Plant Mol Biol:中科院武汉植物园韩月彭研究组发现桃基因组转座元
2016年3月3日，国际学术期刊《Plant molecular Biology》杂志上在线发表中国科学院武汉植物园韩月彭研究员的一篇研究论文，论文发现了桃基因组转座元件的进化机制，王鲁助理研究员为论文第一作者，韩月彭研究员为论文通讯作者。
桃原产于我国，驯化和栽培历史超过三千年，桃花形态和颜色多样，集中在早春时节开放，成为春季主要的观赏景观之一，自2千多年前成书的《诗经》开始，一直是历代诗人反复歌咏的对象。而桃的果实风味美馔、营养丰富，深受人们喜爱。桃自交亲和且基因组很小(230Mb左右)，但品种间的表型差异相当丰富。
研究组对桃基因组中的一类hAT-MITE转座子(“磨山”转座子)的染色体位置分布、与功能基因的相互关系进行了研究。发现“磨山”转座子在桃基因组中极其活跃，拷贝数扩张到接近500份，其中39个转座子插入到基因区域。在栽培种和观赏用品种中进行的全基因组重测序比较分析发现，相对于亲缘关系很近的桃参考品种，不同的栽培或观赏用桃品种基因组中均有约200个甚至更多的“磨山”转座子新插入位点。该研究还揭示了“磨山”转座子对基因功能的调控作用，以及它本身的起源和进化历史。
研究成果以“evolutionary origin of Rosaceae-specific active non-autonomous hATelements and their contribution to gene regulation and genomic structural variation”为题发表于，揭示了转座子对于桃品种间遗传多态性的贡献，研究结果为桃的驯化历史和品种进化提供了佐证，又为桃等作物的品种差异与品种形成提供了研究工具与理论素材。
“磨山”转座子在桃基因组中的分布及其对基因表达潜在影响
原文链接：
Evolutionary origin of Rosaceae-specific active non-autonomous hAT elements and their contribution to GENE regulation and genomic structural variation
原文摘要：
Transposable elements account for approximately 30 % of the Prunus genome; however, their evolutionary origin and functionality remain largely unclear. In this study, we identified a hATtransposon family, termed Moshan, in Prunus. The Moshan elements consist of three types,aMoshan, tMoshan, and mMoshan. The aMoshan and tMoshan types contain intact or truncated transposase genes, respectively, while the mMoshan type is miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE). The Moshan transposons are unique to Rosaceae, and the copy numbers of different Moshan types are significantly correlated. Sequence homology analysis reveals that themMoshan MITEs are direct deletion derivatives of the tMoshan progenitors, and one kind ofmMoshan containing a MuDR-derived fragment were amplified predominately in the peach genome. The mMoshan sequences contain cis-regulatory elements that can enhance gene expression up to 100-fold. The mMoshan MITEs can serve as potential sources of micro and long noncoding RNAs. Whole-genome re-sequencing analysis indicates that mMoshan elements are highly active, and an insertion into S-haplotype-specific F-box gene was reported to cause the breakdown of self-incompatibility in sour cherry. Taken together, all these results suggest that the mMoshan elements play important roles in regulating gene expression and driving genomic structural variation inPrunus.
doi:10.1007/s11103-016-0454-y
作者：韩月彭
