Evolutionary dynamics of an Arabidopsis insect resistance quantitative trait locus

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Nov 25;100 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):14587-92. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1734046100. Epub 2003 Sep 23.

Abstract

Glucosinolate profiles differ among Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes, caused by the composition of alleles at several glucosinolate biosynthetic loci. One of these, GS-Elong, harbors a family of methylthioalkylmalate synthase (MAM) genes that determine the side chain length of aliphatic glucosinolate structures. Fine mapping reveals that GS-Elong constitutes an insect resistance quantitative trait locus, caused by variation in glucosinolate profiles conferred by polymorphism of MAM alleles in this region. A sequence survey of randomly chosen ecotypes indicates that GS-Elong is highly variable among A. thaliana ecotypes: indel polymorphisms are frequent, as well as gene conversion events between gene copies arranged in tandem. Furthermore, statistical methods of molecular population genetics suggest that one of the genes, MAM2, is subject to balancing selection. This may be caused by ecological tradeoffs, i.e., by contrasting physiological effects of glucosinolates on generalist vs. specialist insects.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arabidopsis / enzymology
  • Arabidopsis / genetics*
  • Arabidopsis / growth & development
  • Arabidopsis / parasitology*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Ecosystem
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Gene Conversion / genetics
  • Genetic Variation
  • Glucosinolates / genetics
  • Immunity, Innate / genetics*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Moths / pathogenicity*
  • Oxo-Acid-Lyases / genetics
  • Polymorphism, Genetic
  • Quantitative Trait Loci*
  • Selection, Genetic*

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Glucosinolates
  • Oxo-Acid-Lyases
  • methylthioalkylmalate synthase 1

Associated data

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