| 1. |
- Müller, Niels A., et al.
(author)
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A single gene underlies the dynamic evolution of poplar sex determination.
- 2020
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In: Nature Plants. - : Springer Nature. - 2055-0278 .- 2055-026X. ; 6:6, s. 630-637
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although hundreds of plant lineages have independently evolved dioecy (that is, separation of the sexes), the underlying genetic basis remains largely elusive. Here we show that diverse poplar species carry partial duplicates of the ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR 17 (ARR17) orthologue in the male-specific region of the Y chromosome. These duplicates give rise to small RNAs apparently causing male-specific DNA methylation and silencing of the ARR17 gene. CRISPR–Cas9-induced mutations demonstrate that ARR17 functions as a sex switch, triggering female development when on and male development when off. Despite repeated turnover events, including a transition from the XY system to a ZW system, the sex-specific regulation of ARR17 is conserved across the poplar genus and probably beyond. Our data reveal how a single-gene-based mechanism of dioecy can enable highly dynamic sex-linked regions and contribute to maintaining recombination and integrity of sex chromosomes.
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| 2. |
- Apuli, Rami-Petteri, et al.
(author)
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Inferring the Genomic Landscape of Recombination Rate Variation in European Aspen (Populus tremula)
- 2020
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In: G3. - : GENETICS SOCIETY AMERICA. - 2160-1836. ; 10:1, s. 299-309
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The rate of meiotic recombination is one of the central factors determining genome-wide levels of linkage disequilibrium which has important consequences for the efficiency of natural selection and for the dissection of quantitative traits. Here we present a new, high-resolution linkage map for Populus tremula that we use to anchor approximately two thirds of the P. tremula draft genome assembly on to the expected 19 chromosomes, providing us with the first chromosome-scale assembly for P. tremula (Table 2). We then use this resource to estimate variation in recombination rates across the P. tremula genome and compare these results to recombination rates based on linkage disequilibrium in a large number of unrelated individuals. We also assess how variation in recombination rates is associated with a number of genomic features, such as gene density, repeat density and methylation levels. We find that recombination rates obtained from the two methods largely agree, although the LD-based method identifies a number of genomic regions with very high recombination rates that the map-based method fails to detect. Linkage map and LD-based estimates of recombination rates are positively correlated and show similar correlations with other genomic features, showing that both methods can accurately infer recombination rate variation across the genome. Recombination rates are positively correlated with gene density and negatively correlated with repeat density and methylation levels, suggesting that recombination is largely directed toward gene regions in P. tremula.
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| 3. |
- Lin, Yao-Cheng, et al.
(author)
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Functional and evolutionary genomic inferences in Populus through genome and population sequencing of American and European aspen
- 2018
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : NATL ACAD SCIENCES. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 115:46, s. E10970-E10978
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Populus genus is one of the major plant model systems, but genomic resources have thus far primarily been available for poplar species, and primarily Populus trichocarpa (Torr. & Gray), which was the first tree with a whole-genome assembly. To further advance evolutionary and functional genomic analyses in Populus, we produced genome assemblies and population genetics resources of two aspen species, Populus tremula L. and Populus tremuloides Michx. The two aspen species have distributions spanning the Northern Hemisphere, where they are keystone species supporting a wide variety of dependent communities and produce a diverse array of secondary metabolites. Our analyses show that the two aspens share a similar genome structure and a highly conserved gene content with P. trichocarpa but display substantially higher levels of heterozygosity. Based on population resequencing data, we observed widespread positive and negative selection acting on both coding and noncoding regions. Furthermore, patterns of genetic diversity and molecular evolution in aspen are influenced by a number of features, such as expression level, coexpression network connectivity, and regulatory variation. To maximize the community utility of these resources, we have integrated all presented data within the PopGenIE web resource (PopGenIE.org).
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| 4. |
- Schiffthaler, Bastian, et al.
(author)
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An integrated functional genomics and systems genetics analysis of leaf shape in Populus tremula
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Leaf shape is an important component of our relationship with the living world, representing a defining feature of how we recognise and classify plant species. There is extensive variation in the form and function of leaves within and between species. In the current study we utilised variation in leaf shape represented among individuals of a collection of Eurasian aspen (Populus tremula L.) sampled across Sweden and the remarkable extent of heterophylly present to establish morphological, cellular and transcriptional developmental time lines. We performed gene expression network and phenotypical regression analyses to identify genes of central importance or that were highly predictive of shape and size phenotypes during leaf development using a systems biology approach. We complemented this developmental study with a genome wide association study of leaf shape variation to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with leaf shape and size, their genomic context and the biological role of associated genes. We then compared these association candidate genes to differentially expressed genes between groups of genotypes with highly contrasting leaf shapes, also considering whether there were expression quantitative trait loci associated with the genes. We demonstrate that our developmental gene expression series captured known biology for homologs of functionally characterised Arabidopsis thaliana genes and biological processes of importance during leaf development. We identified genes of high importance from the developmental series and natural variation analyses. These included genes with characterised functions in leaf development in addition to many novel candidates. Our systems genetics approach identified numerous genes supported by the developmental time series, phenotypic and expression association mapping and differential expression between phenotypic extremes. As such, we describe a rich resource for directing future functional characterisation studies and a comprehensive data resource characterising the role of gene expression during leaf development in aspen.
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| 5. |
- Mähler, Niklas, et al.
(author)
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Leaf shape in Populus tremula is a complex, omnigenic trait
- 2020
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In: Ecology and Evolution. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2045-7758. ; 10:21, s. 11922-11940
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Leaf shape is a defining feature of how we recognize and classify plant species. Although there is extensive variation in leaf shape within many species, few studies have disentangled the underlying genetic architecture. We characterized the genetic architecture of leaf shape variation in Eurasian aspen (Populus tremula L.) by performing genome‐wide association study (GWAS) for physiognomy traits. To ascertain the roles of identified GWAS candidate genes within the leaf development transcriptional program, we generated RNA‐Seq data that we used to perform gene co‐expression network analyses from a developmental series, which is publicly available within the PlantGenIE resource. We additionally used existing gene expression measurements across the population to analyze GWAS candidate genes in the context of a population‐wide co‐expression network and to identify genes that were differentially expressed between groups of individuals with contrasting leaf shapes. These data were integrated with expression GWAS (eQTL) results to define a set of candidate genes associated with leaf shape variation. Our results identified no clear adaptive link to leaf shape variation and indicate that leaf shape traits are genetically complex, likely determined by numerous small‐effect variations in gene expression. Genes associated with shape variation were peripheral within the population‐wide co‐expression network, were not highly connected within the leaf development co‐expression network, and exhibited signatures of relaxed selection. As such, our results are consistent with the omnigenic model.
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