Biogeographic origins of southern African Silene (Caryophyllaceae)

in Silene latifolia (Caryophyllaceae)

• Sex ratio polymorphism has been extensively studied in Silene latifolia, but it is neither known whether inbreeding (which is likely to occur under field conditions) affects it nor which of the proposed mechanisms (Y degeneration, X-linked drive) is more important. Both mechanisms predict reduced pollen performance. • In this study, females were crossed with pollen from related and unrelated ...

Introgressive Hybridization between Anciently Diverged Lineages of Silene (Caryophyllaceae)

Hybridization has played a major role during the evolution of angiosperms, mediating both gene flow between already distinct species and the formation of new species. Newly formed hybrids between distantly related taxa are often sterile. For this reason, interspecific crosses resulting in fertile hybrids have rarely been described to take place after more than a few million years after divergen...

Characterization of 14 microsatellite markers for Silene acaulis (Caryophyllaceae)1

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Fifty candidate microsatellite markers, generated using 454 shotgun sequencing, were tested for the widespread arctic/alpine herb Silene acaulis (Caryophyllaceae). METHODS AND RESULTS Fourteen out of 50 markers resulted in polymorphic products with profiles that enabled interpretation. The numbers of alleles per locus ranged from two to six, and the expected heterozygosit...

Disentangling the Reticulate History of Polyploids in Silene (Caryophyllaceae)

Nectar reward and advertisement in hummingbird-pollinated Silene virginica (Caryophyllaceae).

We tested for an association between nectar and various floral traits and investigated their roles as primary and secondary pollinator attractants in hummingbird-pollinated Silene virginica. Our goal was to gain insight into the mechanisms of pollinator-mediated selection that underlies floral trait divergence within the genus. In a field population of S. virginica, we measured five floral and ...