When novel sources of ecological opportunity are available, physiological innovations can trigger adaptive radiations. This could be the case of yeasts (Saccharomycotina), in which an evolutionary novelty is represented by the capacity to exploit simple sugars from fruits (fermentation). During adaptive radiations, diversification and morphological evolution are predicted to slow‐down after early bursts of diversification. Here, we performed the first comparative phylogenetic analysis in yeasts, testing the “early burst” prediction on species diversification and also on traits of putative ecological relevance (cell‐size and fermentation versatility). We found that speciation rates are constant during the time‐range we considered (ca., 150 millions of years). Phylogenetic signal of both traits was significant (but lower for cell‐size), suggesting that lineages resemble each other in trait‐values. Disparity analysis suggested accelerated evolution (diversification in trait values above Brownian Motion expectations) in cell‐size. We also found a significant phylogenetic regression between cell‐size and fermentation versatility (R 2 = 0.10), which suggests correlated evolution between both traits. Overall, our results do not support the early burst prediction both in species and traits, but suggest a number of interesting evolutionary patterns, that warrant further exploration. For instance, we show that the Whole Genomic Duplication that affected a whole clade of yeasts, does not seems to have a statistically detectable phenotypic effect at our level of analysis. In this regard, further studies of fermentation under common‐garden conditions combined with comparative analyses are warranted.

The plant microbiome is one of the most important environments for ecological interactions between bacteria that impact the plant and the ecosystem. However, studies on the diversity of mobile genetic elements (such as plasmids) associated with the plant microbiome are very scarce. Here, we determined the bacterial community composition and the occurrence of plasmids in the microbiota associated with sea fig, Carpobrotus aequilaterus (N.E. Br.), a succulent species widely used as an ornamental plant in Chile. The abundance and composition of the endophytic and rhizospheric bacterial communities were determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and DNA metabarcoding analysis. Plasmid diversity in the plant microbiome was determined by plasmid DNA extraction and screened by endpoint PCR of backbone genes for four different incompatibility groups (Inc). The results showed about 106 copies of the 16S rRNA gene in the endosphere and rhizosphere, showing significant differences according to the diversity index. Proteobacteria (Pseudomonadota; 43.4%), Actinobacteria (Actinomycetota; 25.7%), and Bacteroidetes (Bacteroidota; 17.4%) were the most dominant taxa in both plant compartments, and chemoheterotrophy (30%) was the main predicted function assigned to the microbiota. Plasmid diversity analysis showed the presence of transferable plasmids in the endosphere and rhizosphere of C. aequilaterus, particularly among environmental plasmids belonging to the IncP and IncN incompatibility groups.