ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
The massive mitochondrial genome of the angiosperm Silene noctiflora is evolving by gain or loss of entire chromosomes.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 184 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review and Developmental Perspective on Origin of CMS Genes in Crops.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Pooled it
- A Compact Multipartite Mitogenome ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Assembly and Comparative Analysis of Five Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of theInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Comparative analysis of the complete multi-chromosomal mitogenome of an antitussive herb Fritillaria unibracteata.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- The first complete assembly and analysis of mitochondrial genome of Pinus thunbergii in Pinaceae.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- The mitochondrial genome of the soil pH-indicator plant Hydrangea macrophylla provides insights into mitogenome variation and evolution in superasterids.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
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- Mitochondrial genome assembly, comparative analysis of two caprifoliaceae species, and insights into adaptive evolution.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- High-quality genome assembly and linkage map for a rapidly evolving plant species: Silene uniflora.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- Mitochondrial genomes of Mentha reveal structural complexity and evolutionary diversity.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2026Article
- Recombination and Retroprocessing in Broomrapes Reveal RNA-Mediated Gene Transfer Mechanism and a Generalizable Model for Mitochondrial Evolution in Heterotrophic Plants.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Structural characterization of the plastid genome and comparative mitochondrial genomics of Eupatorium lindleyanum (Asteraceae): evolutionary dynamics and phylogenetic insights.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Structure and Phylogenetic Analysis of Choy Sum (International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Assembly and comparative analysis of the multipartite mitochondrial genome ofFrontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Assembly and comparative analysis of the first complete mitochondrial genome ofFrontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Assembly and comparative analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome ofFrontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Assembly and comparative analysis of four complete mitochondrial genomes of Pulsatilla species.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
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- Complete mitochondrial genome assembly and comparative analysis of Fagopyrum dibotrys (Golden Buckwheat).BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Mitochondrial genome analysis of the endangered Oreocharis esquirolii: insights into evolutionary adaptation and conservation.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Across eukaryotes, mitochondria exhibit staggering diversity in genomic architecture, including the repeated evolution of multichromosomal structures. Unlike in the nucleus, where mitosis and meiosis ensure faithful transmission of chromosomes, the mechanisms of inheritance in fragmented mitochondrial genomes remain mysterious. Multichromosomal mitochondrial genomes have recently been found in multiple species of flowering plants, including Silene noctiflora, which harbors an unusually large and complex mitochondrial genome with more than 50 circular-mapping chromosomes totaling ∼7 Mb in size. To determine the extent to which such genomes are stably maintained, we analyzed intraspecific variation in the mitochondrial genome of S. noctiflora. Complete genomes from two populations revealed a high degree of similarity in the sequence, structure, and relative abundance of mitochondrial chromosomes. For example, there are no inversions between the genomes, and there are only nine SNPs in 25 kb of protein-coding sequence. Remarkably, however, these genomes differ in the presence or absence of 19 entire chromosomes, all of which lack any identifiable genes or contain only duplicate gene copies. Thus, these mitochondrial genomes retain a full gene complement but carry a highly variable set of chromosomes that are filled with presumably dispensable sequence. In S. noctiflora, conventional mechanisms of mitochondrial sequence divergence are being outstripped by an apparently nonadaptive process of whole-chromosome gain/loss, highlighting the inherent challenge in maintaining a fragmented genome. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to the question of why mitochondria, more so than plastids and bacterial endosymbionts, are prone to the repeated evolution of multichromosomal genomes.
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