Dataset Information

African genomes illuminate the early history and transition to selfing in Arabidopsis thaliana.

ABSTRACT: Over the past 20 y, many studies have examined the history of the plant ecological and molecular model, Arabidopsis thaliana, in Europe and North America. Although these studies informed us about the recent history of the species, the early history has remained elusive. In a large-scale genomic analysis of African A. thaliana, we sequenced the genomes of 78 modern and herbarium samples from Africa and analyzed these together with over 1,000 previously sequenced Eurasian samples. In striking contrast to expectations, we find that all African individuals sampled are native to this continent, including those from sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, we show that Africa harbors the greatest variation and represents the deepest history in the A. thaliana lineage. Our results also reveal evidence that selfing, a major defining characteristic of the species, evolved in a single geographic region, best represented today within Africa. Demographic inference supports a model in which the ancestral A. thaliana population began to split by 120-90 kya, during the last interglacial and Abbassia pluvial, and Eurasian populations subsequently separated from one another at around 40 kya. This bears striking similarities to the patterns observed for diverse species, including humans, implying a key role for climatic events during interglacial and pluvial periods in shaping the histories and current distributions of a wide range of species.

SUBMITTER: Durvasula A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5441814 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

African genomes illuminate the early history and transition to selfing in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Durvasula Arun A Fulgione Andrea A Gutaker Rafal M RM Alacakaptan Selen Irez SI Flood Pádraic J PJ Neto Célia C Tsuchimatsu Takashi T Burbano Hernán A HA Picó F Xavier FX Alonso-Blanco Carlos C Hancock Angela M AM

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20170504 20

Over the past 20 y, many studies have examined the history of the plant ecological and molecular model, Arabidopsis thaliana, in Europe and North America. Although these studies informed us about the recent history of the species, the early history has remained elusive. In a large-scale genomic analysis of African A. thaliana, we sequenced the genomes of 78 modern and herbarium samples from Africa and analyzed these together with over 1,000 previously sequenced Eurasian samples. In ...[more]

PMID: 28473417

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Project description:RNA-seq reads from the selfing species Arabidopsis thaliana were produced from flowers to study the consequences of the transition from the ancestral state (outcrossing) to the derived state (selfing). This was done in the context of examining another species in the Arabidopsis genus (A. lyrata) and another species pair (Capsella rubella versus Capsella grandiflora, which are selfing and outcrossing, respectively). These samples were generated to complement part of this larger study. Briefly, the shift from outcrossing to selfing is common in flowering plants, but neither the genomic consequences nor the speed with which they appear are well understood. An excellent model for understanding the evolution of self fertilization is provided by Capsella rubella, which became self-compatible <200,000 years ago. We present a reference genome for the species, and compare RNA expression and polymorphism patterns between C. rubella and its outcrossing progenitor C. grandiflora. There is a clear shift in the expression of genes associated with flowering phenotypes; a similar shift is seen in the related genus Arabidopsis, where self-fertilization evolved about 1 million years ago. DNA sequence polymorphisms distinguishing the two Capsella species reveal rapid genome-wide relaxation of purifying selection in C. rubella but without a concomitant change in transposable element abundance. Overall, we document that the transition to selfing may be typified by shifts in expression for genes that function in pollen and flower development, along with a measurable reduction of purifying selection. As part of a cross-species comparison of gene expression, RNA-seq data was generated in biological replication (2 replicates) from Arabidopsis thaliana at the floral stage. In total, two samples (biological replicates) were used. The reference strain was used for the experments (strain Col-0). Resulting data about gene expression was used as part of a larger study. The Capsella rubella and Capsella grandiflora data are included in GEO Series GSE45518.

Dataset Information

African genomes illuminate the early history and transition to selfing in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Publications

African genomes illuminate the early history and transition to selfing in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>.

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