Bidirectional and multiple hybridization events were responsible for the origin of wild P. yedoensis. Extensive gene flow was documented in this study, suggesting an important role of reticulate evolution in subgenus Cerasus.

The woody Sonchus alliance consists primarily of woody species of the genus Sonchus (subgenus Dendrosonchus; family Asteraceae). Most members of the alliance are endemic to the oceanic archipelagos in the phytogeographic region of Macaronesia. They display extensive morphological, ecological, and anatomical diversity, likely caused by the diverse habitats on islands and rapid adaptive radiation. As a premier example of adaptive radiation and insular woodiness of species endemic to oceanic islands, the alliance has been the subject of intensive evolutionary studies. While phylogenetic studies suggested that it is monophyletic and its major lineages radiated rapidly early in the evolutionary history of this group, genetic mechanisms of speciation and genomic evolution within the alliance remain to be investigated. We first attempted to address chloroplast (cp) genome evolution by conducting comparative genomic analysis of three representative endemic species (Sonchus acaulis, Sonchus canariensis, and Sonchus webbii) from the Canary Islands. Despite extensive morphological, anatomical, and ecological differences among them, their cp genomes were highly conserved in gene order and content, ranging from 152,071 to 152,194 bp in total length. The number of repeat variations and six highly variable regions were identified as valuable molecular markers. Phylogenetic analysis of 32 species in the family Asteraceae revealed the phylogenetic position of the woody Sonchus alliance within the tribe Cichorieae and the sister relationship between the weedy Sonchus oleraceus and the alliance.

Prickly sow thistle, Sonchus asper (L.) Hill, and common sow thistle, Sonchus oleraceus L., are noxious weeds. Probably originating from the Mediterranean region, they have become widespread species. They share similar morphology and are closely related. However, they differ in their chromosome numbers and the precise relationship between them remains uncertain. Understanding their chloroplast genome structure and evolution is an important initial step toward determining their phylogenetic relationships and analyzing accelerating plant invasion processes on a global scale. We assembled four accessions of chloroplast genomes (two S. asper and two S. oleraceus) by the next generation sequencing approach and conducted comparative genomic analyses. All the chloroplast genomes were highly conserved. Their sizes ranged from 151,808 to 151,849 bp, containing 130 genes including 87 coding genes, 6 rRNA genes, and 37 tRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the whole chloroplast genome sequences showed that S. asper shares a recent common ancestor with S. oleraceus and suggested its likely involvement in a possible amphidiploid origin of S. oleraceus. In total, 79 simple sequence repeats and highly variable regions were identified as the potential chloroplast markers to determine genetic variation and colonization patterns of Sonchus species.

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A Gram-stain-positive, strictly aerobic, yellow colony-forming bacterium, designated strain 3-3 T , was isolated from forest soil of Bac Kan Province in Vietnam. Cells were non-motile rods without gliding motility, showing oxidase-and catalase-positive reactions. Growth was observed at 20-37 6C (optimum, 28 6C) and pH 5.5-9.5 (optimum, pH 7.5). The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 15 : 1 G and summed feature 3 (comprising C 16 : 1 v6c and/or C 16 : 1 v7c). Strain 3-3 T contained phosphatidylethanoamine, three unidentified aminolipids and three unidentified lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 49.5 mol% and the only isoprenoid quinone detected was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain 3-3 T formed a tight phylogenetic lineage withFlavihumibacter petaseus T41 T with a bootstrap value of 100 %. Strain 3-3 T was related most closely to F. petaseus T41 T with 97.3 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and the level of DNA-DNA relatedness between the two was 9.4±1.2 %. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular features, strain 3-3 T represents a novel species of the genus Flavihumibacter, for which the name Flavihumibacter solisilvae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 3-3 T (5KACC 17917 T 5JCM 19891 T ).The genus Flavihumibacter, forming an evolutionary lineage within the family Chitinophagaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes, was first proposed by Zhang et al. (2010). At the time of writing, the genus Flavihumibacter comprises only one recognized species, Flavihumibacter petaseus, isolated from a soil sample of a subtropical rainforest. Cells of F. petaseus are Gram-positive, aerobic rods producing flexirubin-type pigments, show catalase-and oxidase-positive reactions, and contain iso-C 15 : 0 and iso-C 15 : 1 G as major fatty acids and menaquinone 7 (MK-7) as the isoprenoid quinone (Zhang et al., 2010(Zhang et al., , 2013. In the course of a study investigating microbial communities of subtropical rainforest soil (Lee et al., 2014), we isolated a novel strain, designated 3-3 T , belonging to the genus Flavihumibacter and here we describe its taxonomic characterization.A wet forest soil sample (less than 5 cm depth) from Bac Kan Province in Vietnam was resuspended and serially diluted in PBS buffer (137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 10 mM Na 2 HPO 4 , 2 mM KH 2 PO 4 , pH 7.2), and the diluted samples were spread on R2A agar (Difco) and incubated at 30 u C for 5 days under aerobic conditions. The genomic DNA from colonies grown on R2A agar was extracted using Chelex-100 (Bio-Rad) and the 16S rRNA genes were PCR-amplified using universal primers 27F (59-AGAGT-TTGATCMTGGCTCAG-39) and 1492R (59-TACGGYTA-CCTTGTTACGACTT-39) (Lane, 1991) as described previously . The PCR amplicons were doubledigested with HaeIII and HhaI and the fragment patterns were analysed on 2.5 % MetaPhore agarose (BioWhittaker) gel with a 100 bp ladder (Bioneer), which was used as a guide to classify the colonies (Jin et al., 2012). Representative PCR products ...