Senecio Research Network

The Senecio Research Network

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Background

Ecotypic divergence in Senecio lautus - Field experiment on Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia.

• The plant genus Senecio comprises approximately 1,000 species and is increasingly used in research on plant adaptation and evolution. The genus includes leaf, stem and tuber succulents, annuals, perennials, aquatics, climbers, shrubs and small trees. Some species produce natural biocides (especially alkaloids) to deter or even kill animals that would eat them, and several species are notable weeds of agriculture and horticulture (e.g. Senecio vulgaris), while others are successful invaders of pastures, wasteground and roadsides (e.g. S. inaequidens, S. madagascariensis and S. squalidus).

• Some Senecio species are self-compatible, whereas others exhibit strong self-incompatibility. Interspecific hybridization is common and there are notable examples of recent introgression and hybrid speciation in the genus resulting in the origin of new introgressant taxa, and allopolyploid and homoploid hybrid species. Ecotypic divergence is also marked in some species (e.g. S. lautus and S. vulgaris), raising questions on how new species originate via ecological speciation.

• Because Senecio species are now being used to investigate a wide range of questions in ecology and evolution in different labs around the world, several labs thought it desirable to establish a network to enhance collaborative research and to access and exchange valuable information and resources. This led to the first meeting of the network in August 2010 (Programme & Abstracts) and to the establishment of this website.

People

Flower head variation in Senecio vulgaris. In the first genetic study on Senecio, Trow (1912) showed that presence/absence of ray florets in flower heads of S. vulgaris was controlled by a single genetic locus. Almost a century later, Kim et al. (2008) showed that this locus comprised at least two cycloidea-like, regulatory genes, RAY 1 and RAY2. The radiate morph originated within the last 200 years in Britain after introgression of alleles at the RAY locus from the radiate invasive species, S. squalidus, into the formerly non-radiate S. vulgaris. Presence of ray florets increases pollinator attraction and outcrossing rate in S. vulgaris.

Labs Richard Abbott (St Andrews University, UK) Daniel Barker (St Andrews University, UK) Adrian Brennan (Durham University, UK) Jon Bridle (Bristol University, UK) Mark Chapman (Southampton University, UK) Peter Comes (Salzburg University, Austria) Dmitry Filatov (Oxford University, UK) Simon Hiscock (Bristol University, UK) Joachim Kadereit (Mainz University, Germany) Minsung Kim (Manchester University, UK) Peter Klinkhamer (Leiden University, Netherlands) Andrew Lowe (Adelaide University, Australia) Dietrich Ober (KIel University, Germany) Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos (Queensland University, Australia) John Pannell (University of Lausanne, Switzerland) Pieter Pelser (Canterbury University, NZ) Paul Rymer (University of Western Sydney, Australia) Klass Vrieling (Leiden University, Netherlands)

Post-Docs Tom Batstone (Bristol University, UK) Matt Hegarty (Aberystwyth University, UK) Graham Muir (Heidelberg University)

Grad Students Diana Bernal (Queensland University, Australia) Charles Coyle (St Andrews University, UK) Eleanor Dormontt (Adelaide University, Australia) Huanie Liu (Queensland University, Australia) Maria Claro Melo (Queensland University, Australia) Owen Osborne (Oxford University, UK) Federico Roda (Queensland University, Australia) Greg Walter (Queensland University, Australia)

Plant Resources

Senecio eboracensis

Lendal Bridge site, York, where S. eboracensis once grew

• Senecio eboracensis a new allotetraploid species discovered in York in 1979 is now extinct in the wild. Seed of this species is stored in Kew's Millenium Seed Bank. Enquiries should be directed to the UK Collections Coordinator, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Millenium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, West Sussex RH17 6TN.

Genome Resources

• SenecioDB is an online database curated at the University of Bristol which currently hosts in excess of 11,000 ESTs from floral and leaf tissue of five Senecio taxa.
• The draft genome sequence of Senecio squalidus is being produced using several different sequencing approaches through a collaboration between the Hiscock (Bristol) and Filatov (Oxford) labs. More details to appear soon.
• Genetic maps of S. squalidus and its parent species, S. aethnensis and S. chrysanthemifolius, are being produced by Adrian Brennan (Edinburgh) and Richard Abbott (St Andrews) using SSR and AFLP markers. Work to expand and improve these maps will be carried out by Mark Chapman in Oxford.
• Genetic maps of Senecio jacobaea and S. aquaticus (now Jacobaea vulgaris and J. aquaticus, respectivey,) are being produced by the Klinkhamer and Vrieling labs (Leiden University) from a cross between these two species.

Network Meetings

The First Senecio Research Network meeting was held at St Andrews University, UK, on 20 August 2010. Programme & Abstracts. You can view pdfs of presentations given by speakers at the meeting by clicking on their names in the following list:

• Tom Batstone, Adrian Brennan, Jon Bridle, Peter Comes, Eleanor Dormontt, Dmitry Filatov, Matt Hegarty, Minsung Kim, Peter Klinkhamer, Andy Lowe, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, Becky Ross, Klass Vrieling

Useful Links

• The Compositae Genome Project
• Diversity & Evolution of Asterids
• Senecioneae

Recent Publications

• 2013

Barker D, Brennan AC, Hiscock SJ, Abbott RJ (2012) Evolution during hybrid speciation and invasion: causes of genetic change in Senecio squalidus. Journal of Theoretical Biology (in revision).

Muir G, Osborne OG, Sarasa J, Hiscock SJ, Filatov DA (2013) Recent ecological selection on regulatory divergence is shaping clinal variation in Senecio on Mount Etna. Evolution (early view). 10 pages

Brennan AC, Harris SA, Hiscock SJ (2013) The population genetics of sporophytic self-incompatibility in three hybridizing Senecio (Asteraceae) species with contrasting population histories. Evolution 67: 1347-1367.

Cheng DD, van der Meijden E, Mulder PPJ Vrieling K Klinkhamer, PGL (2013) Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid Composition Influences Cinnabar Moth Oviposition Preferences in Jacobaea Hybrids. Journal of Chemical Ecology 39: 430-437.

Roda F, Liu H-L, Wilkinson MJ, Walter GM, James ME, Bernal DM, Melo MC, Lowe A, Rieseberg LH, Prentis P, Ortiz-Barrientos D (2013) Convergence and divergence during the adaptation to similar environments by an Australian groundsel. Evolution (early view) 15 pages.

Roda F, Ambrose L, Walter GM, Liu H-L, Schaul A, Lowe A, Pelser P, Prentis P, Rieseberg LH, Ortiz-Barrientos D (2013) Genomic evidence for the parallel evolution of coastal forms in the Senecio lautus complex. Molecular Ecology 22: 2941-2952.

• 2012

Abbott RJ, Rieseberg LH (2012) Hybrid Speciation. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (eLS) John Wiley Ltd, Chichester.

Brennan AC, Barker D, Hiscock SJ, Abbott RJ (2012) Molecular genetic and quantitative trait divergence associated with recent homoploid hybrid speciation: a study of Senecio squalidus (Asteraceae). Heredity 108: 87-95.

Hegarty MJ, Abbott RJ, Hiscock SJ (2012) Allopolyploid speciation in action: origin and evolution of Senecio cambrensis. In: Soltis PS, Soltis DE (Eds.) Polyploidy and Genome Evolution, pp. 245-270. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg.

Kirk H, Vrieling K, Pelser PB, Schaffner U (2012) Can plant resistance to specialist herbivores be explained by plant chemistry or resource use strategy? Oecologia 168: 1043-1055.

Kirk H, Cheng DD, Choi YH, Vrieling K, Klinkhamer P (2012) Transgressive segregation of primary and secondary metabolites in F-2 hybrids between Jacobaea aquatica and J. vulgaris. Metabolomics 8: 211-219.

Pelser PB, Abbott RJ, Comes HP, Milton JJ, Moeller M, Looseley ME, Cron GV, Barcelona JF, Kennedy AH, Watson LE, Barone R, Hernandez F, Kadereit JW (2012) The ghost of an invasion past: colonization and extinction revealed by historical hybridization in Senecio. Molecular Ecology 12: 369-387.

Ross RIC, Agren JA, Pannell JR (2012) Exogenous selection shapes germination behaviour and seedling traits of populations at different altitudes in a Senecio hybrid zone. Annals of Botany 110: 1439-1447.

• 2011

Allen AM, Thorogood, CJ, Hegarty MJ, Lexer C, Hiscock SJ (2011) Pollen-pistil interactions and self-incompatibility in the Asteraceae: new insights from studies of Senecio squalidus (Oxford ragwort). Annals of Botany 108: 687-698.

Brennan AC, Tabah DA, Harris SA, Hiscock SJ (2011) Sporophytic self-incompatibility in Senecio squalidus (Asteraceae): S allele dominance interactions and modifiers of cross-compatibility and selfing rates. Heredity 106: 113-123.

Cheng DD, Vrieling K, Klinkhamer PGL (2011) The effect of hybridization on secondary metabolites and herbivore resistance: implications for the evolution of chemical diversity in plants. Phytochemistry Reviews 10: 107-117.

Cheng DD, Kirk H, Mulder PPJ, Vrieling K, Klinkhamer PGL (2011) Pyrrolizidine alkaloid variation in shoots and roots of segregating hybrids between Jacobaea vulgaris and Jacobaea aquatica. New Phytologist 192: 1010-1023.

Hegarty MJ, Batstone T, Barker GL, Edwards KJ, Abbott RJ, Hiscock SJ (2011) Nonadditive changes to cytosine methylation as a consequence of hybridization and genome duplication in Senecio (Asteraceae). Molecular Ecology 20: 105-113.

Klinkhamer PGL (2011) Special Issue: Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Senecio: In honour of the eremitate of Prof. Eddy van der Meijden (Institute of Biology IBL, University of Leiden, the Netherlands) Introduction. Phytochemistry Reviews 10: 1-2.

Langel D, Ober D, Pelser PB (2011) The evolution of pyrrolizidine alkaloid biosynthesis and diversity in the Senecioneae. Phytochemistry Reviews 10: 3-74.

• 2010

Abbott RJ, Hegarty MJ, Hiscock SJ, Brennan AC (2010) Homoploid hybrid speciation in action. Taxon 59: 1375-1386.

Allen AM, Lexer C, Hiscock SJ (2010) Comparative analysis of pistil transcriptomes reveals conserved and novel genes expressed in dry, wet, and semidry stigmas. Plant Physiology 154: 1347-1360.

Allen AM, Lexer C, Hiscock SJ (2010) Characterisation of sunflower-21 (SF21) genes expressed in pollen and pistil of Senecio squalidus (Asteraceae) and their relationship with other members of the SF21 gene family. Sexual Plant Reproduction 23: 173-186.

Brennan AC, Hiscock SJ (2010) Expression and inheritance of sporophytic self-incompatibility in synthetic allohexaploid Senecio cambrensis (Asteraceae). New Phytologist 186: 251-261

Chapman MA, Abbott RJ (2010) Introgression of fitness genes across a ploidy barrier. New Phytologist 186: 63-71.

Kirk H, Vrieling K, Van Der Meijden E, Klinkhamer PGL (2010) Species by environment interactions affect pyrrolizidine alkaloid expression in Senecio jacobaea, Senecio aquaticus, and their hybrids. J. Chemical Ecology 36: 378-387.

Pelser PB, Tepe EJ, Kennedy AH, Watson LE (2010) The fate of Robinsonia (Asteraceae): sunk in Senecio, but still monophyletic? Phytotaxa 5: 31-46.

Prentis PJ, Woolfit M, Thomas-Hall SR, Ortiz-Barrientos D, Pavasovic A, Lowe AJ, Schenk PM (2010) Massively parallel sequencing and analysis of expressed sequence tags in a successful invasive plant. Annals of Botany 106: 1009-1017.

Rapo C, Muller-Scharer H, Vrieling K, Schaffner U (2010) Is there rapid evolutionary response in introduced populations of tansy ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris, when exposed to biological control? Evolutionary Ecology 24: 1081-1099