Large-Scale Comparative Analysis Reveals the Mechanisms Driving Plastomic Compaction, Reduction, and Inversions in Conifers II (Cupressophytes).

ABSTRACT: Conifers II (cupressophytes), comprising about 400 tree species in five families, are the most diverse group of living gymnosperms. Their plastid genomes (plastomes) are highly variable in size and organization, but such variation has never been systematically studied. In this study, we assessed the potential mechanisms underlying the evolution of cupressophyte plastomes. We analyzed the plastomes of 24 representative genera in all of the five cupressophyte families, focusing on their variation in size, noncoding DNA content, and nucleotide substitution rates. Using a tree-based method, we further inferred the ancestral plastomic organizations of internal nodes and evaluated the inversions across the evolutionary history of cupressophytes. Our data showed that variation in plastome size is

SUBMITTER: Wu CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5491842 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature