Geranium palmatum. Geranium palmatum

Earlier work had shown that mitochondrion genomes of Geraniaceae exhibit major shifts in rates of synonymous substitutions and one, Erodium trifolium, has lost most of the genes for ribosomal proteins as well as the gene for succinate dehydrogenase. Limited availability of plastome sequences has hinted at changes in rates of nucleotide substitutions and extreme variability of genome size. To further study plastome evolution in Geraniaceae the genome sequence of the Geranium palmatum plastid was determined.

前期研究已证实，牻牛儿苗科（Geraniaceae）的线粒体基因组在同义替换速率上存在显著变化；其中三齿牻牛儿苗（Erodium trifolium）已丢失绝大多数核糖体蛋白编码基因，同时缺失了琥珀酸脱氢酶编码基因。此前由于质体基因组（plastome）序列资源有限，相关研究仅能推测其核苷酸替换速率存在变化，且基因组大小存在极端变异。为进一步探究牻牛儿苗科植物的质体基因组演化规律，本研究测定了掌叶老鹳草（Geranium palmatum）的质体基因组序列。