PubMed · 12610287
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J R McConnell, M K Barton. 2003-02-28. Botany. Leaf development takes shape.. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1082433
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The CYCLOIDEA (CYC) and DICHOTOMA (DICH) genes encode related TCP transcription factors that control floral asymmetry in Antirrhinum majus. Analysis of sequences from relatives of Antirrhinum suggested that CYC and DICH arose from a gene duplication in an ancestor of the tribe Antirrhineae and have subsequently evolved at similar rates. Coding regions outside the conserved functional TCP and R domains differed by numerous indels, suggesting rapid evolution and low constraint on amino acid sequence. An analysis of variability within the genus Antirrhinum revealed very similar CYC alleles in 17 representative species, consistent with most of the species having diverged within the last 1 myr. Whereas substitution mutations appear to have accumulated constantly, one Antirrhinum CYC allele provided evidence for sporadic and rapid accumulation of insertion mutations.
CYCLOIDEA (CYC) and DICHOTOMA (DICH) are paralogous genes that determine adaxial (dorsal) flower identity in the bilaterally symmetric flowers of Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon). We show here that the duplication leading to the existence of both CYC and DICH in Antirrhinum occurred before the radiation of the Antirrhineae (the tribe to which snapdragon belongs). We find no additional gene duplications within Antirrhineae. Using explicit codon-based models of evolution in a likelihood framework, we show that patterns of molecular evolution after the duplication that gave rise to CYC and DICH are consistent with purifying selection acting at both loci, despite their known functional redundancy in snapdragon. However, for specific gene regions, purifying selection is significantly relaxed across DICH lineages, relative to CYC lineages. In addition, we find evidence for relaxed purifying selection along the lineage leading to snapdragon in one of two putative functional domains of DICH. A model of selection accounting for the persistence of paralogous genes in the absence of diversifying selection is presented. This model takes into account differences in the degree of purifying selection acting at the two loci and is consistent with subfunctionalization models of paralogous gene evolution.
Development commonly involves the generation of complex shapes from simpler ones. One way of following this process is to use landmarks to track the fate of particular points in a developing organ, but this is limited by the time over which it can be monitored. Here we use an alternative method, clonal analysis, whereby dividing cells are genetically marked and their descendants identified visually, to observe the development of Antirrhinum (snapdragon) petals. Clonal analysis has previously been used to estimate growth parameters of leaves and Drosophila wings but these results were not integrated within a dynamic growth model. Here we develop such a model and use it to show that a key aspect of shape--petal asymmetry--in the petal lobe of Antirrhinum depends on the direction of growth rather than regional differences in growth rate. The direction of growth is maintained parallel to the proximodistal axis of the flower, irrespective of changes in shape, implying that long-range signals orient growth along the petal as a whole. Such signals may provide a general mechanism for orienting growth in other growing structures.