Abstract
Genome size is a biodiversity trait that shows staggering diversity across eukaryotes, varying over 64,000-fold. Of all major taxonomic groups, land plants stand out due to their staggering genome size diversity, ranging ca. 2400-fold. As our understanding of the implications and significance of this remarkable genome size diversity in land plants grows, it is becoming increasingly evident that this trait plays not only an important role in shaping the evolution of plant genomes, but also in influencing plant community assemblages at the ecosystem level. Recent advances and improvements in novel sequencing technologies, as well as analytical tools, make it possible to gain critical insights into the genomic and epigenetic mechanisms underpinning genome size changes. In this review we provide an overview of our current understanding of genome size diversity across the different land plant groups, its implications on the biology of the genome and what future directions need to be addressed to fill key knowledge gaps.
Highlights
Genome size is widely used to refer to the amount of DNA contained in the cell nucleus
The relevance of GS as a biodiversity trait is clear, given that available data for over 15,000 species of eukaryotes shows an astonishing range varying over 64,000-fold [3,4,5]. Out of all these data, land plants stand out because they are the most widely studied group, and because of their remarkable diversity, ranging ca. 2400-fold—the largest range for any comparable group of organisms
In this review we provide an overview of our current understanding of genome size diversity across the different land plant groups, its implications on the biology of the genome and what future directions need to be addressed to fill key knowledge gaps
Summary
Genome size (hereafter GS) is widely used to refer to the amount of DNA contained in the cell nucleus. The relevance of GS as a biodiversity trait is clear, given that available data for over 15,000 species of eukaryotes shows an astonishing range varying over 64,000-fold [3,4,5]. Out of all these data, land plants stand out because they are the most widely studied group (with values for over 12,000 species), and because of their remarkable diversity, ranging ca. In this review we provide an overview of our current understanding of genome size diversity across the different land plant groups, its implications on the biology of the genome and what future directions need to be addressed to fill key knowledge gaps
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