Xiao Han, Jiang Ning, Schaffner Erin, Stockinger Eric J, van der Knaap Esther
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State University/Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
Science. 2008 Mar 14;319(5869):1527-30. doi: 10.1126/science.1153040.
Edible fruits, such as that of the tomato plant and other vegetable crops, are markedly diverse in shape and size. SUN, one of the major genes controlling the elongated fruit shape of tomato, was positionally cloned and found to encode a member of the IQ67 domain-containing family. We show that the locus arose as a result of an unusual 24.7-kilobase gene duplication event mediated by the long terminal repeat retrotransposon Rider. This event resulted in a new genomic context that increased SUN expression relative to that of the ancestral copy, culminating in an elongated fruit shape. Our discovery demonstrates that retrotransposons may be a major driving force in genome evolution and gene duplication, resulting in phenotypic change in plants.
可食用果实，如番茄植株和其他蔬菜作物的果实，在形状和大小上有显著差异。SUN是控制番茄果实细长形状的主要基因之一，已通过定位克隆得到，发现它编码一个含IQ67结构域家族的成员。我们表明，该基因座是由长末端重复逆转座子Rider介导的一次不寻常的24.7千碱基基因重复事件产生的。这一事件导致了一个新的基因组环境，相对于祖先拷贝增加了SUN的表达，最终形成了细长的果实形状。我们的发现表明，逆转座子可能是基因组进化和基因重复的主要驱动力，导致植物表型发生变化。
