Author:
Publisher:
Published: 2006
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →
Chloroplast genome structure, gene order and content arehighly conserved in land plants. We sequenced the complete chloroplastgenome sequence of Trachelium caeruleum (Campanulaceae) a member of anangiosperm family known for highly rearranged chloroplast genomes. Thetotal genome size is 162,321 bp with an IR of 27,273 bp, LSC of 100,113bp and SSC of 7,661 bp. The genome encodes 115 unique genes, with 19duplicated in the IR, a tRNA (trnI-CAU) duplicated once in the LSC and aprotein coding gene (psbJ) duplicated twice, for a total of 137 genes. Four genes (ycf15, rpl23, infA and accD) are truncated and likelynonfunctional; three others (clpP, ycf1 and ycf2) are so highly divergedthat they may now be pseudogenes. The most conspicuous feature of theTrachelium genome is the presence of eighteen internally unrearrangedblocks of genes that have been inverted or relocated within the genome, relative to the typical gene order of most angiosperm chloroplastgenomes. Recombination between repeats or tRNAs has been suggested as twomeans of chloroplast genome rearrangements. We compared the relativenumber of repeats in Trachelium to eight other angiosperm chloroplastgenomes, and evaluated the location of repeats and tRNAs in relation torearrangements. Trachelium has the highest number and largest repeats, which are concentrated near inversion endpoints or other rearrangements.tRNAs occur at many but not all inversion endpoints. There is likely nosingle mechanism responsible for the remarkable number of alterations inthis genome, but both repeats and tRNAs are clearly associated with theserearrangements. Land plant chloroplast genomes are highly conserved instructure, gene order and content. The chloroplast genomes of ferns, thegymnosperm Ginkgo, and most angiosperms are nearly collinear, reflectingthe gene order in lineages that diverged from lycopsids and the ancestralchloroplast gene order over 350 million years ago (Raubeson and Jansen,1992). Although earlier mapping studies identified a number of taxa inwhich several rearrangements have occurred (reviewed in Raubeson andJansen, 2005), an extraordinary number of chloroplast genome alterationsare concentrated in several families in the angiosperm order Asterales(sensu APGII, Bremer et al., 2003). Gene mapping studies ofrepresentatives of the Campanulaceae (Cosner, 1993; Cosner et al.,1997,2004) and Lobeliaceae (Knox et al., 1993; Knox and Palmer, 1999)identified large inversions, contraction and expansion of the invertedrepeat regions, and several insertions and deletions in the cpDNAs ofthese closely related taxa. Detailed restriction site and gene mapping ofthe chloroplast genome of Trachelium caeruleum (Campanulaceae) identifiedseven to ten large inversions, families of repeats associated withrearrangements, possible transpositions, and even the disruption ofoperons (Cosner et al., 1997). Seventeen other members of theCampanulaceae were mapped and exhibit many additional rearrangements(Cosner et al., 2004). What happened in this lineage that made itsusceptible to so many chloroplast genome rearrangements? How do normallyvery conserved chloroplast genomes change? The cause of rearrangements inthis group is unclear based on the limited resolution available withmapping techniques. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain howrearrangements occur: recombination between repeats, transposition, ortemporary instability due to loss of the inverted repeat (Raubeson andJansen, 2005). Sequencing whole chloroplast genomes within theCampanulaceae offers a unique opportunity to examine both the extent andmechanisms of rearrangements within a phylogenetic framework. We reporthere the first complete chloroplast genome sequence of a member of theCampanulaceae, Trachelium caeruleum. This work will serve as a benchmarkfor subsequent, comparative sequencing and analysis of other members ofthis family and close relatives, with the goal of further understandingchloroplast genome evolution. We confirmed features previously identifiedthrough mapping, and discovered many additional structural changes, including several partial to entire gene duplications, deterioration ofat least four normally conserved chloroplast genes into gene fragments, and the nature and position of numerous repeat elements at or nearinversion endpoints. The focus of this paper is on analyses of sequencesat or near these rearrangements in Trachelium caeruleum. Inversions arebelieved to occur due to the presence of repeat elements subject tohomologous recombination (Palmer, 1991; Knox et al., 1993). Repeats mayfacilitate inversions or other genome rearrangements (Achaz et al.,2003), and higher incidences of repeats have been correlated with greaternumbers of rearrangements (Rocha, 2003). Alternatively, repeats mayproliferate within a genome asa result of DNA strand repair mechanismsfollowing a rearrangement event such as an inversion. Gene.
