Potential allopolyploid origin of Ericales revealed with gene-tree reconciliation

Shuai Nie; Xue-Chan Tian; Lei Kong; Shi-Wei Zhao; Zhao-Yang Chen; Si-Qian Jiao; Yousry A El-Kassaby; Ilga Porth; Fu-Sheng Yang; Wei Zhao; Jian-Feng Mao

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1006904

Potential allopolyploid origin of Ericales revealed with gene-tree reconciliation

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Nov 15:13:1006904. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1006904. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Shuai Nie¹, Xue-Chan Tian¹, Lei Kong¹, Shi-Wei Zhao¹, Zhao-Yang Chen¹, Si-Qian Jiao^{1

2}, Yousry A El-Kassaby³, Ilga Porth⁴, Fu-Sheng Yang^{5

6

7}, Wei Zhao⁸, Jian-Feng Mao¹

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding in Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants, Ministry of Education, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
² Henan Key Laboratory of Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Eco-economic Woody Plant, Pingdingshan University, Pingdingshan, China.
³ Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ Départment des Sciences du Bois et de la Forêt, Faculté de Foresterie, de Géographie et Géomatique, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁶ China National Botanical Garden, Beijing, China.
⁷ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁸ Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

Abstract

Few incidents of ancient allopolyploidization (polyploidization by hybridization or merging diverged genomes) were previously revealed, although there is significant evidence for the accumulation of whole genome duplications (WGD) in plants. Here, we focused on Ericales, one of the largest and most diverse angiosperm orders with significant ornamental and economic value. Through integrating 24 high-quality whole genome data selected from ~ 200 Superasterids genomes/species and an algorithm of topology-based gene-tree reconciliation, we explored the evolutionary history of in Ericales with ancient complex. We unraveled the allopolyploid origin of Ericales and detected extensive lineage-specific gene loss following the polyploidization. Our study provided a new hypothesis regarding the origin of Ericales and revealed an instructive perspective of gene loss as a pervasive source of genetic variation and adaptive phenotypic diversity in Ericales.

Keywords: Ericales; allopolyploidization; gene loss; hybridization; whole genome duplication.