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lower development is controlled by the action of key regulatory transcription factors of the MADS-domain family. The function of these factors appears to be highly conserved among species based on mutant phenotypes. However, the conservation of their downstream processes is much less well understood, mostly because the evolutionary turnover and variation of their DNA-binding sites (BSs) among plant species have not yet been experimentally determined. Here, we performed comparative ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation)-seq experiments of the MADS-domain transcription factor SEPALLATA3 (SEP3) in two closely related Arabidopsis species: Arabidopsis thaliana and A. lyrata which have very similar floral organ morphology. We found that BS conservation is associated with DNA sequence conservation, the presence of the CArG-box BS motif and on the relative position of the BS to its potential target gene. Differences in genome size and structure can explain that SEP3 BSs in A. lyrata can be located more distantly to their potential target genes than their counterparts in A. thaliana. In A. lyrata, we identified transposition as a mechanism to generate novel SEP3 binding locations in the genome. Comparative gene expression analysis shows that the loss/gain of BSs is associated with a change in gene expression. In summary, this study investigates the evolutionary dynamics of DNA BSs of a floral key-regulatory transcription factor and explores factors affecting this phenomenon.
In the Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model of genetic incompatibilities post-zygotic gene-flow
barriers arise by fixation of novel alleles at interacting loci in separated populations. Many such incompatibilities are polymorphic in plants, implying an important role for genetic drift or balancing selection in their origin and evolution. Here we show that NPR1 and RPP5 loci cause a genetic incompatibility between the incipient species Capsella grandiflora and C. rubella, and the more distantly related C. rubella and C. orientalis. The incompatible RPP5 allele results from a mutation in C. rubella, while the incompatible NPR1 allele is frequent in the ancestral C. grandiflora. Compatible and incompatible NPR1 haplotypes are maintained by balancing selection in C. grandiflora, and were divergently sorted into the derived C. rubella and
C. orientalis. Thus, by maintaining differentiated alleles at high frequencies, balancing selection
on ancestral polymorphisms can facilitate establishing gene-flow barriers between derived populations through lineage sorting of the alternative alleles.
Island biotas emerge from the interplay between colonisation, speciation and extinction and are often the scene of spectacular adaptive radiations. A common assumption is that insular diversity is at a dynamic equilibrium, but for remote islands, such as Hawaii or Galápagos, this idea remains untested. Here, we reconstruct the temporal accumulation of terrestrial bird species of the Galápagos using a novel phylogenetic method that estimates rates of biota assembly for an entire community. We show that species richness on the archipelago is in an ascending phase and does not tend towards equilibrium. The majority of the avifauna diversifies at a slow rate, without detectable ecological limits. However, Darwin's finches form an exception: they rapidly reach a carrying capacity and subsequently follow a coalescent-like diversification process. Together, these results suggest that avian diversity of remote islands is rising, and challenge the mutual exclusivity of the non-equilibrium and equilibrium ecological paradigms.
Species can adjust their traits in response to selection which may strongly influence species coexistence. Nevertheless, current theory mainly assumes distinct and time-invariant trait values. We examined the combined effects of the range and the speed of trait adaptation on species coexistence using an innovative multispecies predator–prey model. It allows for temporal trait changes of all predator and prey species and thus simultaneous coadaptation within and among trophic levels. We show that very small or slow trait adaptation did not facilitate coexistence because the stabilizing niche differences were not sufficient to offset the fitness differences. In contrast, sufficiently large and fast trait adaptation jointly promoted stable or neutrally stable species coexistence. Continuous trait adjustments in response to selection enabled a temporally variable convergence and divergence of species traits; that is, species became temporally more similar (neutral theory) or dissimilar (niche theory) depending on the selection pressure, resulting over time in a balance between niche differences stabilizing coexistence and fitness differences promoting competitive exclusion. Furthermore, coadaptation allowed prey and predator species to cluster into different functional groups. This equalized the fitness of similar species while maintaining sufficient niche differences among functionally different species delaying or preventing competitive exclusion. In contrast to pre-
vious studies, the emergent feedback between biomass and trait dynamics enabled supersaturated coexistence for a broad range of potential trait adaptation and parameters. We conclude that accounting for trait adaptation may explain stable and supersaturated species coexistence for a broad range of environmental conditions in natural systems when the absence of such adaptive changes would preclude it. Small trait changes, coincident with those that may occur within many natural populations, greatly enlarged the number of coexisting species.
Application of hybridisation capture to investigate complete mitogenomes from ancient samples
(2015)
Background
The efficiency of multiplex editing in plants by the RNA-guided Cas9 system is limited by efficient introduction of its components into the genome and by their activity. The possibility of introducing large fragment deletions by RNA-guided Cas9 tool provides the potential to study the function of any DNA region of interest in its ‘endogenous’ environment.
Results
Here, an RNA-guided Cas9 system was optimized to enable efficient multiplex editing in Arabidopsis thaliana. We demonstrate the flexibility of our system for knockout of multiple genes, and to generate heritable large-fragment deletions in the genome. As a proof of concept, the function of part of the second intron of the flower development gene AGAMOUS in Arabidopsis was studied by generating a Cas9-free mutant plant line in which part of this intron was removed from the genome. Further analysis revealed that deletion of this intron fragment results 40 % decrease of AGAMOUS gene expression without changing the splicing of the gene which indicates that this regulatory region functions as an activator of AGAMOUS gene expression.
Conclusions
Our modified RNA-guided Cas9 system offers a versatile tool for the functional dissection of coding and non-coding DNA sequences in plants.
F2 hybrid chlorosis in a cross between the Arabidopsis thaliana accessions Shahdara and Lovvik-5
(2015)
We tested the influence of two light intensities [40 and 300 μmol PAR / (m2s)] on the fatty acid composition of three distinct lipid classes in four freshwater phytoplankton species. We chose species of different taxonomic classes in order to detect potentially similar reaction characteristics that might also be present in natural phytoplankton communities. From samples of the bacillariophyte Asterionella formosa, the chrysophyte Chromulina sp., the cryptophyte Cryptomonas ovata and the zygnematophyte Cosmarium botrytis we first separated glycolipids (monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol), phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylserine) as well as non-polar lipids (triacylglycerols), before analyzing the fatty acid composition of each lipid class. High variation in the fatty acid composition existed among different species. Individual fatty acid compositions differed in their reaction to changing light intensities in the four species. Although no generalizations could be made for species across taxonomic classes, individual species showed clear but small responses in their ecologically-relevant omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in terms of proportions and of per tissue carbon quotas. Knowledge on how lipids like fatty acids change with environmental or culture conditions is of great interest in ecological food web studies, aquaculture, and biotechnology, since algal lipids are the most important sources of omega-3 long-chain PUFA for aquatic and terrestrial consumers, including humans.