Tangled up in two: a burst of genome duplications at the end of the Cretaceous and the consequences for plant evolution
-
- Kevin Vanneste
- Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
-
- Steven Maere
- Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
-
- Yves Van de Peer
- Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
説明
<jats:p>Genome sequencing has demonstrated that besides frequent small-scale duplications, large-scale duplication events such as whole genome duplications (WGDs) are found on many branches of the evolutionary tree of life. Especially in the plant lineage, there is evidence for recurrent WGDs, and the ancestor of all angiosperms was in fact most likely a polyploid species. The number of WGDs found in sequenced plant genomes allows us to investigate questions about the roles of WGDs that were hitherto impossible to address. An intriguing observation is that many plant WGDs seem associated with periods of increased environmental stress and/or fluctuations, a trend that is evident for both present-day polyploids and palaeopolyploids formed around the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) extinction at 66 Ma. Here, we revisit the WGDs in plants that mark the K–Pg boundary, and discuss some specific examples of biological innovations and/or diversifications that may be linked to these WGDs. We review evidence for the processes that could have contributed to increased polyploid establishment at the K–Pg boundary, and discuss the implications on subsequent plant evolution in the Cenozoic.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
-
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
-
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 369 (1648), 20130353-, 2014-08-05
The Royal Society