Alex Widmer


Last Name

Widmer

First Name

Alex

ORCID

0000-0001-8253-5137

Organisational unit

03706 - Widmer, Alexander / Widmer, Alexander

Search Results

Publications 1 - 10 of 200
  • Genomics and the origin of species
    Item type: Journal Article
    Seehausen, Ole; Butlin, Roger K.; Keller, Irene; et al. (2014)
    Nature Reviews Genetics
  • Genomic imprinting and hybrid seed failure in wild tomatoes
    Item type: Other Conference Item
    Roth, Morgane; Florez-Rueda, Ana M.; Paris, Margot; et al. (2017)
  • Using whole-genome re-sequencing to study parallel adaptation to heterogeneous Alpine environments in plants
    Item type: Conference Poster
    Fischer, Martin C.; Rellstab, Christian; Zoller, Stefan; et al. (2015)
  • Reproductive versus floral isolation among morphologically similar Serapias L. species (Orchidaceae)
    Item type: Journal Article
    Pellegrino, G.; Musacchio, A.; Noce, M.E.; et al. (2005)
    Journal of Heredity
  • Frequency and genomic distribution of genes with sex-biased expression in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia
    Item type: Other Conference Item
    Zemp, Niklaus; Marais, G.; Widmer, Alex (2012)
  • How to be an attractive male: floral dimorphism and attractiveness to pollinators in a dioecious plant
    Item type: Journal Article
    Waelti, Marc O.; Page, Paul A.; Widmer, Alex; et al. (2009)
    BMC Evolutionary Biology
    Background Sexual selection theory predicts that males are limited in their reproductive success by access to mates, whereas females are more limited by resources. In animal-pollinated plants, attraction of pollinators and successful pollination is crucial for reproductive success. In dioecious plant species, males should thus be selected to increase their attractiveness to pollinators by investing more than females in floral traits that enhance pollinator visitation. We tested the prediction of higher attractiveness of male flowers in the dioecious, moth-pollinated herb Silene latifolia, by investigating floral signals (floral display and fragrance) and conducting behavioral experiments with the pollinator-moth, Hadena bicruris. Results As found in previous studies, male plants produced more but smaller flowers. Male flowers, however, emitted significantly larger amounts of scent than female flowers, especially of the pollinator-attracting compounds. In behavioral tests we showed that naïve pollinator-moths preferred male over female flowers, but this preference was only significant for male moths. Conclusion Our data suggest the evolution of dimorphic floral signals is shaped by sexual selection and pollinator preferences, causing sexual conflict in both plants and pollinators.
  • The genetic architecture necessary for transgressive segregation is common in both natural and domesticated populations
    Item type: Journal Article
    Rieseberg, Loren H.; Widmer, Alex; Arntz, A. Michele; et al. (2003)
    Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
  • Inheritance and reproductive consequences of floral anthocyanin deficiency in Silene dioica (Caryophyllaceae)
    Item type: Journal Article
    Rahmé, Joelle; Suter, Léonie; Widmer, Alex; et al. (2014)
    American Journal of Botany
  • Comparative high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and development of SiESTa, the Silene EST annotation database
    Item type: Journal Article
    Blavet, Nicolas; Charif, Delphine; Oger-Desfeux, Christine; et al. (2011)
    BMC Genomics
    Background The genus Silene is widely used as a model system for addressing ecological and evolutionary questions in plants, but advances in using the genus as a model system are impeded by the lack of available resources for studying its genome. Massively parallel sequencing cDNA has recently developed into an efficient method for characterizing the transcriptomes of non-model organisms, generating massive amounts of data that enable the study of multiple species in a comparative framework. The sequences generated provide an excellent resource for identifying expressed genes, characterizing functional variation and developing molecular markers, thereby laying the foundations for future studies on gene sequence and gene expression divergence. Here, we report the results of a comparative transcriptome sequencing study of eight individuals representing four Silene and one Dianthus species as outgroup. All sequences and annotations have been deposited in a newly developed and publicly available database called SiESTa, the Silene EST annotation database. Results A total of 1,041,122 EST reads were generated in two runs on a Roche GS-FLX 454 pyrosequencing platform. EST reads were analyzed separately for all eight individuals sequenced and were assembled into contigs using TGICL. These were annotated with results from BLASTX searches and Gene Ontology (GO) terms, and thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were characterized. Unassembled reads were kept as singletons and together with the contigs contributed to the unigenes characterized in each individual. The high quality of unigenes is evidenced by the proportion (49%) that have significant hits in similarity searches with the A. thaliana proteome. The SiESTa database is accessible at http://www.siesta.ethz.ch. Conclusion The sequence collections established in the present study provide an important genomic resource for four Silene and one Dianthus species and will help to further develop Silene as a plant model system. The genes characterized will be useful for future research not only in the species included in the present study, but also in related species for which no genomic resources are yet available. Our results demonstrate the efficiency of massively parallel transcriptome sequencing in a comparative framework as an approach for developing genomic resources in diverse groups of non-model organisms.
  • Vaterschaftstest beim Engadiner Felsenblümchen
    Item type: Journal Article
    Baltisberger, Matthias; Widmer, Alex (2006)
    Hotspot
Publications 1 - 10 of 200