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ABSTRACT While many plant lineages display remarkable diversity in morphological form, our understanding of how phenotypic diversity, or disparity, arises in relation to genomic evolution over geologic scales remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the relationship between phenotypic and genomic evolution in the Fagales, a lineage of woody plants that has been a dominant component of temperate and subtropical forests since the Late Cretaceous. We examine newly generated transcriptomic and trait datasets representing most extant genera and a rich diversity of Cretaceous fossil representatives. Our phylogenomic analyses identify recurrent hotspots of gene duplication and genomic conflict across the order. Our phenotypic analyses showed that the morphospace occupied by Fagales was largely filled by the early Cenozoic, and rates of evolution were highest during the early radiation of the Fagales crown and its major families. These results suggest that Fagales conforms to an “early‐burst” model of disparification, with morphospace being filled early in the order's diversification history, and that elevated levels of phenotypic evolution also often correspond to hotspots of gene duplication. Species diversification appears decoupled from patterns of both phenotypic and genomic evolution, highlighting the multidimensional nature of the evolution of plant diversity across geological timescales. 

Zwitterionic hydrogels, as highly hydrated and soft materials, have been considered as promising materials for wound dressing, due to their unique antifouling and mechanical properties. While the viscoelasticity and softness of zwitterionic hydrogels are hypothetically essential for creating adaptive cellular niches, the underlying mechanically regulated wound healing mechanism still remains elusive. To test this hypothesis, we fabricated zwitterionic poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (polySBMA) hydrogels with different elastic moduli prepared at different crosslinker contents, and then applied the hydrogels to full-thickness cutaneous wounds in mice. In vivo wound healing studies compared the mechanical cue-induced effects of soft and stiff polySBMA hydrogels on wound closure rates, granulation tissue formation and collagen deposition. Collective results showed that the softer and more viscoelastic hydrogels facilitated cell proliferation, granulation formation, collagen aggregation, and chondrogenic ECM deposition. Such high wound healing efficiency by the softer hydrogels is likely attributed to stress dissipation by expanding the cell proliferation, the up-regulation of blood vessel formation, and the enhanced polarization of M2/M1 macrophages, both of which would provide more oxygen and nutrients for cell proliferation and migration, leading to enhanced wound repair. This work not only reveals a mechanical property–wound healing relationship of zwitterionic polySBMA hydrogels, but also provides a promising candidate and strategy for the next-generation of wound dressings.