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Title: Chloroplast Genome Sequence of the Moss Tortula ruralis: Gene Content and Structural Arrangement Relative to Other Green Plant Chloroplast Genomes

Author
item Oliver, Melvin
item MURDOCK, ANDREW - University Of California
item MISHLER, BRENT - University Of California
item KUEHL, JENNIFER - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
item BOORE, JEFFREY - Joint Genome Institute
item MANDOLI, DINA - University Of Washington
item EVERETT, KARIN - University Of Washington
item WOLF, PAUL - Utah State University
item DUFFY, AARON - Utah State University
item KAROL, KENNETH - University Of Washington

Submitted to: BMC Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/26/2010
Publication Date: 2/26/2010
Citation: Oliver, M.J., Murdock, A.G., Mishler, B.D., Kuehl, J.V., Boore, J.L., Mandoli, D.F., Everett, K.D., Wolf, P.G., Duffy, A.M., Karol, K.G. 2010. Chloroplast Genome Sequence of the Moss Tortula ruralis: Gene Content and Structural Arrangement Relative to Other Green Plant Chloroplast Genomes. Biomed Central (BMC) Genomics. 11:143.

Interpretive Summary: Tortula ruralis, a widely distributed desiccation tolerant moss, is an important plant model for understanding how plants cope with the loss of water from their vegetative cells, and important aspect of drought tolerance. Of fundamental importance to understanding dehydration tolerance in plants is the elucidation of the sequence of the organelles, chloroplasts and mitochondria, both to understand how these critical cell constituents function in the cell and in understanding the evolutionary aspects of plant processes. We isolated the chloroplast DNA from this important plant model and derived the complete sequence of its 123 Kbp long genome in an effort to compare it to other species that cannot tolerate dehydration. We have determined that its chloroplast genome is lacking a 71Kb rearrangement that is found in similar species and does not contain a gene, petN that is found in all known land plant chloroplast genomes. The significance of these differences to the ability of the chloroplasts of this species to recover from the complete loss of water will generate new strategies for drought improvement and yield stability in our crop plants.

Technical Abstract: Tortula ruralis, a widely distributed moss species in the family Pottiaceae, is increasingly being used as a model organism for the study of desiccation tolerance and mechanisms of cellular repair. In this paper, we present the chloroplast genome sequence of Tortula ruralis, only the second published chloroplast genome for a moss. The circular Tortula chloroplast genome is ~123 kbp long, and is similar in size, gene content, and relative gene order to Physcomitrella patens, the first published moss chloroplast genome. However, Tortula lacks the ~71 kb inversion found in the large single copy region of the Physcomitrella genome and other members of the Funariales, and is lacking petN, a gene found in all known land plant genomes.