Biology subjects

Rose, L. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Rose, L. E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Mining genes underlying perennial-to-annual transitions in Oryza with comparative genomics

Perennial rice has shown great potential for alleviating multidimensional sustainability issues that are prevalent in current rice agriculture, prompting widespread interest in its breeding. Currently, one major hurdle for these breeding efforts is our scarce knowledge about the evolutionary mechanisms of the perennial-to-annual transition in Oryza. Here, by performing comparative genomics of three annual-perennial pairs of Oryza species (Oryza rufipogon/O. nivara, O. glumaepatula/O. glaberrima, and O. meyeriana/O. brachyantha), we identified 91 gene families that are present in all the perennial species but are missing in any of the annual species. Annotations and functional prediction of these gene families demonstrated that they may be associated with a battery of physiological components of perenniality, such as phenology, energy allocation, and source-sink dynamics. Furthermore, comparative co-expression analysis revealed that many of these families may also play important regulatory roles for orchestrating diverse processes that differ between perennial and annual Oryza species, including reproduction, root development, and response to environmental stimuli. These results highlight the potential complexity of the emergence of annuality in the Oryza genus and offer promising candidates for future functional studies.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Copy Number Variation: A Substrate for Plant Adaptation and Stress Response in Arabidopsis

Copy number variation (CNV) is a major source of genomic diversity that shapes gene family evolution and may contribute to ecological differentiation, yet its genome-wide ecological relevance remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed CNV across four Brassicaceae species (Arabidopsis thaliana, A. lyrata, A. halleri, and Arabis alpina) to identify gene families undergoing rapid expansion or contraction. Using a birth-death model, we identified 231 rapidly evolving gene families spanning diverse functional categories. We then characterized CNV within populations of A. thaliana and A. lyrata using population-scale long-read assemblies. CNV exhibited strong heterogeneity across gene families and species, with contrasting evolutionary outcomes: A. thaliana showed greater retention of duplicated copies, whereas A. lyrata exhibited higher pseudogenization and turnover. CNV profiles were strongly structured geographically, reflecting known demographic and phylogeographic patterns in both species. Environmental association analyses revealed species-specific architectures: CNV in A. thaliana showed a diffuse, polygenic association with climate, whereas in A. lyrata associations were more strongly coupled to population structure. Despite the functional diversity of rapidly evolving families, environmentally associated CNVs were significantly enriched in defense- and stress-related functions. These results demonstrate that CNV-environment relationships emerge at the level of gene family networks and are shaped by genomic architecture and lineage history, highlighting CNV as a context-dependent driver of genome evolution and ecological differentiation. SummaryGene copy number variation--where individuals carry different numbers of copies of the same gene--is a potentially important but poorly understood source of genetic diversity. The authors studied how copy numbers evolve across four mustard family plant species and whether this variation helps plants adapt to different environments. They found that gene families involved in disease resistance and stress responses were especially prone to rapid copy number changes. These changes tracked geography and local climate, but in ways that differed between species depending on their evolutionary history. The findings highlight gene copy number variation as a key, underappreciated contributor to how plants adapt to their environments.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Broad-spectrum inhibition of Phytophthora infestans by root endophytes

* Phytophthora infestans (Phy. infestans) is a devastating pathogen of tomato and potato. It readily overcomes resistance genes and applied agrochemicals. Fungal endophytes provide a largely unexplored avenue of control against Phy. infestans. Not only do endophytes produce a wide array of bioactive metabolites, they may also directly compete with and defeat pathogens in planta.\n\n* Twelve fungal endophyte isolates from different plant species were tested in vitro for their production of metabolites with anti-Phy. infestans activity. Four well-performing isolates were evaluated for their ability to suppress nine isolates of Phy. infestans on plates and in planta.\n\n* Two endophytes reliably inhibited all Phy. infestans on plates, of which Phoma eupatorii isolate 8082 was the most promising. It nearly abolished infection by Phy. infestans in planta.\n\n* Here we present a biocontrol agent, which can inhibit a broad-spectrum of Phy. infestans isolates. Such broadly acting inhibition is ideal, because it allows for effective control of genetically diverse pathogen isolates and may slow the adaptation by Phy. infestans.

plant biology↗