Update README.md

README.md

@@ -21,5 +21,27 @@ This project was mainly conducted at the [Institute of Plant Biochemistry at HHU
 	- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9134-6511
 - Benjamin Stich 
 	- https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6791-8068
+- Steven Kelly
+	- https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1250-7055
 - Andreas P.M.Weber 
 	- https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0970-4672
+
+
+## Abstract
+C3-C4 intermediate photosynthesis has evolved at least five times convergently in the Brassicaceae, despite
+this family lacking _bona fide_ C4 species. The establishment of this carbon concentrating mechanism is known
+to require a complex suite of ultrastructural modifications as well as changes in spatial expression patterns,
+which are both thought to be underpinned by a reconfiguration of existing gene-regulatory networks. However,
+to date, the mechanisms which underpin the reconfiguration of these gene networks are largely unknown.
+In this study, we used a pan-genomic association approach to identify genomic features that could confer
+differential gene expression toward the C3-C4 intermediate state by analysing eight C3 species and seven
+C3-C4 species from five independent origins in the Brassicaceae. We found a strong correlation between
+transposable element (TE) insertions in cis-regulatory regions and the C3-C4 intermediacy. Specifically, our
+study revealed 113 gene models in which presence of a TE within a gene correlates with C3-C4 intermediate
+photosynthesis. In this set, genes involved in the photorespiratory glycine shuttle are enriched, including the
+glycine decarboxylase P-protein whose expression domain undergoes a spatial shift during the transition to
+C3-C4 photosynthesis. When further interrogating this gene, we discovered independent TE insertions in its
+upstream region which we conclude to be responsible for causing the spatial shift in _GLDP1_ gene expression.
+Our findings hint at a pivotal role of TEs in the evolution of C3-C4 intermediacy, especially in mediating
+differential spatial gene expression.
+