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Summary Polyploidy is an important evolutionary force, yet epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, that regulate genome‐wide expression of duplicated genes remain largely unknown. Here, we useTragopogon(Asteraceae) as a model system to discover patterns and temporal dynamics of DNA methylation in recently formed polyploids.The naturally occurring allotetraploidTragopogon miscellusformed in the last 95–100 yr from parental diploidsTragopogon dubiusandT. pratensis. We profiled the DNA methylomes of these three species using whole‐genome bisulfite sequencing.Genome‐wide methylation levels inT. miscelluswere intermediate between its diploid parents. However, nonadditive CG and CHG methylation occurred in transposable elements (TEs), with variation among TE types. Most differentially methylated regions (DMRs) showed parental legacy, but some novel DMRs were detected in the polyploid. Differentially methylated genes (DMGs) were also identified and characterized.This study provides the first assessment of both overall and locus‐specific patterns of DNA methylation in a recent natural allopolyploid and shows that novel methylation variants can be generated rapidly after polyploid formation. Together, these results demonstrate that mechanisms to regulate duplicate gene expression may arise soon after allopolyploid formation and that these mechanisms vary among genes. 

PremiseRecent advances in generating large‐scale phylogenies enable broad‐scale estimation of species diversification. These now common approaches typically are characterized by (1) incomplete species coverage without explicit sampling methodologies and/or (2) sparse backbone representation, and usually rely on presumed phylogenetic placements to account for species without molecular data. We used empirical examples to examine the effects of incomplete sampling on diversification estimation and provide constructive suggestions to ecologists and evolutionary biologists based on those results. MethodsWe used a supermatrix for rosids and one well‐sampled subclade (Cucurbitaceae) as empirical case studies. We compared results using these large phylogenies with those based on a previously inferred, smaller supermatrix and on a synthetic tree resource with complete taxonomic coverage. Finally, we simulated random and representative taxon sampling and explored the impact of sampling on three commonly used methods, both parametric (RPANDA and BAMM) and semiparametric (DR). ResultsWe found that the impact of sampling on diversification estimates was idiosyncratic and often strong. Compared to full empirical sampling, representative and random sampling schemes either depressed or inflated speciation rates, depending on methods and sampling schemes. No method was entirely robust to poor sampling, but BAMM was least sensitive to moderate levels of missing taxa. ConclusionsWe suggest caution against uncritical modeling of missing taxa using taxonomic data for poorly sampled trees and in the use of summary backbone trees and other data sets with high representative bias, and we stress the importance of explicit sampling methodologies in macroevolutionary studies.