Paterson, A. H., Bowers, J. E., Bruggmann, R., Dubchak, I., Grimwood, J., Gundlach, H., Haberer, G., Hellsten, U., Mitros, T., Poliakov, A., Schmutz, J., Spannagl, M., Tang, H., Wang, X., Wicker, T., Bharti, A. K., Chapman, J., Feltus, F. A., Gowik, U., , Grigoriev, I. V., et al. (2009). The Sorghum bicolor genome and the diversification of grasses. Nature, 457(7229), 551-6.
Sorghum, an African grass related to sugar cane and maize, is grown for food, feed, fibre and fuel. We present an initial analysis of the approximately 730-megabase Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench genome, placing approximately 98% of genes in their chromosomal context using whole-genome shotgun sequence validated by genetic, physical and syntenic information. Genetic recombination is largely confined to about one-third of the sorghum genome with gene order and density similar to those of rice. Retrotransposon accumulation in recombinationally recalcitrant heterochromatin explains the approximately 75% larger genome size of sorghum compared with rice. Although gene and repetitive DNA distributions have been preserved since palaeopolyploidization approximately 70 million years ago, most duplicated gene sets lost one member before the sorghum-rice divergence. Concerted evolution makes one duplicated chromosomal segment appear to be only a few million years old. About 24% of genes are grass-specific and 7% are sorghum-specific. Recent gene and microRNA duplications may contribute to sorghum's drought tolerance.
Varshney, R. K., Shi, C., Thudi, M., Mariac, C., Wallace, J., Qi, P., Zhang, H. e., Zhao, Y., Wang, X., Rathore, A., & others, . (2017). Pearl millet genome sequence provides a resource to improve agronomic traits in arid environments. Nature biotechnology, 35(10), 969.
D'hont, A., Denoeud, F., Aury, J., Baurens, F., Carreel, F., Garsmeur, O., Noel, B., Bocs, S., Droc, G., Rouard, M., Silva, C. D., Jabbari, K., Cardi, C., Poulain, J., Souquet, M., Labadie, K., Jourda, C., Lengellé, J., Rodier-Goud, M., , Alberti, A., et al. (2012). The banana (Musa acuminata) genome and the evolution of monocotyledonous plants. Nature, 488(7410), 213-217.
PMID: 22801500;Abstract:
Bananas (Musa spp.), including dessert and cooking types, are giant perennial monocotyledonous herbs of the order Zingiberales, a sister group to the well-studied Poales, which include cereals. Bananas are vital for food security in many tropical and subtropical countries and the most popular fruit in industrialized countries. The Musa domestication process started some 7,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. It involved hybridizations between diverse species and subspecies, fostered by human migrations, and selection of diploid and triploid seedless, parthenocarpic hybrids thereafter widely dispersed by vegetative propagation. Half of the current production relies on somaclones derived from a single triploid genotype (Cavendish). Pests and diseases have gradually become adapted, representing an imminent danger for global banana production. Here we describe the draft sequence of the 523-megabase genome of a Musa acuminata doubled-haploid genotype, providing a crucial stepping-stone for genetic improvement of banana. We detected three rounds of whole-genome duplications in the Musa lineage, independently of those previously described in the Poales lineage and the one we detected in the Arecales lineage. This first monocotyledon high-continuity whole-genome sequence reported outside Poales represents an essential bridge for comparative genome analysis in plants. As such, it clarifies commelinid-monocotyledon phylogenetic relationships, reveals Poaceae-specific features and has led to the discovery of conserved non-coding sequences predating monocotyledon-eudicotyledon divergence. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
Washburn, J. O., Lyons, E. H., Haas-Stapleton, E. J., & Volkman, L. E. (1999). Multiple nucleocapsid packaging of Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus accelerates the onset of systemic infection in Trichoplusia ni. Journal of Virology, 73(1), 411-416.
PMID: 9847346;PMCID: PMC103847;Abstract:
Among the nucleopolyhedroviruses (Baculoviridae), the occlusion-derived virus (ODV), which initiates infection in host insects, may contain only a single nucleocapsid per virion (the SNPVs) or one to many nucleocapsids per virion (the MNPVs), but the significance of this difference is unclear. To gain insight into the biological relevance of these different packaging strategies, we compared pathogenesis induced by ODV fractions enriched for multiple nucleocapsids (ODV-M) or single nucleocapsids (ODV-S) of Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) containing a β- galactosidase reporter gene. In time course experiments wherein newly molted fourth-instar Trichoplusia ni were challenged with doses of ODV-S or ODV-M that yielded the same final mortality (~70%), we characterized viral foci as either being restricted to the midgut or involving tracheal cells (the secondary target tissue, indicative of systemic infection). We found that while the timing of primary infection by ODV-S and ODV-M was similar, ODV-S established significantly more primary midgut cell loci than ODV-M, but ODV- M infected tracheal cells at twice the rate of ODV-S. The more efficient establishment of tracheal infections by ODV-M decreased the probability that infections were lost by midgut cell sloughing, explaining why higher numbers of primary infections established by ODV-S within larvae were needed to achieve the same final mortality. These results showed that the multiple nucleocapsid packaging strategy of AcMNPV accelerates the onset of irreversible systemic infections and may indicate why MNPVs have wider individual host ranges than SNPVs.
Nelson, A. D., Forsythe, E. S., Devisetty, U. K., Clausen, D. S., Haug-Batzell, A. K., Meldrum, A. M., Frank, M. R., Lyons, E., & Beilstein, M. A. (2016). A genomic analysis of factors driving lincRNA diversification: lessons from plants. G3: Genes| Genomes| Genetics, 6(9), 2881--2891.
