Ancient horizontal transfer of transaldolase‐like protein gene and its role in plant vascular development

Abstract

A major event in land plant evolution is the origin of vascular tissues, which ensure the long-distance transport of water, nutrients and organic compounds. However, the molecular basis for the origin and evolution of plant vascular tissues remains largely unknown.Here, we investigate the evolution of the land plant TAL-type transaldolase (TAL) gene and its potential function in rice (Oryza sativa) based on phylogenetic analyses and transgenic experiments, respectively.TAL genes are only present in land plants and bacteria. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that land plant TAL genes are derived from Actinobacteria through an ancient horizontal gene transfer (HGT) event. Further evidence reveals that land plant TAL genes have undergone positive selection and gained several introns following its acquisition by the most recent common ancestor of land plants. Transgenic plant experiments show that rice TAL is specifically expressed in vascular tissues and that knockdown of TAL expression leads to changes in both the number and pattern of vascular bundles.Our findings show that the ancient HGT of TAL from bacteria probably plays an important role in plant vascular development and adaptation to land environments.

Genetic Engineering and Sustainable Crop Disease Management: Opportunities for Case-by-Case Decision-Making

“…Naturally produced recombinant DNA can result from: meiotic recombination; the action of diverse and often abundant mobile genetic elements; gene duplication; chromosomal inversions and translocations; novel gene assemblies; shuffling of exons and other gene fragments; chromosomal duplication; horizontal gene transfer; and incorporation of viral genes. In fact, all land plants appear to be "natural GMOs," as all contain genes apparently acquired horizontally [178][179][180][181][182][183][184][185][186][187][188][189][190][191][192][193][194]. To my knowledge, there is no published, validated research showing any fundamental biochemical or biophysical difference between DNA recombined in a test tube vs. that recombined in a living cell.…”

Functional Classification of Skinning Injury Responsive Genes in Storage Roots of Sweetpotato

“…Caillau and Quick (2005) reported that TAL gene (ToTal1) accumulation has been observed in root, stem and red fruit of tomato. Another study by Yang et al (2014) showed that rice TAL was expressed in leaf, panicle, stem, knot, and root. A knockdown TAL plant using a genespecific RNA interference (RNAi) construct in rice, showed reduction of TAL transcript in leaves of TAL-RNAi line.…”

“…A knockdown TAL plant using a genespecific RNA interference (RNAi) construct in rice, showed reduction of TAL transcript in leaves of TAL-RNAi line. They found that knockdown TAL gene leads to changes in number and pattern of vascular bundles (Yang et al, 2014). TAL up-regulation may enhance the flux to shikimate pathway (Misra et al, 2010) from primary to secondary metabolites enabling synthesis of aromatic amino acid, flavonoids, and lignin.…”

The evolution of land plants: a perspective from horizontal gene transfer

“…For instance, the vein patterning 1 (VEP1) gene in land plants, presumably acquired from bacteria, is involved in vascular strand formation [33,39]. Most recently, Yang et al investigated the evolution of TAL-type transaldolase (TAL) gene and found that land plant TAL genes are derived from actinobacteria [40]. TAL is ubiquitous in land plants and positively selected [40].…”

“…Most recently, Yang et al investigated the evolution of TAL-type transaldolase (TAL) gene and found that land plant TAL genes are derived from actinobacteria [40]. TAL is ubiquitous in land plants and positively selected [40]. Transgenic experiments in rice showed that TAL is specifically expressed in vascular tissues.…”