Contrasting Evolutionary Dynamics Between Angiosperm and Mammalian Genomes

In this presentation I explore the differences between angiosperm and mammal genomes and present the arguments we first posed in our paper Kejnovsky et al. 2009, Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24: 572-582. It is apparent from available data that angiosperm genomes are less highly compartmentalized , more diverse (e.g. genome size, chromosome number, retroelements) and evolutionary more dynamic than mammalian genomes. The frequency and precise nature of four processes are probably responsible for these different genome properties: polyploidy, recombination, retrotransposition and genome silencing. We suggest that fundamentally different life strategies and requirements for developmental precision between angiosperms and mammals are at the heart of the different evolutionary dynamics observed in their genomes.