Elucidating the evolutionary dynamics of parasitism in Cuscuta: in-depth phylogenetic reconstruction and extensive plastomes reduction.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The genus Cuscuta L. (Convolvulaceae), commonly known as dodder, is a holoparasite plant that relies on host plants for nutrition, leading to significant genomic changes, particularly in plastomes. This dependency has led to significant reductions and modifications in their plastomes compared to autotrophic plants. In contrast to the well-conserved plastomes of photosynthetic plants, Cuscuta exhibits substantial genomic reductions reflecting the loss of photosynthetic functions and associated genes.

Result

This study examines eight plastomes within Cuscuta and reconstructs the phylogenetic relationships among 40 Cuscuta taxa using five other genera as an outgroup. The size of plastid genome varies significantly, with the smallest being 60 kb and the largest 121 kb

SUBMITTER: Claude SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11823189 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature