Genome size and genomic GC content evolution in the miniature genome-sized family Lentibulariaceae

摘要

Since the first measurements of genome size in the early 1950s(Swift, 1950), researchers have tried to estimate the maximumcapacity of plants for genome growth and the minimum DNAcontent essential for proper cell function. Plants with smallergenome size soon became important subjects of study as it waspossible to completely sequence their genome without the need forprocessing a huge amount of uninformative, repetitive DNA(flagel & Blackman, 2012) which covers the bulk of their genomes(Bennetzen et al., 2005; Ambrozova et al., 2011). Unsurprisingly,the first nearly-complete genome sequence published wasArabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis Genome Initiative, 2000) as itwas then considered to be the plant with the smallest genome(Bennett & Leitch, 2005). Analysis of the Arabidopsis genome(1C 157 Mbp; Bennett et al., 2003) and the virtual removal ofrepetitive DNA and duplicated genes lead to the theoreticalestimate of the minimum size of gene complement needed for plantfunctioning as 1C 50 Mbp (Bennett & Leitch, 2005).