Abstract
Anthocyanin pigmentation patterns in different plant species are controlled in part by members of the myc-like R regulatory gene family. We have examined the molecular evolution of this gene family in seven plant species. Three regions of the R protein show sequence conservation between monocot and dicot R genes. These regions encode the basic helix-loop-helix domain, as well as conserved N-terminal and C-terminal domains; mean replacement rates for these conserved regions are 1.02 x 10-9 nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions per site per year. More than one-half of the protein, however, is diverging rapidly, with nonsynonymous substitution rates of 4.08 x 10-9 substitutions per site per year. Detailed analysis of R homologs within the grasses (Poaceae) confirm that these variable regions are indeed evolving faster than the flanking conserved domains. Both nucleotide substitutions and small insertion/deletions contribute to the diversification of the variable regions within these regulatory genes. These results demonstrate that large tracts of sequence in these regulatory loci are evolving at a fairly rapid rate.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 849-854 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Genetics |
Volume | 138 |
Issue number | 3 |
State | Published - 1994 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Genetics