title: Gene duplication, silencing and expression alteration govern the molecular evolution of PRC2 genes in plants.
abstract: PRC2 genes were analyzed for their number of gene duplications, dN/dSratios and expression patterns among Brassicaceae and Gramineae species. Although both amino acid sequences and copy number of the PRC2 genes were generally well conserved in both Brassicaceae and Gramineae species, we observed that some rapidly evolving genes experienced duplications and expression pattern changes. After multiple duplication events, all but one or two of the duplicated copies tend to be silenced. Silenced copies were reactivated in the endosperm and showed ectopic expression in developing seeds. The results indicated that rapid evolution of some PRC2 genes is initially caused by a relaxation of selective constraint following the gene duplication events. Several loci could become maternally expressed imprinted genes and acquired functional roles in the endosperm.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, Kyoto Sangyo University.
authors.forename: Hazuka Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Furihata
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suenaga
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawanabe
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawabe
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019607:Brassicaceae / Q000235:genetics; D056625:Endosperm / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020440:Gene Duplication / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020868:Gene Silencing; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D010802:Phylogeny; D006109:Poaceae / Q000235:genetics; D063151:Polycomb Repressive Complex 2; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C574170:PRC2 protein, Arabidopsis; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D063151:Polycomb Repressive Complex 2