Phenotypic landscape inference reveals multiple evolutionary paths to C$_4$ photosynthesis
Abstract
C photosynthesis has independently evolved from the ancestral C pathway in at least 60 plant lineages, but, as with other complex traits, how it evolved is unclear. Here we show that the polyphyletic appearance of C photosynthesis is associated with diverse and flexible evolutionary paths that group into four major trajectories. We conducted a meta-analysis of 18 lineages containing species that use C, C, or intermediate C-C forms of photosynthesis to parameterise a 16-dimensional phenotypic landscape. We then developed and experimentally verified a novel Bayesian approach based on a hidden Markov model that predicts how the C phenotype evolved. The alternative evolutionary histories underlying the appearance of C photosynthesis were determined by ancestral lineage and initial phenotypic alterations unrelated to photosynthesis. We conclude that the order of C trait acquisition is flexible and driven by non-photosynthetic drivers. This flexibility will have facilitated the convergent evolution of this complex trait.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1409.4978,
title = {Phenotypic landscape inference reveals multiple evolutionary paths to C$_4$ photosynthesis},
author = {Ben P. Williams and Iain G. Johnston and Sarah Covshoff and Julian M. Hibberd},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.4978},
year = {2014}
}