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Molecular evolution analysis of WUSCHEL-related homeobox transcription factor family reveals functional divergence among clades in the homeobox region

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Abstract

Gene families have been shown to play important roles in plant evolution and are associated with diversification and speciation. Genes of WUSCHEL-related homeobox family of transcription factors have important functions in plant development and are correlated with the appearance of evolutionary novelties. There are several published studies related to this family, but little is known about the relationships among the main clades in the phylogeny and the molecular evolution of the family. In this study, we obtained a well-resolved Bayesian phylogenetic tree establishing the relationships among the main clades and determining the position of Selaginella moellendorffii WOX genes. Moreover, a correlation was identified between the number of genes in the genomes and the events of whole-genome duplications. The intron-exon structure is more consistent across the modern clade, which appeared more recently in the WOX evolutionary history, and coincides with the development of higher complexity in plant species. No positive selection was detected among sites through the branches in the tree. However, with regard to the main clades, functional divergence among certain amino acids in the homeodomain region was found. Relaxed purifying selection could be the main driving force in the evolution of these genes and in agreement with some genes have been demonstrated to be functionally redundant.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and the Programa de Pós–Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular–Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (PPGBM-UFRGS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Evolution, Department of Genetics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av Bento Gonçalves 9500, PO Box 15053, Porto Alegre, RS, 91501-970, Brazil

    Ana Lúcia A. Segatto & Loreta B. Freitas

  2. Center for Biotechnology, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, RS, 90509-900, Brazil

    Claudia E. Thompson

Authors
  1. Ana Lúcia A. Segatto
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  2. Claudia E. Thompson
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  3. Loreta B. Freitas
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Correspondence to Loreta B. Freitas.

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Communicated by Sureshkumar Balasubramanian

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Segatto, A.L.A., Thompson, C.E. & Freitas, L.B. Molecular evolution analysis of WUSCHEL-related homeobox transcription factor family reveals functional divergence among clades in the homeobox region. Dev Genes Evol 226, 259–268 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-016-0545-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-016-0545-4

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