title: Evidence for horizontal transfer of mitochondrial DNA to the plastid genome in a bamboo genus.
abstract: In flowering plants, three genomes (nuclear, mitochondrial, and plastid) coexist and intracellular horizontal transfer of DNA is prevalent, especially from the plastid to the mitochondrion genome. However, the plastid genomes are generally conserved in evolution and have long been considered immune to foreign DNA. Recently, the opposite direction of DNA transfer from the mitochondrial to the plastid genome has been reported in two eudicot lineages. Here we sequenced 6 plastid genomes of bamboos, three of which are neotropical woody species and three are herbaceous ones. Several unusual features were found, including the duplication of trnT-GGU and loss of one copy of rps19 due to contraction of inverted repeats (IRs). The most intriguing was the ~2.7 kb insertion in the plastid IR regions in the three herbaceous bamboos. Furthermore, the insertion was documented to be horizontally transferred from the mitochondrial to the plastid genome. Our study provided evidence of the mitochondrial-to-plastid DNA transfer in the monocots, demonstrating again that this rare event does occur in other angiosperm lineages. However, the mechanism underlying the transfer remains obscure, and more studies in other plants may elucidate it in the future.
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China [2] Plant Germplasm and Genomics Center, Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China.
authors.forename: Peng-Fei
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China [2] Plant Germplasm and Genomics Center, Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Xiao
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Plant Germplasm and Genomics Center, Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China [2] Plant Germplasm and Genomics Center, Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China.
authors.forename: De-Zhu
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D031723:Bambusa / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D018745:Genome, Plant; D054627:Genome, Plastid / Q000235:genetics*; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial