Epigenomic programming contributes to the genomic drift evolution of the F-Box protein superfamily in Arabidopsis

Significance Gene families significantly influence organismal diversity and adaptation, but how they evolved and are controlled is not fully clear. Using theArabidopsis F-Box protein superfamily as a model, we show that both genomic and epigenomic forces are consequential with reversible, suppressive chromatin marks potentially helping dampen the adverse effects of altered gene dosage and the emergence of deleterious alleles. Such forces might be relevant to other highly polymorphic gene families impacted by genomic drift evolution.