Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria

Most terrestrial plants use C3 photosynthesis to fix carbon. In multiple plant lineages a modified system known as C4 photosynthesis has evolved. To better understand the molecular patterns associated with induction of C4 photosynthesis, the genus Flaveria that contains C3 and C4 species was used. A...

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Main Authors: Kümpers, Britta M.C., Burgess, Steven J., Reyna-Llorens, Ivan, Smith-Unna, Richard, Boursnell, Chris, Hibberd, Julian M.
Format: Article
Published: Oxford University Press 2017
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41477/
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author Kümpers, Britta M.C.
Burgess, Steven J.
Reyna-Llorens, Ivan
Smith-Unna, Richard
Boursnell, Chris
Hibberd, Julian M.
author_facet Kümpers, Britta M.C.
Burgess, Steven J.
Reyna-Llorens, Ivan
Smith-Unna, Richard
Boursnell, Chris
Hibberd, Julian M.
author_sort Kümpers, Britta M.C.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Most terrestrial plants use C3 photosynthesis to fix carbon. In multiple plant lineages a modified system known as C4 photosynthesis has evolved. To better understand the molecular patterns associated with induction of C4 photosynthesis, the genus Flaveria that contains C3 and C4 species was used. A base to tip maturation gradient of leaf anatomy was defined, and RNA sequencing was undertaken along this gradient for two C3 and two C4Flaveria species. Key C4 traits including vein density, mesophyll and bundle sheath cross-sectional area, chloroplast ultrastructure, and abundance of transcripts encoding proteins of C4 photosynthesis were quantified. Candidate genes underlying each of these C4 characteristics were identified. Principal components analysis indicated that leaf maturation and the photosynthetic pathway were responsible for the greatest amount of variation in transcript abundance. Photosynthesis genes were over-represented for a prolonged period in the C4 species. Through comparison with publicly available data sets, we identify a small number of transcriptional regulators that have been up-regulated in diverse C4 species. The analysis identifies similar patterns of expression in independent C4 lineages and so indicates that the complex C4 pathway is associated with parallel as well as convergent evolution.
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spelling nottingham-414772020-05-04T19:59:04Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41477/ Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria Kümpers, Britta M.C. Burgess, Steven J. Reyna-Llorens, Ivan Smith-Unna, Richard Boursnell, Chris Hibberd, Julian M. Most terrestrial plants use C3 photosynthesis to fix carbon. In multiple plant lineages a modified system known as C4 photosynthesis has evolved. To better understand the molecular patterns associated with induction of C4 photosynthesis, the genus Flaveria that contains C3 and C4 species was used. A base to tip maturation gradient of leaf anatomy was defined, and RNA sequencing was undertaken along this gradient for two C3 and two C4Flaveria species. Key C4 traits including vein density, mesophyll and bundle sheath cross-sectional area, chloroplast ultrastructure, and abundance of transcripts encoding proteins of C4 photosynthesis were quantified. Candidate genes underlying each of these C4 characteristics were identified. Principal components analysis indicated that leaf maturation and the photosynthetic pathway were responsible for the greatest amount of variation in transcript abundance. Photosynthesis genes were over-represented for a prolonged period in the C4 species. Through comparison with publicly available data sets, we identify a small number of transcriptional regulators that have been up-regulated in diverse C4 species. The analysis identifies similar patterns of expression in independent C4 lineages and so indicates that the complex C4 pathway is associated with parallel as well as convergent evolution. Oxford University Press 2017-01 Article PeerReviewed Kümpers, Britta M.C., Burgess, Steven J., Reyna-Llorens, Ivan, Smith-Unna, Richard, Boursnell, Chris and Hibberd, Julian M. (2017) Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria. Journal of Experimental Botany, 68 (2). pp. 177-189. ISSN 1460-2431 C4 leaf anatomy C4 photosynthesis convergent evolution Flaveria gene expression parallel evolution RNA-seq. https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/jxb/erw488 doi:10.1093/jxb/erw488 doi:10.1093/jxb/erw488
spellingShingle C4 leaf anatomy
C4 photosynthesis
convergent evolution
Flaveria
gene expression
parallel evolution
RNA-seq.
Kümpers, Britta M.C.
Burgess, Steven J.
Reyna-Llorens, Ivan
Smith-Unna, Richard
Boursnell, Chris
Hibberd, Julian M.
Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria
title Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria
title_full Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria
title_fullStr Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria
title_full_unstemmed Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria
title_short Shared characteristics underpinning C 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple C 3 and C 4 species of Flaveria
title_sort shared characteristics underpinning c 4 leaf maturation derived from analysis of multiple c 3 and c 4 species of flaveria
topic C4 leaf anatomy
C4 photosynthesis
convergent evolution
Flaveria
gene expression
parallel evolution
RNA-seq.
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41477/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41477/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41477/