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MOLECULAR ADAPTATION. "These adaptations are possibly associated to the above mentioned Na+ toxicity which seagrasses have likely experienced during their evolution towards the marine environment. To this respect, molecular adaptation of key cellular processes known to be sensitive towards increased ionic levels such as photosynthesis, translation, and selected metabolic enzymes are expected." http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

KEY GENES. "Positive selection for 51 genes was detected after the split from terrestrial monocots based on a maximum likelihood approach. In the present analysis, many of the identified PSGs are involved in the central biological pathways of translation, photosynthesis, and glycolysis." (PSGs= positively selected genes). http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

PARALLEL SOLUTIONS. "Seagrasses have been found to share morphological traits that distinguish them from terrestrial plants such as reduced stamen and corolla, and elongated pollen without exine walls. Except for the genus Enhalus with above-surface pollination, all of the 60 seagrass species exhibit true sub-aqueous pollination by means of filiforme pollen (hydrophily). This adaptation to a marine habitat is thus an example of morphological parallel evolution." http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

SHARED MORPHOLOGY. "Most seagrass species share a secondarily simplified morphology which includes horizontal rhizomes and strap-like leaves originating from a basal meristem." http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

SIMILAR SOLUTIONS. "Strikingly, despite their independent evolutionary routes, seagrasses from the three different lineages have evolved many similar morphologies, life history strategies, and breeding systems. This indicates that the aquatic habitat imposes novel selection forces that can lead to parallel evolution." http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

POTASSIUM. "Key metabolic processes in the cytoplasm such as enzymatic reactions, protein synthesis, and ribosome functions rely on K+ as a co-factor. An increased level of Na+ creates a competing environment for K+ binding sites and thus decreases efficiency of these processes. Moreover, detrimental effects can propagate from the cytoplasmic compartment into the chloroplasts, leading to a decreased efficiency of photosynthesis which in turn impairs growth." http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

INTEGRITY OF TRANSLATION. “In A. thaliana, on average four gene copies encode for any of the approximately 80 different ribosomal proteins. This redundancy may reflect the importance of maintaining highly productive translation and protein synthesis.” http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn

PLANT TRANSLATION. “Ten PSGs were found to be ribosomal proteins involved in translation. From an evolutionary point of view, translation is an ancient cellular process, and high selection pressure is expected to act against deleterious mutations, as ribosome functioning affects virtually all cellular processes.” (PSG = positively selected genes). http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-11-8 View in LinkedIn