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Maximum Parsimony Network of haplotypes of N. heimii based on cpDNA, with two major groups of haplotypes indicated by dashed lines. The relative sizes of the circles represent the frequency of these haplotypes and unsampled haplotypes are represented by square box. Each line connecting one haplotype to another indicates one mutational step.
Source publication
Tectonic movements, climatic oscillations, and marine transgressions during the Cenozoic have had a dramatic effect on the biota of the tropical rain forest. This study aims to reveal the phylogeography and evolutionary history of a Peninsular Malaysian endemic tropical timber species, Neobalanocarpus heimii (Dipterocarpaceae). A total of 32 natura...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... relationships between haplotypes are shown in the maximum parsimony network in Figure 3. Overall, the statis- tical parsimony procedure revealed that all the cpDNA hap- lotypes are closely related, most differing from their closet relatively by 1-2 mutational steps. ...
Context 2
... that the ancestral haplotype, h2 is found solely in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, the earliest migration route of the ancestral populations of N. heimii is, therefore, pre- dicted to have begun from the northern region and expanded southwards. Indeed, a star-like haplotype network, with all descendants originating from the ancestral haplotype h2 (Figure 3), indicates a scenario of range expansion across the region. Over time, specifically, both northern and southern regions could have gone through a stochastic lineage sorting and have had independent evolutionary histories for a rela- tively long period of time. ...
Citations
... There are existing manuals on the procurement of planting material of native species such Agarwood (Aquilaria spp.) or mangrove species [113], but such guidelines mainly focus on the selection of species based on phenotypic aspects, and very rarely on genetic aspects or on adaptation to climate change [114]. The 100 million tree-planting campaign aims to make available information about the forest genetic resources in the region, building on existing research on Dipterocarps [115][116][117]. Several studies exist on the floristic diversity in Seed Production Areas as well as on the genetics of some native species such as Shorea leprosula and other Dipterocarps [118,119]. ...
High-quality, suitably adapted tree seed at volume is a key component for the implementation and long-term success of forest landscape restoration (FLR). We analysed the tree seed systems in four Asian countries—the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and India—which have committed to restore in total over 47.5 million hectares of degraded lands by 2030. We assessed the national seed systems using an established indicator framework, literature review and expert surveys and interviews. Additionally, we surveyed 61 FLR practitioners about their challenges in acquiring seed to understand how the strengths and weaknesses identified at the national level were reflected in FLR projects on the ground. Identified key constraints common to the studied countries are (i) a mismatch between the growing demand for priority native species and the limited seed supply in terms of quantity and quality, (ii) lack of effective quality control for seed of native species and (iii) lack of information about the effects of climate change on native species to guide species selection and seed sourcing and to improve the resilience of restored ecosystems. We discuss options to strengthen seed systems for native tree species both in terms of quality and volume to enable them to effectively respond to the national FLR commitments and make recommendations on promising technical solutions.
... More broadly, little is known about phylogeographic patterns in Southeast Asia, with the few studies conducted mostly focusing on fauna and covering a restricted geographic range (Cannon, 2001;Grismer et al., 2019;Husson et al., 2020;Jusoh et al., 2019;Liao et al., 2007;Lim et al., 2020;Pedersen et al., 2018;Tnah et al., 2012;Ueda et al., 2010). In Australia, phylogeographic studies of rainforest plants have revealed varied expansion-contraction responses to the climatic fluctuations of the Quaternary (Fahey et al., 2019;Mellick et al., 2012Mellick et al., , 2013Rossetto et al., 2004); however, responses of the Southeast Asian flora are yet to be studied in detail. ...
Aim
Exchange of plant lineages between Australia and Southeast Asia has had a substantial impact on the evolution of Australia's northern, tropical flora, with important ramifications for its conservation and biosecurity. Despite this, floristic exchange tracks between northern Australia and Southeast Asia remain poorly understood. To address this, we conducted a molecular phylogeographic case study to identify exchange tracks between Australia and Southeast Asia.
Location
India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific islands.
Taxon
The widespread tropical monsoonal tree species Aglaia elaeagnoidea (Meliaceae).
Methods
We conducted a DArTseq phylogeographic study of 141 herbarium and silica‐dried samples sourced from across the range of A. elaeagnoidea. We analysed 176,331 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across 90,456 loci using multivariate, admixture, genetic differentiation and coalescent methods to characterise phylogeographic and phylogenetic patterns. These analyses were considered in the context of an environmental niche model for the last glacial maximum.
Results
Two exchange tracks were identified: one from New Guinea to Cape York Peninsula in north‐east Australia, and a second from Timor‐Leste to the Kimberley Plateau of north‐west Australia. The Cape York Peninsula track is contemporary, characterised by ongoing genetic exchange, whereas the Kimberley Plateau track is historic, facilitated by multiple past exposures of the Arafura Shelf during the Pleistocene. Overall, we suggest that phylogeographic patterns of A. elaeagnoidea have resulted from a combination of repeated range expansion and contraction cycles concurrent with Quaternary climate fluctuations and stochastic dispersal events.
Main conclusions
This study provides the first molecular phylogeographic evidence for two floristic exchange tracks between northern Australia and Southeast Asia. It also highlights the influence of Quaternary climate fluctuations on the complex biogeography of the region, and supports the idea that the Kimberley Plateau and Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia have separate biogeographic histories.
... Balanocarpol has been isolated from Hopea dryobalanoides (10). The plant is one of the Hopea species from the family Dipterocarpaceae found in the Malaysian rain forest. ...
... P<0.001 was considered significant. To identify the points of variance, Bonferroni correction was applied as a post-hoc test. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 10 ...
Natural products have been successfully used for treating various ailments since ancient times and currently there are several natural product based anti-cancer agents used as the main therapy to treat cancer patients or as a complimentary treatment to chemotherapy or radiation. Balanocarpol, which is a promising natural product that has been isolated from Hopea dryobalanoides, has been studied as a potential anticancer agent but its application is limited due to its high toxicity, low water solubility, and poor bioavailablity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to improve the balanocarpol characteristics and improve its anticancer activity through its encapsulation into a bilayer structure of a lipid-based nanoparticle drug delivery system where the application of nanotechnology can help in improving such limitations of balanocarpol. The compound first was extracted and isolated from H. dryobalanoides. Niosome nanoparticles composed of span 80 (SP80) and cholesterol were formulated through innovative microfluidic mixing method for the encapsulation and delivery of balanocarpol. The prepared particles were spherical, small, and uniform with an average particles size and polydispersity index ~ 175 nm and 0.088 respectively. The encapsulation of balanocarpol into the SP80 niosomes resulted in an encapsulation efficiency of ~ 40%. The niosomes formulation loaded with balanocarpol showed superior anticancer effect over the free compound when tested in vitro on human ovarian carcinoma (A2780) and human breast carcinoma (ZR-75-1). This is the first study that report the use of SP80 niosomes for successful encapsulation and delivery of balanocarpol into cancer cells.
... Because of its central importance to plant biogeography and the living Malesian rainforests, we further explore the subfamily Dipterocarpoideae as part of our evaluation of evidence for the India-Asia interchange (GAFI 1). In doing so, we acknowledge recent studies that show strong genetic differentiation and lack of contemporary gene flow between dipterocarps in proximate areas such as peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (Tnah et al. 2012, Ng et al. 2017, in contrast to the ability of some dipterocarps to disperse across marine barriers, as shown by the presence, with limited species richness, of several dipterocarp genera in Wallacea and New Guinea (Symington 1943;Ashton 1982Ashton , 1988Ashton , 2014. ...
Unraveling the origins of Malesia's once vast, hyperdiverse rainforests is a perennial challenge. Major contributions to rainforest assembly came from floristic elements carried on the Indian Plate and montane elements from the Australian Plate (Sahul). The Sahul component is now understood to include substantial two-way exchanges with Sunda inclusive of lowland taxa. Evidence for the relative contributions of the great Asiatic floristic interchanges (GAFIs) with India and Sahul, respectively, to the flora of Malesia comes from contemporary lineage distributions, the fossil record, time-calibrated phylogenies, functional traits, and the spatial structure of genetic diversity. Functional-trait and biome conservatism are noted features of montane austral lineages from Sahul (e.g., diverse Podocarpaceae), whereas the abundance and diversity of lowland lineages, including Syzygium (Myrtaceae) and the Asian dipterocarps (Dipterocarpoideae), reflect a less well understood combination of dispersal, ecology, and adaptive radiations. Thus, Malesian rainforest assembly has been shaped by sharply contrasting evolutionary origins and biogeographic histories.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Volume 50 is November 4, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... wood anatomy: internal structure of wood at the macroscopic and microscopic level [10] and dendrochronology: the study of periodic growth increments formed in most temperate tree species [11]; (2) chemical methods, e.g. mass spectrometry: assessment of phytochemicals present in the heartwood [12], near infrared spectroscopy: the characterizations of wood absorption spectra [13], stable isotopes: chemical compounds synthesized by trees such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen [14] and radiocarbon dating: the calculation of radiocarbon age based on the ratio 14 C and 12 C atoms [15]; (3) genetic methods: providing species level identification based on variation at specific gene regions [16], geographic origin identification using population genetics and phylogeographic analyses [17,18] and individual level identification utilizing DNA profiles generated from molecular markers which can reveal variations between individuals [19][20][21]. ...
The development of timber tracking methods based on genetic markers can provide scientific evidence to verify the origin of timber products and fulfill the growing requirement for sustainable forestry practices. In this study, the origin of an important Dark Red Meranti wood, Shorea platyclados, was studied by using the combination of seven chloroplast DNA and 15 short tandem repeats (STRs) markers. A total of 27 natural populations of S. platyclados were sampled throughout Malaysia to establish population level and individual level identification databases. A haplotype map was generated from chloroplast DNA sequencing for population identification, resulting in 29 multilocus haplotypes, based on 39 informative intraspecific variable sites. Subsequently, a DNA profiling database was developed from 15 STRs allowing for individual identification in Malaysia. Cluster analysis divided the 27 populations into two genetic clusters, corresponding to the region of Eastern and Western Malaysia. The conservativeness tests showed that the Malaysia database is conservative after removal of bias from population subdivision and sampling effects. Independent self-assignment tests correctly assigned individuals to the database in an overall 60.60−94.95% of cases for identified populations, and in 98.99−99.23% of cases for identified regions. Both the chloroplast DNA database and the STRs appear to be useful for tracking timber originating in Malaysia. Hence, this DNA-based method could serve as an effective addition tool to the existing forensic timber identification system for ensuring the sustainably management of this species into the future.
... There are many local species confined to a small area in the evergreen rainforest of the West Malesia. The current study on Scaphochlamys by the first author discovered that these areas of high diversity and endemism are closely associated with the sites of rain forest refugia in the geological past (Morley, 2000;Quek et al. 2007;Tnah et al., 2013). ...
Four new species of Scaphochlamys are described and illustrated, including preliminary conservation assessments. All the new species are endemic in Peninsular Malaysia.
... In this study, we observed four main genetic groups of Myanmar teak using both types of markers. Genetic variation, which accounted for the different groups (Table 4), was relatively low in terms of cpSNP markers when compared to the variation observed in other tree species such as Neobalanocarpus heimii [39] and Caryocar brasilense [40]. A genetic bottleneck in Myanmar teak might account for the low level of cytoplasmic variation. ...
Teak (Tectona grandis), which is among the most valuable tropical timber species, is under pressure from rapid deforestation and habitat fragmentation. Limited genetic information is available for Myanmar teak, which comes from the largest natural teak-bearing forest area in the world. To determine the phylogeographic patterns of Myanmar teak, we evaluated three newly developed chloroplast single nucleotide polymorphism (cpSNP) and 10 nuclear simple sequence repeat (nrSSR) markers in 480 individuals representing 20 natural populations. The cpSNP markers detected four haplotypes, each differing by a single mutation. The GST value was lower than the NST value and did not reveal a phylogeographic structure of Myanmar teak. Nuclear microsatellite analysis revealed high genetic diversity with the mean expected heterozygosity (0.652). The same level of genetic differentiation (4%) was observed for both cpSNP and nrSSR markers in different groups. Conservation of the HMB, TDG, KTA, and POL populations should receive highest priority because these contribute most to the total genetic diversity. The genetic boundaries of teak observed from combining the results of cpSNP and nrSSR marker barriers suggested four potential zones in the teak seed transfer guidelines of Myanmar. In light of our findings, we discussed appropriate gene conservation strategies and proposed seed zones to safeguard the current genetic resources of Myanmar teak. © Thwe-Thwe-Win, Tomonori Hirao, Atsushi Watanabe and Susumu Goto.
... and within the Malay Peninsula (N. heimii, Tnah et al., 2013). Propagation material should be tested before being moved across such evolutionary units. ...
The study of intraspecific genetic variation in plant traits for use in tropical forest restoration has broad potential for increasing our ability to achieve multi-functional objectives during this era of climate change. Developing seed-sourcing guidelines that optimize phenotypic characteristics best suited to a particular planting site as well as to future conditions imposed by environmental change could be useful for effective reforestation. Because evolution operates differently across tree species, this is an especially cumbersome task in tropical forests that contain thousands of species. Partially due to this high plant diversity, research and application of intraspecific variation in genetics, plant traits, and plant function in tropical forests wane far behind less diverse forest biomes. To examine the potential for improving reforestation efforts in tropical forests by considering intraspecific variation in plant traits and functions, we review the state of knowledge on intraspecific variation in South-east Asia as a case study. We focus on the dipterocarp family ( Dipterocarpaceae ), a highly diverse family of 16 genera with approximately 695 known species that often dominate lowland tropical rainforests of South-east Asia with many of these forests in a degraded state and in need of restoration. We found that there is research accumulating to understand genetic variation in approximately 10% of these 695 species. Intraspecific molecular variation exists at different spatial scales among species with 74% of species having moderate to high population differentiation (Fst > 0.10) and 92% of species with evidence of fine-scale genetic structure. Although this suggests a high potential for trait variation, few studies associated molecular with phenotypic variation. Seventeen tree species across 11 studies revealed intraspecific variation in traits or functions. Research indicates that intraspecific variation in growth may vary two-fold and drought tolerance four-fold among genotypes highlighting the possibility to pre-adapt trees to climate change during reforestation and to use intraspecific variation to promote the use of native species in commercial forestry. Our review presents opportunities and ideas for developing seed-sourcing guidelines to take advantage of intraspecific variation in traits and function by identifying how to locate this variation, which species would benefit, and how to test for trait variation. We also highlight an emerging area of research on local adaptation, common garden studies, and adaptive drought conditioning to improve reforestation during climate change.
The increasing use of plant evidence in forensic investigations gave rise to a powerful new discipline - Forensic Botany - that analyses micro- or macroscopic plant materials, such as the totality or fragments of an organ (i.e., leaves, stems, seeds, fruits, roots) and tissue (i.e., pollen grains, spores, fibers, cork) or its chemical composition (i. e., secondary metabolites, isotopes, DNA, starch grains). Forensic botanists frequently use microscopy, chemical analysis, and botanical expertise to identify and interpret evidence crucial to solving civil and criminal issues, collaborating in enforcing laws or regulations, and ensuring public health safeguards. The present work comprehensively examines the current state and future potential of Forensic Botany. The first section conveys the critical steps of plant evidence collection, documentation, and preservation, emphasizing the importance of these initial steps in maintaining the integrity of the items. It explores the different molecular analyses, covering the identification of plant species and varieties or cultivars, and discusses the limitations and challenges of these techniques in forensics. The subsequent section covers the diversity of Forensic Botany approaches, examining how plant evidence exposes food and pharmaceutical frauds, uncovers insufficient or erroneous labeling, traces illegal drug trafficking routes, and combats the illegal collection or trade of protected species and derivatives. National and global security issues, including the implications of biological warfare, bioterrorism, and biocrime are addressed, and a review of the contributions of plant evidence in crime scene investigations is provided, synthesizing a comprehensive overview of the diverse facets of Forensic Botany.
