2024-06-20 ペンシルベニア州立大学(PennState)
ペンシルベニア州立大学の研究者が率いる国際チームは、ナス属植物の果実の多様な色とサイズの進化を解明するため、新しい家系図を作成しました。研究によると、果実の色とサイズは連動して進化し、果実食動物は主要な進化の要因ではないことが分かりました。この発見は、農業上重要な植物の品種改良にも役立つ可能性があります。チームは1,300種以上のナス属植物からサンプルを収集し、RNAから遺伝子を解析して家系図を構築しました。結果、果実の色とサイズの進化が植物の系統に沿って保存されていることが明らかになりました。
<関連情報>
- https://www.psu.edu/news/eberly-college-science/story/new-tomato-potato-family-tree-shows-fruit-color-and-size-evolved/
- https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19849
ソラマメの果実の色と大きさは、系統的に保存され、相関して進化してきたことが、高分解能核系統樹から明らかになった A highly resolved nuclear phylogeny uncovers strong phylogenetic conservatism and correlated evolution of fruit color and size in Solanum L.
João Vitor S. Messeder, Tomás A. Carlo, Guojin Zhang, Juan David Tovar, César Arana, Jie Huang, Chien-Hsun Huang, Hong Ma
New Phytologist Published: 27 May 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19849
Summary
- Mutualisms between plants and fruit-eating animals were key to the radiation of angiosperms. Still, phylogenetic uncertainties limit our understanding of fleshy-fruit evolution, as in the case of Solanum, a genus with remarkable fleshy-fruit diversity, but with unresolved phylogenetic relationships.
- We used 1786 nuclear genes from 247 species, including 122 newly generated transcriptomes/genomes, to reconstruct the Solanum phylogeny and examine the tempo and mode of the evolution of fruit color and size.
- Our analysis resolved the backbone phylogeny of Solanum, providing high support for its clades. Our results pushed back the origin of Solanum to 53.1 million years ago (Ma), with most major clades diverging between 35 and 27 Ma. Evolution of Solanum fruit color and size revealed high levels of trait conservatism, where medium-sized berries that remain green when ripe are the likely ancestral form. Our analyses revealed that fruit size and color are evolutionary correlated, where dull-colored fruits are two times larger than black/purple and red fruits.
- We conclude that the strong phylogenetic conservatism shown in the color and size of Solanum fruits could limit the influences of fruit-eating animals on fleshy-fruit evolution. Our findings highlight the importance of phylogenetic constraints on the diversification of fleshy-fruit functional traits.
