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Evidence of neutral transcriptome evolution in plants

Broadley, M. R., White, P. J., Hammond, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6241-3551, Graham, N. S., Bowen, H. C., Emmerson, Z. F., Fray, R. G., Iannetta, P. P. M., McNicol, J. W. and May, S. T. (2008) Evidence of neutral transcriptome evolution in plants. New Phytologist, 180 (3). pp. 587-593. ISSN 1469-8137

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To link to this item DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02640.x

Abstract/Summary

The transcriptome of an organism is its set of gene transcripts (mRNAs) at a defined spatial and temporal locus. Because gene expression is affected markedly by environmental and developmental perturbations, it is widely assumed that transcriptome divergence among taxa represents adaptive phenotypic selection. This assumption has been challenged by neutral theories which propose that stochastic processes drive transcriptome evolution. To test for evidence of neutral transcriptome evolution in plants, we quantified 18 494 gene transcripts in nonsenescent leaves of 14 taxa of Brassicaceae using robust cross-species transcriptomics which includes a two-step physical and in silico-based normalization procedure based on DNA similarity among taxa. Transcriptome divergence correlates positively with evolutionary distance between taxa and with variation in gene expression among samples. Results are similar for pseudogenes and chloroplast genes evolving at different rates. Remarkably, variation in transcript abundance among root-cell samples correlates positively with transcriptome divergence among root tissues and among taxa. Because neutral processes affect transcriptome evolution in plants, many differences in gene expression among or within taxa may be nonfunctional, reflecting ancestral plasticity and founder effects. Appropriate null models are required when comparing transcriptomes in space and time.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Department of Bio-Engineering
No Reading authors. Back catalogue items
Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Centre for Food Security
Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Crop Science
ID Code:33844
Uncontrolled Keywords:neutral transcriptome evolution plant brassica arabidopsis gene expression cross species microarray; Affymetrix; Alyssum; Arabidopsis halleri; Arabidopsis lyrata; Brassica; Capsella; hyperaccumulator; Thlaspi
Publisher:Wiley

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