演化是地球生命中的重大事件,它影响到地球上所有的其他生命和全球环境。在过去的20年中,从中奥陶世历经整个志留纪至早泥盆世的岩层中,化石植物(微化石和大化石)的新发现改变了人们对陆生植物起源的认识,并且为陆生植物和维管植物早期演化分异提供了基部类群分化的时间框架。据此人们识别出地史中的3个陆生植物的时代：始胚植物时代、始维管植物时代和真维管植物时代。另一方面,分子系统的研究使人们深入认识了植物的系统发育和早期分支。通过比较形态学研究和基因序列的共同努力,建立了植物系统发育树。总结了最近的进展和新的认识,评价了基于分支分析的系统发育研究。     

The40Ar/39Ar age record of formation and uplift of the blueschists and eclogites in the western Tianshan Mountains

The⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages indicate that the eclogite facies rocks of the Hasiate slice in the western Tianshan Mountains were formed at the early stage of Devonian (401 Ma) and had been uplifted to the greenschist facies tectonic level in the middle stage of Devonian (381 Ma). The formation and uplift of the blueschists of the Akesayi slice are constrained to the late stage of Devonian (370-364 Ma). The different tectonic slices in the high-pressure metamorphic belt have experienced the different uplift history.     

The 40Ar/39Ar age record of formation and uplift of the blueschists and eclogites in the western Tianshan Mountains

The 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that the eclogite facies rocks of the Hasiate slice in the western Tianshan Mountains were formed at the early stage of Devonian (401 Ma) and had been uplifted to the greenschist facies tectonic level in the middle stage of Devonian (381 Ma). The formation and uplift of the blueschists of the Akesayi slice are constrained to the late stage of Devonian (370─364 Ma). The different tectonic slices in the high-pressure metamorphic belt have experienced the different uplift history.     

The oldest articulated chondrichthyan from the Early Devonian period

Chondrichthyans (including living sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras) have a fossil record of scales and dermal denticles perhaps dating back to the Late Ordovician period, about 455 million years ago. Their fossil tooth record extends to the earliest Devonian period, almost 418 million years ago, whereas the oldest known articulated shark remains date from the Early Devonian period, about 394 million years ago. Here we report the discovery of an articulated shark that is almost 409 million years old from the Early Devonian (early Emsian) period of New Brunswick, Canada. The specimen, identified as Doliodus problematicus (Woodward), sheds light on the earliest chondrichthyans and their interrelationships with basal jawed vertebrates. This species has been truly problematic. Previously known only from isolated teeth, it has been identified as an acanthodian and a chondrichthyan. This specimen is the oldest shark showing the tooth families in situ, and preserves one of the oldest chondrichthyan braincases. More notably, it shows the presence of paired pectoral fin-spines, previously unknown in cartilaginous fishes.     

Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest living relatives to seed plants

Most of the 470-million-year history of plants on land belongs to bryophytes, pteridophytes and gymnosperms, which eventually yielded to the ecological dominance by angiosperms 90 Myr ago. Our knowledge of angiosperm phylogeny, particularly the branching order of the earliest lineages, has recently been increased by the concurrence of multigene sequence analyses. However, reconstructing relationships for all the main lineages of vascular plants that diverged since the Devonian period has remained a challenge. Here we report phylogenetic analyses of combined data--from morphology and from four genes--for 35 representatives from all the main lineages of land plants. We show that there are three monophyletic groups of extant vascular plants: (1) lycophytes, (2) seed plants and (3) a clade including equisetophytes (horsetails), psilotophytes (whisk ferns) and all eusporangiate and leptosporangiate ferns. Our maximum-likelihood analysis shows unambiguously that horsetails and ferns together are the closest relatives to seed plants. This refutes the prevailing view that horsetails and ferns are transitional evolutionary grades between bryophytes and seed plants, and has important implications for our understanding of the development and evolution of plants.     

Noeggerathiales as coal-forming plants in Cathaysia: conclusions from an Early Permian vegetational Pompeii in Inner Mongolia

Noeggerathiales are an extinct group of sporebearing plants of uncertain systematic position that are known from Carboniferous and Permian age Euramerican and Cathaysian floras that occurred in presentday Europe, North America, and East Asia. The order Noeggerathiales includes over 50 species of more than 20 fossil genera, but their paleoecology is not well understood yet. Previously this group had been found only in extrabasinal floras or those inhabiting clastic wetlands. Noeggerathiales have never been recorded in coal ball floras. Thus, it is up to now uncertain whether this group has contributed to the formation of coal. Recent investigations of an Early Permian peatforming flora of the Taiyuan Formation near Wuda, Inner Mongolia, which was preserved in a volcanic ash fall has provided evidence that noeggerathialean plants not only existed in the peatforming vegetation but could even be the dominant group in some areas of the coal swamp. The Noeggerathiales in this particular peatforming forest include Tingia unita, Paratingia wudensis, and a new species of Paratingia. Exceptionally well-preserved specimens indicate that these noeggerathialean plants are small trees with a canopy of compound leaves and strobili near the top of an unbranched （monocaulous） stem.     

广州地区前华夏植物群研究

广州地区晚泥盆世至早石炭世植物群计 2 3属 4 1种,以真蕨纲和种子蕨纲为主,石松纲居次,另外还有少量楔叶纲、科达纲及种子化石.按地层分布当前植物群可分为沙水岗组植物组合、龙江组植物组合及测水组植物组合.分析该植物群的组成特征,其性质属前华夏植物群     

亚鳞木属及其相关属的分支系统学研究

亚鳞木属被视为中国晚泥盆世的标志性植物大化石之一。分支系统学研究表明,亚鳞木属不宜归入传统所认为的原始鳞木目,因为它与系统发育上进化的封印木科、鳞木科和奇木科中成员的近共裔性状相似。作者提出该属的新分类系统：亚鳞木属隶属于亚鳞木科,归入广义的水韭目。在当前的分支图中,亚鳞木科的系统发育位置处于封印木科和薄皮木科之间,这种分支式样表明系统发育上比较进化的木本石松植物并不是在石炭纪突然出现的,而是在晚泥盆世（法门期）就已经演化。亚鳞木属可能代表了系统发育上比较高级的木本石松的成员或鳞木科 (或奇木科) 的祖先类群之一。     

An early tetrapod from 'Romer's Gap'

The fossil record of early tetrapods has been increased recently by new finds from the Devonian period and mid-late Early Carboniferous period. Despite this, understanding of tetrapod evolution has been hampered by a 20-million-year gap ('Romer's Gap') that covers the crucial, early period when many key features of terrestrial tetrapods were acquired. Here I describe the only articulated skeleton of a tetrapod, Pederpes, yet found from the Tournaisian epoch (354-344 million years ago (Myr)). The new taxon includes a pes with five robust digits, but a very small, possibly supernumerary digit preserved on the manus suggests the presence of polydactyly. Polydactylous early tetrapods may have survived beyond the end of the Devonian and pentadactyly cannot be assumed for the pes. However, the pes has characteristics that distinguish it from the paddle-like feet of the Devonian forms and resembles the feet of later, more terrestrially adapted Carboniferous forms. Pederpes is the earliest-known tetrapod to show the beginnings of terrestrial locomotion and was at least functionally pentadactyl. With its later American sister-genus, Whatcheeria, it represents the next most primitive tetrapod clade after those of the Late Devonian, bridging the temporal, morphological and phylogenetic gaps that have hitherto separated Late Devonian and mid-Carboniferous tetrapod faunas.     

South China''s Gondwana connection in the Paleozoic: Paleomagnetic evidence

The reconstruction in which the South China Block (SCB) lies along the Great India-Australia region of Gondwana margin is tested by using existing Paleozoic paleomagnetic data.Under the proposed reconstruction, all six high quality paleopoles from the SCB between the Early Cambrian and late Early Devonian (～400 Ma) are in good agreement with coeval paleopoles from Gondwana.Thereafter, the apparent polar wander paths for the SCB and Gondwana diverge markedly.This indicates that the SCB had been part of Gondwana and the connection was intact from at least Early Cambrian until late Early Devonian, but they began to separate by late Middle Devonian (～375 Ma).     

濒危植物暖地杓兰的叶解剖结构和光合特性

暖地杓兰(Cypripedium subtropicum)是兰科(Orchidaceae)杓兰属(Cypripedium)目前已知的唯一一种多年生常绿草本植物,其野生资源遭受严重破坏,野外居群数量急剧减少,已被列为我国一级重点保护野生植物。为探讨暖地杓兰不同生长期叶片的解剖结构和光合生理特性的差异,本研究对其叶表皮特征、叶解剖结构、光合特性以及光合色素含量展开研究,以期为暖地杓兰的保育和引种驯化提供科学依据。结果表明：(1)暖地杓兰叶片上、下表皮的形状不规则,呈波状,并且气孔和表皮毛仅分布于下表皮;叶片结构由表皮、叶肉和叶脉组成,叶肉无栅栏组织和海绵组织的分化。结实植株的气孔面积、叶片厚度和叶主脉厚度均极显著大于幼苗。(2)暖地杓兰结实植株和幼苗的最大净光合速率(P_max)、光补偿点(LCP)、表观量子效率(AQY)均较低,且结实植株极显著大于幼苗,说明其具有阴生植物的特征。(3)暖地杓兰结实植株叶片的光合色素含量极显著大于幼苗。(4)暖地杓兰叶片的P_max、LSP、AQY、暗呼吸速率(R_d)与Chl(a+b)、叶主脉厚...     

The nature of plant species

Many botanists doubt the existence of plant species, viewing them as arbitrary constructs of the human mind, as opposed to discrete, objective entities that represent reproductively independent lineages or 'units of evolution'. However, the discreteness of plant species and their correspondence with reproductive communities have not been tested quantitatively, allowing zoologists to argue that botanists have been overly influenced by a few 'botanical horror stories', such as dandelions, blackberries and oaks. Here we analyse phenetic and/or crossing relationships in over 400 genera of plants and animals. We show that although discrete phenotypic clusters exist in most genera (> 80%), the correspondence of taxonomic species to these clusters is poor (< 60%) and no different between plants and animals. Lack of congruence is caused by polyploidy, asexual reproduction and over-differentiation by taxonomists, but not by contemporary hybridization. Nonetheless, crossability data indicate that 70% of taxonomic species and 75% of phenotypic clusters in plants correspond to reproductively independent lineages (as measured by postmating isolation), and thus represent biologically real entities. Contrary to conventional wisdom, plant species are more likely than animal species to represent reproductively independent lineages.     

Ancestral polyploidy in seed plants and angiosperms

Whole-genome duplication (WGD), or polyploidy, followed by gene loss and diploidization has long been recognized as an important evolutionary force in animals, fungi and other organisms, especially plants. The success of angiosperms has been attributed, in part, to innovations associated with gene or whole-genome duplications, but evidence for proposed ancient genome duplications pre-dating the divergence of monocots and eudicots remains equivocal in analyses of conserved gene order. Here we use comprehensive phylogenomic analyses of sequenced plant genomes and more than 12.6 million new expressed-sequence-tag sequences from phylogenetically pivotal lineages to elucidate two groups of ancient gene duplications-one in the common ancestor of extant seed plants and the other in the common ancestor of extant angiosperms. Gene duplication events were intensely concentrated around 319 and 192 million years ago, implicating two WGDs in ancestral lineages shortly before the diversification of extant seed plants and extant angiosperms, respectively. Significantly, these ancestral WGDs resulted in the diversification of regulatory genes important to seed and flower development, suggesting that they were involved in major innovations that ultimately contributed to the rise and eventual dominance of seed plants and angiosperms.     

Variation induced by DNA rearrangement in a transgenicBt+CpTI cotton strain

In the development of transgenicBt + CpTI cotton cultivars, one male and female sterile mutant has been found in a homozygous T₄ strain in our laboratory. The mutant plant, as well as its leaves, buds and flowers, is only 1/2–1/3 as large as that of the wild transgenicBt + CpTI bivalant cotton plants. Cytological observation found that the chromosome number of the mutant is 2n = 52; however, there are 4–8 univalents observed in meiosis I of pollen mother cells. Laboratory bioassay indicated that the mutant was highly resistant to bollworm as the wild plants. PCR amplification revealed thatBt andCpTI genes in the mutant were still intactly inserted. However, small deletion of flanked area had been observed in the mutant by Southern blotting analysis. So it is proposed that the mutant phenotype might result from either the DNA deletion or T-DNA transferring in plant genome. No such report has been presented that the rearrangement of chromosome structure in a homozygous transgenic line occurred. Further analysis is ongoing.     

维管植物叶子的起源

陆生维管植物中叶子的出现和早期演化是影响到整个地球生命的重要事件。许多植物化石被做了研究，但对叶子究竟什么时候、以什么样的形态是早出现在陆地上，人们仍有不同的看法。早在本世纪初Ｊｅｆｆｅｒｅｙ把叶子分为小型叶和大型叶，Ｂｏｗｅｒ进一步赋予它们系统发育上的含义。依据在劳伦大陆泥盆系地层中发现的化石，人们对小型叶起源的“突起学说“和大型叶起源的“顶枝学说“做出了相应的解释。特别是在大型叶演化系列中建立