Journal article
Contrasting levels of transcriptome-wide SNP diversity and adaptive molecular variation among conifers
- Abstract:
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Adaptive convergence can arise when response to natural selection involves shared molecular or functional mechanisms among multiple taxa. Conifers are archaic species of ancient origin with delayed sexual maturity related to their woody perennial nature. Thus, they represent a relevant plant group to assess if convergence from selection may have become disconnected between molecular and functional levels. In this purpose, transcriptome-wide SNP diversity was assessed in seven partially sympatric and reproductively isolated conifer species (118 individuals from 67 populations) populating the temperate and boreal forests of northeastern North America. SNP diversity was found highly heterogeneous among species, which would relate to variation in species-specific demography and history. Rapidly evolving genes with signatures of positive selection were identified, and their relative abundance among species reflected differences in transcriptome-wide SNP diversity. The analysis of sequence homology also revealed very limited convergence among taxa in spite of sampling same tissues at same age. However, convergence increased gradually at the levels of gene families and biological processes, which were largely related to stress response and regulatory mechanisms in all species. Given their multiple small to large gene families and long time since inception, conifers may have had sufficient gene network flexibility and gene functional redundancy for evolving alternative adaptive genes for similar metabolic responses to environmental selection pressures. Despite a long divergence time of ~350 Mya between conifers and Angiosperms, we also uncovered a set of 17 key genes presumably under positive selection in both lineages.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 2.3MB, Terms of use)
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(Preview, Supplementary materials, pdf, 2.2MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3389/fpls.2025.1500759
Authors
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/00cwqg982
- Grant:
- BB/P020488/1
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Media
- Journal:
- Frontiers in Plant Science More from this journal
- Volume:
- 16
- Article number:
- 1500759
- Publication date:
- 2025-03-06
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-02-13
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1664-462X
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2093531
- Local pid:
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pubs:2093531
- Deposit date:
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2025-03-10
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Pavy et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © 2025 Pavy, Gérardi, Prunier, Rigault, Laroche, Daigle, Boyle, MacKay and Bousquet. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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