loading page

Disease resistance gene count increases with rainfall in Silphium integrifolium
  • +6
  • Kyle Keepers,
  • Kelsey Peterson,
  • Andrew Raduski,
  • Kathryn Turner,
  • David van Tassel,
  • Kevin Smith,
  • Alex Harkess,
  • James Bever,
  • Yaniv Brandvain
Kyle Keepers
University of Colorado at Boulder

Corresponding Author:kylekeepers@gmail.com

Author Profile
Kelsey Peterson
The Land Institute
Author Profile
Andrew Raduski
University of Minnesota
Author Profile
Kathryn Turner
The Land Institute
Author Profile
David van Tassel
The Land Institute
Author Profile
Kevin Smith
University of Minnesota
Author Profile
Alex Harkess
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Author Profile
James Bever
University of Kansas
Author Profile
Yaniv Brandvain
University of Minnesota
Author Profile

Abstract

Intracellular plant defense against pathogens is mediated by a class of disease resistance genes known as NB-LRRs or NLRs (R genes). Many of the diseases these genes protect against are more prevalent in regions of higher rainfall, which provide better growth conditions for the pathogens. As such, we expect a higher selective pressure for the maintenance and proliferation of R genes in plants adapted to wetter conditions. In this study, we enriched libraries for R genes using RenSeq from baits primarily developed from the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) reference genome. We sequenced the R gene libraries of Silphium integrifolium Michx, a perennial relative of sunflower, from 12 prairie remnants across a rainfall gradient in the Central Plains of the United States, with both Illumina short-read (n=99) and PacBio long-read (n=10) approaches. We found a positive relationship between the mean effective annual precipitation of a plant’s source prairie remnant and the number of R genes in its genome, consistent with intensity of plant pathogen coevolution increasing with precipitation. We show that RenSeq can be applied to the study of ecological hypotheses in non-model relatives of model organisms.
Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
01 Feb 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
20 Feb 20241st Revision Received
26 Feb 2024Assigned to Editor
26 Feb 2024Submission Checks Completed
26 Feb 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Feb 2024Editorial Decision: Accept