RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The scaling of genome size and cell size limits maximum rates of photosynthesis with implications for ecological strategies
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 619585
DO 10.1101/619585
A1 Adam B. Roddy
A1 Guillaume Théroux-Rancourt
A1 Tito Abbo
A1 Joseph W. Benedetti
A1 Craig R. Brodersen
A1 Mariana Castro
A1 Silvia Castro
A1 Austin B. Gilbride
A1 Brook Jensen
A1 Guo-Feng Jiang
A1 John A. Perkins
A1 Sally D. Perkins
A1 João Loureiro
A1 Zuhah Syed
A1 R. Alexander Thompson
A1 Sara E. Kuebbing
A1 Kevin A. Simonin
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/16/619585.abstract
AB A central challenge in plant ecology is to define the major axes of plant functional variation with direct consequences for fitness. Central to the three main components of plant fitness (growth, survival, and reproduction) is the rate of metabolic conversion of CO2 into carbon that can be allocated to various structures and functions. Here we (1) argue that a primary constraint on the maximum rate of photosynthesis per unit leaf area is the size and packing density of cells and (2) show that variation in genome size is a strong predictor of cell sizes, packing densities, and the maximum rate of photosynthesis across terrestrial vascular plants. Regardless of the genic content associated with variation in genome size, the simple biophysical constraints of encapsulating the genome define the lower limit of cell size and the upper limit of cell packing densities, as well as the range of possible cell sizes and densities. Genome size, therefore, acts as a first-order constraint on carbon gain and is predicted to define the upper limits of allocation to growth, reproduction, and defense. The strong effects of genome size on metabolism, therefore, have broad implications for plant biogeography and for other theories of plant ecology, and suggest that selection on metabolism may have a role in genome size evolution.