Utilising nuclear encoded plastid DNA to identify donors of grass-to-grass lateral gene transfer
Abstract
Determining the correct donor species/lineages of grass-to-grass lateral gene transfer (LGT) is vital for deducing specific donor features that could help inform the mechanism of transfer. This requires a dataset spanning a broad range of species to achieve the phylogenetic resolution necessary for precise donor inference. As grass-to-grass LGT often involves the transfer of multi-gene DNA fragments, they can contain additional sequences that allow for accurate orthologous comparisons, such as nuclear DNA of plastid origin (NUPTs). Here we systematically scan for NUPTs in the genomes of four Alloteropsis semialata accessions, whose LGTs have previously been characterised. Using the abundant Panicoideae chloroplast sequences, we reconstruct NUPT phylogenies and infer two lateral acquisitions: one from Paniceae/ Digitaria and another from Andropogoneae/ Eremochloa adjacent to a previously identified LGT. We then assembled and included an additional 12 Eremochloa chloroplast genomes in the analysis and showed the likely donor was Eremochloa attenuata . Subsequent short-read mapping from E. attenuata to the nuclear region flanking this NUPT showed consistent coverage across the region, including the previously identified LGT, supporting co-transfer. Overall this study highlights the potential for NUPTs to better identify the donors of grass-to-grass LGT.
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BibTeX
@misc{bourne2026utilising,
title = {{Utilising nuclear encoded plastid DNA to identify donors of grass-to-grass lateral gene transfer}},
author = {Noah Bourne and Layla Payne and Sophie Manzi and Guillaume Besnard and Maria Vorontsova and Richard Jobson and Guillaume Chomicki and Luke Dunning},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.26.747220},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05759996v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Utilising nuclear encoded plastid DNA to identify donors of grass-to-grass lateral gene transfer
AU - Noah Bourne
AU - Layla Payne
AU - Sophie Manzi
AU - Guillaume Besnard
AU - Maria Vorontsova
AU - Richard Jobson
AU - Guillaume Chomicki
AU - Luke Dunning
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/29
PB - HAL
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.26.747220
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05759996v1
AB - Determining the correct donor species/lineages of grass-to-grass lateral gene transfer (LGT) is vital for deducing specific donor features that could help inform the mechanism of transfer. This requires a dataset spanning a broad range of species to achieve the phylogenetic resolution necessary for precise donor inference. As grass-to-grass LGT often involves the transfer of multi-gene DNA fragments, they can contain additional sequences that allow for accurate orthologous comparisons, such as nuclear DNA of plastid origin (NUPTs). Here we systematically scan for NUPTs in the genomes of four Alloteropsis semialata accessions, whose LGTs have previously been characterised. Using the abundant Panicoideae chloroplast sequences, we reconstruct NUPT phylogenies and infer two lateral acquisitions: one from Paniceae/ Digitaria and another from Andropogoneae/ Eremochloa adjacent to a previously identified LGT. We then assembled and included an additional 12 Eremochloa chloroplast genomes in the analysis and showed the likely donor was Eremochloa attenuata . Subsequent short-read mapping from E. attenuata to the nuclear region flanking this NUPT showed consistent coverage across the region, including the previously identified LGT, supporting co-transfer. Overall this study highlights the potential for NUPTs to better identify the donors of grass-to-grass LGT.
ER -