COS 68-3 - The global biogeography of genome sizes in seed plants

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM EDT

Location: 514B

Presenting Author(s)

TE

Tammy Elliott

Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Coauthor(s)

P�

Petr Šmarda

Masaryk University, Czech Republic
PV

Pavel Veselý

Masaryk University, Czech Republic
FZ

František Zedek

Masaryk University, Czech Republic
PB

Petr Bureš

Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Background/Question/Methods

Plants have both the greatest variation of genome sizes across the larger lineages of eukaryotes and a high incidence of polyploidy. In recent decades, numerous studies have produced a growing body of data on the genomic traits of different plant lineages, providing the opportunity to use these data to address questions related to the global distributions of genome size and polyploidy. In this study, we combine data on plant genomic traits with that provided by World Checklist of Vascular Plants and European Vegetation Archive to address three main research questions. First, we examine whether there is an association with high latitudes and genome size, such as already been reported for polyploid frequency. We then assess whether there is a relation between genome and species range sizes, as would be expected if genome expansion is selected against in larger populations. Finally, we investigate the association of genome size to species Ellenberg indicator values and species diversity in vegetation plots. To address these hypotheses, we have built on the Kew Plant DNA C-values Database to produce a dataset with genome size estimations for nearly 16,000 seed plant taxa. We combine this dataset with polyploid estimates and a recent phylogeny of seed plants.

Results/Conclusions

Our preliminary results support our prediction that species with larger genomes, as well as those with higher levels of ploidy are found at higher latitudes. As expected, our preliminary results also show a negative association between genome and range size. This study will improve our understanding of the global distribution of genomic traits, such as genome size and polyploidy, and the mechanisms underlying these distributions, as well as have implications on understanding the underlying causes of rarity in plants, as rare plants (those with smaller distribution sizes) are expected to have larger genomes. Furthermore, it will also provide a better understanding of how these genomic traits affect global plant distributions. Finally, our results will show how genome size and polyploidy relate to species diversity in plants.