Commelina benghalensis L. exhibits variability in both foliar and floral features; every plant bears three types of branches and four types of flowers. The branches are negatively geotropic, positively geotropic and diageotropic. The flowers are uni-or bisexual, chasmogamous and cleistogamous. This variability influences the breeding system as well as resource allocation to male and female functions. The plants allocate c. 15% of their total resources to reproduction, the major part of which (68.9%) is devoted to production of aerial branches. The proportion of reproductive effort (RE) allocated to various branch systems is correlated with the availability of resources at the time of their differentiation. The pollen/ovule (P/O) ratio, female : male biomass ratio and reproductive output vary between different flower and branch types; variation is more pronounced in the latter. These variations notwithstanding, the results are in line with Charnov's sex allocation theory. The cleistogamous flowers of aerial branches are, however, an exception, being male-rather than female-biased. The reason behind the deviation is, in all probability, their recent evolution from chasmogamous flowers.

ABSTRACT. Commelina benghalensis L and C. caroliniana Walter, two allied weedy species of the Commelinaceae vary in their breeding and meiotic systems. The former is predominantly auto-and the latter facultatively xenogamous. Meiotic system of C. caroliniana also provides for higher recombination index, characterized as it is by high chromosome number and higher chiasmata frequency: On the contrary C. benghalensis has fewer chromosomes and closed breeding system for which reason it generates little genetic variability. This difference qualifies C. benghalensis as a "specialist" and C. caroliniana as a "generalist".

Comprehensive transcriptome analysis of leaf and root tissues of Nothapodytes nimmoniana unravels several putative pathway genes, transcription factors and CYPs related to camptothecin (CPT) biosynthesis. Additionally, post-transcriptional suppression by artificial microRNA (aMIR) of NnCYP76B6 (geraniol 10-hydroxylase) suggests its role in CPT biosynthesis. Tissue-specific LC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of secologanin as the central intermediate of MIA pathway in N. nimmoniana. Nothapodytes nimmoniana is a rich source of potent anticancer drug camptothecin (CPT) whose biosynthetic pathway is unresolved due to the lack of genomic and transcriptomic information. Present investigation entails deep transcriptome analysis of N. nimmoniana which led to identification of putative pathway genes and regulatory components involved in CPT biosynthesis. Using Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencing platform a total of 31,172,889 (6.23 Gb) and 31,218,626 (6.24 Gb) raw reads were generated from leaf and root wood, respectively. These were assembled de novo into 138,183 unique contigs. Additionally, 16 cytochrome P450 transcripts related to secondary metabolism were also identified. Further, transcriptome data pool presented 1683 putative transcription factors of which transcripts corresponding to WRKY TFs were the most abundant (14.14%). A total of 2741 transcripts were differentially expressed out of which 478 contigs showed downregulation in root wood and 2263 contigs were up-regulated. Further, comparative analyses of 17 genes involved in CPT biosynthetic pathway were validated by qRT-PCR. On basis of intermediates, two distinct seco-iridoid pathways are involved in the biosynthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids either through multiple isomers of strictosidinic acid or strictosidine. Tissue-specific LC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of secologanin as the central intermediate of MIA pathway in N. nimmoniana. Geraniol-10 hydroxylase (NnCYP76B6) an important enzyme in CPT biosynthesis which specifically shunts geraniol into the secologanin pathway was also cloned from the trancriptome resource. In planta transient expression of NnCYP76B6 showed a significant enhancement in mRNA transcript levels coincident with enhanced CPT accumulation. Further, artificial microRNA (aMIR) mediated downregulation of NnCYP76B6 resulted in reduction of mRNA transcript levels as well as CPT content in comparison to control. These empirical results suggest a plausible regulatory role for NnCYP76B6 in CPT biosynthesis and also establish a valuable repository for deciphering various structural, rate limiting and regulatory genes of CPT biosynthetic pathway.

Species of Plantago exhibit great deal of differences in the breeding system. The reproductive effort calculated on the basis of, (i) dry biomass of foliar and floral parts and (ii) seed output-weight (mg) per unit leaf area (cm2), exhibits relation with breeding system. The predominantly inbreeding taxa invest higher reproductive effort compared to their outbreeding allies. In terms of sex allocation strategies, the outbreeding species like f . lamlafa, f , lasopus invest more to the development of floral features and to male functions. On the contrary, inbreeding species such as f . pafagmica, f. drummondii, and f . ovata invest greater resources to the female function.

Determining the base number, ploidy level and type of ploidy are important aspects in the cytogenetic study of a species. To assess the nature of Allium hookeri Thwaites (2n=22), chromosomes of its two populations from North-eastern Himalayas were worked out for morphological details, putative grouping and pairing properties during reduction division. Karyotype was found to split into 7 pairs and 8 single chromosomes; 7 pairs revealed minor differences in overall chromosome morphology. Critical analysis of chromosome behaviour during reduction division at diakinesis and metaphase I revealed the presence of trivalents in 60.5 and 58.5% pollen mother cells respectively. High frequency of cells with trivalents pointed towards considerable homology in three genomes. Though remaining cells had multivalents higher than trivalents, similarity in three genomes was there. High frequency of cells with trivalents and the fact that 22 chromosomes can be arranged in seven twos and eight ones indicated that these represent numerical variants of segmental allotriploids. Besides, occurrence of 29.8 and 17.6% chromosomes as multivalents higher than trivalents at diakinesis and metaphase I supported that multiple interchanges accompanied the polyploidy in the evolution of present cytotypes. Pairing anomalies noticed during meiosis result in very low pollen stainability (0.05%) leading to sterility. Propagation by bulbs ensures the survival and maintenance of such a complex heterozygosity in the species.