Dianxiang Zhang

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Verified

Dianxiang verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Chinese Academy of Sciences

Reproductive systems of flowering plants are evolutionarily fluid, with mating patterns changing in response to shifts in abiotic conditions, pollination systems, and population characteristics. Changes in mating should be particularly evident in species with sexual polymorphisms that become ecologically destabilized, promoting transitions to alter...

Plant root-associated fungal communities are pivotal for enhancing plant growth, nutrient absorption, disease resistance, and environmental stress adaptation. Despite their importance, the assembly processes of these communities remain inadequately explored. In this study, we utilized high-throughput sequencing, co-occurrence network analysis, and...

Despite the importance of gamete production this topic has rarely been investigated in angiosperms using comparative approaches. Here, we investigated pollen and ovule numbers per flower in 73 species and 99 populations of Primula comprising both distylous and homostylous reproductive systems. We investigated whether phylogenetic relationships infl...

Mycoheterotrophs are non‐photosynthetic plants that obtain all of their carbon requirements through parasitizing mycorrhizal fungi. They originated from the autotrophic ancestors and usually have more specific relationships with fungi than that of green plants, for reasons that are largely unknown. Determining the factors that lead to specificity i...

For nearly seven decades, the legume variety Phanera erythropoda var. guangxiensis (D. X. Zhang & T. C. Chen) Mack-inder & R. Clark has been known solely from its type gathering, which lacked flowers and possessed only immature fruits. We report the rediscovery of this elusive variety at its type locality in Guangxi, China, including specimens bear...

Wendlandia, as currently circumscribed, is a genus of Rubiaceae comprising about 90 species mainly in tropical and subtropical Asia. By sampling species from all four series (Clavigerae, Euexsertae, Montigenae, Subinclusae) and all tribes in the subfamily Dia-lypetalanthoideae, we examined the monophyly of Wendlandia based on phylogenetic reconstru...

the pollination syndrome concept has provided powerful utility in understanding the evolution and adaptation of floral traits. However, the utility of this conception has been questioned on the grounds that flowers usually attract a broader spectrum of visitors than one might expect. Furthermore, the relationship between plant specialization and fl...

Plastomes of heterotrophs went through varying degrees of degradation along with the transition from autotrophic to heterotrophic lifestyle. Here, we identified the plastome of mycoheterotrophic species Burmannia itoana and compared it with those of its reported relatives including three autotrophs and one heterotroph (Thismia tentaculata) in Diosc...

Mussaenda yunnanensis, a new dioecious species of Rubiaceae, is described and illustrated from Yunnan Province, China. The new species could be recognized by its slender stem, congested-cymose inflorescences and long corolla tubes. Differences between M. yunnanensis and two morphologically species (M. pubescens and M. antiloga) are presented. We al...

We describe here a rare, critically endangered new species of the genus Cheniella from Guangdong province of southern China. Cheniella tsoongii is morphologically similar to C. corymbosa, and can be distinguished by having a combination of deeply-bilobed hairy leaves, white flowers, shorter hypanthia, yellow anthers, and densely ferruginous-tomento...

Subfamily Cercidoideae is an early‐diverging lineage of Leguminosae, within which the number and classification of genera have been controversial. Cheniella is a recently described genus in the Cercidoideae which requires revision and testing of its monophyly and circumscription. Here we infer the phylogenetic position and infrageneric relationship...

Background Gene transfer between the plastid and mitochondrial genomes has been reported in several lineages of the legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). However, it is not clear whether these events happened in other families of the order Fabales. We herein generated a high-quality mitochondrial genome of Suriana maritima in the family Surianac...

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) can form symbiotic relationships with plants, aiding in plant growth by providing access to nutrients and defense against phytopathogenic fungi. In this context, factors such as plant assemblages and soil properties can impact the interaction between EMF and phytopathogenic fungi in forest soil. However, there is little...

Abstract—Campylosiphon (Burmanniaceae), a genus with two fully mycoheterotrophic species distributed in the tropics of South America and West Africa, is extended to include several Asian species of Burmannia with “wingless” flowers based on morphological comparison and molecular phylogenetic inferences. Specifically, two species from Burmannia were...

Despite much research in the field of island biogeography, mechanisms regulating insular diversity remain elusive. Here, we aim to explore mechanisms underlying plant species-area relationships in two tropical archipelagoes in the South China Sea. We found positive plant species-area relationships for both coral and continental archipelagoes. Howev...

Herbarium collections shape our understanding of Earth’s flora and are crucial for addressing global change issues. Their formation, however, is not free from sociopolitical issues of immediate relevance. Despite increasing efforts addressing issues of representation and colonialism in natural history collections, herbaria have received comparative...

There are about 140 species of Callicarpa L. 1753 (Lamiaceae), with more species richness in tropical to subtropical Asia and the New World. The genus might provide an insight into the amphi-Pacific disjunction pattern of tropical and subtropical vegetation. This study has greatly improved the phylogenetic underpinning for Callicarpa, derived from...

Background The evolution of heterostyly, a genetically controlled floral polymorphism, has been a hotspot of research since the 19th century. In recent years, studies on the molecular mechanism of distyly (the most common form of heterostyly) revealed an evolutionary convergence in genes for brassinosteroids (BR) degradation in different angiosperm...

2023: e03819 Thismia guangdongensis, a fully mycoheterotrophic plant collected from Guangdong Province, China, is proposed and described as a new species. It is assigned to Thismia subsect. Brunonithismia based on having free tepals distinctly dissimilar in shape and size, and by phylogenetic evidence based on molecular data. This new species is mo...

Three new combinations in the genus Phanera are here proposed for the species originally placed in Bauhinia s. l., in which we also designate a lectotype for the name Bauhinia strychnifolia Craib.

Heterostyly, a plant sexual polymorphism controlled by the S‐locus supergene, has evolved numerous times among angiosperm lineages and represents a classic example of convergent evolution in form and function. Determining whether underlying molecular convergence occurs could provide insights on constraints to floral evolution. Here, we investigated...

Intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) is a key physiological trait; however, the spatiotemporal variation in iWUE and which factors affect iWUE in the tropics and subtropics are poorly known. We determined the temporal (1920-2010) and spatial patterns of iWUE using leaf carbon-isotopic composition (δ¹³C) of 1,811 herbarium specimens and associated...

Foliar stable nitrogen (N) isotopes (δ15N) generally reflect N availability to plants and have been used to infer about changes thereof. However, previous studies of temporal trends in foliar δ15N have ignored the influence of confounding factors, leading to uncertainties on its indication to N availability. In this study, we measured foliar δ15N o...

An updated checklist of the family Burmanniaceae in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam is provided. The checklist comprises a single genus, Burmannia, and 15 species, of which one is fully autotrophic, six species are partially mycoheterotrophic, and eight species are fully mycoheterotrophic (non-photosynthetic). Burmannia itoana earlier known only from Ja...

Reproductive traits that function in pollinator attraction may be reduced or lost during evolutionary transitions from outcrossing to selfing. Although floral scent plays an important role in attracting pollinators in outcrossing species, few studies have investigated associations between floral scent variation and intraspecific mating‐system trans...

Mycoheterotrophic plants can derive carbon from fungi rather than from photosynthesis. Habitat destruction and sensitivity to environmental perturbation may result in the loss of biodiversity including genetic variation of mycoheterotrophic plants. Burmannia nepalensis (Miers) Hook.f. (Burmanniaceae) is a mycoheterotrophic plant with a wide distrib...

Herbarium collections shape our understanding of the world's flora and are crucial for addressing global change and biodiversity conservation. The formation of such natural history collections, however, are not free from sociopolitical issues of immediate relevance. Despite increasing efforts addressing issues of representation and colonialism in n...

BackgroudTournefortia argentea L. f. is a hexaploid shrub or tree species with ecological and evolutionary significances, which forms the fringe of vegetation closest to the sea on tropical coral islands. Previous studies have never addressed on genetic information, and thus genomic resources remain scarce.Methods and resultsWe used nine individual...

Fungi have a huge biodiversity and play important roles in soil biogeochemical cycling in island ecosystems. Although island biogeography has been widely studied for macroorganisms, fungal community assembly in true islands and its relationship with island area are less documented. We examined soil fungal communities in 18 oceanic islands of two ty...

The temporal pattern of flower opening and closure is a feature of the biology of many plant species, particularly those inhabiting oceanic islands where flowering generally lasts for only a few hours per day. Additionally, flower visitors often seek different floral sources on a timely basis, thus the relative timing of interactions is central to...

Pollination precision and efficiency have been deemed to be important driving forces in floral evolution. Herkogamy reduction is a main mechanism to increase pollination precision. Secondary pollen presentation (SPP), by which pollen is presented on other floral organs especially pistils, has been widely accepted as a special mechanism to increase...

The temporal pattern of flower opening and closure is a feature of the biology of many plant species, particularly those inhabiting oceanic islands where flowering generally lasts for only a few hours per day. Additionally, flower visitors often seek different floral sources on a timely basis, thus the relative timing of interactions is central to...

Mycoheterotrophic plants (MHPs) growing on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) usually maintain specialized mycorrhizal associations. The level of specificity varies between MHPs, although it remains largely unknown whether interactions with mycorrhizal fungi differ by plant lineage, species, and/or by population. Here, we investigate the mycorrhiza...

Background and aims-Distyly is usually rare on oceanic islands, which is probably due to the difficulty for distylous plants to colonize those islands. However, Cordia subcordata was observed to be distylous with short-and long-styled morphs on the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea. To characterize the reproduction system of Cordia subcordata an...

Jasminum chiae (Oleaceae), a new species from tropical limestone mountains in Cangyuan County, Yunnan Province, China is described here. This new species is similar to J. longitubum, but differs in having 5–8 pairs of lateral veins, abaxially conspicuous quaternary veins of leaf blade when dry, subulate‐filiform bracts at base of inflorescence, and...

Flowers’ fungal and bacterial communities can exert great impacts on host plant wellness and reproductive success—both directly and indirectly through species interactions. However, information about community structure and co-occurrence patterns in floral microbiome remains scarce. Here, using culture-independent methods, we investigated fungal an...

Aims Plant–pollinator interaction networks are dynamic entities, and seasonal variation in plant phenology can reshape their structure on both short and long timescales. However, such seasonal dynamics are rarely considered, especially for oceanic island pollination networks. Here, we assess changes in the temporal dynamics of plant–pollinator inte...

Burmannia decurrens sp. nov., a new mycoheterotrophic species of Burmannia L. (Burmanniaceae) from Yunkaishan Nature Reserve, southwestern Guangdong Province, China, is described and illustrated. This new species is morphologically similar to B. nepalensis and B. oblonga in whole plant whitish, the shape of leaves and bracts, and yellow seeds. Howe...

Generally, island populations are predicted to have less genetic variation than their mainland relatives. However, a growing number of studies have nevertheless reported exceptions, indicating that the relationships were impacted by several factors, for example, historical processes. In the present study, we chose a group of subtropical islands loc...

The pollination syndrome concept has provided powerful utility in understanding the evolution and adaptation of floral traits. However, the utility of this conception has been questioned on the grounds that flowers usually attract a broader spectrum of visitors than one might expect. Furthermore, the relationship between plant specialization and fl...

Generally, island populations are predicted to have less genetic variation than their mainland relatives. However, a growing number of studies have nevertheless reported exceptions, indicating that the relationships were impacted by several factors, for example, historical processes. In the present study, we chose a group of subtropical islands loc...

The high occurrence of dioecy on oceanic islands has attracted much attention from plant evolutionary biologists. Tournefor-tia argentea (Boraginaceae), an Indo-Pacific strand plant, has an unusual sexual system which remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the sexual system of T. argentea based on morphological and micromorphological stud...

the pollination syndrome concept has provided powerful utility in understanding the evolution and adaptation of floral traits. However, the utility of this conception has been questioned on the grounds that flowers usually attract a broader spectrum of visitors than one might expect. Furthermore, the relationship between plant specialization and fl...

Dalbergia odorifera T. C. Chen (Leguminosae), a rare and endangered tree species endemic to Hainan Island of China, produces the most expensive and rarest wood in China. The wood characteristics of D. odorifera are remarkably similar to those of D. tonkinensis (a much less sought‐after species from Vietnam), and the DNA from wood are often highly d...

Jasminum parceflorum (Oleaceae), a new species from tropical limestone habitats in Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated here. The new species is similar to J. pierreanum and J. rarum , but can be distinguished by its linear calyx lobes, dry calyces without ridges, terminal 1 (or 3)-flowered cymes and axillary solitary flowers.

We compared community composition and co-occurrence patterns of phyllosphere fungi between island and mainland populations within a single plant species (Mussaenda kwangtungensis) using high-throughput sequencing technology. We then used 11 microsatellite loci for host genotyping. The island populations differed significantly from their mainland co...

The present paper reports for the first time the characteristics of the complete plastid genome of Surianaceae (Suriana maritima L.) in the order Fabales. The circular complete plastid genome is 163,747 bp in length with a typical quadripartite organization containing 115 unique genes, of which 80 are protein-coding genes, 31 tRNA genes and four rR...

Bauhinia × blakeana Dunn, or the Hong Kong Orchid Tree, is a popular ornamental plant in the tropical and subtropical regions. In this study, we report and characterise the complete plastid genome of B. × blakeana in an effort to provide genomic resources for genetic utilization. The complete plastome is 156,100 bp in length and contains the typica...

Plastomes of heterotrophs went through varying degrees of degradation along with the transition from autotrophic to heterotrophic lifestyle. Here, we identified the plastome of mycoheterotrophic species Burmannia itoana and compared it with those of its reported relatives including three autotrophs and one heterotroph ( Thismia tentaculata ) in Dio...

Mussaenda yunnanensis, a new dioecious species of Rubiaceae, is described and illustrated from Yunnan Province, China. The new species could be recognized by its slender stem, congested‐cymose inflorescences and long corolla tubes. Differences between M. yunnanensis and two morphologically species (M. pubescens and M. antiloga) are presented. We al...

Zenia insignis Chun is a rare and threatened species of the monotypic genus Zenia Chun in the subfamily Dialioideae of Leguminosae. The complete plastid genome of Zenia insignis was sequenced for the first time which also represents the first complete plastid genome of the subfamily Dialioideae. The total length of this genome is 159,358 bp with a...

Background: The seasonal dynamics of plant and pollinator species components in the community could influence the structure of plant-pollinator networks. However, such dynamics are seldom been attention for oceanic islands networks. Here, we estimated the seasonal variation of seven plant-pollinator networks in Yongxing Island community. We collect...

Heterostyly is a floral polymorphism that increase inter-morph pollen transfer and promote disassortative mating. Breakdown of heterostyly has happened many times, either leading to dioecy or monomorphism. Mussaenda is a genus with diverse sexual systems including distyly, dioecy, floral monomorphism, and homostyly, making it an ideal system to stu...

Distyly is a genetically controlled flower polymorphism that has intrigued both botanists and evolutionary biologists ever since Darwin’s time. Despite extensive reports on the pollination and evolution of distylous systems, the genetic basis and mechanism of molecular regulation remain unclear. In the present study, comparative transcriptome profi...

Background and aims: Mycorrhizal associations in mycoheterotrophic plants are generally more specialized than in autotrophs. Mycoheterotrophs typically bear small, inconspicuous flowers that often self-pollinate to maximize seed set, although some have structurally complex flowers indicative of xenogamy. A trade-off has previously been proposed be...

Plant-associated microbiomes are key determinants of host-plant fitness, productivity, and function. However, compared to bacterial community, we still lack fundamental knowledge concerning the variation in the fungal microbiome at the plant niche level. In this study, we quantified the fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil, as well as leaf an...

Rarefaction curves of OTU richness and (B) Shannon index of fungal microbiome at each plant compartment.

Ternary plots showing the distribution pattern of the fungal communities at the (A) phylum level and (B) class level. Each point represents an OTU, with its size corresponding to the abundance of the OTU.

Rank abundance curves for each plant compartment.

Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) using Bray–Curtis dissimilarities of fungal communities associated with Mussaenda kwangtungensis. (A) PCoA plot of first axis and second axis and (B) PCoA plot of second axis and third axis.

The 10 most abundant genera for the three different plant compartments.

Trophic guilds of fungal communities in the three plant compartments. The trophic guilds were assigned through the FUNGuild data base. (B–H) Venn diagrams of the seven trophic guilds among compartments. Green, pink, and blue circles represent leaf endosphere, root endosphere and rhizosphere, respectively. Sy, symbiotroph; Pa, pathotroph; Sa, saprot...

Histogram of the LDA scores computed for differentially abundant fungal taxa for each plant compartment.

Jasminum honghoense (Oleaceae), a new species from Yuanjiang dry‐hot valley in southern central Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated. Differences between J. honghoense and its two morphologically similar species are presented.. Moreover, the pollen morphology of J. honghoense is also reported. This article is protected by copyright. All righ...

Two new national records are reported, i.e. Burmannia nepalensis from Laos and B. lutescens from Vietnam. Both of them are supplied by photographs of the studied plants in living state. Species diversity of Burmannia in Laos and Vietnam is briefly discussed.

Cycloidea-like (CYC-like) genes are the key regulatory factors in the development of flower symmetry. Duplication and/or reduction of CYC-like genes have occurred several times in various angiosperm groups and are hypothesized to be correlated with the evolution of flower symmetry, which in turn has contributed to the evolutionary success of these...

Phyllosphere fungi generally exhibit high species diversity and play important roles in both plant fitness and ecosystem functioning, but the relationship between host plant genotype and phyllosphere fungal community is still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the fungal communities associated with Mussaenda pubescens var. alba leave...

The altitudinal effects on the distributions of phyllosphere fungal assemblages in conspecific plants remain poorly elucidated. To address this, phyllosphere fungal communities associated with Mussaenda shikokiana were investigated at four sites across a 350 m elevation gradient in a subtropical forest by employing Illumina metabarcoding of the fun...

Aim DNA barcoding has been widely applied to species diversity assessment in various ecosystems, including temperate forests, subtropical forests, and tropical rain forests. However, tropical coral islands have never been barcoded before due to the difficulties in field exploring. This study aims at barcoding the flowering plants from a unique ecos...

Obligate out-breeding plants are considered relatively disadvantageous comparing with self-breeding plants when colonizing oceanic islets following long-distance dispersal owing to mate and pollinator limitation. The rarity of heterostyly, a typical out-breeding system, on oceanic islands seems a good proof. However, a heterostylous plant, Guettard...

Premise of the Study Microsatellite markers were developed for a distylous‐homostylous species, Primula oreodoxa (Primulaceae), to investigate the mating patterns and gene flow in the species. Methods and Results Using RAD sequencing, 42,777 contigs were generated. A total of 1566 putative simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were identified by MISA,...

The transition from outcrossing to selfing through the breakdown of distyly to homostyly has occurred repeatedly among families of flowering plants. Homostyles can originate by major gene changes at the S-locus linkage group, or by unlinked polygenic modifiers. Here, we investigate the inheritance of distyly and homostyly in Primula oreodoxa, a sub...

The present paper deals with the detailed cytological study of Suriana maritima L. (Surianaceae) from the Xisha Islands (also known as Paracel Islands) of South China Sea. The somatic chromosome number of the species is 18 and the karyotype formula is 2n = 2x = 18 m. The interphase nucleus is classified as round prochromosome. This is the first kar...

Insect pollination in basal angiosperms is assumed to mostly involve 'generalized' insects looking for food, but direct observations of ANITA grade (283 species) pollinators are sparse. We present new data for numerous Schisandraceae, the largest ANITA family, from fieldwork, nocturnal filming, electron microscopy, barcoding and molecular clocks to...

Aim: DNA barcoding has been widely applied to species diversity assessment in various ecosystems, including temperate forests, subtropical forests, and tropical rain forests. However, tropical coral islands have never been barcoded before due to the difficulties in field exploring. This study aims at barcoding the flowering plants from a unique eco...

Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed for Primula ovalifolia, a member of Primula section Petiolares (Primulaceae), to study the population genetics and species delimitation in this section. • Methods and Results: A total of 4753 markers were successfully designated from 5139 putative simple sequence repeat loci. We isolated...

Background and aims: The outbreeding floral polymorphism heterostyly frequently breaks down, resulting in the evolution of self-fertilization as a result of homostyle formation. Here, the loss of floral polymorphism in distylous Primula oreodoxa, a sub-alpine species restricted to western Sichuan, China, was examined by investigating the ecologica...

The data matrix in this study contained 91 accessions, 72 species or varieties from 31 genera and two outgroups, including new and extensive sampling of 43 accessions from 29 species or varieties representing four genera in the tribe Clauseneae. Using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods, the phylogeny of Clauseneae was recon...

Heterostyly is a floral polymorphism that increase inter-morph pollen transfer and promote disassortative mating. Breakdown of heterostyly has happened many times, either leading to dioecy or monomorphism. Mussaenda is a genus with diverse sexual systems including distyly, dioecy, floral monomorphism, and homostyly, making it an ideal system to stu...

A new species of Primula, P. chimingiana G. Hao, S. Yuan & D.X. Zhang, is illustrated and described from Sichuan province, China. The new species is assigned to P. sect. Petiolares based on general morphology. It is similar to P. odontocalyx in the lack of farina and of hairs, the absence of basal scales at anthesis, and the occasional toothing of...