scholarly journals Intragenomic Conflict between Knob Heterochromatin and B Chromosomes Is the Key to Understand Genome Size Variation along Altitudinal Clines in Maize

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1859
Author(s):  
Graciela Esther González ◽  
Lidia Poggio

In maize, we studied the causes of genome size variation and their correlates with cultivation altitude that suggests the existence of adaptive clines. To discuss the biological role of the genome size variation, we focused on Bolivian maize landraces growing along a broad altitudinal range. These were analyzed together with previously studied populations from altitudinal clines of Northwestern Argentina (NWA). Bolivian populations exhibited numerical polymorphism for B chromosomes (Bs) (from 1 to 5), with frequencies varying from 16.6 to 81.8 and being positively correlated with cultivation altitude. The 2C values of individuals 0B (A-DNA) ranged between 4.73 and 7.71 pg, with 58.33% of variation. The heterochromatic knobs, detected by DAPI staining, were more numerous and larger in individuals 0B than in those with higher doses of Bs. Bolivian and NWA landraces exhibited the same pattern of A-DNA downsizing and fewer and smaller knobs with increasing cultivation altitude, suggesting a mechanistic link among heterochromatin, genome size and phenology. The negative association between the two types of supernumerary DNA (knob heterochromatin and Bs), mainly responsible for the genome size variation, may be considered as an example of intragenomic conflict. It could be postulated that the optimal nucleotype is the result of such conflict, where genome adjustment may lead to an appropriate length of the vegetative cycle for maize landraces growing across altitudinal clines.

Genome ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 730-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Kankanpää ◽  
Alan H. Schulman ◽  
Leena Mannonen

Hordeum, distributed worldwide in temperate zones, is the second largest genus in the tribe Triticeae and includes diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid species. We determined, by DAPI staining and flow cytometry, the nuclear DNA content for 35 accessions of the genus Hordeum, from a total of 19 species, including specimens of 2 cultivars and 2 landraces of Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare as well as samples of 12 Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum populations. Genome sizes ranged from 5.69 to 9.41 pg for the G1 nuclei of the diploids, and from 13.13 to 18.36 pg for those of the tetraploids. This constitutes a 1.7-fold variation for the diploids, contrasting with a 4% variation previously reported. For H. vulgare ssp. vulgare (barley), the accessions examined differed by 18%. These variations in genome size cannot be correlated with meiotic pairing groups (I, H, X, Y) or with proposed phylogenetic relationships within the genus. Genome size variation between barley accessions cannot be related to status as cultivated or wild, or to climatic or geological gradients. We suggest these data may indicate rapid but sporadic changes in genome size within the genus. Key words : barley, Hordeum, Triticeae, genome size, flow cytometry.


2016 ◽  
Vol 302 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Chumová ◽  
Terezie Mandáková ◽  
Pavel Trávníček

Crop Science ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lane Rayburn ◽  
D. P. Biradar ◽  
R. L. Nelson ◽  
R. McCloskey ◽  
K. M. Yeater

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 170862 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Ritchie ◽  
A. J. Jamieson ◽  
S. B. Piertney

Genome size varies considerably across taxa, and extensive research effort has gone into understanding whether variation can be explained by differences in key ecological and life-history traits among species. The extreme environmental conditions that characterize the deep sea have been hypothesized to promote large genome sizes in eukaryotes. Here we test this supposition by examining genome sizes among 13 species of deep-sea amphipods from the Mariana, Kermadec and New Hebrides trenches. Genome sizes were estimated using flow cytometry and found to vary nine-fold, ranging from 4.06 pg (4.04 Gb) in Paralicella caperesca to 34.79 pg (34.02 Gb) in Alicella gigantea . Phylogenetic independent contrast analysis identified a relationship between genome size and maximum body size, though this was largely driven by those species that display size gigantism. There was a distinct shift in the genome size trait diversification rate in the supergiant amphipod A. gigantea relative to the rest of the group. The variation in genome size observed is striking and argues against genome size being driven by a common evolutionary history, ecological niche and life-history strategy in deep-sea amphipods.


Genome ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 393-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas W. Jeffery ◽  
Kristin Hultgren ◽  
Solomon Tin Chi Chak ◽  
T. Ryan Gregory ◽  
Dustin R. Rubenstein

Although crustaceans vary extensively in genome size, little is known about how genome size may affect the ecology and evolution of species in this diverse group, in part due to the lack of large genome size datasets. Here we investigate interspecific, intraspecific, and intracolony variation in genome size in 39 species of Synalpheus shrimps, representing one of the largest genome size datasets for a single genus within crustaceans. We find that genome size ranges approximately 4-fold across Synalpheus with little phylogenetic signal, and is not related to body size. In a subset of these species, genome size is related to chromosome size, but not to chromosome number, suggesting that despite large genomes, these species are not polyploid. Interestingly, there appears to be 35% intraspecific genome size variation in Synalpheus idios among geographic regions, and up to 30% variation in Synalpheus duffyi genome size within the same colony.


Caryologia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oriane Hidalgo ◽  
Joan Vallès ◽  
Angel Romo ◽  
Miguel-Ángel Canela ◽  
Teresa Garnatje

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 209-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itayguara Ribeiro da Costa ◽  
Marcelo Carnier Dornelas ◽  
Eliana Regina Forni-Martins

BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. P. Stelzer ◽  
J. Blommaert ◽  
A. M. Waldvogel ◽  
M. Pichler ◽  
B. Hecox-Lea ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Eukaryotic genomes are known to display an enormous variation in size, but the evolutionary causes of this phenomenon are still poorly understood. To obtain mechanistic insights into such variation, previous studies have often employed comparative genomics approaches involving closely related species or geographically isolated populations within a species. Genome comparisons among individuals of the same population remained so far understudied—despite their great potential in providing a microevolutionary perspective to genome size evolution. The rotifer Brachionus asplanchnoidis represents one of the most extreme cases of within-population genome size variation among eukaryotes, displaying almost twofold variation within a geographic population. Results Here, we used a whole-genome sequencing approach to identify the underlying DNA sequence differences by assembling a high-quality reference genome draft for one individual of the population and aligning short reads of 15 individuals from the same geographic population including the reference individual. We identified several large, contiguous copy number variable regions (CNVs), up to megabases in size, which exhibited striking coverage differences among individuals, and whose coverage overall scaled with genome size. CNVs were of remarkably low complexity, being mainly composed of tandemly repeated satellite DNA with only a few interspersed genes or other sequences, and were characterized by a significantly elevated GC-content. CNV patterns in offspring of two parents with divergent genome size and CNV patterns in several individuals from an inbred line differing in genome size demonstrated inheritance and accumulation of CNVs across generations. Conclusions By identifying the exact genomic elements that cause within-population genome size variation, our study paves the way for studying genome size evolution in contemporary populations rather than inferring patterns and processes a posteriori from species comparisons.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document