The Origins of Genomic Duplications in <i>Arabidopsis</i>

Abstract

Large segmental duplications cover much of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. Little is known about their origins. We show that they are primarily due to at least four different large-scale duplication events that occurred 100 to 200 million years ago, a formative period in the diversification of the angiosperms. A better understanding of the complex structural history of angiosperm genomes is necessary to make full use of Arabidopsis as a genetic model for other plant species.