Transcriptome Signatures of Selection, Drift, Introgression, and Gene Duplication in the Evolution of an Extremophile Endemic Plant.

ABSTRACT: Plants on serpentine soils provide extreme examples of adaptation to environment, and thus offer excellent models for the study of evolution at the molecular and genomic level. Serpentine outcrops are derived from ultramafic rock and have extremely low levels of essential plant nutrients (e.g., N, P, K, and Ca), as well as toxic levels of heavy metals (e.g., Ni, Cr, and Co) and low moisture availability. These outcrops provide habitat to a number of endemic plant species, including the annual mustard Caulanthus amplexicaulis var. barbarae (Cab) (Brassicaceae). Its sister taxon, C. amplexicaulis var. amplexicaulis (Caa), is intolerant to serpentine soils. Here, we assembled and annotated comprehensive reference transcriptomes of both Caa and Cab for use in protein coding sequence comparison

SUBMITTER: Hawkins AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5751042 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature