This paper investigates the origin of the avenacin biosynthetic gene cluster in oat, a 12-gene cluster responsible for producing defense compounds. The researchers elucidate the cluster's structure and organization, characterize the last two missing pathway steps, and reconstitute the entire pathway in tobacco. They demonstrate that the cluster formed de novo in a subtelomeric region lacking homology with other grasses, with gene order roughly colinear with the biosynthetic pathway. The study highlights adaptive evolution through genome plasticity.

Yan Li, Aymeric Leveau, Qiang Zhao, Qi Feng, Hengyun Lu, Jiashun Miao, Zheyong Xue, Azahara C. Martin, Eva Wegel, Jing Wang, Anastasia Orme, Maria-Dolores Rey, Miroslava Karafiátová, Jan Vrána, Burkhard Steuernagel, Ryan Joynson, Charlotte Owen, James Reed, Thomas Louveau, Michael J. Stephenson, Lei Zhang, Xuehui Huang, Tao Huang, Danling Fan, Congcong Zhou, Qilin Tian, Wenjun Li, Yiqi Lu, Jiaying Chen, Yan Zhao, Ying Lu, Chuanrang Zhu, Zhenhua Liu, Guy Polturak, Rebecca Casson, Lionel Hill, Graham Moore, Rachel Melton, Neil Hall, Brande B. H. Wulff, Jaroslav Doležel, Tim Langdon, Bin Han, Anne Osbourn