Extensive gene content variation in the Brachypodium distachyon pan-genome correlates with population structure

While prokaryotic pan-genomes have been shown to contain many more genes than any individual organism, the prevalence and functional significance of differentially present genes in eukaryotes remains poorly understood. Whole-genome de novo assembly and annotation of 54 lines of the grass Brachypodiu...

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Published inNature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 2184 - 13
Main Authors Gordon, Sean P., Contreras-Moreira, Bruno, Woods, Daniel P., Des Marais, David L., Burgess, Diane, Shu, Shengqiang, Stritt, Christoph, Roulin, Anne C., Schackwitz, Wendy, Tyler, Ludmila, Martin, Joel, Lipzen, Anna, Dochy, Niklas, Phillips, Jeremy, Barry, Kerrie, Geuten, Koen, Budak, Hikmet, Juenger, Thomas E., Amasino, Richard, Caicedo, Ana L., Goodstein, David, Davidson, Patrick, Mur, Luis A. J., Figueroa, Melania, Freeling, Michael, Catalan, Pilar, Vogel, John P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 19.12.2017
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
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Summary:While prokaryotic pan-genomes have been shown to contain many more genes than any individual organism, the prevalence and functional significance of differentially present genes in eukaryotes remains poorly understood. Whole-genome de novo assembly and annotation of 54 lines of the grass Brachypodium distachyon yield a pan-genome containing nearly twice the number of genes found in any individual genome. Genes present in all lines are enriched for essential biological functions, while genes present in only some lines are enriched for conditionally beneficial functions (e.g., defense and development), display faster evolutionary rates, lie closer to transposable elements and are less likely to be syntenic with orthologous genes in other grasses. Our data suggest that differentially present genes contribute substantially to phenotypic variation within a eukaryote species, these genes have a major influence in population genetics, and transposable elements play a key role in pan-genome evolution. The role of differential gene content in the evolution and function of eukaryotic genomes remains poorly explored. Here the authors assemble and annotate the Brachypodium distachyon pan-genome consisting of 54 diverse lines and reveal the differential present genes as a major driver of phenotypic variation.
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content type line 23
AC02-05CH11231
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-017-02292-8