Mitochondrial gene variation and phylogenetic relationships in the genus Beta

Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of cultivated and wild beets: relationships among cytoplasmic male-sterility-inducing and nonsterilizing cytoplasms

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), the maternally inherited failure to produce functional pollen, has been used in the breeding of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris). At least three different sources of CMS can be distinguished from one another as well as from normal fertile cytoplasm by polymorphisms in their mitochondrial genomes. Here we analyzed 50 accessions of cultivated and wild beets to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among male-sterility-inducing and normal cytoplasms. The haplotypes were characterized by the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial cox2-cox1 spacer region and mitochondrial minisatellite loci. The results indicated that (1) a normal cytoplasm line, cv. TK81-O, was situated at the major core node of the haplotype network, and (2) the three sterilizing cytoplasms in question derived independently from the core haplotype. The evolutionary pathway was investigated by physical mapping study of the mitochondrial genome of a wild beet (B. vulgaris ssp. orientalis) accession BGRC56777 which shared the same mitochondrial haplotype with TK81-O, but was not identical to TK81-O for the RFLP profiles of mitochondrial DNA. Interestingly, three sets of inverted repeated sequences appeared to have been involved in a series of recombination events during the course of evolution between the BGRC56777 and the TK81-O mitochondrial genomes.

The male sterile G cytoplasm of wild beet displays modified mitochondrial respiratory complexes

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in higher plants has been mainly studied in cultivated species. In most cases, pollen abortion is linked to the presence of an additional mitochondrial polypeptide leading to organelle dysfunction in reproductive tissues. In wild beet, both CMS and hermaphrodite plants coexist in natural populations. The G cytoplasm is widely distributed along the Western European coast, and previous genetic studies have demonstrated that this cytoplasm confers male sterility in beet. In the present study, we have identified two mutations of G mitochondrial genes, each of which results in the production of a respiratory chain complex subunit with an altered molecular weight; the NAD9 subunit has a C-terminal extension while the COX2 subunit has a truncated C-terminus. NADH dehydrogenase activity was unchanged in leaves, but cytochrome c oxidase activity was reduced by 50%. Moreover, Western blot analyses revealed that alternative oxidase was more abundant in male sterile G plants than in a fertile control (Nv), suggesting that this alternative pathway might compensate for the cytochrome c oxidase deficiency. Implications of respiratory chain changes and a putative link with CMS are discussed.

The linkage disequilibrium between chloroplast DNA and mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima (L.): the usefulness of both genomes for population genetic studies

The structure and evolution of the plant mitochondrial genome may allow recurrent appearance of the same mitochondrial variants in different populations. Whether the same mitochondrial variant is distributed by migration or appears recurrently by mutation (creating homoplasy) in different populations is an important question with regard to the use of these markers for population genetic analyses. The genetic association observed between chloroplasts and mitochondria (i.e. two maternally inherited cytoplasmic genomes) may indicate whether or not homoplasy occurs in the mitochondrial genome. Four-hundred and fourteen individuals sampled in wild populations of beets from France and Spain were screened for their mitochondrial and chloroplast polymorphisms. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphism was investigated with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) polymorphism was investigated with polymerase chain reaction PCR-RFLP, using universal primers for the amplification. Twenty and 13 variants for mtDNA and cpDNA were observed, respectively. Most exhibited a widespread geographical distribution. As a very strong linkage disequilibrium was estimated between mtDNA and cpDNA haplotypes, a high rate of recurrent mutation was excluded for the mitochondrial genome of beets. Identical mitochondrial variants found in populations of different regions probably occurred as a result of migration. We concluded from this study that mtDNA is a tool as valuable as cpDNA when a maternal marker is needed for population genetics analyses in beet on a large regional scale.

Genetic relationships within the genus Beta determined using both PCR-based marker and DNA sequencing techniques

The sequences of ITS1 of the internal transcribed spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA from 11 species or subspecies in four sections of the genus Beta were compared. Phylogeny of these wild beet taxa was inferred from the sequence data using phenetic and phylogenetic analyses. Multiple accessions from the same 11 taxa were subjected to random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis, and the data were analysed phenetically. With both molecular techniques and each analysis, three distinctive groups were formed: species from section Beta formed one group; species from section Procumbentes formed a very distinct group; and species from both section Nanae and section Corollinae clustered together forming the third group, which is closer to Beta than Procumbentes. The RAPD data revealed within-section interspecies relationships that are consistent with those reported previously; this was not always the case using the single-locus sequence data.