Repeated polyploidization of Gossypium genomes and the evolution of spinnable cotton fibres.

Polyploidy often confers emergent properties, such as the higher fibre productivity and quality of tetraploid cottons than diploid cottons bred for the same environments. Here we show that an abrupt five- to sixfold ploidy increase approximately 60 million years (Myr) ago, and allopolyploidy reuniting divergent Gossypium genomes approximately 1-2 Myr ago, conferred about 30-36-fold duplication of ancestral angiosperm (flowering plant) genes in elite cottons (Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense), genetic complexity equalled only by Brassica among sequenced angiosperms. Nascent fibre evolution, before allopolyploidy, is elucidated by comparison of spinnable-fibred Gossypium herbaceum A and non-spinnable Gossypium longicalyx F genomes to one another and the outgroup D genome of non-spinnable Gossypium raimondii. The sequence of a G. hirsutum A(t)D(t) (in which 't' indicates tetraploid) cultivar reveals many non-reciprocal DNA exchanges between subgenomes that may have contributed to phenotypic innovation and/or other emergent properties such as ecological adaptation by polyploids. Most DNA-level novelty in G. hirsutum recombines alleles from the D-genome progenitor native to its New World habitat and the Old World A-genome progenitor in which spinnable fibre evolved. Coordinated expression changes in proximal groups of functionally distinct genes, including a nuclear mitochondrial DNA block, may account for clusters of cotton-fibre quantitative trait loci affecting diverse traits. Opportunities abound for dissecting emergent properties of other polyploids, particularly angiosperms, by comparison to diploid progenitors and outgroups.

The Sorghum bicolor genome and the diversification of grasses.

Sorghum, an African grass related to sugar cane and maize, is grown for food, feed, fibre and fuel. We present an initial analysis of the approximately 730-megabase Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench genome, placing approximately 98% of genes in their chromosomal context using whole-genome shotgun sequence validated by genetic, physical and syntenic information. Genetic recombination is largely confined to about one-third of the sorghum genome with gene order and density similar to those of rice. Retrotransposon accumulation in recombinationally recalcitrant heterochromatin explains the approximately 75% larger genome size of sorghum compared with rice. Although gene and repetitive DNA distributions have been preserved since palaeopolyploidization approximately 70 million years ago, most duplicated gene sets lost one member before the sorghum-rice divergence. Concerted evolution makes one duplicated chromosomal segment appear to be only a few million years old. About 24% of genes are grass-specific and 7% are sorghum-specific. Recent gene and microRNA duplications may contribute to sorghum's drought tolerance.

Spotted cotton oligonucleotide microarrays for gene expression analysis.

BACKGROUND: Microarrays offer a powerful tool for diverse applications plant biology and crop improvement. Recently, two comprehensive assemblies of cotton ESTs were constructed based on three Gossypium species. Using these assemblies as templates, we describe the design and creation and of a publicly available oligonucleotide array for cotton, useful for all four of the cultivated species. RESULTS: Synthetic oligonucleotide probes were generated from exemplar sequences of a global assembly of 211,397 cotton ESTs derived from >50 different cDNA libraries representing many different tissue types and tissue treatments. A total of 22,787 oligonucleotide probes are included on the arrays, optimized to target the diversity of the transcriptome and previously studied cotton genes, transcription factors, and genes with homology to Arabidopsis. A small portion of the oligonucleotides target unidentified protein coding sequences, thereby providing an element of gene discovery. Because many oligonucleotides were based on ESTs from fiber-specific cDNA libraries, the microarray has direct application for analysis of the fiber transcriptome. To illustrate the utility of the microarray, we hybridized labeled bud and leaf cDNAs from G. hirsutum and demonstrate technical consistency of results. CONCLUSION: The cotton oligonucleotide microarray provides a reproducible platform for transcription profiling in cotton, and is made publicly available through http://cottonevolution.info.

PolyCat: a resource for genome categorization of sequencing reads from allopolyploid organisms.

Read mapping is a fundamental part of next-generation genomic research but is complicated by genome duplication in many plants. Categorizing DNA sequence reads into their respective genomes enables current methods to analyze polyploid genomes as if they were diploid. We present PolyCat-a pipeline for mapping and categorizing all types of next-generation sequence data produced from allopolyploid organisms. PolyCat uses GSNAP's single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-tolerant mapping to minimize the mapping efficiency bias caused by SNPs between genomes. PolyCat then uses SNPs between genomes to categorize reads according to their respective genomes. Bisulfite-treated reads have a significant reduction in nucleotide complexity because nucleotide conversion events are confounded with transition substitutions. PolyCat includes special provisions to properly handle bisulfite-treated data. We demonstrate the functionality of PolyCat on allotetraploid cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, and create a functional SNP index for efficiently mapping sequence reads to the D-genome sequence of G. raimondii. PolyCat is appropriate for all allopolyploids and all types of next-generation genome analysis, including differential expression (RNA sequencing), differential methylation (bisulfite sequencing), differential DNA-protein binding (chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing), and population diversity.

OxfordGrid: a web interface for pairwise comparative map views.

SUMMARY: OxfordGrid is a web application and database schema for storing and interactively displaying genetic map data in a comparative, dot-plot, fashion. Its display is composed of a matrix of cells, each representing a pairwise comparison of mapped probe data for two linkage groups or chromosomes. These are arranged along the axes with one forming grid columns and the other grid rows with the degree and pattern of synteny/colinearity between the two linkage groups manifested in the cell's dot density and structure. A mouse click over the selected grid cell launches an image map-based display for the selected cell. Both individual and linear groups of mapped probes can be selected and displayed. Also, configurable links can be used to access other web resources for mapped probe information. AVAILABILITY: OxfordGrid is implemented in C#/ASP.NET and the package, including MySQL schema creation scripts, is available at ftp://cggc.agtec.uga.edu/OxfordGrid/.

IntegratedMap: a Web interface for integrating genetic map data.

SUMMARY: IntegratedMap is a Web application and database schema for storing and interactively displaying genetic map data. Its Web interface includes a menu for direct chromosome/linkage group selection, a search form for selection based on mapped object location and linkage group displays. An overview display provides convenient access to the full range of mapped and anchored object types with genetic locus details, such as numbers, types and names of mapped/anchored objects displayed in a compact scrollable list box that automatically updates based on selected map location and object type. Also, multilinkage group and localized map views are available along with links that can be configured for integration with other Web resources. AVAILABILITY: IntegratedMap is implemented in C#/ASP.NET and the package, including a MySQL schema creation script, is available from http://cggc.agtec.uga.edu/Data/download.asp

ESTminer: a Web interface for mining EST contig and cluster databases.

UNLABELLED: ESTminer is a Web application and database schema for interactive mining of expressed sequence tag (EST) contig and cluster datasets. The Web interface contains a query frame that allows the selection of contigs/clusters with specific cDNA library makeup or a threshold number of members. The results are displayed as color-coded tree nodes, where the color indicates the fractional size of each cDNA library component. The nodes are expandable, revealing library statistics as well as EST or contig members, with links to sequence data, GenBank records or user configurable links. Also, the interface allows 'queries within queries' where the result set of a query is further filtered by the subsequent query. AVAILABILITY: ESTminer is implemented in Java/JSP and the package, including MySQL and Oracle schema creation scripts, is available from http://cggc.agtec.uga.edu/Data/download.asp CONTACT: agingle@uga.edu.

Sorghum expressed sequence tags identify signature genes for drought, pathogenesis, and skotomorphogenesis from a milestone set of 16,801 unique transcripts.

Improved knowledge of the sorghum transcriptome will enhance basic understanding of how plants respond to stresses and serve as a source of genes of value to agriculture. Toward this goal, Sorghum bicolor L. Moench cDNA libraries were prepared from light- and dark-grown seedlings, drought-stressed plants, Colletotrichum-infected seedlings and plants, ovaries, embryos, and immature panicles. Other libraries were prepared with meristems from Sorghum propinquum (Kunth) Hitchc. that had been photoperiodically induced to flower, and with rhizomes from S. propinquum and johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense L. Pers.). A total of 117,682 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were obtained representing both 3' and 5' sequences from about half that number of cDNA clones. A total of 16,801 unique transcripts, representing tentative UniScripts (TUs), were identified from 55,783 3' ESTs. Of these TUs, 9,032 are represented by two or more ESTs. Collectively, these libraries were predicted to contain a total of approximately 31,000 TUs. Individual libraries, however, were predicted to contain no more than about 6,000 to 9,000, with the exception of light-grown seedlings, which yielded an estimate of close to 13,000. In addition, each library exhibits about the same level of complexity with respect to both the number of TUs preferentially expressed in that library and the frequency with which two or more ESTs is found in only that library. These results indicate that the sorghum genome is expressed in highly selective fashion in the individual organs and in response to the environmental conditions surveyed here. Close to 2,000 differentially expressed TUs were identified among the cDNA libraries examined, of which 775 were differentially expressed at a confidence level of 98%. From these 775 TUs, signature genes were identified defining drought, Colletotrichum infection, skotomorphogenesis (etiolation), ovary, immature panicle, and embryo.