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Pleiotropy in developmental regulation by flowering-pathway genes: is it an evolutionary constraint?
Gabriela A Auge1, Steven Penfield2, Kathleen Donohue3
1Fundación Instituto Leloir, IIBBA-CONICET, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, C1405BWE3, Argentina.
The New Phytologist
|May 11, 2019
Summary
Pleiotropy, where one gene affects multiple traits, can constrain evolution. However, functional diversification of these pleiotropic genes allows traits like flowering time and seed germination to evolve more independently.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary genetics
- Plant biology
- Molecular genetics
Background:
- Pleiotropy, a single gene influencing multiple traits, creates genetic correlations.
- These correlations can constrain adaptive evolution due to antagonistic selection or preserve functional trait combinations.
- Functional diversification of pleiotropic genes may mitigate these evolutionary constraints.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review examples of pleiotropy in Arabidopsis thaliana flowering-time genes.
- To highlight pleiotropic genes that also influence seed germination.
- To discuss how functional diversification of pleiotropic genes impacts evolutionary constraints.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of Arabidopsis thaliana flowering-time genes.
- Analysis of pleiotropic effects on flowering time and seed germination.
- Examination of genetic pathways and interaction partners.
Main Results:
- Many Arabidopsis thaliana flowering-time genes exhibit pleiotropy, affecting traits beyond flowering.
- Some pleiotropic genes regulate flowering time and seed germination via shared genetic pathways.
- Other genes show functional diversification, interacting differently or with different partners to regulate distinct traits.
Conclusions:
- Functional diversification of pleiotropic genes can mitigate evolutionary constraints.
- This diversification allows traits to respond more independently to environmental cues.
- It may also contribute to the evolutionary divergence of gene function across species.
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