Subtelomeric Assembly of a Multi-gene Pathway for Antimicrobial Defense Compounds in Cereals

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2021 May 8

PMID 33963185

Citations 30

Authors

Yan Li

Aymeric Leveau

Qiang Zhao

Qi Feng

Hengyun Lu

Jiashun Miao

Zheyong Xue

Azahara C Martin

Eva Wegel

Jing Wang

Anastasia Orme

Maria-Dolores Rey

Miroslava Karafiatova

Jan Vrana

Burkhard Steuernagel

Ryan Joynson

Charlotte Owen

James Reed

Thomas Louveau

Michael J Stephenson

Lei Zhang

Xuehui Huang

Tao Huang

Danling Fan

Congcong Zhou

Qilin Tian

Wenjun Li

Yiqi Lu

Jiaying Chen

Yan Zhao

Ying Lu

Chuanrang Zhu

Zhenhua Liu

Guy Polturak

Rebecca Casson

Lionel Hill

Graham Moore

Rachel Melton

Neil Hall

Brande B H Wulff

Jaroslav Dolezel

Tim Langdon

Bin Han

Anne Osbourn

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Non-random gene organization in eukaryotes plays a significant role in genome evolution. Here, we investigate the origin of a biosynthetic gene cluster for production of defence compounds in oat-the avenacin cluster. We elucidate the structure and organisation of this 12-gene cluster, characterise the last two missing pathway steps, and reconstitute the entire pathway in tobacco by transient expression. We show that the cluster has formed de novo since the divergence of oats in a subtelomeric region of the genome that lacks homology with other grasses, and that gene order is approximately colinear with the biosynthetic pathway. We speculate that the positioning of the late pathway genes furthest away from the telomere may mitigate against a 'self-poisoning' scenario in which toxic intermediates accumulate as a result of telomeric gene deletions. Our investigations reveal a striking example of adaptive evolution underpinned by remarkable genome plasticity.

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