Abstract Detail

Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo)

Xie, Jinghe [1], Kong, Hongzhi [2].

Molecular mechanisms underlying parallel petal spur losses within the genus Aquilegia.

The multiple origins of species with longer petal spurs from those with shorter ones within the genus Aquilegia (Ranunculaceae) are famous examples of pollinator shift-mediated adaptive evolution. The mechanisms underlying the initiation, development, origin, elongation, diversification and secondary loss of the spurs, however, remain largely unclear. We have sequenced, assembled and annotated the genome of a spurred morph of A. oxysepala var. kansuensis and, by using it as a reference, resequenced the genomes of hundreds of spurred and non-spurred relatives to understand the process and molecular bases of spur loss and degeneration in natural populations. Preliminary analyses of 147 (73 spurred and 74 non-spurred) individuals confirmed that the degeneration and secondary losses of petal spurs have occurred multiple times in different species and different populations of the same species, so that the species status of A. ecalcarata for the non-spurred morphs is rejected. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) further detected 899 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with presence and absence of the spur. A few SNPs, which are located in highly differentiated genomic regions and showed clear differences in transcriptome- and RNA in situ hybridization-based expression pattern between spurred and non-spurred morphs, are believed to be the key to the generation of non-spurred morphs. Although functional studies are still being conducted to test the hypotheses, these results pave the way to elucidating the mechanisms underlying the pollinator shift-mediated parallel spur losses in Aquilegia.

1 - Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, No.20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing , 100093
2 - Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, No.20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093,

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo) Posters
Location: Arizona Ballroom/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 6:15 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PEV002
Abstract ID:625
Candidate for Awards:Developmental and Structural Section best poster