While an immense number of natural products have been screened for bioactivity using a variety of phenotypic assays, elucidation of their protein targets remains a significant bottleneck limiting further clinical research. Next to conventional pulldown assays and modern developments, such as cellular thermal shift assays (CETSA), yeast three-hybrid (Y3H) has emerged as a powerful yet underutilized tool that provides a low-barr...

Asexual taxa often have larger ranges than their sexual progenitors, particularly in areas affected by Pleistocene glaciations. The reasons given for this ‘geographical parthenogenesis’ are contentious, with expansion of the ecological niche or colonisation advantages of uniparental reproduction assumed most important in case of plants. Here, we parameterized a spread model for the alpine buttercup Ranunculus kuepferi and reco...

Aim Emerging polyploids may depend on environmental niche shifts for successful establishment. Using the alpine plant Ranunculus kuepferi as a model system, we explore the niche shift hypothesis at different spatial resolutions and in contrasting parts of the species range. Location European Alps. Methods We sampled 12 individuals from each of 102 populations of R. kuepferi across the Alps, determined their ploidy levels, deri...