%0 Journal Article
%T High allelic diversity in Arabidopsis NLRs is associated with distinct genomic features.
%A Sutherland CA
%A Prigozhin DM
%A Monroe JG
%A Krasileva KV
%J EMBO Rep
%V 25
%N 5
%D 2024 May 25
%M 38528170
%F 9.071
%R 10.1038/s44319-024-00122-9
%X Plants rely on Nucleotide-binding, Leucine-rich repeat Receptors (NLRs) for pathogen recognition. Highly variable NLRs (hvNLRs) show remarkable intraspecies diversity, while their low-variability paralogs (non-hvNLRs) are conserved between ecotypes. At a population level, hvNLRs provide new pathogen-recognition specificities, but the association between allelic diversity and genomic and epigenomic features has not been established. Our investigation of NLRs in Arabidopsis Col-0 has revealed that hvNLRs show higher expression, less gene body cytosine methylation, and closer proximity to transposable elements than non-hvNLRs. hvNLRs show elevated synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide diversity and are in chromatin states associated with an increased probability of mutation. Diversifying selection maintains variability at a subset of codons of hvNLRs, while purifying selection maintains conservation at non-hvNLRs. How these features are established and maintained, and whether they contribute to the observed diversity of hvNLRs is key to understanding the evolution of plant innate immune receptors.