Alloteropsis semialata as a study system for C4 evolution in grasses.

Alloteropsis semialata represents one of the best systems to investigate the evolution of C4 photosynthesis as the genetic and phenotypic variation provides a fertile ground for comparative and population-level studies. Preliminary comparative genomic investigations show the C3 and C4 genomes are highly syntenic, and have undergone a modest amount of gene duplication and translocation since the different photosynthetic groups diverged. The background knowledge and publicly available genomic resources make Alloteropsis semialata a great model for further comparative analyses of photosynthetic diversification.