Yao, N. orcid.org/0000-0003-1129-2769, Zhang, Z. orcid.org/0000-0003-2325-2342, Yu, L. orcid.org/0000-0003-3748-5470 et al. (10 more authors) (2023) An evolutionary epigenetic clock in plants. Science, 381 (6665). pp. 1440-1445. ISSN 0036-8075
Abstract
Molecular clocks are the basis for dating the divergence between lineages over macroevolutionary timescales (~105 to 108 years). However, classical DNA-based clocks tick too slowly to inform us about the recent past. Here, we demonstrate that stochastic DNA methylation changes at a subset of cytosines in plant genomes display a clocklike behavior. This “epimutation clock” is orders of magnitude faster than DNA-based clocks and enables phylogenetic explorations on a scale of years to centuries. We show experimentally that epimutation clocks recapitulate known topologies and branching times of intraspecies phylogenetic trees in the self-fertilizing plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the clonal seagrass Zostera marina, which represent two major modes of plant reproduction. This discovery will open new possibilities for high-resolution temporal studies of plant biodiversity.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Science is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Biotechnology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number European Research Council 309944 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Oct 2023 13:52 |
Last Modified: | 05 Oct 2023 13:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/science.adh9443 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:203985 |