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MBE Advance Access originally published online on March 2, 2009
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2009 26(5):953-956; doi:10.1093/molbev/msp038
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Letter

Ecological Nitrogen Limitation Shapes the DNA Composition of Plant Genomes

Claudia Acquisti*,{dagger}, James J. Elser{dagger} and Sudhir Kumar*,{dagger}

* Center for Evolutionary Functional Genomics, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University
{dagger} School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University

E-mail: s.kumar{at}asu.edu.

Accepted for publication February 24, 2009.

Phenotypes and behaviors respond to resource constraints via adaptation, but the influence of ecological limitations on the composition of eukaryotic genomes is still unclear. We trace connections between plant ecology and genomes through their elemental composition. Inorganic sources of nitrogen (N) are severely limiting to plants in natural ecosystems. This constraint would favor the use of N-poor nucleotides in plant genomes. We show that the transcribed segments of undomesticated plant genomes are the most N poor, with genomes and proteomes bearing signatures of N limitation. Consistent with the predictions of natural selection for N conservation, the precursors of transcriptome show the greatest deviations from Chargaff's second parity rule. Furthermore, crops show higher N contents than undomesticated plants, likely due to the relaxation of natural selection owing to the use of N-rich fertilizers. These findings indicate a fundamental role of N limitation in the evolution of plant genomes, and they link the genomes with the ecosystem context within which biota evolve.

Key Words: nitrogen limitation • plant genome • crops • biological stoichiometry

Carlos Bustamante, Associate Editor


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Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
C. Acquisti, S. Kumar, and J. J. Elser
Signatures of nitrogen limitation in the elemental composition of the proteins involved in the metabolic apparatus
Proc R Soc B, July 22, 2009; 276(1667): 2605 - 2610.
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