Hornworts in a time of crisis!

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We live grim times and our lives have been deeply impacted by the COVID-19. However, we continue to do research, and our remote work (télétravail in French), publishing two articles on our most dear group of plants: the hornworts. Hornworts are probably the most overlooked of all plant groups. In the last weeks, three important papers have been published focused on hornworts. The first paper published by a group of talented Chinese colleagues described the nuclear genome of a dioicous horn...
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Dennis and Marta in Montreal!

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Dennis and Marta attended the CEN Annual Symposium 2020 in Montreal.   Dennis presented the results of his phylogeographic study on the moss species Racomutrium lanuginosum. Dennis used population genomics tools to assess the phylogeographic structure of this wide-spread moss. The preliminary results suggest the presence of at least three genetic groups in Racomitrium lanuginosum. Here his poster. Marta shared her first results on viral diversity associated with the reindeer lichen...
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Marta Alonso has published her monograph and got the journal cover

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Marta Alonso García has published a monograph of the moss genus Chionoloma.  Chionoloma belongs to one of the largest moss families, Pottiaceae (1450 species in ca. 77 genera). Her work is based on the morphological analysis of more than 2600 specimens resulting in 22 species and one variety. Marta's work is mine of information on morphology, distribution and biogeography of this moss genus. Congratulations Marta!
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Our new paper on the bacteriome of the only strictly epiphytic gymnosperm

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Philip Bell-Doyon and our colleagues just published a recent paper on the coralloid root of Zamia pseudoparasitica. Using a combination of Sanger-sequencing, 16S metagenomics and whole-genome sequencing, we have elucidated the bacteriome of this Panamanian endemic species. One hundred and sixty‐five amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were found in at least two of our 27 samples amplified for 16S. Nostocales, Rhizobiales, and Acetobacterales were the three most diverse and abundant orders o...
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The Villarreal lab is awarded a Research chair in symbiosis

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The Villarreal lab has been awarded a  Canada Research Chair in genomics and metabolomics of the symbiosis between tropical plants and microbes.  The chair will allow us to study the microbiome, genomic underpinnings and chemical richness of the symbiosis between tropical gymnosperms, nitrogen-fixing bacteria and fungi. The chair will establish the core Symbiotic Microbial Group (SMG) that will continue close collaboration with leaders in the field and provide the students with the opportuni...
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Kathleen Pryer visits Laval University, Oct. 31

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Kathleen Pryer is visiting Laval University and the Louis-Marie Herber this week. Kathleen has an impressive career working on the phylogeny and evolution of seed-free vascular plants, especially ferns.   A short list with some of her prominent papers: Eily, A.N, K.M. Pryer, and F.-W. Li. 2019. A first glimpse at genes important to the Azolla–Nostoc symbiosis. Symbiosis 77. Yang, E.J., C.Y. Yoo, J, Liu, H. Wang, J. Cao, F.-W. Li, K.M. Pryer, et al. 2019. NCP activates chloro...
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One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants

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The onekp project  is an international transdisciplinary consortium made up of 200 top scientists from all over the world and led by Gane Wong (U. of Alberta), Jim Leebens-Mack (U. of Georgia), Mike Barker (U. of Arizona) among many others. The project has generated large-scale transcriptomes for over 1200 plants (from glaucocystophytes, red algae and green plants). The oneKP initiative has published landmark papers on plant evolution (Wicket et al., 2014, PNAS), horizontal gene transfer (Li, Vi...
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Fieldwork in Panama – an update

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The Panama grant on cycads is taking shape with most collections being done by our great team. Lilisbeth has organized all the field trips and collected leaves and roots of many Zamia species. Lilisbeth is also doing molecular lab work. Gustavo Salado has done most of the metagenomic and population genetic work on two Zamia species. Omayra Meléndez has done all the culture work and we have a nice collection of endophytes from Zamia nana and Zamia pseudoparasitica. In the summer, Sandri...
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