Positively selected disease response orthologous gene sets in the cereals identified using Sorghum bicolor L. Moench expression profiles and comparative genomics.

ABSTRACT: Disease response genes (DRGs) diverge under recurrent positive selection as a result of a molecular arms race between hosts and pathogens. Most of these studies were conducted in animals, and few defense genes have been shown to evolve adaptively in plants. To test for adaptation in the molecules mediating disease resistance in the cereals, we first combined information from the expression pattern of Sorghum bicolor genes and from divergence to the full genome of rice to identify candidate DRGs. We then used evolutionary analyses of orthologous gene sets from several grass species, to determine whether the DRGs show signals of positive selection and the residues targeted. We found 140 divergent genes upregulated under biotic stress in S. bicolor by evaluating the relative abundance of expr

SUBMITTER: Zamora A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2917010 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature