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Terpenes are a multifarious group of secondary compounds present throughout the living world that function primarily in defence, or otherwise in regulating interactions between an organism and its environment. Terpene synthases (TPS) are a mid-sized gene family whose diversity and make-up reflects a plant’s ecological requirements and unique adaptive history. Here we catalogue TPS in Melaleuca alternifolia and examine lineage-specific expansion in TPS relative to other sequenced Myrtaceae. Overall, far fewer (37) putative TPS genes were identified in M. alternifolia compared with Eucalyptus grandis (113) and E. globulus (106). The number of genes in clade TPS-b1 (12), which encode enzymes that produce cyclic monoterpenes, was proportionally larger in M. alternifolia than in any other well-characterised plant. Relative to E. grandis, the isoprene-/ocimene-producing TPS-b2 clade in M. alternifolia tended to be proportionally smaller. This suggested there may be lineage-specific subfamily change in Melaleuca relative to other sequenced Myrtaceae, perhaps as a consequence of its semi-aquatic evolutionary history.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	melaleuca, terpene synthase, tea tree, Eucalyptus, monoterpene, Corymbia
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Evolutionary biology
Research Field:	Phylogeny and comparative analysis
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
UTAS Author:	Butler, J (Dr Jakob Butler)
ID Code:	142541
Year Published:	2018
Web of Science® Times Cited:	7
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	2021-01-22
Last Modified:	2021-05-18
Downloads:	7 View Download Statistics