Gokce Akoz

We were asked to respond to the correspondence of Tao Shi and Jinming Chen and agreed to do so because we feel open and frank communication is good for science. We note from the outset that neither we nor anyone else knows what happened over 100 million years ago and that we make no “assertions” in our original article, merely analyze and interpret the data produced by evolutionary history to the best of our abilities.

Abstract Background Whole-genome duplications (WGDs) have dominated the evolutionary history of plants. One consequence of WGD is a dramatic restructuring of the genome as it undergoes diploidization, a process under which deletions and rearrangements of various sizes scramble the genetic material, leading to a repacking of the genome and eventual return to diploidy.

The Aquilegia genome: adaptive radiation and an extraordinarily polymorphic chromosome with a unique history Daniele Filiault, Evangeline Ballerini, Terezie Mandakova, Gokce Akoz, Nathan Derieg, Jeremy Schmutz, Jerry Jenkins, Jane Grimwood, Shengqiang Shu, Richard Hayes, Uffe Hellsten, Kerrie Barry, Juyiang Yan, Sirma Mihaltcheva, Miroslava Karafiatova, Viktoria Nizhynska, Martin Lysak, Scott Hodges, Magnus Nordborg bioRxiv 264101; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/264101