scholarly journals The Origin of the Legumes is a Complex Paleopolyploid Phylogenomic Tangle Closely Associated with the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) Mass Extinction Event

Author(s):  
ERIK J M Koenen ◽  
Dario I Ojeda ◽  
Freek T Bakker ◽  
Jan J Wieringa ◽  
Catherine Kidner ◽  
...  

Abstract The consequences of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary (KPB) mass extinction for the evolution of plant diversity remain poorly understood, even though evolutionary turnover of plant lineages at the KPB is central to understanding assembly of the Cenozoic biota. The apparent concentration of whole genome duplication (WGD) events around the KPB may have played a role in survival and subsequent diversification of plant lineages. To gain new insights into the origins of Cenozoic biodiversity, we examine the origin and early evolution of the globally diverse legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). Legumes are ecologically (co-)dominant across many vegetation types, and the fossil record suggests that they rose to such prominence after the KPB in parallel with several well-studied animal clades including Placentalia and Neoaves. Furthermore, multiple WGD events are hypothesized to have occurred early in legume evolution. Using a recently inferred phylogenomic framework, we investigate the placement of WGDs during early legume evolution using gene tree reconciliation methods, gene count data and phylogenetic supernetwork reconstruction. Using 20 fossil calibrations we estimate a revised timeline of legume evolution based on 36 nuclear genes selected as informative and evolving in an approximately clock-like fashion. To establish the timing of WGDs we also date duplication nodes in gene trees. Results suggest either a pan-legume WGD event on the stem lineage of the family, or an allopolyploid event involving (some of) the earliest lineages within the crown group, with additional nested WGDs subtending subfamilies Papilionoideae and Detarioideae. Gene tree reconciliation methods that do not account for allopolyploidy may be misleading in inferring an earlier WGD event at the time of divergence of the two parental lineages of the polyploid, suggesting that the allopolyploid scenario is more likely. We show that the crown age of the legumes dates to the Maastrichtian or early Paleocene and that, apart from the Detarioideae WGD, paleopolyploidy occurred close to the KPB. We conclude that the early evolution of the legumes followed a complex history, in which multiple auto- and/or allopolyploidy events coincided with rapid diversification and in association with the mass extinction event at the KPB, ultimately underpinning the evolutionary success of the Leguminosae in the Cenozoic. [Allopolyploidy; Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary; Fabaceae, Leguminosae; paleopolyploidy; phylogenomics; whole genome duplication events]

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Parks ◽  
Teofil Nakov ◽  
Elizabeth Ruck ◽  
Norman J. Wickett ◽  
Andrew J. Alverson

ABSTRACTPremise of the studyDiatoms are one of the most species-rich lineages of microbial eukaryotes. Similarities in clade age, species richness, and contributions to primary production motivate comparisons to flowering plants, whose genomes have been inordinately shaped by whole genome duplication (WGD). These events that have been linked to speciation and increased rates of lineage diversification, identifying WGDs as a principal driver of angiosperm evolution. We synthesized a relatively large but scattered body of evidence that, taken together, suggests that polyploidy may be common in diatoms.MethodsWe used data from gene counts, gene trees, and patterns of synonymous divergence to carry out the first large-scale phylogenomic analysis of genome-scale duplication histories for a phylogenetically diverse set of 37 diatom taxa.Key resultsSeveral methods identified WGD events of varying age across diatoms, though determining the exact number and placement of events and, more broadly, inferences of WGD at all, were greatly impacted by gene-tree uncertainty. Gene-tree reconciliations supported allopolyploidy as the predominant mode of polyploid formation, with particularly strong evidence for ancient allopolyploid events in the thalassiosiroid and pennate diatom clades.ConclusionsWhole genome duplication appears to have been an important driver of genome evolution in diatoms. Denser taxon sampling will better pinpoint the timing of WGDs and likely reveal many more of them. We outline potential challenges in reconstructing paleopolyploid events in diatoms that, together with these results, offer a framework for understanding the evolutionary roles of genome duplication in a group that likely harbors substantial genomic diversity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Romano

About half of all vertebrate species today are ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii), and nearly all of them belong to the Neopterygii (modern ray-fins). The oldest unequivocal neopterygian fossils are known from the Early Triassic. They appear during a time when global fish faunas consisted of mostly cosmopolitan taxa, and contemporary bony fishes belonged mainly to non-neopterygian (“paleopterygian”) lineages. In the Middle Triassic (Pelsonian substage and later), less than 10 myrs (million years) after the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction event (PTBME), neopterygians were already species-rich and trophically diverse, and bony fish faunas were more regionally differentiated compared to the Early Triassic. Still little is known about the early evolution of neopterygians leading up to this first diversity peak. A major factor limiting our understanding of this “Triassic revolution” is an interval marked by a very poor fossil record, overlapping with the Spathian (late Olenekian, Early Triassic), Aegean (Early Anisian, Middle Triassic), and Bithynian (early Middle Anisian) substages. Here, I review the fossil record of Early and Middle Triassic marine bony fishes (Actinistia and Actinopterygii) at the substage-level in order to evaluate the impact of this hiatus–named herein the Spathian–Bithynian gap (SBG)–on our understanding of their diversification after the largest mass extinction event of the past. I propose three hypotheses: 1) the SSBE hypothesis, suggesting that most of the Middle Triassic diversity appeared in the aftermath of the Smithian-Spathian boundary extinction (SSBE; ∼2 myrs after the PTBME), 2) the Pelsonian explosion hypothesis, which states that most of the Middle Triassic ichthyodiversity is the result of a radiation event in the Pelsonian, and 3) the gradual replacement hypothesis, i.e. that the faunal turnover during the SBG was steady and bony fishes were not affected by extinction events subsequent to the PTBME. Based on current knowledge, hypothesis three is favored herein, but further studies are necessary to test alternative hypotheses. In light of the SBG, claims of a protracted diversification of bony fishes after the PTBME should be treated with caution.


Nature ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 577 (7788) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liangsheng Zhang ◽  
Fei Chen ◽  
Xingtan Zhang ◽  
Zhen Li ◽  
Yiyong Zhao ◽  
...  

AbstractWater lilies belong to the angiosperm order Nymphaeales. Amborellales, Nymphaeales and Austrobaileyales together form the so-called ANA-grade of angiosperms, which are extant representatives of lineages that diverged the earliest from the lineage leading to the extant mesangiosperms1–3. Here we report the 409-megabase genome sequence of the blue-petal water lily (Nymphaea colorata). Our phylogenomic analyses support Amborellales and Nymphaeales as successive sister lineages to all other extant angiosperms. The N. colorata genome and 19 other water lily transcriptomes reveal a Nymphaealean whole-genome duplication event, which is shared by Nymphaeaceae and possibly Cabombaceae. Among the genes retained from this whole-genome duplication are homologues of genes that regulate flowering transition and flower development. The broad expression of homologues of floral ABCE genes in N. colorata might support a similarly broadly active ancestral ABCE model of floral organ determination in early angiosperms. Water lilies have evolved attractive floral scents and colours, which are features shared with mesangiosperms, and we identified their putative biosynthetic genes in N. colorata. The chemical compounds and biosynthetic genes behind floral scents suggest that they have evolved in parallel to those in mesangiosperms. Because of its unique phylogenetic position, the N. colorata genome sheds light on the early evolution of angiosperms.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Larina ◽  
◽  
David J. Bottjer ◽  
Frank A. Corsetti ◽  
William M. Berelson ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa D. Knight ◽  
◽  
Runsheng Yin ◽  
Clara L. Meier ◽  
James V. Browning ◽  
...  

Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 156 (3) ◽  
pp. 1249-1257
Author(s):  
Ilya Ruvinsky ◽  
Lee M Silver ◽  
Jeremy J Gibson-Brown

Abstract The duplication of preexisting genes has played a major role in evolution. To understand the evolution of genetic complexity it is important to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of the genome. A widely held view suggests that the vertebrate genome evolved via two successive rounds of whole-genome duplication. To test this model we have isolated seven new T-box genes from the primitive chordate amphioxus. We find that each amphioxus gene generally corresponds to two or three vertebrate counterparts. A phylogenetic analysis of these genes supports the idea that a single whole-genome duplication took place early in vertebrate evolution, but cannot exclude the possibility that a second duplication later took place. The origin of additional paralogs evident in this and other gene families could be the result of subsequent, smaller-scale chromosomal duplications. Our findings highlight the importance of amphioxus as a key organism for understanding evolution of the vertebrate genome.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth B. Gillard ◽  
Lars Grønvold ◽  
Line L. Røsæg ◽  
Matilde Mengkrog Holen ◽  
Øystein Monsen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Whole genome duplication (WGD) events have played a major role in eukaryotic genome evolution, but the consequence of these extreme events in adaptive genome evolution is still not well understood. To address this knowledge gap, we used a comparative phylogenetic model and transcriptomic data from seven species to infer selection on gene expression in duplicated genes (ohnologs) following the salmonid WGD 80–100 million years ago. Results We find rare cases of tissue-specific expression evolution but pervasive expression evolution affecting many tissues, reflecting strong selection on maintenance of genome stability following genome doubling. Ohnolog expression levels have evolved mostly asymmetrically, by diverting one ohnolog copy down a path towards lower expression and possible pseudogenization. Loss of expression in one ohnolog is significantly associated with transposable element insertions in promoters and likely driven by selection on gene dosage including selection on stoichiometric balance. We also find symmetric expression shifts, and these are associated with genes under strong evolutionary constraints such as ribosome subunit genes. This possibly reflects selection operating to achieve a gene dose reduction while avoiding accumulation of “toxic mutations”. Mechanistically, ohnolog regulatory divergence is dictated by the number of bound transcription factors in promoters, with transposable elements being one likely source of novel binding sites driving tissue-specific gains in expression. Conclusions Our results imply pervasive adaptive expression evolution following WGD to overcome the immediate challenges posed by genome doubling and to exploit the long-term genetic opportunities for novel phenotype evolution.


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