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Will that be allele cache or Mendelian credit? Evidence for the inheritance of ancestral sequences in Arabidopsis. Susan J. Lolle Purdue University National Science Foundation. Fusion mutants. Arabidopsis wild-type.
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Will that be allele cache or Mendelian credit? Evidence for the inheritance of ancestral sequences in Arabidopsis. Susan J. Lolle Purdue University National Science Foundation
Fusion mutants Arabidopsis wild-type
FIDDLEHEAD defined a class of mutations that resulted in ectopic organ fusion
hothead - phenotype • Organ fusion • Pollen hydration on vegetative surfaces • Increased rate of chlorophyll extraction • Limited self-fertility hth-10
All hothead mutations are recessive Both copies of the gene must have a mutation to reveal the mutant phenotype
Fundamentals of Mendelian Genetics • Two alleles per locus • Alleles can be dominant or recessive • Alleles are stable from one generation to the next, whether or not they contribute to the observed phenotype
Progeny should all be homozygous hothead 100% progeny parent Stable Inheritance
But, some progeny are wild-type! 90% 10%
Mechanism? Arabidopsis wild-type Fusion mutant ?
Sequencing of HOTHEAD • All mutant alleles contain a single point mutation in the HOTHEAD gene • Columbia and Landsberg wild-type alleles very similar; Ws quite different
Using Molecular Markers to Genotype Allele ‘A’ Allele ‘a’ PCR amplify (using specific primers) Restriction Enzyme Digestion Gel electrophoresis
Is reversion really contamination?Is this a mistake? • Seed contamination due to wild-type plants grown in close proximity to mutants • Elevated levels of outcrossing in hothead mutants (who is the daddy?)
Embryonic revertants • Revertants detected as embryos cannot be due to contaminating seed
Explanations for Genetic Instability What does the sequence tell us? • Transposon-induced alleles • Inverted or direct repeats at the locus • Epigenetic alleles • High rate of random mutation • Gene conversion
Gene conversion with other family members • None of these sequences could provide correction of the mutant nucleotide without introducing other changes HTH ACT GTT GGA ATT ACA hth-10 ACT GTT GAA ATT ACA At HTH-like 1GTT GTT GGG ATT ACC At HTH-like 2CCA CCTCAAGTTGTA At HTH-like 3CCA CCTCAAGTTGCA At HTH-like 4GTC GTG GGT GTT ACT At HTH-like 5GCC GTA GGA ATC ACC At HTH-like 6GCT GTT GGG ATC ACA At HTH-like 7GTC GTT GGA ATC ACA
Where did these sequences come from? • They were not present in the parental genome • molecular and genetic evidence • They were present in the ancestors • molecular and genetic evidence
A DNA template cannot be detected in the parental genome Evidence strongly supports a ‘template-directed’ process. Is the template RNA? Where is it? How long does it persist?
“@$#?!$” What might this mean? • Organisms could carry sequence information for more than two alleles • Mechanism might help self-fertilizing species avoid the negative consequences of inbreeding
Should you worry about your ancestry? How long does the allele cache persist? Is it quality cache?
National Science Foundation Acknowledgements People: Katie Krolikowski Ryan Lee Tina Nussbaum Wagler Liese Pruitt Trulie Thorley Mirayda Torres Jen Victor Jessica Young Collaborator: Bob Pruitt