Evolutionary trajectory of organelle-derived nuclear DNAs in the Triticum/Aegilops complex species

Abstract

Organelle-derived nuclear DNAs, nuclear plastid DNAs (NUPTs) and nuclear mitochondrial DNAs (NUMTs), have been identified in plants. Most, if not all, genes residing in NUPTs/NUMTs (NUPGs/NUMGs) are known to be inactivated and pseudogenized. However, the role of epigenetic control in silencing NUPGs/NUMGs and the dynamic evolution of NUPTs/NUMTs with respect to organismal phylogeny remain barely explored. Based on the available nuclear and organellar genomic resources of the Triticum/Aegilops complex species, we investigated the evolutionary fates of NUPTs/NUMTs in terms of their epigenetic silencing and their dynamic occurrence rates in the nuclear diploid genomes and allopolyploid subgenomes. NUPTs and NUMTs possessed similar genomic atlas, including preferential integration to the transposable element-rich intergenic regions and generating sequence variations in the nuclear genome. The global transcriptional silencing of NUPGs/NUMGs with disrupted and intact open reading frames can be mainly attributed to their repressive chromatin states, namely high levels of DNA methylation and low levels of active histone modifications. Phylogenomic analyses suggested that the species-specific and gradual accumulation of NUPTs/NUMTs accompanied the speciation processes. Moreover, based on further pan-genomic analyses, we found significant subgenomic asymmetry in the NUPT/NUMT occurrence, which accumulated during allopolyploid wheat evolution. Our findings provide novel insights into the dynamic evolutionary fates of organelle-derived nuclear DNA in plants.