TY  - JOUR
A1  - Streubel, Susanna
A1  - Fritz, Michael Andre
A1  - Teltow, Melanie
A1  - Kappel, Christian
A1  - Sicard, Adrien
T1  - Successive duplication-divergence mechanisms at the RCO locus contributed to leaf shape diversity in the Brassicaceae
JF  - Development : Company of Biologists
N2  - Gene duplication is a major driver for the increase of biological complexity. The divergence of newly duplicated paralogs may allow novel functions to evolve, while maintaining the ancestral one. Alternatively, partitioning the ancestral function among paralogs may allow parts of that role to follow independent evolutionary trajectories. We studied the REDUCED COMPLEXITY (RCO) locus, which contains three paralogs that have evolved through two independent events of gene duplication, and which underlies repeated events of leaf shape evolution within the Brassicaceae. In particular, we took advantage of the presence of three potentially functional paralogs in Capsella to investigate the extent of functional divergence among them. We demonstrate that the RCO copies control growth in different areas of the leaf. Consequently, the copies that are retained active in the different Brassicaceae lineages contribute to define the leaf dissection pattern. Our results further illustrate how successive gene duplication events and subsequent functional divergence can increase trait evolvability by providing independent evolutionary trajectories to specialized functions that have an additive effect on a given trait.
KW  - Plant development
KW  - Gene duplication
KW  - Leaf shape
KW  - Morphological evolution
KW  - Capsella
KW  - Arabidopsis
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.164301
SN  - 0950-1991
SN  - 1477-9129
VL  - 145
IS  - 8
PB  - Company of Biologists
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fujikura, Ushio
A1  - Jing, Runchun
A1  - Hanada, Atsushi
A1  - Takebayashi, Yumiko
A1  - Sakakibara, Hitoshi
A1  - Yamaguchi, Shinjiro
A1  - Kappel, Christian
A1  - Lenhard, Michael
T1  - Variation in splicing efficiency underlies morphological evolution in capsella
JF  - Developmental cell
N2  - Understanding the molecular basis of morphological change remains a central challenge in evolutionary-developmental biology. The transition from outbreeding to selfing is often associated with a dramatic reduction in reproductive structures and functions, such as the loss of attractive pheromones in hermaphroditic Caenorhabditis elegans and a reduced flower size in plants. Here, we demonstrate that variation in the level of the brassinosteroid-biosynthesis enzyme CYP724A1 contributes to the reduced flower size of selfing Capsella rubella compared with its outbreeding ancestor Capsella grandiflora. The primary transcript of the C. rubella allele is spliced more efficiently than that of C. grandiflora, resulting in higher brassinosteroid levels. These restrict organ growth by limiting cell proliferation. More efficient splicing of the C. rubella allele results from two de novo mutations in the selfing lineage. Thus, our results highlight the potentially widespread importance of differential splicing efficiency and higher-than-optimal hormone levels in generating phenotypic variation.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2017.11.022
SN  - 1534-5807
SN  - 1878-1551
VL  - 44
IS  - 2
SP  - 192
EP  - 203
PB  - Cell Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -