Diversity and evolution of Ty1-copia retroelements in representative tribes of Bambusoideae subfamily

Bamboo Transposon Research: Current Status and Perspectives

Bamboo, a fast-growing non-timber forest plant with many uses, is a valuable species for green development. However, bamboo flowering is very infrequent, extending, in general, for up to 120 years. Ecologically, bamboo species are generally better adapted to various environments than other grasses. Therefore, the species deserves a special status in what could be called Ecological Bioeconomy. An understanding of the genetic processes of bamboo can help us sustainably develop and manage bamboo forests. Transposable elements (TEs), jumping genes or transposons, are major genetic elements in plant genomes. The rapid development of the bamboo reference genome, at the chromosome level, reveals that TEs occupy over 63.24% of the genome. This is higher than found in rice, Brachypodium, and sorghum. The bamboo genome contains diverse families of TEs, which play a significant role in bamboo's biological processes including growth and development. TEs provide important clues for understanding the evolution of the bamboo genome. In this chapter, we briefly describe the current status of research on TEs in the bamboo genome, their regulation, and transposition mechanisms. Perspectives for future research are also provided.

Identification, cross-taxon transferability and application of full-length cDNA SSR markers in Phyllostachys pubescens

Current databases of Phyllostachys pubescens full-length cDNAs (FL-cDNAs) provide a rich source of sequences for the development of potential FL-cDNA simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. We screened 10,608 P. pubescens cDNAs, discovering 1614 SSRs in 1382 SSR-containing FL-cDNAs. The SSRs were more abundant within transposable elements (TEs) than expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and genome survey sequences (GSSs), and specific dinucleotide repeats tended to associate with particular TE families: (TA)n with En/Spm and (CT)n with Mutator. A selected panel of 100 FL-cDNAs containing type I SSRs yielded 68 functional SSR markers with an average polymorphism information content (PIC) value of 0.12, among which 22 loci contained polymorphisms. These markers became less transferrable (83.1% → 69.9% → 49.3%) but more polymorphic (79.4% → 92.3% → 92.8%) with increasing phylogenetic distance (intra-genus → intra-subtribe → intra-family). Transferability and polymorphism also depended on the location of the marker, with those located in the coding region being more transferrable (69.1%) and less polymorphic (89.4%) than those in the 5'-UTR (63.4% transferable, 90.7% polymorphic) and the 3'-UTR (61.8% transferable, 91.4% polymorphic). As proof of principle, we were able to use our FL-cDNA SSR markers to identify the parental stocks in interspecific hybrids of bamboo within and beyond P. pubescens, and estimate the outcrossing rate for P. pubescens. Our research should facilitate molecular breeding in bamboo species where original genetic markers are scarce.

Transposable elements in Phyllostachys pubescens (Poaceae) genome survey sequences and the full-length cDNA sequences, and their association with simple-sequence repeats

Phyllostachys pubescens is a woody bamboo with the highest ecological, economic, and cultural values of all bamboos in Asia. There is more genomic data available for P. pubescens than for any other bamboo species, including 2.12-Mb genome survey sequences (GSS) and 11.4-Mb full-length cDNA sequences (FL-cDNAs) currently deposited in GenBank. Analysis of these sequences revealed that transposable elements (TEs) are abundant, diverse and polyphyletic in the P. pubescens genome, of which Ty3-gypsy and Ty1-copia are the two most abundant families. Phylogenic analysis showed that both elements probably arose before the Bambusoideae separated from the other Poaceae subfamilies. We found evidence that the distribution of some intragenic TEs correlated with transcript profiles, of which Mutator elements preferred to insert in the transcripts of transcription factors. Additionally, we found that the abundance of SSRs in TEs (4.56%) was significantly higher than in GSS (0.098%) and in FL-cDNAs (2.60%) in P. pubescens genome, and TA/AT and CT/AG repeats were found to be intimately associated with En/Spm and Mutator elements, respectively. Our data provide a glimpse of the structure and evolution of P. pubescens genome, although large-scale sequencing of the genome would be required to fully understand the architecture of the P. pubescens genome.