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Significant microsynteny with new evolutionary highlights is detected between Arabidopsis and legume model plants despite the lack of macrosynteny

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Abstract

The increased amount of data produced by large genome sequencing projects allows scientists to carry out important syntenic studies to a great extent. Detailed genetic maps and entirely or partially sequenced genomes are compared, and macro- and microsyntenic relations can be determined for different species. In our study, the syntenic relationships between key legume plants and two model plants, Arabidopsis thaliana and Populus trichocarpa were investigated. The comparison of the map position of 172 gene-based Medicago sativa markers to the organization of homologous A. thaliana genes could not identify any sign of macrosynteny between the two genomes. A 276 kb long section of chromosome 5 of the model legume Medicago truncatula was used to investigate potential microsynteny with the other legume Lotus japonicus, as well as with Arabidopsis and Populus. Besides the overall correlation found between the legume plants, the comparison revealed several microsyntenic regions in the two more distant plants with significant resemblance. Despite the large phylogenetic distance, clear microsyntenic regions between Medicago and Arabidopsis or Populus were detected unraveling new intragenomic evolutionary relations in Arabidopsis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank P. Scott for critical reading of the manuscript and P. Somkúti, H. Tiricz, E. Sárai, S. Jenei, and A. Tóth for their skilled technical assistance. This study was supported by European grants; EuDicotMap (grant no. BIO 4CT97-2170; EU), MEDICAGO (grant no. QLG2-CT-2000-30676; EU), Grain legumes (grant no. FOOD-CD-2004-506223), and Hungarian national grants; OMFB EU-97-D8-063 (National Committee for Technical Development), NKFP Medicago Genomics (grant no. 4/023/2001, Ministry of Education), and Medicago Biotechnology (grant no. 4/031/2004), Biotechnology 2001 (grant no. OMFB-00229/2002), OTKA (Hungarian Research Scientific Fund) T038211, OTKA T046645 and OTKA T046819 grants, and the Economic Competitiveness Operative Programs GVOP-3.1.1-2004-05-0101/3.0. G. Endre, P. Kaló A. Kereszt and G. Tóth were supported by János Bolyai postdoctoral fellowships. We thank the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute and the Poplar Genome Consortium for making the Populus genome sequence draft available before publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Genetics, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 521, 6701, Szeged, Hungary

    Zoltán Kevei, Andrea Seres, Attila Kereszt, Péter Kaló, Péter Kiss, Gabriella Endre & György B. Kiss

  2. Institute of Genetics, Agricultural Biotechnology Center, Szent-Györgyi A. u. 4, P. O. Box 441, 2101, Gödöllő, Hungary

    Péter Kaló, Gábor Tóth & György B. Kiss

Authors
  1. Zoltán Kevei
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  2. Andrea Seres
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  3. Attila Kereszt
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  4. Péter Kaló
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  5. Péter Kiss
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  6. Gábor Tóth
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  7. Gabriella Endre
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  8. György B. Kiss
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Correspondence to György B. Kiss.

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Communicated by A. Kondorosi

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Kevei, Z., Seres, A., Kereszt, A. et al. Significant microsynteny with new evolutionary highlights is detected between Arabidopsis and legume model plants despite the lack of macrosynteny. Mol Genet Genomics 274, 644–657 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-005-0057-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-005-0057-9

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