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Heterogeneity of intron presence or absence in rDNA genes of the lichen species Physcia aipolia and P. stellaris

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Abstract

Intron origin and evolution are of high interest, yet the rates of insertion and loss are unclear. To investigate their spread, we studied ribosomal (r)DNA introns from the closely related lichens Physcia aipolia and P. stellaris. Both taxa are replete with rDNA spliceosomal introns and autocatalytic group I introns, many of which show presence/absence polymorphism when screened with the PCR approach. This initially suggested that Physcia could be a model for studying intron retention and loss. However, during the course of a population-level analysis, we discovered widespread intron presence/absence heterogeneity within lichen thalli. To address this result, we sequenced multiple clones encoding nuclear rDNA and the single-copy elongation factor-1α (EF-1α) from individual thalli. These data showed extensive rDNA heterogeneity within individuals, rather than the presence of multiple fungi within a thallus. Our results suggest that considerable care must be taken when interpreting intron presence/absence in lichen rDNA, an observation that has general implications for the study of rDNA intron evolution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant awarded to D.B. from the National Science Foundation (MCB 01-10252). D.S. was partially supported by a Stanley Fellowship and an Avis E. Cone Fellowship, both from the University of Iowa. We thank Valérie Reeb (Duke University) and François Lutzoni (Duke University) for advice and assistance with initial Physcia collections and Josep Comeron (University of Iowa) for helpful discussions.

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  1. Dawn M. Simon

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Alberta, Canada

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences and the Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, University of Iowa, 312 Biology Building, Iowa City, IA 52242-1324, USA

    Dawn M. Simon, Cora L. Hummel, Sara L. Sheeley & Debashish Bhattacharya

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Simon, D.M., Hummel, C.L., Sheeley, S.L. et al. Heterogeneity of intron presence or absence in rDNA genes of the lichen species Physcia aipolia and P. stellaris. Curr Genet 47, 389–399 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-005-0581-5

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