Robert K. Jansen

Coordinated Evolutionary Rates in Oxidative Phosphorylation Complexes of Papilionoid Legumes: Cytonuclear Coevolution and Relaxed Selection

This study examines evolutionary rate covariation between mitochondrial and nuclear-encoded OXPHOS genes in papilionoid legumes, finding accelerated substitution rates and relaxed purifying selection in a 50-kb inversion clade.

Altered mitochondrial respiration is associated with loss of nuclear-encoded OXPHOS genes in parasitic broomrapes

The paper investigates gene loss in nuclear-encoded mitochondrial OXPHOS genes in parasitic plants and finds that despite genetic alterations, OXPHOS function is preserved through reliance on complex II.

Well-resolved phylogeny supports repeated evolution of keel flowers as a synergistic contributor to papilionoid legume diversification

The paper uses phylogenetic analysis to show keel flowers evolved multiple times in legumes but did not drive diversification alone, suggesting synergistic factors like nitrogen fixation and dispersal were more important.

Recombination and retroprocessing in broomrapes reveal a universal roadmap for mitochondrial evolution in heterotrophic plants

This study identifies genetic alterations in mitochondrial genomes of heterotrophic plants, revealing recombination and retroprocessing as key drivers of genome evolution.

Plastid Genome Assembly Using Long-read Data (ptGAUL)

The paper introduces ptGAUL, a pipeline for assembling plastomes from long-read data, showing it produces accurate assemblies and revealing long repeats and rearrangements in Juncus plastomes.