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Das BSI hat im Rahmen seines gesetzlichen Auftrags die Verpflichtung, die IT-Sicherheit zu starken und aufrecht zu erhalten. Dazu gehort die Versorgung von Bund, Landern und geheimschutzbetreuter Wirtschaft mit VS-zugelassenen IT-Sicherheitslosungen. Die zunehmende Digitalisierung, immer kurzer werdende Innovationszyklen und sich stets verandernde Bedrohungslagen stellen fur die Sicherheit von VS-Systemen dabei eine grose Herausforderung dar. Daher gilt es, fruhzeitig innovative Methoden zu entwickeln, um den Bedarf IT-sicherheitsrelevanter Technologien zu erkennen, entsprechende Anforderungen zu definieren, diese in umsetzbare Produktentwicklungen zu uberfuhren und dem VS-Markt zeitnah als zugelassene VS-Losung bereitzustellen.

The circumscription of Rondeletieae has changed considerably over time. Historically, 85 genera have been included, characterized by small trees, imbricate corolla aestivation and capsules. Molecular studies led to a narrower circumscription and stressed out that Rondeletieae is mainly an Antillean clade. As historically circumscribed, Rondeletieae is both polyphyletic (involving several tribes, including Condamineae, Sipaneeae, etc.) and paraphyletic with respect to Guettardeae. Uncertainties persist on the tribal circumscription, and its generic limits and relationships. We report results of phylogenetic analyses under parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses including 179 taxa, using concatenated datasets of three chloroplast DNA regions (petD, trnL–F and trnK–matK), their DNA microstructural characters as well as morphology. Our objectives are to: test the monophyly of Rondeletieae and evaluate phylogenetic relationships, evaluate potential characters for tribal and generic delimitation and propose a circumscription for Rondeletieae according to phylogenetic hypothesis using morphological characters. The tribes Guettardeae and Rondeletieae are strongly supported as sister: quincuncial aestivation and spathulate corolla lobes are proposed as a unique combination of characters supporting this relationship. We did not find synapomorphies for each tribe, but there is a set of character combinations that allows distinguishing both tribes that includes the corolla and pollen ornamentation as well as fruit and seed morphology. After evaluating other genera not included in the phylogenies, our proposal is that Rondeletieae contains approximately 120 species in 20 neotropical genera: Acrosynanthus, Acunaeanthus, Blepharidium, Donnellyanthus, Mazaea, Phyllomelia, Rachicallis, Roigella, Rondeletia, Rovaeanthus, Suberanthus, Tainus, plus one tentatively included and recently described (Jamaicanthus).

Plant diversity is decreasing mainly through anthropogenic factors like habitat fragmentation, which lead to spatial separation of remaining populations and thereby affect genetic diversity and structure within species. Twenty populations of the threatened grassland species Crepis mollis were studied across Germany (578 individual plants) based on microsatellite genotyping. Genetic diversity was significantly higher in populations from the Alpine region than from the Central Uplands. Furthermore, genetic diversity was significantly positively correlated with population size. Despite smaller populations in the Uplands there were no signs of inbreeding. Genetic differentiation between populations was moderate (F ST = 0.09) and no isolation by distance was found. In contrast, large-scale spatial genetic structure showed a significant decrease of individual pairwise relatedness, which was higher than in random pairs up to 50 km. Bayesian analyses detected three genetic clusters consistent with two regions in the Uplands and an admixture group in the Alpine region. Despite the obvious spatial isolation of the currently known populations, the absence of significant isolation by distance combined together with moderate population differentiation indicates that drift rather than inter-population gene flow drives differentiation. The absence of inbreeding suggests that pollination is still effective, while seed dispersal by wind is likely to be impaired by discontinuous habitats. Our results underline the need for maintaining or improving habitat quality as the most important short term measure for C. mollis. For maintaining long-term viability, establishing stepping stone habitats or, where this is not possible, assisted gene flow needs to be considered.

The plastid genomes of early-diverging angiosperms were among the first land plant plastomes investigated. Despite their importance to understanding angiosperm evolution, no investigation has so far compared gene content or gene synteny of these plastid genomes with a focus on the Nymphaeales. Here, we report an evaluation and comparison of gene content, gene synteny and inverted repeat length for a set of 15 plastid genomes of early-diverging angiosperms. Seven plastid genomes of the Nymphaeales were newly sequenced for this investigation. We compare gene order and inverted repeat (IR) length across all genomes, review the gene annotations of previously published genomes, generate a multi-gene alignment of 77 plastid-encoded genes and reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of the taxa under study. Our results show that gene content and synteny are highly conserved across early-diverging angiosperms: All species analyzed display complete gene synteny when accounting for expansions and contractions of the IRs. This conservation was initially obscured by ambiguous and potentially incorrect gene annotations in previously published genomes. We also report the presence of intact open reading frames across all taxa analyzed. The multi-gene phylogeny displays maximum support for the families Cabombaceae and Hydatellaceae, but no support for a clade of all Nymphaeaceae. It further indicates that the genus Victoria is embedded within Nymphaea. Plastid genomes of Trithuria were found to deviate by numerous substitutions and length changes in the IRs. Phylogenetic analyses further indicate that a previously published plastome named Nymphaea mexicana falls into a clade of N. odorata and should be re-evaluated.

Following a large-scale phylogenetic study of the lichenized genus Cora (Basidiomycota: Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), we formally describe 70 new species, honouring the seventieth birthday of David Leslie Hawksworth, one of the preeminent figures in mycology and lichenology in the past 50 years. Based on an updated phylogeny using the ITS fungal barcoding locus, we now recognize 189 taxa in a genus that until recently was considered to represent a single species; including this contribution, 92 of these are formally recognized, including five taxa based on historical names or collections that have not been sequenced. Species of Cora can be recognized by a combination of morphological (size, colour, lobe configuration, surface hairs, hymenophore size and shape), anatomical (thallus thickness, cortex structure, photobiont type, hyphal papillae), and ecogeographical features (substrate, habitat, distribution), and a keytable allowing the identification of all accepted taxa is provided. The new species are: Cora accipiter Moncada, Madrinan & Lucking spec. nov., C. applanata Moncada, Soto-Medina & Lucking spec. nov., C. arachnodavidea Moncada, Dal Forno & Lucking spec. nov., C. arborescens Dal Forno, Chaves & Lucking spec. nov., C. arcabucana Moncada, C. Rodriguez & Lucking spec. nov., C. aturucoa Lucking, Moncada & C. Vargas spec. nov., C. auriculeslia Moncada, Yanez-Ayabaca & Lucking spec. nov., C. barbifera Moncada, Patino & Lucking spec. nov., C. boleslia Lucking, E. Morales & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. caliginosa Holgado, Rivas Plata & Perlmutter spec. nov., C. campestris Dal Forno, Eliasaro & Spielmann spec. nov., C. canari Nugra, Dal Forno & Lucking spec. nov., C. caraana Lucking, Martins & Lucheta spec. nov., C. casasolana Moncada, R.-E. Perez & Lucking spec. nov., C. caucensis Moncada, M. Gut. & Lucking spec. nov., C. celestinoa Moncada, Cabrera-Amaya & Lucking spec. nov., C. comaltepeca Moncada, R.-E. Perez & Herrera-Camp. spec. nov., C. corani Lucking, E. Morales & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. corelleslia Moncada, A. Suarez-Corredor & Lucking spec. nov., C. crispoleslia Moncada, J. Molina & Lucking spec. nov., C. cuzcoensis Holgado, Rivas Plata & Perlmutter spec. nov., C. dalehana Moncada, Madrinan & Lucking spec. nov., C. davibogotana Lucking, Moncada & Coca spec. nov., C. davicrinita Moncada, Madrinan & Lucking spec. nov., C. davidia Moncada, L. Vargas & Lucking spec. nov., C. dewisanti Moncada, A. Suarez-Corredor & Lucking spec. nov., C. dulcis Moncada, R.-E. Perez & Lucking spec. nov., C. elephas Lucking, Moncada & L. Vargas spec. nov., C. fuscodavidiana Lucking, Moncada & L. Vargas spec. nov., C. garagoa Simijaca, Moncada & Lucking spec. nov., C. gigantea Lucking, Moncada & Coca spec. nov., C. gomeziana Dal Forno, Chaves & Lucking spec. nov., C. guajalitensis Lucking, Robayo & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. hafecesweorthensis Moncada, Lucking & R. Pelaez spec. nov., C. haledana Dal Forno, Chaves & Lucking spec. nov., C. hawksworthiana Dal Forno, P. Nelson & Lucking spec. nov., C. hochesuordensis Lucking, E. Morales & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. hymenocarpa Lucking, Chaves & Lawrey spec. nov., C. imi Lucking, Chaves & Lawrey spec. nov., C. itabaiana Dal Forno, Aptroot & M. Caceres spec. nov., C. leslactuca Lucking, Moncada & R. Pelaez spec. nov., C. maxima Wilk, Dal Forno & Lucking spec. nov., C. minutula Lucking, Moncada & Yanez-Ayabaca spec. nov., C. palaeotropica Weerakoon, Aptroot & Lucking spec. nov., C. palustris Dal Forno, Chaves & Lucking spec. nov., C. parabovei Dal Forno, Kukwa & Lucking spec. nov., C. paraciferrii Lucking, Moncada & J.E. Hern. spec. nov., C. paraminor Dal Forno, Chaves & Lucking spec. nov., C. pastorum Moncada, Patino & Lucking spec. nov., C. pichinchensis Paredes, Jonitz & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. pikynasa J.-M. Torres, Moncada & Lucking spec. nov., C. pseudobovei Wilk, Dal Forno & Lucking spec. nov., C. pseudocorani Lucking, E. Morales & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. putumayensis L.J. Arias, Moncada & Lucking spec. nov., C. quillacinga Moncada, F. Ortega & Lucking spec. nov., C. rothesiorum Moncada, Madrinan & Lucking spec. nov., C. rubrosanguinea Nugra, Moncada & Lucking spec. nov., C. santacruzensis Dal Forno, Bungartz & Yanez-Ayabaca, spec. nov., C. schizophylloides Moncada, C. Rodriguez & Lucking spec. nov., C. smaragdina Lucking, Rivas Plata & Chaves spec. nov., C. soredavidia Dal Forno, Marcelli & Lucking spec. nov., C. subdavicrinita Moncada, J. Molina & Lucking spec. nov., C. suturifera Nugra, Besal & Lucking spec. nov., C. terrestris Dal Forno, Chaves & Lucking spec. nov., C. terricoleslia Wilk, Dal Forno & Lucking spec. nov., C. udebeceana Moncada, R. Pelaez & Lucking spec. nov., C. urceolata Moncada, Coca & Lucking spec. nov., C. verjonensis Lucking, Moncada & Dal Forno spec. nov., C. viliewoa Lucking, Chaves & Soto-Medina spec. nov., and C. yukiboa Mercado-Diaz, Moncada & Lucking spec. nov. Furthermore, the taxonomic status of the recently described or recognized species C. arachnoidea, C. aspera, C. ciferrii, and C. reticulifera, is revised.

We developed ten polymorphic microsatellite markers for the herbaceous species Scabiosa canescens Waldst. & Kit. The species is currently not assessed under the IUCN Red List but has been declining historically due to intensification in agriculture and is recently declining due to habitat loss caused by agricultural abandonment of steppe-like dry grasslands. The microsatellite loci were tested for polymorphism on DNA templates extracted from 26 specimens collected across the species’ range in Germany. Across the ten loci, two to eight alleles were detected with an observed and expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.192 to 0.769 and 0.265 to 0.768, respectively. These newly developed markers provide a valuable tool for population genetic investigations required to design effective conservation measures.

Forests of SW Ethiopia constitute the native habitat of Coffea arabica and also the place where domestication of Arabica coffee started. Selection from wild populations has led to numerous landraces (farmer’s varieties) and cultivars. Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) were generated from a representative set of forest coffee populations and landraces across Ethiopia. For the broad diversity assessment, nine di- and tri-nucleotide ISSR primers were applied, as chosen from a total of 102 primers tested initially. Tetranucleotide ISSR primers differed in amplifying fingerprints that could hardly be analysed due to excessive variation. Tree building analysis (NJ, UPGMA) of 84 polymorphic loci amplified for 125 C. arabica individuals provided evidence for several groups of related genotypes occurring in certain geographical areas of Ethiopia and underscored the existence of wild coffee distinct from landraces. Landraces seem to have originated in different geographical areas of Ethiopia in a stepwise domestication process. While the overall geographical signal in the dataset was weak, analysis in a Bayesian framework using the admixture model with geographical priors in STRUCTURE recovered some genetic clustering. Based on Shannon’s diversity index, populations from Yayu (0.47) and Bonga (0.46) showed highest diversity, followed by individuals from Berhane Kontir (0.41). A likely scenario for the differentiation of C. arabica after an allopolyploidization event is that the hierarchical-geographical patterning of wild Coffea genotypes expected from stepwise range extension was obscured by recent or ancient gene flow. The diversity and geographical distribution of autochthonous C. arabica genotypes indicates the need for a multi-site in situ conservation approach.

Introns and spacers are a rich and well-appreciated information source for evolutionary studies in plants. Compared to coding sequences, the mutational dynamics of introns and spacers is very different, involving frequent microstructural changes in addition to substitutions of individual nucleotides. An understanding of the biology of sequence change is required for correct application of molecular characters in phylogenetic analyses, including homology assessment, alignment coding, and tree inference. The widely used term “indel” is very general, and different kinds of microstructural mutations, such as simple sequence repeats, short tandem repeats, homonucleotide repeats, inversions, inverted repeats, and deletions, need to be distinguished. Noncoding DNA has been indispensable for analyses at the species level because coding sequences usually do not offer sufficient variability. A variety of introns and spacers has been successfully applied for phylogeny inference at deeper levels (major lineages of angiosperms and land plants) in past years, and phylogenetic structure R in intron and spacer data sets usually outperforms that of coding-sequence data sets. In order to fully utilize their potential, the molecular evolution and applicability of the most important noncoding markers (the trnT–trnF region comprising two spacers and a group I intron; the trnS–G region comprising one spacer and a group II intron in trnG; the group II introns in petD, rpl16, rps16, and trnK; and the atpB–rbcL and psbA–trnG spacers) are reviewed. The study argues for the use of noncoding DNA in a spectrum of applications from deep-level phylogenetics to speciation studies and barcoding, and aims at outlining molecular evolutionary principles needed for effective analysis.

Malpighiales are one of the most diverse orders of angiosperms. Molecular phylogenetic studies based on combined sequences of coding genes allowed to identify major lineages but hitherto were unable to resolve relationships among most families. Spacers and introns of the chloroplast genome have recently been shown to provide strong signal for inferring relationships among major angiosperm lineages and within difficult clades. In this study, we employed sequence data of the petD group II intron and the petB-petD spacer for a set of 64 Malpighiales taxa, representing all major lineages. Celastrales and Oxalidales served as outgroups. Sequence alignment was straightforward due to frequent microstructural changes with easily recognizable motifs (e.g., simple sequence repeats), and well defined mutational hotspots. The secondary structure of the complete petD intron was calculated for Idesia polycarpa as an example. Domains I and IV are the most length variable parts of the intron. They contain terminal A/T-rich stem-loop elements that are suggested to elongate independently in different lineages with a slippage mechanism earlier reported from the P8 stem-loop of the trnL intron. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses of the petD dataset yielded trees largely congruent with results from earlier multigene studies but statistical support of nodes was generally higher. For the first time a deep node of the Malpighiales backbone, a clade comprising Achariaceae, Violaceae, Malesherbiaceae, Turneraceae, Passifloraceae, and a Lacistemataceae–Salicaceae lineage received significant statistical support (83% JK, 1.00 PP) from plastid DNA sequences.

In the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve of Central China, the vegetative growth behavior of henon bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra var.henonis (Mitford) Stapf. ex Rendle) was studied from shoot recruitment to culm establishment. In May, bamboo shoots emerging from the ground achieved an average density of 2.7 shoots m−2 during the sprouting phase of 16 days. However, about 32% of the new shoots died back before maturity. Insect damage, withering death and rodent predation were responsible for 57%, 29% and 14% of the total shoot mortality, respectively. From May to June, the shoots attained 400±23 cm during the height growth phase of 34 days, with a daily rate varying from 1 to 56 cm. All branches and leaves unfolded during the branch spreading phase from June to August. Shoot production was positively related to the density of standing culms, but negatively to both coverage and height of herb layers.

The bladderworts (Utricularia, Lentibulariaceae) are the most diverse carnivorous plant genus, with a nearly worldwide distribution. In the present study, chloroplast DNA sequences of the trnK intron were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within the genus. Parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian analyses resulted in highly congruent and well-resolved trees. The phylogenetic signal provided by the noncoding trnK intron partition of the dataset is similar to that of the matK coding region, although the latter is twice as long. Within matK, indels appeared in multiples of three except very close to the 3′ end of the gene. Substitutions were found to result in or eliminate stop codons, thus creating a length variable gene end. Indels in both trnK and matK exhibit low degrees of homoplasy, irrespective of their size. A tree based on indels alone is largely congruent to the substitution-based trees but less resolved. Three major clades found within Utricularia are classified as subgen. Utricularia, subgen. Bivalvia, and subgen. Polypompholyx. The immediate common ancestor of Utricularia is suggested to have been a terrestrial plant whereas epiphytic and aquatic habits evolved later in terminal clades.

Aristolochiaceae, a family of worldwide distribution comprising about 500 species, is a member of Piperales. Although Piperales is clearly monophyletic, the precise relationship within the order is ambiguous due to inconsistent placement of Lactoris fernandeziana. The appearance in some studies of Lactoris within Aristolochiaceae and the incongruence in generic treatments have also raised questions about the infrastructure of the family. This study addresses the overall generic relationships in Aristolochiaceae and its position in Piperales based on dense taxon sampling and sequence data from the plastid trnL-F region. The study resolved Piperales consisting of two major clades (Piperaceae plus Saururaceae and Lactoridaceae plus Aristolochiaceae) and Lactoris nested within Aristolochiaceae but with low support. The concept of two subfamilies in Aristolochiaceae, Asaroideae and Aristolochioideae, gains maximum statistical support. A generic treatment of Aristolochiaceae based on trnL-F is proposed which is congruent with recent analyses based on morphological characters.

The analysis of non-coding DNA in evolutionary studies of plants is witnessing an ever-increasing popularity in addition to the widespread application of sequences of protein coding genes like plastid rbcL and matK, mitochondrial coxI and matR or the 18 and 26S parts of the nuclear ribosomal array. For the chloroplast genome, the use of universal primers annealing to highly conserved tandemly repeated tRNA genes allowed the routine amplification and sequencing of variable chloroplast spacers and the trnL intron since the beginning of the 1990s. Protocols for other spacers followed shortly after, facilitated by the availability of several completely sequenced green plant plastid genomes. At around the same time the use of nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences was proposed for phylogenetic analyses. This has led to a large proportion of non-coding sequences available in EMBL/GenBank. For example, trnL intron sequences have so far been published for approximately 30% of all 450,000 species of land plants. Similar numbers can be found for nrITS sequences. Nevertheless, recent years have also witnessed a trend to look for new non-coding markers in all three genomic compartments of plants. Organellar and nuclear genomes of plants are made up to a large extent by non-coding sequences. There is a broad spectrum of different non-coding genomic regions such as introns, spacers, satellite regions. Therefore, non-coding DNA constitutes an immense source of information which will be accessible through the more and more completely sequenced genomes. The information content of non-coding DNA has been predominantly used for phylogeny reconstruction among closely related species or genera, and in population level studies, for example to create haplotype networks or in the form of fragment size analyses of microsatellites. More recently, the application of non-coding DNA for phylogeny reconstruction at deeper levels became more prominent because well resolved and statistically highly supported angiosperm trees could be inferred based on relatively few nucleotides of plastid spacers and introns. This growing awareness for the potential of non-coding DNA markers at the same time requires a careful implementation of analytical tools in order to deal with the complexity of evolutionary patterns in non-coding sequences that are largely caused by frequent micro-structural mutations in addition to substitutions of nucleotides. To explore the potential of non-coding genomic regions and recent developments for their analysis were the objectives of a workshop ‘‘Molecular evolution and phylogenetic utility of non-coding DNA: applications from species to deep level questions’’ that was held during the T. Borsch (&) Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem und Institut fur Biologie/Botanik, Freie Universitat Berlin, Konigin-Luise Str. 6-8, 14195 Berlin, Germany e-mail: t.borsch@bgbm.org