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Abstract Detail

Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo)

Maheepala, Dinusha [1], Fernando Alzate, Juan [2], Baghaei, Arman [3], Emerling, Christopher A. [4], Le, Allen [3], Pab�n-Mora, Natalia [5], Strahl, Maya [6], Litt, Amy [1].

Evolution and diversification of Solanaceae FRUITFULL genes.

FRUITFULL (FUL) genes are MADS-box transcription factors that have functions in vegetative and reproductive organ development, and the transition to flowering. A whole genome duplication early in the diversification of core eudicots resulted in the euFULI, and euFULII gene clades. As a result of further duplication events, Solanaceae has four FUL genes: FUL1 and FUL2 in the euFULI clade, and MBP10 and MBP20 in the euFULII clade. The Arabidopsis euFULI gene FUL is involved in patterning the lignified dehiscence zone in the dry silique. The overexpression of a euFULI gene in tobacco resulted in indehiscent fruit, suggesting a conserved role for these genes in dry fruit. However, all four Solanaceae FUL genes are also expressed in the berry of tomato. The lack of lignified tissue in this fruit suggests a change in the function of these genes. We are characterizing FUL gene evolution in Solanaceae in an attempt to identify changes that might be correlated with the origin of fleshy fruit. To address these questions we have compiled and analyzed a dataset of FUL gene sequences from Sanger sequencing and transcriptomes either generated in our lab or available through online resources. Previous publications have suggested a whole genome triplication at the base of Solanaceae, and our data support the origin of FUL1 and FUL2 as a result of this event. However, MBP10 and MBP20 are located on the same chromosome and we have not found MBP10 in early diverging species, suggesting this is a tandem duplication that occurred later in Solanaceae diversification. A large first intron containing regulatory sequence is characteristic of FUL genes but MBP10 has only a short first intron that is missing several putative regulatory elements. This in combination with the low expression levels might indicate that MBP10 is becoming a pseudogene. However, our data also show that MBP10, along with the other three Solanaceae FUL gene lineages, is under purifying selection, which is inconsistent with the pseudogene hypothesis. Analyses of our data do not show any change in selection pressure or conserved protein motifs for any Solanaceae FUL gene clade in the transition to fleshy fruit.

1 - University of California, Riverside, Botany and Plant Sciences
2 - Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
3 - University of California, Riverside
4 - University of California, Berkeley
5 - University of Antioquia, Colombia
6 - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Keywords:
evodevo
Fruit
FRUITFULL
Solanaceae.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 34, Evo-Devo
Location: Sundance 2/Omni Hotel
Date: Wednesday, June 28th, 2017
Time: 9:00 AM
Number: 34005
Abstract ID:392
Candidate for Awards:Katherine Esau Award