Rate Homo- and Rate Heterogeneity in the Genome Size Evolution Across the Phylogeny of Land Plants

Increasing attention has been given to correlation between genome evolution and the diversification of land plants. Currently, no phylogenetically comprehensive sampling has been achieved in studies based on whole genomes whereas a slightly more comprehensive sampling has been achieved for transcriptoms. However, genome evolution can be also traced by non-sequence based proxies such as genome size with or without integration of chromosome number. A more phylogenetically more comprehensive sampling is available for those data despite some notable gaps may effect the results obtained. Genome size has been previously used as a proxy to reconstruct trends in the evolution of genomes of selected lineages of land plants. These studies found evidence for lineage specific processes. For example, the frequency of medium to large size genomes is increase in ferns y the combination of frequent polyploidization with the conservation of DNA in those taxa. In contrast, the increased frequency of medium to large sized genomes in gymnosperms is not the result of repeated polyploidization. This study summarised the efforts of a study aiming to identify trends in evolution of genome size in all lineages of land plants with particular focus on the early divergence of land plants taking into account new insights into the relationships of the four main lineages of land plants and the age of the main lineage of land plants to explore evidence for rate homo- or rate heterogeneity across the phylogeny of the green branch of the tree of life.