Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 15, 1243-1258, Copyright © 1998 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
AD Wolfe and CW dePamphilis
The photosynthetic gene rbcL has been lost or dramatically altered in some
lineages of nonphotosynthetic parasitic plants, but the dynamics of these
events following loss of photosynthesis and whether rbcL has sustained
functionally significant changes in photosynthetic parasitic plants are
unknown. To assess the changes to rbcL associated with the loss of
functional constraints for photosynthesis, nucleotide sequences from
nonparasitic and parasitic plants of Scrophulariales were used for
phylogeny reconstruction and character analysis. Plants in this group
display a broad range of parasitic abilities, from photosynthetic
("hemiparasites") to nonphotosynthetic ("holoparasites"). With the
exception of Conopholis (Orobanchaceae), the rbcL locus is present in all
parasitic plants of Scrophulariales examined. Several holoparasitic genera
included in this study, including Boschniakia, Epifagus, Orobanche, and
Hyobanche, have rbcL pseudogenes. However, the holoparasites Alectra
orobanchoides, Harveya capensis, Harveya purpurea, Lathraea clandestina,
Orobanche corymbosa, O. fasciculata, and Striga gesnerioides have intact
open reading frames (ORFs) for the rbcL gene. Phylogenetic hypotheses based
on rbcL are largely in agreement with those based on sequences of the
nonphotosynthetic genes rps2 and matK and show a single origin of
parasitism, and loss of photosynthesis and pseudogene formation have been
independently derived several times in Scrophulariales. The mutations in
rbcL in nonparasitic and hemiparasitic plants would result in largely
conservative amino acid substitutions, supporting the hypothesis that
functional proteins can experience only a limited range of changes, even in
minimally photosynthetic plants. In contrast, ORFs in some holoparasites
had many previously unobserved missense substitutions at functionally
important amino acid residues, suggesting that rbcL genes in these plants
have evolved under relaxed or altered functional constraints.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The effect of relaxed functional constraints on the photosynthetic gene rbcL in photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic parasitic plants
Department of Biology, Vanderbilt University, USA. wolfe.205@osu.edu
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  V. Merckx, P. Schols, H. M.-v. d. Kamer, P. Maas, S. Huysmans, and E. Smets Phylogeny and evolution of Burmanniaceae (Dioscoreales) based on nuclear and mitochondrial data Am. J. Botany, November 1, 2006; 93(11): 1684 - 1698. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Higashiyama, R. Inatsugi, S. Sakamoto, N. Sasaki, T. Mori, H. Kuroiwa, T. Nakada, H. Nozaki, T. Kuroiwa, and A. Nakano Species Preferentiality of the Pollen Tube Attractant Derived from the Synergid Cell of Torenia fournieri Plant Physiology, October 1, 2006; 142(2): 481 - 491. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. R. Bennett and S. Mathews Phylogeny of the parasitic plant family Orobanchaceae inferred from phytochrome A Am. J. Botany, July 1, 2006; 93(7): 1039 - 1051. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. P. Randle and A. D. Wolfe The evolution and expression of RBCL in holoparasitic sister-genera Harveya and Hyobanche (Orobanchaceae) Am. J. Botany, September 1, 2005; 92(9): 1575 - 1585. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Borza, C. E. Popescu, and R. W. Lee Multiple Metabolic Roles for the Nonphotosynthetic Plastid of the Green Alga Prototheca wickerhamii Eukaryot. Cell, February 1, 2005; 4(2): 253 - 261. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. M. Schneeweiss, T. Palomeque, A. E. Colwell, and H. Weiss-Schneeweiss Chromosome numbers and karyotype evolution in holoparasitic Orobanche (Orobanchaceae) and related genera Am. J. Botany, March 1, 2004; 91(3): 439 - 448. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Stefanovic, L. Krueger, and R. G. Olmstead Monophyly of the Convolvulaceae and circumscription of their major lineages based on DNA sequences of multiple chloroplast loci Am. J. Botany, September 1, 2002; 89(9): 1510 - 1522. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. Leebens-Mack and C. dePamphilis Power Analysis of Tests for Loss of Selective Constraint in Cave Crayfish and Nonphotosynthetic Plant Lineages Mol. Biol. Evol., August 1, 2002; 19(8): 1292 - 1302. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. P. Vieira and D. Charlesworth Low Rates of Silent Substitution in Nuclear Genes of Two Distantly Related Scrophulariaceae (Antirrhinum and Verbascum) Mol. Biol. Evol., October 1, 2001; 18(10): 1940 - 1951. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Vernon, R. R. Gutell, J. J. Cannone, R. W. Rumpf, and C. William Birky Jr Accelerated Evolution of Functional Plastid rRNA and Elongation Factor Genes Due to Reduced Protein Synthetic Load After the Loss of Photosynthesis in the Chlorophyte Alga Polytoma Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2001; 18(9): 1810 - 1822. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. G. Olmstead, C. W. dePamphilis, A. D. Wolfe, N. D. Young, W. J. Elisons, and P. A. Reeves Disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae Am. J. Botany, February 1, 2001; 88(2): 348 - 361. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. D. Rabinowicz, E. L. Braun, A. D. Wolfe, B. Bowen, and E. Grotewold Maize R2R3 Myb Genes: Sequence Analysis Reveals Amplification in the Higher Plants Genetics, September 1, 1999; 153(1): 427 - 444. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|