Phylogeny of the genus Lasiocephalus (Asteraceae) – colonization history of the equatorial páramos

206/07/0273

Duration: 2007–2010

Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

Lasiocephalus (Asteraceae: Senecioneae) is a high-Andean neotropical genus which represents an autochtonous element in the flora of the equatorial páramo. It comprises ca. 30 species which occur from the montane forest to the highest reaches of the páramo and are distributed from Venezuela to Bolivia. Lasiocephalus comprises two basic growth forms which probably reflect an adaptive variation during the colonization of the páramo habitats, i.e., broad-leaved suffrutescent climbers of the montane forest and ascending subshubs with narrow, subcoriaceous leaves of the páramo. This project suggests a phylogenetic and biogeographic study of Lasiocephalus with the aims to confirm the monophyletic status of the genus, to study the relationships among the species, to reconstruct the mode of colonization of the páramo habitats by this genus, and to study the ecology of the species and their geographical distribution in the context of the climatic and vegetation changes during the Pleistocene. The project involves a field work in South America in order to collect fresh plant samples which will be analyzed in the laboratory employing molecular techniques (DNA analyses, flow cytometry) and a study of herbarium material.

Evolution of polyploidy in economically important tropical Zingiberaceous genus Curcuma: insight from the genome size and molecular data analysis

P506/10/0623

Duration: 2010–2013

Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

Polyploidy is one of the most important factors influencing evolution of higher plats, their breeding behaviour and is therefore of fundamental importance for target breeding of new crop varieties and artificial hybridization in horticultural praxis etc. We will study evolution of the Curcuma clade of the tribe Zingibereae (Zingiberaceae) with special emphasis on evolution of polyploidy in this evolutionary lineage using genome size analysis and cladistic analysis of sequence and AFLP data..

Genome evolution in Cardamine allopolyploids of contrasting phylogenetic age

P501/10/1014

Duration: 2010–2012

Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

(project awarded to Martin Lysák, Masaryk University, Brno and to K. Marhold as a joint applicant)

Polyploidy is playing a crucial role in speciation of spermatophytes. Nevertheless, surprisingly little is known about the chromosome stability in first generations following the polyploid origin and in recent polyploids. For the first time, the combined GISH/CCP technique ( Genomic In Situ Hybridization/Comparative Chromosome Painting) will be applied to analyze inter-genomic chromosomal interactions in Cardamine hybrids and allopolyploids. GISH will identify parental chromosome complements and inter-genomic translocations, whereas CCP will pinpoint inter- and intra-chromosome rearrangements. The chromosome stability will be analyzed in the recent hybrid Cardamine x insueta (2n=24) and its autoallohexaploid derivative C. schulzii (2n=48) (both c. 100 years old), as compared to an old allotetraploid species C. flexuosa (2n=32). For the three taxa, synthetic lines will be established and the chromosome stability monitored in successive generations. Karyological variation will be related to phylogenetic relationships inferred from the analysis of nuclear and chloroplast markers.