An evolutionary epigenetic clock in plants
An evolutionary epigenetic clock in plants
复制标题
DOI：
10.1126/science.adh9443
复制
发表时间：
2023-09-29
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Johannes，F.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yao，N.;Zhang，Z.;Johannes，F.
分子钟是在宏观进化时间尺度（~ 105年至108年）上确定谱系分歧的基础。然而，经典的基于DNA的时钟走得太慢，无法告诉我们最近的过去。在这里，我们证明了随机DNA甲基化的变化在一个子集的胞嘧啶在植物基因组中显示时钟样的行为。这种“表观突变时钟”比基于DNA的时钟快几个数量级，并且能够在几年到几个世纪的范围内进行系统发育探索。我们的实验表明，epimutation时钟重演已知的拓扑结构和分支时间的种内系统发育树中的自我繁殖plantArabidopsis thaliana和克隆的海草Zostera marina，这代表了两种主要的植物繁殖模式。这一发现将为植物生物多样性的高分辨率时间研究开辟新的可能性。
Molecular clocks are the basis for dating the divergence between lineages over macroevolutionary timescales (~105to 108years). However, classical DNA-based clocks tick too slowly to inform us about the recent past. Here, we demonstrate that stochastic DNA methylation changes at a subset of cytosines in plant genomes display a clocklike behavior. This “epimutation clock” is orders of magnitude faster than DNA-based clocks and enables phylogenetic explorations on a scale of years to centuries. We show experimentally that epimutation clocks recapitulate known topologies and branching times of intraspecies phylogenetic trees in the self-fertilizing plantArabidopsis thalianaand the clonal seagrassZostera marina, which represent two major modes of plant reproduction. This discovery will open new possibilities for high-resolution temporal studies of plant biodiversity.