The dimeric metabolic enzyme phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI, EC 5.3.1.9) plays an essential role in energy production. In the grass Festuca ovina, field surveys of enzyme variation suggest that genetic variation at cytosolic PGI (PGIC) may be adaptively important. In the present study, we investigated the molecular basis of the potential adaptive significance of PGIC in F. ovina by analyzing cDN...

BACKGROUND A horizontal gene transfer has brought an active nuclear gene, PgiC2, from a polyploid Poa species (P. palustris or a close relative) into the common grass sheep's fescue (Festuca ovina). The donor and the receptor species are strictly reproductively separated, and PgiC2 occurs in a polymorphic state within F. ovina. The active gene copy is normally closely linked to a very similar p...

Studies of whether plant community structure and ecosystem properties depend on the genetic diversity of component populations have been largely restricted to species monocultures and have involved levels of genetic differentiation that do not necessarily correspond to that exhibited by neighboring mature individuals in the field. We established experimental communities of varying intraspecific...

Horizontal gene transfer involves the non-sexual interspecific transmission of genetic material. Even if they are initially functional, horizontally transferred genes are expected to deteriorate into non-expressed pseudogenes, unless they become adaptively relevant in the recipient organism. However, little is known about the distributions of natural transgenes within wild species or the adapti...

UNLABELLED Ferula ovina (Boiss.) Boiss. is a traditional Iranian flavoring agent used as an ingredient of spices and condiments. METHODS AND RESULTS GC-MS analyses of F. ovina aerial parts' essential oil revealed the presence of a number of rare aromatic esters of monoterpenic alcohols. The structures of these esters were corroborated by synthesis, and one of them, bornyl 4-methoxybenzoate, t...

Fungal endophytes in spotted knapweed influence its competitive interactions. Abstract Fungal symbionts are often overlooked in studies of plant invasion. Nevertheless, their role could be essential to the competitive success of the invader. We studied fungal endophytes in the widespread invasive Centaurea stoebe (common knapweed). A preliminary experiment showed that endophytes in roots of C. ...

In the present study, a set of 68 P. eryngii wild strains collected from nine locations in northwest and west of Iran along with six commercial strains were studied using universal rice primers (URP). The wild strains were isolated from Ferula ovina, F. haussknechtii, Cachrys ferulacea, Kellusia odoratissima and Smyrniopsis aucheri plant species. Eleven URP primers amplified 188 polymorphic fra...

The current research was performed aiming to investigate the effects of Ferula ovina essential oil on the fourth instar larval hemogram of Sesamia cretica. Four main sorts of circulating hemocytes, including prohemocytes, plasmatocytes, granulocytes (GRs), and oenocytoides, were identified in the fourth instar larvae. Treatment of the larvae with the concentration of 1000 ppm of the essential o...