Horizontal transfer of an adaptive chimeric photoreceptor from bryophytes to ferns.
Abstract
Ferns are well known for their shade-dwelling habits. Their ability to thrive under
low-light conditions has been linked to the evolution of a novel chimeric photoreceptor--neochrome--that
fuses red-sensing phytochrome and blue-sensing phototropin modules into a single gene,
thereby optimizing phototropic responses. Despite being implicated in facilitating
the diversification of modern ferns, the origin of neochrome has remained a mystery.
We present evidence for neochrome in hornworts (a bryophyte lineage) and demonstrate
that ferns acquired neochrome from hornworts via horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Fern
neochromes are nested within hornwort neochromes in our large-scale phylogenetic reconstructions
of phototropin and phytochrome gene families. Divergence date estimates further support
the HGT hypothesis, with fern and hornwort neochromes diverging 179 Mya, long after
the split between the two plant lineages (at least 400 Mya). By analyzing the draft
genome of the hornwort Anthoceros punctatus, we also discovered a previously unidentified
phototropin gene that likely represents the ancestral lineage of the neochrome phototropin
module. Thus, a neochrome originating in hornworts was transferred horizontally to
ferns, where it may have played a significant role in the diversification of modern
ferns.
Type
Journal articleSubject
BryophytaFerns
Xanthophylls
Phytochrome
Algal Proteins
Recombinant Fusion Proteins
DNA, Plant
Evolution, Molecular
Phylogeny
Gene Transfer, Horizontal
Base Sequence
Genes, Plant
Molecular Sequence Data
Anthocerotophyta
Photoreceptors, Plant
Phototropins
Transcriptome
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21761Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1073/pnas.1319929111Publication Info
Li, F; Villarreal, JC; Kelly, S; Rothfels, CJ; Melkonian, M; Frangedakis, E; ... Pittermann,
J (2014). Horizontal transfer of an adaptive chimeric photoreceptor from bryophytes to ferns.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(18). pp. 6672-6677. 10.1073/pnas.1319929111. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21761.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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