Ancestral karyotypes and evolution

  We constructed the ancestral Oleaceae karyotypes of MRCAK, pre-ORT, pos-OCH, and pre-OCH and deduced the evolutionary trajectories of chromosomes in extant species. In OGRP, we created multiple animated videos that vividly present the ancestral karyotypes and evolutionary history of plants in the Oleaceae, in order to increase the value of science popularization. Of special significance, we visualized detailed genomic synteny information for all inferred ancestral karyotypes and recorded the locations of large-scale rearrangements of paleo-chromosomes preserved in the four Oleaceae genomes (O. europaea, F. pennsylvanica, S. oblata, and J.sambac) and reference genomes (C.humblotiana). Based on the inferred locations of chromosomal rearrangements (CRs), researchers can further explore the relationship between the functional evolution of important trait genes (or pathways) and CRs. As reported in previous studies, CRs enhances the plasticity of the cucurbitacin synthesis pathway, leading to the formation of key gene in the morphine synthesis pathway.