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Hobza R, Bačovský V, Čegan R, Horáková L, Hubinský M, Janíček T, Janoušek B, Jedlička P, Kružlicová J, Kubát Z, Rodríguez Lorenzo JL, Novotná P, Hudzieczek V. Sexy ways: approaches to studying plant sex chromosomes. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2024; 75:5204-5219. [PMID: 38652048 PMCID: PMC11389836 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erae173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Sex chromosomes have evolved in many plant species with separate sexes. Current plant research is shifting from examining the structure of sex chromosomes to exploring their functional aspects. New studies are progressively unveiling the specific genetic and epigenetic mechanisms responsible for shaping distinct sexes in plants. While the fundamental methods of molecular biology and genomics are generally employed for the analysis of sex chromosomes, it is often necessary to modify classical procedures not only to simplify and expedite analyses but sometimes to make them possible at all. In this review, we demonstrate how, at the level of structural and functional genetics, cytogenetics, and bioinformatics, it is essential to adapt established procedures for sex chromosome analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Hobza
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Václav Bačovský
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Radim Čegan
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Lucie Horáková
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Marcel Hubinský
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Janíček
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Bohuslav Janoušek
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Jedlička
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Kružlicová
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Zdeněk Kubát
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - José Luis Rodríguez Lorenzo
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Pavla Novotná
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Vojtěch Hudzieczek
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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Zhao L, Zhou W, He J, Li DZ, Li HT. Positive selection and relaxed purifying selection contribute to rapid evolution of male-biased genes in a dioecious flowering plant. eLife 2024; 12:RP89941. [PMID: 38353667 PMCID: PMC10942601 DOI: 10.7554/elife.89941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Sex-biased genes offer insights into the evolution of sexual dimorphism. Sex-biased genes, especially those with male bias, show elevated evolutionary rates of protein sequences driven by positive selection and relaxed purifying selection in animals. Although rapid sequence evolution of sex-biased genes and evolutionary forces have been investigated in animals and brown algae, less is known about evolutionary forces in dioecious angiosperms. In this study, we separately compared the expression of sex-biased genes between female and male floral buds and between female and male flowers at anthesis in dioecious Trichosanthes pilosa (Cucurbitaceae). In floral buds, sex-biased gene expression was pervasive, and had significantly different roles in sexual dimorphism such as physiology. We observed higher rates of sequence evolution for male-biased genes in floral buds compared to female-biased and unbiased genes. Male-biased genes under positive selection were mainly associated with functions to abiotic stress and immune responses, suggesting that high evolutionary rates are driven by adaptive evolution. Additionally, relaxed purifying selection may contribute to accelerated evolution in male-biased genes generated by gene duplication. Our findings, for the first time in angiosperms, suggest evident rapid evolution of male-biased genes, advance our understanding of the patterns and forces driving the evolution of sexual dimorphism in dioecious plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Zhao
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species & Yunnan Key Laboratory of Crop Wild Relatives Omics, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
| | - Wei Zhou
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species & Yunnan Key Laboratory of Crop Wild Relatives Omics, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
| | - Jun He
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species & Yunnan Key Laboratory of Crop Wild Relatives Omics, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
| | - De-Zhu Li
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species & Yunnan Key Laboratory of Crop Wild Relatives Omics, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
- Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
| | - Hong-Tao Li
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species & Yunnan Key Laboratory of Crop Wild Relatives Omics, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
- Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of SciencesKunmingChina
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Moyle LC, Wu M, Gibson MJS. Reproductive Proteins Evolve Faster Than Non-reproductive Proteins Among Solanum Species. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:635990. [PMID: 33912206 PMCID: PMC8072272 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.635990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Elevated rates of evolution in reproductive proteins are commonly observed in animal species, and are thought to be driven by the action of sexual selection and sexual conflict acting specifically on reproductive traits. Whether similar patterns are broadly observed in other biological groups is equivocal. Here, we examine patterns of protein divergence among wild tomato species (Solanum section Lycopersicon), to understand forces shaping the evolution of reproductive genes in this diverse, rapidly evolving plant clade. By comparing rates of molecular evolution among loci expressed in reproductive and non-reproductive tissues, our aims were to test if: (a) reproductive-specific loci evolve more rapidly, on average, than non-reproductive loci; (b) 'male'-specific loci evolve at different rates than 'female'-specific loci; (c) genes expressed exclusively in gametophytic (haploid) tissue evolve differently from genes expressed in sporophytic (diploid) tissue or in both tissue types; and (d) mating system variation (a potential proxy for the expected strength of sexual selection and/or sexual conflict) affects patterns of protein evolution. We observed elevated evolutionary rates in reproductive proteins. However, this pattern was most evident for female- rather than male-specific loci, both broadly and for individual loci inferred to be positively selected. These elevated rates might be facilitated by greater tissue-specificity of reproductive proteins, as faster rates were also associated with more narrow expression domains. In contrast, we found little evidence that evolutionary rates are consistently different in loci experiencing haploid selection (gametophytic-exclusive loci), or in lineages with quantitatively different mating systems. Overall while reproductive protein evolution is generally elevated in this diverse plant group, some specific patterns of evolution are more complex than those reported in other (largely animal) systems, and include a more prominent role for female-specific loci among adaptively evolving genes.
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