ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), a key enzyme in starch biosynthesis, is comprised of large (LSU) and small (SSU) sub-units encoded by multiple paralogous genes in angiosperms. Corbi et al. investigate the patterns of molecular evolution of AGPase genes following duplications. They find that both coevolution among amino acid residues located in between-sub-unit interaction domains or within the [...]

Botanists interested in changes in chromosome number have often relied on inferring a basic number, x, but this has been done without consistent (reproducible) reference to species’ relationships and frequencies of particular numbers in a group. Cusimano et al.  reconstruct ancestral numbers in the large monocot family Araceae using likelihood models that treat polyploidy, chromosome fusion [...]

Analysis of variability in mineral allocation to seeds has rarely been considered in relation to allometric patterns and deviations from the allometric trajectory. Obeso examines the scaling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur with seed mass in field-collected seeds of Hedera helix (ivy) and finds that whilst C and N content both vary isometrically with [...]

Time from seed dispersal to germination and time from germination to flowering are two key life history traits that determine fitness and coexistence of weeds in arable fields. Toorop et al. characterize these two traits in genotypes of Capsella bursa-pastoris (shepherd’s purse) and show an association between early flowering time and weak secondary dormancy. Three functional [...]

Molecular-based studies of thermotolerance have rarely been performed on wild plants, although this trait can be critical for summer survival. Amano et al. use a chlorophyll bioassay combined with gene-expression analyses to examine thermotolerance in two allied aquatic species of the genus Potamogeton (pondweeds) that differ in survival on land. Acquired thermotolerance is detected in heat-tolerant P. [...]