PREMISE OF THE STUDY We designed and tested microsatellite markers for the North American native species Silene stellata (Caryophyllaceae) to investigate its population genetic structure and identify selection on floral design through male reproductive success. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 153 candidate microsatellite loci were isolated based on next-generation sequencing. We identified 18 ...

A sequence involving dihydroxylation and acid induced fragmentation of silene generated silacyclohexenes represents the key step in a concise synthetic route to beta-hydroxy-delta-lactones.

The occurrence of multiple pathogen species on a shared host species is unexpected when they exploit the same micro-niche within the host individual. One explanation for such observations is the presence of pathogen-specific resistances segregating within the host population into sites that are differentially occupied by the competing pathogens. This study used experimental inoculations to test...

Substituted silacyclohexenes, generated through silene-diene [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions, undergo Lewis acid promoted Sakurai type reactions with acetals to afford, following oxidation of the resultant fluorosilane, 1,4-diols with four contiguous chiral centres.

Social context refers to the composition of an individual's social interactants, including potential mates. In spatially structured populations, social context can vary among individuals within populations, generating the opportunity for social selection to drive differences in fitness functions among individuals at a fine spatial scale. In sexually polymorphic plants, the local sex ratio varie...

Community and biogeographic surveys often conclude that plant-pollinator interactions are highly generalized. Thus, a central implication of the pollination syndrome concept, that floral trait evolution occurs primarily via specialized interactions of plants with their pollinators, has been questioned. However, broad surveys may not distinguish whether flower visitors are actual pollen vectors ...

In gynodioecious plant species with nuclear-cytoplasmic sex determination, females and hermaphrodites plants can coexist whenever female have higher seed fitness than hermaphrodites. Although the effect of self fertilization on seed fitness in hermaphrodites has been considered theoretically, this effect is far from intuitive, because it can either increase the relative seed fitness of the fema...

The relatively recent origin of sex chromosomes in the plant genus Silene provides an opportunity to study the early stages of sex chromosome evolution and, potentially, to test between the different population genetic processes likely to operate in nonrecombining chromosomes such as Y chromosomes. We previously reported much lower nucleotide polymorphism in a Y-linked gene (SlY1) of the plant ...

Silene taxonomy, traditionally based on morphological characteristics, is now driven by DNA sequence analysis. While the usefulness of both and molecular methods remains undisputed, there an interest in identification characteristics useful taxonomy. A quantitative analysis seeds belonging to species presented here seed image samples for 95 populations 52 (49 3 related species). According silho...