1 vote

Structural dynamics and divergence of the polygalacturonase gene family in land plants

Soon-Jae Kwon¹, Jae-Han Son¹, Kyong-Cheul Park¹, Hae-Young Oh¹, Pyeung-Hyeun Kim¹, Woo-Hyeon Byeon¹ & Nam-Soo Kim¹

Correspondence: (Login to view email address)

1. Kangwon National University, Department of Molecular Bioscience

DOC (121.5 KB) PDF (510.8 KB)

Document Type:

Manuscript

Date:

Received 20 February 2008 06:42 UTC; Posted 29 February 2008

Subjects:

Genetics & Genomics, Plant Biology, Evolutionary Biology

Tags:

• intron loss
• intron gain
• gene family
• Plants
• Evolution
• polygalacturonase

Abstract:

A distinct feature of eukaryotic genomes is the presence of gene families. The polygalacturonase (PG) (EC3.2.1.15) gene family is one of the largest gene families in plants. PG is a pectin-digesting enzyme with a glycoside hydrolase 28 domain. It is involved in numerous plant developmental processes. The evolutionary processes accounting for the functional divergence and the specialized functions of PGs in land plants are unclear. Here, phylogenetic and gene structure analysis of PG genes in algae and land plants revealed that land plant PG genes resulted from differential intron gain and loss, with the latter event predominating. PG genes in land plants contained 15 homologous intron blocks and 13 novel intron blocks. Intron position and phase were not conserved between PGs of algae and land plants but conserved among PG genes of land plants from moss to vascular plants, indicating that the current introns in the PGs in land plants appeared after the split between unicellular algae and multicelluar land plants. These findings demonstrate that the functional divergence and differentiation of PGs in land plants is attributable to intronic loss. Moreover, they underscore the importance of intron gain and loss in genomic adaptation to selective pressure.

Discussion

Votes:

1 vote

(Login to vote)

Comments:

0 comments

(Login to post a comment)

Share:

(Login to share with a colleague)

Additional information

License:

This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

How to cite this document:

Kwon, Soon-Jae, Son, Jae-Han, Park, Kyong-Cheul, Oh, Hae-Young, Kim, Pyeung-Hyeun, Byeon, Woo-Hyeon, and Kim, Nam-Soo. Structural dynamics and divergence of the polygalacturonase gene family in land plants. Available from Nature Precedings <http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2008.1608.1> (2008)

Version info:

Other versions of this document in Nature Precedings

None.

Other versions of this document elsewhere on the web

None known.

Submit a new version link