Clara Groot Crego, Jaqueline Hess, Gil Yardeni, Marylaure de La Harpe, Clara Priemer, Francesca Beclin, Sarah Saadain, Luiz A Cauz-Santos, Eva M Temsch, Hanna Weiss-Schneeweiss, Michael H J Barfuss, Walter Till, Wolfram Weckwerth, Karolina Heyduk, Christian Lexer, Ovidiu Paun, Thibault Leroy
The subgenus Tillandsia (Bromeliaceae) belongs to one of the fastest radiating clades in the plant kingdom and is characterised by the repeated evolution of Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Despite its complex genetic basis, this water-conserving trait has evolved independently across many plant families and is regarded as a key innovation trait and driver of ecological diversification in Bromeliaceae. By producing high-quality genome assemblies of a Tillandsia species pair displaying divergent photosynthetic phenotypes, and combining genome-wide investigations of synteny, transposable element (TE) dynamics, sequence evolution, gene family evolution and temporal differential expression, we were able to pinpoint the genomic drivers of CAM evolution in Tillandsia...
April 30, 2024: Plant Cell