Natural Selection for Polymorphism in the Disease Resistance Gene Rps2 of Arabidopsis thaliana

• DOI: 10.1093/genetics/163.2.735
• Publication Date: 2021-04-23T05:26:35Z
• Authors: Rodney Mauricio; Eli A Stahl; Tonia Korves; Dacheng Tian; Martin Kreitman; Joy Bergelson
• Keywords: Pseudomonas syringae; Ecotype; Balancing selection

Abstract Pathogen resistance is an ecologically important phenotype increasingly well understood at the molecular genetic level. In this article, we examine levels of avrRpt2-dependent and Rps2 locus DNA sequence variability in a worldwide sample 27 accessions Arabidopsis thaliana. The rooted parsimony tree sequences drawn from diverse set ecotypes includes deep bifurcation separating major susceptibility clades alleles. We find evidence for selection maintaining these alleles identify N-terminal part leucine-rich repeat region as probable target selection. Additional protein variants are found within two correlate with measurable differences among to avirulence gene avrRpt2 pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Long-lived polymorphisms have been observed other genes A. thaliana; data suggest that long-term maintenance phenotypic variation may be general phenomenon consistent diversifying acting concert maintain variation.