Poster Presentation Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Conference 2016

Tangled up in two: a burst of genome duplications at the end of the Cretaceous and the consequences for plant evolution (#415)

Yves Van de Peer 1 2 3 4 , Kevin Vanneste 1 2 3 , Steven Maere 1 2 3
  1. Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Ghent, Belgium
  2. Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  3. Bioinformatics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  4. Genomics Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Genome sequencing has demonstrated that besides frequent small-scale duplications, large-scale duplication events such as whole genome duplications (WGDs) are found on many branches of the evolutionary tree of life. Especially in the plant lineage, there is evidence for recurrent WGDs, and the ancestor of all angiosperms was in fact most likely a polyploid species. The number of WGDs found in sequenced plant genomes allows us to investigate questions about the roles of WGDs that were hitherto impossible to address. An intriguing observation is that many plant WGDs seem associated with periods of increased environmental stress and/or fluctuations, a trend that is evident for both present-day polyploids and palaeopolyploids formed around the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) extinction at 66 Ma. I will revisit the WGDs in plants that mark the K–Pg boundary, and discuss some specific examples of biological innovations and/or diversifications that may be linked to these WGDs. I will review evidence for the processes that could have contributed to increased polyploid establishment at the K–Pg boundary, and discuss the implications on subsequent plant evolution in the Cenozoic.