%0 Journal Article %A Ming-Ju Amy Lyu %A Udo Gowik %A Peter Westhoff %A Yimin Tao %A Steve Kelly %A Sarah Covshoff %A Harmony Clayton %A Julian M. Hibberd %A Rowan F. Sage %A Martha Ludwig %A Gane Ka-Shu Wong %A Xin-Guang Zhu %T The Coordination and Jumps along C4 Photosynthesis Evolution in the Genus Flaveria %D 2018 %R 10.1101/460287 %J bioRxiv %P 460287 %X Background C4 photosynthesis is a remarkable complex trait, elucidations of the evolutionary trajectory of C4 photosynthesis from its ancestral C3 pathway can help us to better understand the generic principles of complex trait evolution and guide engineering of C3 crops for higher yields. We used the genus Flaveria that contains C3, C3-C4, C4-like and C4 species as a system to study the evolution of C4 photosynthesis.Results We mapped transcript abundance, protein sequence, and morphological features to the phylogenetic tree of the genus Flaveria, and calculated the evolutionary correlation of different features. Besides, we predicted the relative changes of ancestral nodes of those features to illustrate the key stages during the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. Gene expression and protein sequence showed consistent modification pattern along the phylogenetic tree. High correlation coefficients ranging from 0.46 to 0.9 among gene expression, protein sequence and morphology were observed, and the greatest modification of those different features consistently occurred at the transition between C3-C4 species and C4-like species.Conclusions Our data shows highly coordinated changes in gene expression, protein sequence and morphological features. Besides, our results support an obviously evolutionary jump during the evolution of C4 metabolism.ACO2 assimilation rateAAP6protein and amino acid permease 6AlaATAlanine aminotransferaseAspAT5aspartate aminotransferase 5BSCsbundle sheath cellsCETcyclic electron transportCytb561cytochrome b561DEdifferentially expressedFPKMfragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped readsGDCglycine decarboxylase complexGLYKglycerate kinaseGOGATglutamine synthetase and glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferaseGRglutathione reductaseGSL1glutamine synthetase-like 1Lhca5PSI light harvesting complex gene 5MATEmultidrug and toxic compound extrusionMCsmesophyll cellsNADP-MENADP-dependent malic enzymeNCBINational Center for Biotechnology InformationNdhNADH dehydrogenase-likeNHD1sodium: hydrogen (Na+/H+) antiporter 1PEPCphosphoenolpyruvate carboxylasePIFIpost-illumina chlorophyll fluorescence increasePNUEinstantaneous photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiencyPPCKAPEPC protein kinase APPDK-RPPPDK regulatory proteinPPDKpyruvate, orthophosphate dikinasePSIphotosystem IPWUEinstantaneous photosynthetic water use efficiencyRACRubisco activaseRubiscoribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenaseSHMhydroxymethyltransferaseSorDHsorbitol dehydrogenaseSRASequence Read AchieveΓCO2 compensation point %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2018/11/02/460287.full.pdf