GEPHE SUMMARY Print
Gephebase Gene
Entry Status
Published
GepheID
GP00001047
Main curator
Martin
PHENOTYPIC CHANGE
Trait Category
Trait State in Taxon A
Elaeis guineensis; thick shelled
Trait State in Taxon B
Elaeis guineensis; thin shelled (Nigeria)
Ancestral State
Data not curated
Taxonomic Status
Taxon A
Common Name
African oil palm
Synonyms
African oil palm; Elaeis guineensis Jacq.; Elaeis guineensis var. tenera (Oil palm); Elaeis guinensi; Elaeis guinensis; Elaeis gunieensis; Eleais guineensis
Rank
species
Lineage
Show more ... ophytina; Embryophyta; Tracheophyta; Euphyllophyta; Spermatophyta; Magnoliophyta; Mesangiospermae; Liliopsida; Petrosaviidae; commelinids; Arecales; Arecaceae; Arecoideae; Cocoseae; Elaeidinae; Elaeis
NCBI Taxonomy ID
is Taxon A an Infraspecies?
No
Taxon B
Common Name
African oil palm
Synonyms
African oil palm; Elaeis guineensis Jacq.; Elaeis guineensis var. tenera (Oil palm); Elaeis guinensi; Elaeis guinensis; Elaeis gunieensis; Eleais guineensis
Rank
species
Lineage
Show more ... ophytina; Embryophyta; Tracheophyta; Euphyllophyta; Spermatophyta; Magnoliophyta; Mesangiospermae; Liliopsida; Petrosaviidae; commelinids; Arecales; Arecaceae; Arecoideae; Cocoseae; Elaeidinae; Elaeis
NCBI Taxonomy ID
is Taxon B an Infraspecies?
Yes
Taxon B Description
Elaeis guineensis; thin shelled (Nigeria)
GENOTYPIC CHANGE
Presumptive Null
No
Molecular Type
Aberration Type
SNP
SNP Coding Change
Nonsynonymous
Molecular Details of the Mutation
1a.a substitution in DNA binding domain
Experimental Evidence
Taxon A Taxon B Position
Codon - - -
Amino-acid - - -
Authors
Singh R; Low ET; Ooi LC; Ong-Abdullah M; Ting NC; Nagappan J; Nookiah R; Amiruddin MD; et al. ... show more
Abstract
A key event in the domestication and breeding of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis was loss of the thick coconut-like shell surrounding the kernel. Modern E. guineensis has three fruit forms, dura (thick-shelled), pisifera (shell-less) and tenera (thin-shelled), a hybrid between dura and pisifera. The pisifera palm is usually female-sterile. The tenera palm yields far more oil than dura, and is the basis for commercial palm oil production in all of southeast Asia. Here we describe the mapping and identification of the SHELL gene responsible for the different fruit forms. Using homozygosity mapping by sequencing, we found two independent mutations in the DNA-binding domain of a homologue of the MADS-box gene SEEDSTICK (STK, also known as AGAMOUS-LIKE 11), which controls ovule identity and seed development in Arabidopsis. The SHELL gene is responsible for the tenera phenotype in both cultivated and wild palms from sub-Saharan Africa, and our findings provide a genetic explanation for the single gene hybrid vigour (or heterosis) attributed to SHELL, via heterodimerization. This gene mutation explains the single most important economic trait in oil palm, and has implications for the competing interests of global edible oil production, biofuels and rainforest conservation.
Additional References
RELATED GEPHE
Related Genes
No matches found.
Related Haplotypes
1
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