Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

High Occurrence Of Functional New Chimeric Genes In Survey Of Rice Chromosome 3 Short Arm Genome Sequences, Chengjun Zhang, Jun Wang, Nicholas C. Marowsky, Manyuan Long, Rod A. Wing, Chuanzhu Fan

Biological Sciences Faculty Research Publications

In an effort to identify newly evolved genes in rice,we searched the genomes of Asian-cultivated rice Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and its wild progenitors, looking for lineage-specific genes. Using genome pairwise comparison of approximately 20-Mb DNA sequences from the chromosome 3 short arm (Chr3s) in six rice species, O. sativa, O. nivara, O. rufipogon, O. glaberrima, O. barthii, and O. punctata, combined with synonymous substitution rate tests and other evidence, we were able to identify potential recently duplicated genes, which evolved within the last 1 Myr. We identified 28 functional O. sativa genes, which …

Functional Analysis Of B And C Class Floral Organ Genes In Spinach Demonstrates Their Role In Sexual Dimorphism, D Noah Sather, Maja Jovanovic, Edward M. Golenberg

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Evolution of unisexual flowers entails one of the most extreme changes in plant development. Cultivated spinach, Spinacia oleracea L., is uniquely suited for the study of unisexual flower development as it is dioecious and it achieves unisexually by the absence of organ development, rather than by organ abortion or suppression. Male staminate flowers lack fourth whorl primordia and female pistillate flowers lack third whorl primordia. Based on theoretical considerations, early inflorescence or floral organ identity genes would likely be directly involved in sex-determination in those species in which organ initiation rather than organ maturation is regulated. In this …