The long and short of doubling down: polyploidy, epigenetics, and the temporal dynamics of genome fractionation.

Jonathan F Wendel, Damon Lisch, Guanjing Hu, Annaliese S Mason

Journal: Current opinion in genetics & development 2019;49():1-7

PMID: 29438956

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

We consider the rapidly advancing discipline of plant evolutionary genomics, with a focus on the evolution of polyploid genomes. In many lineages, polyploidy is followed by 'biased fractionation', the unequal loss of genes from ancestral progenitor genomes. Mechanistically, it has been proposed that biased fractionation results from changes in the epigenetic landscape near genes, likely mediated by transposable elements. These epigenetic changes result in unequal gene expression between duplicates, establishing differential fitness that leads to biased gene loss with respect to ancestral genomes. We propose a unifying conceptual framework and a set of testable hypotheses based on this model, relating genome size, the proximity of transposable elements to genes, epigenetic reprogramming, chromatin accessibility, and gene expression.

Address: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States.; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, United States.; Department of Plant Breeding, IFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.

DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2018.01.004

Link outs

Free resources

Other Literature Sources:

https://scite.ai/reports/29438956

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

MeSH Terms: DNA Transposable Elements, Epigenomics, Evolution, Molecular, Genome Size, Genome, Plant, Polyploidy