Abstract Detail

Evolution, Ecology, Development, And Genomics Of Carnivorous Plants

Yu, Wen-Bin [1], Ma, Peng-Fei [2], Yang, Jun-Bo [2], Jin, Jian-Jun [2], Hong, Wang [2], Barrett, Craig [3], dePamphilis, Claude [4], Li, De-Zhu [2].

Comparative analyses of the plastid genome in carnivorous plants.

Carnivorous plants have remarkably similar trap morphologies and attractive features, which have evolved independently across five or six (if including Stylidiaceae of Asterales) orders in angiosperms. These plants can digest and absorb nutrients (especially nitrogen) from their prey, and retain photosynthetic function in general. Analogously, heterotrophic parasitic plants (including root parasites and mycoheterotrophs) steal nutrients from their host plants or fungi; some retain the photosynthetic ability, as in hemiparasites and partial mycoheterotrophs, while some have completely lost photosynthesis, as in holoparasites and holomycotrophs. Investigations of the whole plastid genome have documented pseudogenization or loss of NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (ndh) genes in hemiparasitic plants, as well as genome structural rearrangements, and expansion, contraction, or complete loss of the inverted repeat (IR). A similar scenario is observed in carnivorous plants, but this is based on only a single lineage that has been studied thus far (Lentibulariaceae). In this study, we sequenced 120 species of carnivorous plants, representing six families and five orders of eudicots, using a genome skimming approach. The main goals of this study were to: 1) examine variation in gene content and genome structure across the carnivorous lineages, and 2) investigate molecular evolution of plastid genes in carnivorous lineages in comparison to non-carnivorous sister lineages. Our preliminary assemblies showed that species from Nepenthaceae (Caryophyllales: e.g. Nepenthes ventricosa) and Cephalotaceae (Oxalidales; Cephalotus follicularis) had the "normal" angiosperm plastid genome synteny and no gene loss. Species from (Ericales: e.g. Sarracenia purpurea), Lentibulariaceae (Lamiales: 14 spp.) and Droseraceae (Caryophyllales: 5 spp.) had some ndh pseudogenes or have lost some ndh genes. Moreover, the plastid genome of Droseraceae is difficult to circularize because of multiple short inverted repeats. Ongoing research includes sequencing of additional carnivorous and non-carnivorous sister lineages, with the objective of molecular evolutionary comparison (substitution rate, relaxed selective constraints, etc.).

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Research project at ResearchGate

1 - Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy Of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China
2 - Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming, Yunnan, 650201, China
3 - West Virginia University, Department of Biology, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA
4 - Department Of Biology, 101 Life Sciences Building, University Park, PA, 16802, United States

Keywords:
Carnivorous Plants
NADH dehydrogenase (ndh) genes
molecular evolution
genome skimming
plastome
Chloroplast genome.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C03, Evolution, ecology, development, and conservation of carnivorous plants
Location: 107/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Time: 2:30 PM
Number: C03005
Abstract ID:573
Candidate for Awards:None