ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2018
Highly Expressed Genes Are Preferentially Co-Opted for C4 Photosynthesis.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
- The genetic architecture of leaf vein density and its importance for photosynthesis in maize.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Transcription Factor Promiscuity Drives Regulatory Rewiring and Evolvability in Gene Networks in Bacteria.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- A dominant role of transcriptional regulation during the evolution of CNature communications · 2025Article
- Genome-wide comparative analysis of photosynthetic enzymatic genes provides novel insights into foxtail millet and other cereals.Frontiers in genetics · 2024Article
- Alloteropsis semialata as a study system for C4 evolution in grasses.Annals of botany · 2023Article
- Genetic assimilation of ancestral plasticity during parallel adaptation to zinc contamination in Silene uniflora.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- Evolution of gene regulatory network of CPlant communications · 2023Article
- Genome-wide identification and comparative analyses of key genes involved in CFrontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Evolution of an intermediate CPhotosynthesis research · 2022Review
- Spatial resolution of an integrated CScience advances · 2022Article
- Gene co-expression reveals the modularity and integration of C4 and CAM in Portulaca.Plant physiology · 2022Article
- Upregulation of CPlant, cell & environment · 2022Article
- Respiratory and C4-photosynthetic NAD-malic enzyme coexist in bundle sheath cell mitochondria and evolved via association of differentially adapted subunits.The Plant cell · 2022Article
- Article
- Pathways of Photosynthesis in Non-Leaf Tissues.Biology · 2020Review
- Lateral Gene Transfer Acts As an Evolutionary Shortcut to Efficient C4 Biochemistry.Molecular biology and evolution · 2020Article
- Why is C4 photosynthesis so rare in trees?Journal of experimental botany · 2020Article
- Genetic Diversity of CGenes · 2020Article
- Continued Adaptation of C4 Photosynthesis After an Initial Burst of Changes in the Andropogoneae Grasses.Systematic biology · 2020Article
- IsoSeq transcriptome assembly of CPlant direct · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Novel adaptations are generally assembled by co-opting pre-existing genetic components, but the factors dictating the suitability of genes for new functions remain poorly known. In this work, we used comparative transcriptomics to determine the attributes that increased the likelihood of some genes being co-opted for C4 photosynthesis, a convergent complex trait that boosts productivity in tropical conditions. We show that independent lineages of grasses repeatedly co-opted the gene lineages that were the most highly expressed in non-C4 ancestors to produce their C4 pathway. Although ancestral abundance in leaves explains which genes were used for the emergence of a C4 pathway, the tissue specificity has surprisingly no effect. Our results suggest that levels of key genes were elevated during the early diversification of grasses and subsequently repeatedly used to trigger a weak C4 cycle via relatively few mutations. The abundance of C4-suitable transcripts therefore facilitated physiological innovation, but the transition to a strong C4 pathway still involved consequent changes in expression levels, leaf specificity, and coding sequences. The direction and amount of changes required for the strong C4 pathway depended on the identity of the genes co-opted, so that ancestral gene expression both facilitates adaptive transitions and constrains subsequent evolutionary trajectories.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.