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MBE Advance Access originally published online on July 8, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2008 25(9):2019-2030; doi:10.1093/molbev/msn149
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© 2008 The Authors.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Research Articles

The Complete Nucleotide Sequences of the 5 Genetically Distinct Plastid Genomes of Oenothera, Subsection Oenothera: II. A Microevolutionary View Using Bioinformatics and Formal Genetic Data

Stephan Greiner*,1, Xi Wang{dagger},1, Reinhold G. Herrmann*, Uwe Rauwolf*, Klaus Mayer{dagger}, Georg Haberer{dagger} and Jörg Meurer*

* Lehrstuhl für Botanik, Department Biology I, Botany, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
{dagger} MIPS/IBI Institute for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Center Munich; German Research Center for Environmental Health GmbH, Neuherberg, Germany

E-mail: joerg.meurer{at}lrz.uni-muenchen.de.

Accepted for publication July 1, 2008.

A unique combination of genetic features and a rich stock of information make the flowering plant genus Oenothera an appealing model to explore the molecular basis of speciation processes including nucleus–organelle coevolution. From representative species, we have recently reported complete nucleotide sequences of the 5 basic and genetically distinguishable plastid chromosomes of subsection Oenothera (I–V). In nature, Oenothera plastid genomes are associated with 6 distinct, either homozygous or heterozygous, diploid nuclear genotypes of the 3 basic genomes A, B, or C. Artificially produced plastome–genome combinations that do not occur naturally often display interspecific plastome–genome incompatibility (PGI). In this study, we compare formal genetic data available from all 30 plastome–genome combinations with sequence differences between the plastomes to uncover potential determinants for interspecific PGI. Consistent with an active role in speciation, a remarkable number of genes have high Ka/Ks ratios. Different from the Solanacean cybrid model Atropa/tobacco, RNA editing seems not to be relevant for PGIs in Oenothera. However, predominantly sequence polymorphisms in intergenic segments are proposed as possible sources for PGI. A single locus, the bidirectional promoter region between psbB and clpP, is suggested to contribute to compartmental PGI in the interspecific AB hybrid containing plastome I (AB-I), consistent with its perturbed photosystem II activity.

Key Words: Oenothera chloroplast genome • cytonuclear coevolution • interspecific plastome–genome incompatibility • speciation • Dobzhansky–Muller incompatibility • microevolution

1 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Franz Lang, Associate Editor


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U. Rauwolf, H. Golczyk, J. Meurer, R. G. Herrmann, and S. Greiner
Molecular Marker Systems for Oenothera Genetics
Genetics, November 1, 2008; 180(3): 1289 - 1306.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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