The Cardamine hirsuta genome offers insight into the evolution of morphological diversity

Xiangchao Gan(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Angela Hay(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Michiel Kwantes(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Georg Haberer(Helmholtz Zentrum München), Asis Hallab(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Raffaele Dello Ioio(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Hugo Hofhuis(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Bjorn Pieper(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Maria Cartolano(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Ulla Neumann(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Lachezar A. Nikolov(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Baoxing Song(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Mohsen Hajheidari(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Roman Briskine(University of Zurich), Evangelia Kougioumoutzi(University of Oxford), Daniela Vlad(University of Oxford), Suvi Broholm(University of Oxford), Jotun Hein(University of Oxford), Khalid Meksem(Southern Illinois University Carbondale), David A. Lightfoot(Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Kentaro K. Shimizu(University of Zurich), Rie Shimizu‐Inatsugi(University of Zurich), Martha Imprialou(University of Oxford), David Kudrna(University of Arizona), Rod A. Wing(University of Arizona), Shusei Sato(University of Oxford), Peter Huijser(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Dmitry A. Filatov(University of Oxford), Klaus Mayer(Helmholtz Zentrum München), Richard Mott(University College London), Miltos Tsiantis(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research)
Nature Plants
October 31, 2016
10.1038/nplants.2016.167
Cited by 114Open Access
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Abstract

Finding causal relationships between genotypic and phenotypic variation is a key focus of evolutionary biology, human genetics and plant breeding. To identify genome-wide patterns underlying trait diversity, we assembled a high-quality reference genome of Cardamine hirsuta, a close relative of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We combined comparative genome and transcriptome analyses with the experimental tools available in C. hirsuta to investigate gene function and phenotypic diversification. Our findings highlight the prevalent role of transcription factors and tandem gene duplications in morphological evolution. We identified a specific role for the transcriptional regulators PLETHORA5/7 in shaping leaf diversity and link tandem gene duplication with differential gene expression in the explosive seed pod of C. hirsuta. Our work highlights the value of comparative approaches in genetically tractable species to understand the genetic basis for evolutionary change.

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