TY - JOUR A1 - Nowak, Michael D. A1 - Russo, Giancarlo A1 - Schlapbach, Ralph A1 - Cuong Nguyen Huu, A1 - Lenhard, Michael A1 - Conti, Elena T1 - The draft genome of Primula veris yields insights into the molecular basis of heterostyly JF - Genome biology : biology for the post-genomic era N2 - Background: The flowering plant Primula veris is a common spring blooming perennial that is widely cultivated throughout Europe. This species is an established model system in the study of the genetics, evolution, and ecology of heterostylous floral polymorphisms. Despite the long history of research focused on this and related species, the continued development of this system has been restricted due the absence of genomic and transcriptomic resources. Results: We present here a de novo draft genome assembly of P. veris covering 301.8 Mb, or approximately 63% of the estimated 479.22 Mb genome, with an N50 contig size of 9.5 Kb, an N50 scaffold size of 164 Kb, and containing an estimated 19,507 genes. The results of a RADseq bulk segregant analysis allow for the confident identification of four genome scaffolds that are linked to the P. veris S-locus. RNAseq data from both P. veris and the closely related species P. vulgaris allow for the characterization of 113 candidate heterostyly genes that show significant floral morph-specific differential expression. One candidate gene of particular interest is a duplicated GLOBOSA homolog that may be unique to Primula (PveGLO2), and is completely silenced in L-morph flowers. Conclusions: The P. veris genome represents the first genome assembled from a heterostylous species, and thus provides an immensely important resource for future studies focused on the evolution and genetic dissection of heterostyly. As the first genome assembled from the Primulaceae, the P. veris genome will also facilitate the expanded application of phylogenomic methods in this diverse family and the eudicots as a whole. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-014-0567-z SN - 1465-6906 SN - 1474-760X VL - 16 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cuong Nguyen Huu, A1 - Kappel, Christian A1 - Keller, Barbara A1 - Sicard, Adrien A1 - Takebayashi, Yumiko A1 - Breuninger, Holger A1 - Nowak, Michael D. A1 - Bäurle, Isabel A1 - Himmelbach, Axel A1 - Burkart, Michael A1 - Ebbing-Lohaus, Thomas A1 - Sakakibara, Hitoshi A1 - Altschmied, Lothar A1 - Conti, Elena A1 - Lenhard, Michael T1 - Presence versus absence of CYP734A50 underlies the style-length dimorphism in primroses JF - eLife N2 - Heterostyly is a wide-spread floral adaptation to promote outbreeding, yet its genetic basis and evolutionary origin remain poorly understood. In Primula (primroses), heterostyly is controlled by the S-locus supergene that determines the reciprocal arrangement of reproductive organs and incompatibility between the two morphs. However, the identities of the component genes remain unknown. Here, we identify the Primula CYP734A50 gene, encoding a putative brassinosteroid-degrading enzyme, as the G locus that determines the style-length dimorphism. CYP734A50 is only present on the short-styled S-morph haplotype, it is specifically expressed in S-morph styles, and its loss or inactivation leads to long styles. The gene arose by a duplication specific to the Primulaceae lineage and shows an accelerated rate of molecular evolution. Thus, our results provide a mechanistic explanation for the Primula style-length dimorphism and begin to shed light on the evolution of the S-locus as a prime model for a complex plant supergene. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17956 SN - 2050-084X VL - 5 PB - eLife Sciences Publications CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kappel, Christian A1 - Cuong Nguyen Huu, A1 - Lenhard, Michael T1 - A short story gets longer: recent insights into the molecular basis of heterostyly JF - Journal of experimental botany N2 - Heterostyly is a fascinating adaptation to promote outbreeding and a classical paradigm of botany. In the most common type of heterostyly, plants either form flowers with long styles and short stamens, or short styles and long stamens. This reciprocal organ positioning reduces pollen wastage and promotes cross-pollination, thus increasing male fitness. In addition, in many heterostylous species selfing and the generation of unfit progeny due to inbreeding depression is limited by a self-incompatibility system, thus promoting female fitness. The two floral forms are genetically determined by the S locus as a complex supergene, namely a chromosomal region containing several individual genes that control the different traits, such as style or stamen length, and are held together by very tight linkage due to suppressed recombination. Recent molecular-genetic studies in several systems, including Turnera, Fagopyrum, Linum, and Primula have begun to identify and characterize the causal heterostyly genes residing at the S locus. An emerging theme from several families is that the dominant S haplotype represents a hemizygous region not present on the recessive s haplotype. This provides an explanation for the suppressed recombination and suggests a scenario for the chromosomal evolution of the S locus. In this review, we discuss the results from recent molecular-genetic analyses in light of the classical models on the genetics and evolution of heterostyly. KW - CYP734A50 KW - distyly KW - GLOBOSA2 KW - hemizygosity KW - heterostyly KW - Primula KW - S locus KW - supergene KW - tristyly Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erx387 SN - 0022-0957 SN - 1460-2431 VL - 68 SP - 5719 EP - 5730 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER -