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Grant support

This study was supported by grants PID2021-122296NB-I00 (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain), RED2022-134917-T (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain), REMEDINAL TE (Comunidad de Madrid), 24-10730S (Grant Agency of the Czech Republic), PrF-2023_001, and PrF-2024-001 (Grant Agency of Palacky University). We thank Leonie Moyle, David de Marais, and several anonymous referees for their revisions of previous versions of this manuscript. We thank the many seed providers of this project and the previous work of La-Mei Wu, Si-Chong Chen, and colleagues, which served as the basis and inspiration for this study.

Analysis of institutional authors

Gomez-Fernandez, AliciaAuthor

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Article

Evolutionary pathways to lower biomass allocation to the seed coat in crops: insights from allometric scaling

Publicated to:NEW PHYTOLOGIST. 243 (1): 466-476 - 2024-05-17 243(1), DOI: 10.1111/nph.19821

Authors: Milla, R.; Westgeest, A.J.; Maestre-Villanueva, J.; Nunez-Castillo, S.; Gomez-Fernandez, A.; Vasseur, F.; Violle, C.; Balarynova, J.; Smykal, P.

Affiliations

Inst Agro, Dept Biol & Ecol, F-34060 Montpellier, France - Author
Palacky Univ, Fac Sci, Dept Bot, CZ-78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic - Author
Univ Montpellier, EPHE PSL Univ, CEFE, CNRS, F-34090 Montpellier, France - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Inst Invest Cambio Global IICG URJC, Dept Biol Geol Fis & Quim Inorgan, ECOEVO Grp, Tulipan S-N, Mostoles 28933, Spain - Author

Abstract

Crops generally have seeds larger than their wild progenitors and with reduced dormancy. In wild plants, seed mass and allocation to the seed coat (a proxy for physical dormancy) scale allometrically so that larger seeds tend to allocate less to the coats. Larger seeds and lightweight coats might thus have evolved as correlated traits in crops. We tested whether 34 crops and 22 of their wild progenitors fit the allometry described in the literature, which would indicate co-selection of both traits during crop evolution. Deviations from the allometry would suggest that other evolutionary processes contribute to explain the emergence of larger, lightweight-coated seeds in crops. Crops fitted the scaling slope but deviated from its intercept in a consistent way: Seed coats of crops were lighter than expected by their seed size. The wild progenitors of crops displayed the same trend, indicating that deviations cannot be solely attributed to artificial selection during or after domestication. The evolution of seeds with small coats in crops likely resulted from a combination of various pressures, including the selection of wild progenitors with coats smaller than other wild plants, further decreases during early evolution under cultivation, and indirect selection due to the seed coat-seed size allometry.

Keywords

AgricultureAllometryBiomass allocationDispersalDomesticationDormancyGerminationPlant traitsR packageRegressioSeasonalitySeed dormancySeed sizSeed sizeSelectionSize

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal NEW PHYTOLOGIST due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 11/265, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Plant Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-06-30:

  • WoS: 1
  • Scopus: 1

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-30:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 8.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 8 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 5.75.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 10 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Czech Republic; France.