NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING AND GENOME EVOLUTION IN ALLOPOLYPLOIDS

Premise of the study: Hybridization and polyploidization (allopolyploidy) are ubiquitous in the evolution of plants, but tracing the origins and subsequent evolution of the constituent genomes of allopolyploids has been challenging. Genome doubling greatly complicates genetic analyses, and this has long hindered investigation in that most allopolyploid species are nonmodel organisms. However, recent advances in sequencing and genomics technologies now provide unprecedented opportunities to analyze numerous genetic markers in multiple individuals in any organism. Methods: Here we review the application of next-generation sequencing technologies to the study of three aspects of allopolyploid genome evolution: duplicated gene loss and expression in two recently formed Tragopogon allopolyploids, intergenomic interactions and chromosomal evolution in Tragopogon miscellus, and repetitive DNA evolution in Nicotiana allopolyploids. Key results: For the first time, we can explore on a genomic scale the evolutionary processes that are ongoing in natural allopolyploids and not be restricted to well-studied crops and genetic models. Conclusions: These approaches can be easily and inexpensively applied to many other plant species making any evolutionarily provocative system a new model system.