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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Plant Genetic Resources and Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #399842
Research Project: Management, Characterization, and Evaluation of Pacific Tropical and Subtropical Fruit and Nut Genetic Resources and Associated Information

Location: Tropical Plant Genetic Resources and Disease Research

Title: Complementing model species with model clades

Author
item AL-SHEHBAZ, IHSAN - Missouri Botanical Garden
item ROALSON, ERIC - Washington State University
item Yu, Qingyi
item PIRES, CHRIS - University Of Missouri
item HARKESS, ALEX - Hudsonalpha Institute For Biotechnology

Submitted to: The Plant Cell
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/22/2023
Publication Date: 10/12/2023
Citation: Al-Shehbaz, I., Roalson, E., Yu, Q., Pires, C., Harkess, A. 2023. Complementing model species with model clades. The Plant Cell. 36(5):1205-1226. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad260.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad260

Interpretive Summary: Brassicales offers rich diversity of species, traits, and adaptation to environmental habitats across a broad geographical distribution, and includes several crops like kale, broccoli, papaya, saltwort, rapeseed, caper, and canola. Within Brassicales, one can find the recurrent evolution and diversification of complex traits involving genomics, physiology, morphology, metabolomics, and environment. To understand the genetic underpinnings of these traits, the predicted functions of orthologous genes in any understudied Brassicales species can be anchored to the massive mutant collections in Brassicaceae "model species" A. thaliana. In this review, we highlight the utility of all Brassicales for using comparative genomics to understand trait variation and evolution, in the context of producing a "model clade" of plants that builds out from a "model species".

Technical Abstract: Model species are pillars that reliably drive groundbreaking plant science research. At the same time, our phylogenetic resolution of the green plant Tree of Life continues to improve. The intersection of these two research paths creates a unique opportunity to further extend the usefulness of model species across larger taxonomic groups. Here we promote the utility of the Arabidopsis thaliana model species, especially the ability to connect its genetic and functional resources, to species across the entire Brassicales. In particular, we focus on the utility of using genomics and phylogenomics to bridge the evolution and diversification of several traits across Brassicales to the resources in Arabidopsis, thereby extending scope from a model species by establishing a "model clade". These Brassicales-wide traits include phylogeny, polyploidy, epigenetics, reproductive biology, woodiness, metabolism, and photosynthesis, which we place in the context of both the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and the family Brassicaceae, together with the expanded diversity of the order Brassicales. We promote the utility of such a "model clade", and make suggestions for building global networks to support futurestudies in the model order Brassicales.