The Small Nuclear Genomes of Selaginella Are Associated with a Low Rate of Genome Size Evolution.

ABSTRACT: The haploid nuclear genome size (1C DNA) of vascular land plants varies over several orders of magnitude. Much of this observed diversity in genome size is due to the proliferation and deletion of transposable elements. To date, all vascular land plant lineages with extremely small nuclear genomes represent recently derived states, having ancestors with much larger genome sizes. The Selaginellaceae represent an ancient lineage with extremely small genomes. It is unclear how small nuclear genomes evolved in Selaginella We compared the rates of nuclear genome size evolution in Selaginella and major vascular plant clades in a comparative phylogenetic framework. For the analyses, we collected 29 new flow cytometry estimates of haploid genome size in Selaginella to augment publicly available da

SUBMITTER: Baniaga AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4898805 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature