Microevolution of S-allele frequencies in wild cherry populations: respective impacts of negative frequency dependent selection and genetic drift

PhcQ mainly contributes to the regulation of quorum sensing-dependent genes, in which PhcR is partially involved, in Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum strain OE1-1

The gram-negative plant-pathogenic β-proteobacterium Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum strain OE1-1 produces methyl 3-hydroxymyristate as a quorum sensing (QS) signal via the methyltransferase PhcB and senses the chemical through the sensor histidine kinase PhcS. This leads to functionalization of the LysR family transcriptional regulator PhcA, regulating QS-dependent genes responsible for the QS-dependent phenotypes including virulence. The phc operon consists of phcB, phcS, phcR, and phcQ, with the latter two encoding regulator proteins with a receiver domain and a histidine kinase domain and with a receiver domain, respectively. To elucidate the function of PhcR and PhcQ in the regulation of QS-dependent genes, we generated phcR-deletion and phcQ-deletion mutants. Though the QS-dependent phenotypes of the phcR-deletion mutant were largely unchanged, deletion of phcQ led to a significant change in the QS-dependent phenotypes. Transcriptome analysis coupled with quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and RNA-sequencing revealed that phcB, phcK, and phcA in the phcR-deletion and phcQ-deletion mutants were expressed at similar levels as in strain OE1-1. Compared with strain OE1-1, expression of 22.9% and 26.4% of positively and negatively QS-dependent genes, respectively, was significantly altered in the phcR-deletion mutant. However, expression of 96.8% and 66.9% of positively and negatively QS-dependent genes, respectively, was significantly altered in the phcQ-deletion mutant. Furthermore, a strong positive correlation of expression of these QS-dependent genes was observed between the phcQ-deletion and phcA-deletion mutants. Our results indicate that PhcQ mainly contributes to the regulation of QS-dependent genes, in which PhcR is partially involved.

Genotyping and De Novo Discovery of Allelic Variants at the Brassicaceae Self-Incompatibility Locus from Short-Read Sequencing Data

Plant self-incompatibility (SI) is a genetic system that prevents selfing and enforces outcrossing. Because of strong balancing selection, the genes encoding SI are predicted to maintain extraordinarily high levels of polymorphism, both in terms of the number of functionally distinct S-alleles that segregate in SI species and in terms of their nucleotide sequence divergence. However, because of these two combined features, documenting polymorphism of these genes also presents important methodological challenges that have so far largely prevented the comprehensive analysis of complete allelic series in natural populations, and also precluded the obtention of complete genic sequences for many S-alleles. Here, we develop a powerful methodological approach based on a computationally optimized comparison of short Illumina sequencing reads from genomic DNA to a database of known nucleotide sequences of the extracellular domain of SRK (eSRK). By examining mapping patterns along the reference sequences, we obtain highly reliable predictions of S-genotypes from individuals collected from natural populations of Arabidopsis halleri. Furthermore, using a de novo assembly approach of the filtered short reads, we obtain full-length sequences of eSRK even when the initial sequence in the database was only partial, and we discover putative new SRK alleles that were not initially present in the database. When including those new alleles in the reference database, we were able to resolve the complete diploid SI genotypes of all individuals. Beyond the specific case of Brassicaceae S-alleles, our approach can be readily applied to other polymorphic loci, given reference allelic sequences are available.

Evolution of self-incompatibility in the Brassicaceae: Lessons from a textbook example of natural selection

Self-incompatibility (SI) is a self-recognition genetic system enforcing outcrossing in hermaphroditic flowering plants and results in one of the arguably best understood forms of natural (balancing) selection maintaining genetic variation over long evolutionary times. A rich theoretical and empirical population genetics literature has considerably clarified how the distribution of SI phenotypes translates into fitness differences among individuals by a combination of inbreeding avoidance and rare-allele advantage. At the same time, the molecular mechanisms by which self-pollen is specifically recognized and rejected have been described in exquisite details in several model organisms, such that the genotype-to-phenotype map is also pretty well understood, notably in the Brassicaceae. Here, we review recent advances in these two fronts and illustrate how the joint availability of detailed characterization of genotype-to-phenotype and phenotype-to-fitness maps on a single genetic system (plant self-incompatibility) provides the opportunity to understand the evolutionary process in a unique perspective, bringing novel insight on general questions about the emergence, maintenance, and diversification of a complex genetic system.

A genome-wide scan for genes under balancing selection in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum

Background

Plant pathogens are under significant selective pressure by the plant host. Consequently, they are expected to have adapted to this condition or contribute to evading plant defenses. In order to acquire long-term fitness, plant bacterial pathogens are usually forced to maintain advantageous genetic diversity in populations. This strategy ensures that different alleles in the pathogen’s gene pool are maintained in a population at frequencies larger than expected under neutral evolution. This selective process, known as balancing selection, is the subject of this work in the context of a common bacterial phytopathogen. We performed a genome-wide scan of Ralstonia solanacearum species complex, an aggressive plant bacterial pathogen that shows broad host range and causes a devastating disease called ‘bacterial wilt’.

Results

Using a sliding window approach, we analyzed 57 genomes from three phylotypes of the R. solanacearum species complex to detect signatures of balancing selection. A total of 161 windows showed extreme values in three summary statistics of population genetics: Tajima’s D, θ_w and Fu & Li’s D*. We discarded any confounding effects due to demographic events by means of coalescent simulations of genetic data. The prospective windows correspond to 78 genes with known function that map in any of the two main replicons (1.7% of total number of genes). The candidate genes under balancing selection are related to primary metabolism and other basal activities (51.3%) or directly associated to virulence (48.7%), the latter being involved in key functions targeted to dismantle plant defenses or to participate in critical stages in the pathogenic process.

Conclusions

We identified various genes under balancing selection that play a significant role in basic metabolism as well as in virulence of the R. solanacearum species complex. These genes are useful to understand and monitor the evolution of bacterial pathogen populations and emerge as potential candidates for future treatments to induce specific plant immune responses.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-019-1456-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Rare sex or out of reach equilibrium? The dynamics of F IS in partially clonal organisms

BACKGROUND

Partially clonal organisms are very common in nature, yet the influence of partial asexuality on the temporal dynamics of genetic diversity remains poorly understood. Mathematical models accounting for clonality predict deviations only for extremely rare sex and only towards mean inbreeding coefficient [Formula: see text]. Yet in partially clonal species, both F IS  < 0 and F IS  > 0 are frequently observed also in populations where there is evidence for a significant amount of sexual reproduction. Here, we studied the joint effects of partial clonality, mutation and genetic drift with a state-and-time discrete Markov chain model to describe the dynamics of F IS over time under increasing rates of clonality.

RESULTS

Results of the mathematical model and simulations show that partial clonality slows down the asymptotic convergence to F IS  = 0. Thus, although clonality alone does not lead to departures from Hardy-Weinberg expectations once reached the final equilibrium state, both negative and positive F IS values can arise transiently even at intermediate rates of clonality. More importantly, such "transient" departures from Hardy Weinberg proportions may last long as clonality tunes up the temporal variation of F IS and reduces its rate of change over time, leading to a hyperbolic increase of the maximal time needed to reach the final mean [Formula: see text] value expected at equilibrium.

CONCLUSION

Our results argue for a dynamical interpretation of F IS in clonal populations. Negative values cannot be interpreted as unequivocal evidence for extremely scarce sex but also as intermediate rates of clonality in finite populations. Complementary observations (e.g. frequency distribution of multiloci genotypes, population history) or time series data may help to discriminate between different possible conclusions on the extent of clonality when mean [Formula: see text] values deviating from zero and/or a large variation of F IS over loci are observed.

Paternal-specific S-allele transmission in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.): the potential for sexual selection

Homomorphic self-incompatibility is a well-studied example of a physiological process that is thought to increase population diversity and reduce the expression of inbreeding depression. Whereas theoretical models predict the presence of a large number of S-haplotypes with equal frequencies at equilibrium, unequal allele frequencies have been repeatedly reported and attributed to sampling effects, population structure, demographic perturbation, sheltered deleterious mutations or selection pressure on linked genes. However, it is unclear to what extent unequal segregations are the results of gametophytic or sexual selection. Although these two forces are difficult to disentangle, testing S-alleles in the offspring of controlled crosses provides an opportunity to separate these two phenomena. In this work, segregation and transmission of S-alleles have been characterized in progenies of mixed donors and fully compatible pollinations under field conditions in Prunus avium. Seed set patterns and pollen performance have also been characterized. The results reveal paternal-specific distorted transmission of S-alleles in most of the crosses. Interestingly, S-allele segregation within any given paternal or maternal S-locus was random. Observations on pollen germination, pollen tube growth rate, pollen tube cohort size, seed set dynamics and transmission patterns strongly suggest post-pollination, prezygotic sexual selection, with male-male competition as the most likely mechanism. According to these results, post-pollination sexual selection takes precedence over frequency-dependent selection in explaining unequal S-haplotype frequencies.

Inference of selection based on temporal genetic differentiation in the study of highly polymorphic multigene families

The co-evolutionary arms race between host immune genes and parasite virulence genes is known as Red Queen dynamics. Temporal fluctuations in allele frequencies, or the ‘turnover’ of alleles at immune genes, are concordant with predictions of the Red Queen hypothesis. Such observations are often taken as evidence of host-parasite co-evolution. Here, we use computer simulations of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to study the turnover rate of alleles (temporal genetic differentiation, G'_ST). Temporal fluctuations in MHC allele frequencies can be ≥≤order of magnitude larger than changes observed at neutral loci. Although such large fluctuations in the MHC are consistent with Red Queen dynamics, simulations show that other demographic and population genetic processes can account for this observation, these include: (1) overdominant selection, (2) fluctuating population size within a metapopulation, and (3) the number of novel MHC alleles introduced by immigrants when there are multiple duplicated genes. Synergy between these forces combined with migration rate and the effective population size can drive the rapid turnover in MHC alleles. We posit that rapid allelic turnover is an inherent property of highly polymorphic multigene families and that it cannot be taken as evidence of Red Queen dynamics. Furthermore, combining temporal samples in spatial F_ST outlier analysis may obscure the signal of selection.

Impact of negative frequency-dependent selection on mating pattern and genetic structure: a comparative analysis of the S-locus and nuclear SSR loci in Prunus lannesiana var. speciosa

Mating processes of local demes and spatial genetic structure of island populations at the self-incompatibility (S-) locus under negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS) were evaluated in Prunus lannesiana var. speciosa in comparison with nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci that seemed to be evolutionarily neutral. Our observations of local mating patterns indicated that male-female pair fecundity was influenced by not only self-incompatibility, but also various factors, such as kinship, pollen production and flowering synchrony. In spite of the mating bias caused by these factors, the NFDS effect on changes in allele frequencies from potential mates to mating pollen was detected at the S-locus but not at the SSR loci, although the changes from adult to juvenile cohorts were not apparent at any loci. Genetic differentiation and isolation-by-distance over various spatial scales were smaller at the S-locus than at the SSR loci, as expected under the NFDS. Allele-sharing distributions among the populations also had a unimodal pattern at the S-locus, indicating the NFDS effect except for alleles unique to individual populations probably due to isolation among islands, although this pattern was not exhibited by the SSR loci. Our results suggest that the NFDS at the S-locus has an impact on both the mating patterns and the genetic structure in the P. lannesiana populations studied.