Simpson, K.J. orcid.org/0000-0001-6673-227X, Mian, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-7828-0629, Forrestel, E.J. et al. (4 more authors) (2024) Bigger genomes provide environment‐dependent growth benefits in grasses. New Phytologist, 244 (5). pp. 2049-2061. ISSN 0028-646X
Abstract
Increasing genome size (GS) has been associated with slower rates of DNA replication and greater cellular nitrogen (N) and phosphorus demands. Despite most plant species having small genomes, the existence of larger GS species suggests that such costs may be negligible or represent benefits under certain conditions. Focussing on the widespread and diverse grass family (Poaceae), we used data on species' climatic niches and growth rates under different environmental conditions to test for growth costs or benefits associated with GS. The influence of photosynthetic pathway, life history and evolutionary history on grass GS was also explored. We found that evolutionary history, photosynthetic pathway and life history all influence the distribution of grass species' GS. Genomes were smaller in annual and C4 species, the latter allowing for small cells necessary for C4 leaf anatomy. We found larger GS were associated with high N availability and, for perennial species, low growth-season temperature. Our findings reveal that GS is a globally important predictor of grass performance dependent on environmental conditions. The benefits for species with larger GS are likely due to associated larger cell sizes, allowing rapid biomass production where soil fertility meets N demands and/or when growth occurs via temperature-independent cell expansion.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). New Phytologist © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | genome size; grasses; growth rate; life history; nitrogen availability; photosynthetic pathway; precipitation; temperature |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 Oct 2024 09:14 |
Last Modified: | 25 Feb 2025 16:33 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/nph.20150 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:217925 |