ANNUAL REPORT Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy ...

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Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesAnnual ReportResearches on Phylogeny and EvolutionaryHistory of BambusoideaeGene map of the six woody bamboo chloroplast genomesBambusoideae belongs to the grass family andcovers more than 1000 species in the world. As itsmodern diversity center, China has moso bamboowith the highest economic value, and also Fargesia/Bashania fangiana which pandas depend on.Therefore, bamboo is economically and ecologicallyimportant. Bambusoideae is characterized bydiversified morphologies, and its flowering cyclenormally covers dozens of years or even nearly 100years, which is very difficult for taxonomical study.The research team led by Prof. LI De-Zhu fromKIB has been committed to molecular systematicsstudy of bambusoideae for a long time. With avariety of methods, this research team applies geneticinformation in chloroplast DNA and nuclear DNA tostudy the phylogenetic relationships of this specialgroup, including sequencing of chloroplast genome ofBambusoideae with the next-generation sequencingtechnique. After accumulated researches for years,they have gradually revealed the evolutionary historyof Bambusoideae. Arundinarieae (Bambusoideae)started mass differentiation from the late MioceneEpoch, resulting in the diversity of species nowadays.So far, they have published more than 10 papers aboutthese research results in Molec. Phylogenet. Evol.(2012, 63: 777-797), PLoS ONE (2012, 7: e30297),Taxon and other famous journals. —— HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS ——
Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesAnnual ReportBotanists Uncover the Mystery of Coloured NectarFloral nectar is offered by plants to animalsas reward for pollination, the co-evolution betweenvisual signals produced by plants and the animalmutualsists is one of the most intriguing subjects inthe evolutional biological sciences. In nature, whilenecar generally is a clear liquid containing sugar andtrace amounts of amino acids, a few plant speciesproduce intriguing coloured nectar. While this rarefloral trait-coloured nectar has been recorded byGreek poet Homer since 1785, it has been somewhatunder-researched by modern science. So far, 68plant species with coloured nectar were known inthe world, most of species occur in tropical andsubtropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere.Leucosceptrum canum stands out as unique plantwith coloured nectar recorded in the Himalayas andadjacent southwestern China, but neither the chemicalorigin nor the functional significance of the nectar’scolour have been characterized.Drs.ZHANG Feng-Ping, CAI Xiang-Hai,Profs. WANG Hong and LI De-Zhu focused on thechemical compound associated with the dark purplenectar of L. canum, as well as its dynamics during theflowering season and its relationship to pollinators.The study found that this plant is self-compatible butdependent on pollinators to increase reproductiveoutput, two short-billed birds (blue-winged minlaand oriental white-eye) were found to pollinate thisplant. A purple anthocyanidin, 5-hydroxyflavyliumwas identified, as a natural nectar product for thefirst time, and it was found to be the cause of thenectar colouration. Further, this plant employs twonectar-based mechanisms to direct bird pollinatorsto reproductively active flowers, controlling nectarpalatability and presenting a foraging signal forbirds by altering nectar volume and colour in adevelopmental stage-specific manner.The mechanistic and functional analysis ofdark nectar is of very high scientific interest, thisinnovative study makes a substantial advance to ourunderstanding in the functional ecology of nectarcoloration, and open other research avenues forstudying the evolutionary significance of nectarcoloration as a visual signal to effective pollinators.The paper published on New Phytologist(2012, 193: 188-195), titled "Dark purple nectar as aforaging signal in a bird-pollinated Himalayan plant".Leucosceptrum canum flowers and pollinator. (a) The dark purple nectar (Arrow); (b)Structure of the anthocyanidin; (c) Blue-winged Minla feeding from flowers of L. canum.—— HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS ——
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ANNUAL REPORT Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy ...

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