Despite the central importance of noncoding DNA to gene regulation and evolution, understanding of the extent of selection on plant noncoding DNA remains limited compared to that of other organisms. Here we report sequencing of genomes from three Brassicaceae species (Leavenworthia alabamica, Sisymbrium irio and Aethionema arabicum) and their joint analysis with six previously sequenced crucifer genomes. Conservation across orthologous bases suggests that at least 17% of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome is under selection, with nearly one-quarter of the sequence under selection lying outside of coding regions. Much of this sequence can be localized to approximately 90,000 conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) that show evidence of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Population genomics analyses of two crucifer species, A. thaliana and Capsella grandiflora, confirm that most of the identified CNSs are evolving under medium to strong purifying selection. Overall, these CNSs highlight both similarities and several key differences between the regulatory DNA of plants and other species.

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The major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex (LHCII) of the photosynthetic apparatus in plants self-organizes in vitro. The recombinant apoprotein, denatured in dodecyl sulfate, spontaneously folds when it is mixed with its pigments, chlorophylls, and carotenoids in detergent solution, and assembles into structurally authentic LHCII in the course of several minutes. Pulse EPR techniques, specifically double-electron-electron resonance (DEER), have been used to analyze protein folding during this process. Pairs of nitroxide labels were introduced site-specifically into recombinant LHCII and shown not to affect the stability and function of the pigment-protein complex. Interspin distance distributions between two spin pairs were measured at various time points, one pair located on either end of the second transmembrane helix (helix 3), the other one located near the luminal ends of the intertwined transmembrane helices 1 and 4. In the dodecyl sulfatesolubilized apoprotein, both distance distributions were consistent with a random-coil protein structure. A rapid freeze-quench experiment on the latter spin pair indicated that 1 s after initiating reconstitution the protein structure is virtually unchanged. Subsequently, both distance distributions monitored protein folding in the same time range in which the assembly of chlorophylls into the complex had been observed. The positioning of the spin pair spanning the hydrophobic core of LHCII clearly preceded the juxtaposition of the spin pair on the luminal side of the complex. This indicates that superhelix formation of helices 1 and 4 is a late step in LHCII assembly.assembly kinetics ͉ DEER ͉ LHCII T he major light-harvesting complex LHCII largely increases the efficiency of the photosynthesis process by collecting light energy and conducting it to a photosynthetic reaction center where light-driven charge separation takes place. The apoprotein of LHCII is one of the most abundant membrane proteins on Earth, but even so, our knowledge is fragmentary of how the LHCII apoprotein folds and assembles with pigments. For studying these questions, LHCII offers several advantages. Its crystal structure is known (1), its apoprotein can be recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli (2), and the protein spontaneously folds and assembles with pigments in detergent solution (2, 3). This spontaneous self-organization can be triggered by mixing the apoprotein solubilized in the ionic detergent dodecyl sulfate with a non-ionic detergent solution of the pigments. The assembly process can then easily be monitored by time-resolved f luorescence spectroscopy using the Chls as built-in fluorescence labels. Such experiments showed that protein folding is dependent on the binding of pigments, and that LHCII formation in vitro occurred in at least two apparent phases, a faster one in the range of some tens of seconds and a slower one taking several minutes (4, 5). The faster step could be assigned to the binding of mostly Chl a, whereas the slower one represents Chl b binding exclus...

The benefits of ever-growing numbers of sequenced eukaryotic genomes will not be fully realized until we learn to decipher vast stretches of noncoding DNA, largely composed of transposable elements. Transposable elements persist through self-replication, but some genes once encoded by transposable elements have, through a process called molecular domestication, evolved new functions that increase fitness. Although they have conferred numerous adaptations, the number of such domesticated transposable element genes remains unknown, so their evolutionary and functional impact cannot be fully assessed. Systematic searches that exploit genomic signatures of natural selection have been employed to identify potential domesticated genes, but their predictions have yet to be experimentally verified. To this end, we investigated a family of domesticated genes called MUSTANG (MUG), identified in a previous bioinformatic search of plant genomes. We show that MUG genes are functional. Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana MUG genes yield phenotypes with severely reduced plant fitness through decreased plant size, delayed flowering, abnormal development of floral organs, and markedly reduced fertility. MUG genes are present in all flowering plants, but not in any non-flowering plant lineages, such as gymnosperms, suggesting that the molecular domestication of MUG may have been an integral part of early angiosperm evolution. This study shows that systematic searches can be successful at identifying functional genetic elements in noncoding regions and demonstrates how to combine systematic searches with reverse genetics in a fruitful way to decipher eukaryotic genomes.

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