Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 113, Issue 45, Pages E7010-E7019Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1608765113
Keywords
HGT; phylogenomics; validation pipeline; genomic transfer; parasitism
Categories
Funding
- NSF Equipment Grant [MRI-1229046]
- NSF Plant Genome Research Program [DBI-0701748, IOS-1238057]
- Plant Biology graduate program
- Genetics graduate program
- Biology Department at Penn State University
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture Project [131997]
- NSF Grant [IOS-1213059]
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1238057] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the transfer of genetic material across species boundaries and has been a driving force in prokaryotic evolution. HGT involving eukaryotes appears to bemuch less frequent, and the functional implications of HGT in eukaryotes are poorly understood. We test the hypothesis that parasitic plants, because of their intimate feeding contacts with host plant tissues, are especially prone to horizontal gene acquisition. We sought evidence of HGTs in transcriptomes of three parasitic members of Orobanchaceae, a plant family containing species spanning the full spectrum of parasitic capabilities, plus the free-living Lindenbergia. Following initial phylogenetic detection and an extensive validation procedure, 52 high-confidence horizontal transfer events were detected, often from lineages of known host plants and with an increasing number of HGT events in species with the greatest parasitic dependence. Analyses of intron sequences in putative donor and recipient lineages provide evidence for integration of genomic fragments far more often than retro-processed RNA sequences. Purifying selection predominates in functionally transferred sequences, with a small fraction of adaptively evolving sites. HGT-acquired genes are preferentially expressed in the haustorium-the organ of parasitic plants-and are strongly biased in predicted gene functions, suggesting that expression products of horizontally acquired genes are contributing to the unique adaptive feeding structure of parasitic plants.
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