Taller plants have lower rates of molecular evolution
Taller plants have lower rates of molecular evolution
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DOI：
10.1038/ncomms2836
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发表时间：
2013-05-01
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Allen, Andrew P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lanfear, Robert;Ho, Simon Y. W.;Allen, Andrew P.
分子进化的速率在我们理解物种生物学的许多方面起着中心作用。然而，分子进化速率变化的原因仍然知之甚少，特别是在植物中。本研究表明，植物叶绿体和细胞核基因组的谱系间速率变异中，身高约占五分之一。当考虑到物种丰富度、温度、紫外线辐射、纬度和生长形式的变化时，这种关系适用于138个开花植物科。我们的观察结果可以用植物的身高和基因组复制率之间的联系来解释，我们提出了一个机制假说来解释这一点——“有丝分裂率”假说。这一假说有可能解释关于生命之树中分子进化速率的许多不同观察结果。我们的研究结果对理解不断变化的世界中植物谱系的进化史和未来具有重要意义。
Rates of molecular evolution have a central role in our understanding of many aspects of species' biology. However, the causes of variation in rates of molecular evolution remain poorly understood, particularly in plants. Here we show that height accounts for about one-fifth of the among-lineage rate variation in the chloroplast and nuclear genomes of plants. This relationship holds across 138 families of flowering plants, and when accounting for variation in species richness, temperature, ultraviolet radiation, latitude and growth form. Our observations can be explained by a link between height and rates of genome copying in plants, and we propose a mechanistic hypothesis to account for this-the 'rate of mitosis' hypothesis. This hypothesis has the potential to explain many disparate observations about rates of molecular evolution across the tree of life. Our results have implications for understanding the evolutionary history and future of plant lineages in a changing world.