Polyploidy has long been recognized as a major force in angiosperm evolution. Recent genomic investigations not only indicate that polyploidy is ubiquitous among angiosperms, but also suggest several ancient genome-doubling events. These include ancient whole genome duplication (WGD) events in basal angiosperm lineages, as well as a proposed paleohexaploid event that may have occurred close to the eudicot divergence. However, there is currently no evidence for WGD in Amborella, the putative sister species to other extant angiosperms. The question is no longer "What proportion of angiosperms are polyploid?", but "How many episodes of polyploidy characterize any given lineage?" New algorithms provide promise that ancestral genomes can be reconstructed for deep divergences (e.g., it may be possible to reconstruct the ancestral eudicot or even the ancestral angiosperm genome). Comparisons of diversification rates suggest that genome doubling may have led to a dramatic increase in species richness in several angiosperm lineages, including Poaceae, Solanaceae, Fabaceae, and Brassicaceae. However, additional genomic studies are needed to pinpoint the exact phylogenetic placement of the ancient polyploidy events within these lineages and to determine when novel genes resulting from polyploidy have enabled adaptive radiations.

Coffee is a valuable beverage crop due to its characteristic flavor, aroma, and the stimulating effects of caffeine. We generated a high-quality draft genome of the species Coffea canephora, which displays a conserved chromosomal gene order among asterid angiosperms. Although it shows no sign of the whole-genome triplication identified in Solanaceae species such as tomato, the genome includes several species-specific gene family expansions, among them N-methyltransferases (NMTs) involved in caffeine production, defense-related genes, and alkaloid and flavonoid enzymes involved in secondary compound synthesis. Comparative analyses of caffeine NMTs demonstrate that these genes expanded through sequential tandem duplications independently of genes from cacao and tea, suggesting that caffeine in eudicots is of polyphyletic origin. (Résumé d'auteur

Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) is the most economically valuable crop possessing crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a photosynthetic carbon assimilation pathway with high water use efficiency, and the second most important tropical fruit after banana in terms of international trade. We sequenced the genomes of pineapple varieties ‘F153’ and ‘MD2’, and a wild pineapple relative A. bracteatus accession CB5. The pineapple genome has one fewer ancient whole genome duplications than sequenced grass genomes and, therefore, provides an important reference for elucidating gene content and structure in the last common ancestor of extant members of the grass family (Poaceae). Pineapple has a conserved karyotype with seven pre rho duplication chromosomes that are ancestral to extant grass karyotypes. The pineapple lineage has transitioned from C3 photosynthesis to CAM with CAM-related genes exhibiting a diel expression pattern in photosynthetic tissues using beta-carbonic anhydrase (βCA) for initial capture of CO2. Promoter regions of all three βCA genes contain a CCA1 binding site that can bind circadian core oscillators. CAM pathway genes were enriched with cis-regulatory elements including the morning (CCACAC) and evening (AAAATATC) elements associated with regulation of circadian-clock genes, providing the first link between CAM and the circadian clock regulation. Gene-interaction network analysis revealed both activation and repression of regulatory elements that control key enzymes in CAM photosynthesis, indicating that CAM evolved by reconfiguration of pathways preexisting in C3 plants. Pineapple CAM photosynthesis is the result of regulatory neofunctionalization of preexisting gene copies and not acquisition of neofunctionalized genes via whole genome or tandem gene duplication.

BackgroundThe inference of genome rearrangement operations requires complete genome assemblies as input data, since a rearrangement can involve an arbitrarily large proportion of one or more chromosomes. Most genome sequence projects, especially those on non-model organisms for which no physical map exists, produce very fragmented assembles, so that a rearranged fragment may be impossible to identify because its two endpoints are on different scaffolds. However, breakpoints are easily identified, as long as they do not coincide with scaffold ends. For the phylogenetic context, in comparing a fragmented assembly with a number of complete assemblies, certain combinatorial constraints on breakpoints can be derived. We ask to what extent we can use breakpoint data between a fragmented genome and a number of complete genomes to recover all the arrangements in a phylogeny.ResultsWe simulate genomic evolution via chromosomal inversion, fragmenting one of the genomes into a large number of scaffolds to represent the incompleteness of assembly. We identify all the breakpoints between this genome and the remainder. We devise an algorithm which takes these breakpoints into account in trying to determine on which branch of the phylogeny a rearrangement event occurred. We present an analysis of the dependence of recovery rates on scaffold size and rearrangement rate, and show that the true tree, the one on which the rearrangement simulation was performed, tends to be most parsimonious in estimating the number of true events inferred.ConclusionsIt is somewhat surprising that the breakpoints identified just between the fragmented genome and each of the others suffice to recover most of the rearrangements produced by the simulations. This holds even in parts of the phylogeny disjoint from the lineage of the fragmented genome.

Modern sugarcanes are polyploid interspecific hybrids, combining high sugar content from Saccharum officinarum with hardiness, disease resistance and ratooning of Saccharum spontaneum. Sequencing of a haploid S. spontaneum, AP85-441, facilitated the assembly of 32 pseudo-chromosomes comprising 8 homologous groups of 4 members each, bearing 35,525 genes with alleles defined. The reduction of basic chromosome number from 10 to 8 in S. spontaneum was caused by fissions of 2 ancestral chromosomes followed by translocations to 4 chromosomes. Surprisingly, 80% of nucleotide binding site-encoding genes associated with disease resistance are located in 4 rearranged chromosomes and 51% of those in rearranged regions. Resequencing of 64 S. spontaneum genomes identified balancing selection in rearranged regions, maintaining their diversity. Introgressed S. spontaneum chromosomes in modern sugarcanes are randomly distributed in AP85-441 genome, indicating random recombination among homologs in different S. spontaneum accessions. The allele-defined Saccharum genome offers new knowledge and resources to accelerate sugarcane improvement.

Amborella trichopoda is strongly supported as the single living species of the sister lineage to all other extant flowering plants, providing a unique reference for inferring the genome content and structure of the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of living angiosperms. Sequencing the Amborella genome, we identified an ancient genome duplication predating angiosperm diversification, without evidence of subsequent, lineage-specific genome duplications. Comparisons between Amborella and other angiosperms facilitated reconstruction of the ancestral angiosperm gene content and gene order in the MRCA of core eudicots. We identify new gene families, gene duplications, and floral protein-protein interactions that first appeared in the ancestral angiosperm. Transposable elements in Amborella are ancient and highly divergent, with no recent transposon radiations. Population genomic analysis across Amborella's native range in New Caledonia reveals a recent genetic bottleneck and geographic structure with conservation implications.

Mitochondria, organelles specialized in energy conservation reactions in eukaryotic cells, have evolved from eubacteria-like endosymbionts whose closest known relatives are the rickettsial group of alpha-proteobacteria. Because characterized mitochondrial genomes vary markedly in structure, it has been impossible to infer from them the initial form of the proto-mitochondrial genome. This would require the identification of minimally derived mitochondrial DNAs that better reflect the ancestral state. Here we describe such a primitive mitochondrial genome, in the freshwater protozoon Reclinomonas americana. This protist displays ultrastructural characteristics that ally it with the retortamonads, a protozoan group that lacks mitochondria. R. americana mtDNA (69,034 base pairs) contains the largest collection of genes (97) so far identified in any mtDNA, including genes for 5S ribosomal RNA, the RNA component of RNase P, and at least 18 proteins not previously known to be encoded in mitochondria. Most surprising are four genes specifying a multisubunit, eubacterial-type RNA polymerase. Features of gene content together with eubacterial characteristics of genome organization and expression not found before in mitochondrial genomes indicate that R. americana mtDNA more closely resembles the ancestral proto-mitochondrial genome than any other mtDNA investigated to date.

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