Comparative transcriptomics reveals shared gene expression changes during independent evolutionary origins of stem and hypocotyl/root tubers in Brassica (Brassicaceae).

ABSTRACT: Plant succulence provides a classic example of evolutionary convergence in over 40 plant families. If evolutionary parallelism is in fact responsible for separate evolutionary origins of expanded storage tissues in stems, hypocotyls, and roots, we expect similar gene expression profiles in stem and hypocotyl / root tubers. We analyzed RNA-Seq transcript abundance patterns in stem and hypocotyl / root tubers of the Brassica crops kohlrabi (B. oleracea) and turnip (B. rapa) and compared their transcript expression profiles to those in the conspecific thin-stemmed and thin-rooted crops flowering kale and pak choi, respectively. Across these four cultivars, 38,192 expressed gene loci were identified. Of the 3,709 differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) in the turnip: pak choi comparison and the

SUBMITTER: Hearn DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5983522 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature