Genomic comparison of non-photosynthetic plants from the family Balanophoraceae with their photosynthetic relatives.

ABSTRACT: The plant family Balanophoraceae consists entirely of species that have lost the ability to photosynthesize. Instead, they obtain nutrients by parasitizing other plants. Recent studies have revealed that plastid genomes of Balanophoraceae exhibit a number of interesting features, one of the most prominent of those being a highly elevated AT content of nearly 90%. Additionally, the nucleotide substitution rate in the plastid genomes of Balanophoraceae is an order of magnitude greater than that of their photosynthetic relatives without signs of relaxed selection. Currently, there are no definitive explanations for these features. Given these unusual features, we hypothesised that the nuclear genomes of Balanophoraceae may also provide valuable information in regard to understanding the evolu

SUBMITTER: Schelkunov MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8415285 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature