High rates of evolution preceded shifts to sex-biased gene expression in Leucadendron, the most sexually dimorphic angiosperms
| Autor: | Mathias Scharmann, Anthony G Rebelo, John R Pannell |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Leucadendron
0106 biological sciences QH301-705.5 Science Gene Expression plant Genes Plant 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology 03 medical and health sciences Species Specificity evolution Gene expression Leaf size sex-biased gene expression Biology (General) Gene 030304 developmental biology Evolutionary Biology 0303 health sciences General Immunology and Microbiology biology General Neuroscience General Medicine Chromosomes and Gene Expression biology.organism_classification Biological Evolution Proteaceae Plant Leaves Sexual dimorphism Evolutionary biology sexual dimorphism Sexual selection Plant Leaves/metabolism Proteaceae/genetics chromosomes evolutionary biology gene expression proteaceae Medicine Other Adaptation Research Article |
| Zdroj: | eLife, vol. 10, pp. e67485 eLife, Vol 10 (2021) eLife |
| Popis: | Differences between males and females are usually more subtle in dioecious plants than animals, but strong sexual dimorphism has evolved convergently in the South African Cape plant genus Leucadendron. Such sexual dimorphism in leaf size is expected largely to be due to differential gene expression between the sexes. We compared patterns of gene expression in leaves among 10 Leucadendron species across the genus. Surprisingly, we found no positive association between sexual dimorphism in morphology and the number or the percentage of sex-biased genes (SBGs). Sex bias in most SBGs evolved recently and was species specific. We compared rates of evolutionary change in expression for genes that were sex biased in one species but unbiased in others and found that SBGs evolved faster in expression than unbiased genes. This greater rate of expression evolution of SBGs, also documented in animals, might suggest the possible role of sexual selection in the evolution of gene expression. However, our comparative analysis clearly indicates that the more rapid rate of expression evolution of SBGs predated the origin of bias, and shifts towards bias were depleted in signatures of adaptation. Our results are thus more consistent with the view that sex bias is simply freer to evolve in genes less subject to constraints in expression level. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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