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The ecological, morphological, and genetic differentiation in a small clade consisting of four East Maui-endemic species of Dubautia such as D. Menziesii, D. platyphylla, D. reticulata and D. waianapanapaensis is discussed. Results show that ecological and morphological diversification has driven genetic divergence at fast evolving microsatellite loci.

Several different self-incompatibility (SI) syndromes have been previously reported from Polemoniaceae, including differences in genetic control, timing of the response, and the location of pollen tube inhibition. In order to examine the evolutionary linkage between genetic control and site of pollen tube inhibition, crossing experiments and microscopic analyses were performed on an additional species of Polemoniaceae, Ipomopsis tenuifolia. Thirteen individuals from a natural population were used for the parental crosses; three F1 full-sibling arrays were grown to maturity. Strong self-incompatibility was found in the parental population on the basis of significant differences in the percentages of seed set in self- versus outcross matings. In the F1 arrays, none of the outcrosses or backcrosses was completely incompatible, leading to a large number of mating types. On the basis of the number of mating types in the F1 arrays, self-recognition in this species must be based on full allelic matching of at least three loci. Pollen tubes were observed inside the ovary after both cross- and self-pollination using SEM and fluorescent microscopy, suggesting that self-pollination recognition takes place in the ovule, representing a late-acting SI system. The large number of different SI mechanisms reported in the Polemoniaceae suggest that this family may be particularly labile in its breeding system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed sequence variation for the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene family in Carex section Acrocystis (Cyperaceae) to reconstruct Adh gene trees for Acrocystis species and to characterize the structure of the Adh gene family in Carex. Two Adh loci were included with ITS and ETS sequences in a combined Bayesian inference analysis of Carex section Acrocystis to gain a better understanding of species relationships in the section. In addition, we comment on how the results presented here contribute to our knowledge of the birth-death process of the Adh gene family in angiosperms. It appears that the structure of the Adh gene family in Carex is complex with possibly six loci present in the gene family. Additionally, variation among Acrocystis species within loci is quite low, and there is little phylogenetic resolution in the individual datasets. Bayesian inference analysis of the combined ITS, ETS, Adh1, and Adh2 datasets resulted in a moderately well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships in the section which is discussed in relation to previous hypotheses of relationships. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An abstract of the article "Isolation of DNA from Plants with Large Amounts of Secondary Metabolites," by Elizabeth A. Friar is presented.