1
|
Majane AC, Cridland JM, Blair LK, Begun DJ. Evolution and genetics of accessory gland transcriptome divergence between Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. Genetics 2024; 227:iyae039. [PMID: 38518250 PMCID: PMC11151936 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyae039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2023] [Revised: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Studies of allele-specific expression in interspecific hybrids have provided important insights into gene-regulatory divergence and hybrid incompatibilities. Many such investigations in Drosophila have used transcriptome data from complex mixtures of many tissues or from gonads, however, regulatory divergence may vary widely among species, sexes, and tissues. Thus, we lack sufficiently broad sampling to be confident about the general biological principles of regulatory divergence. Here, we seek to fill some of these gaps in the literature by characterizing regulatory evolution and hybrid misexpression in a somatic male sex organ, the accessory gland, in F1 hybrids between Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans. The accessory gland produces seminal fluid proteins, which play an important role in male and female fertility and may be subject to adaptive divergence due to male-male or male-female interactions. We find that trans differences are relatively more abundant than cis, in contrast to most of the interspecific hybrid literature, though large effect-size trans differences are rare. Seminal fluid protein genes have significantly elevated levels of expression divergence and tend to be regulated through both cis and trans divergence. We find limited misexpression (over- or underexpression relative to both parents) in this organ compared to most other Drosophila studies. As in previous studies, male-biased genes are overrepresented among misexpressed genes and are much more likely to be underexpressed. ATAC-Seq data show that chromatin accessibility is correlated with expression differences among species and hybrid allele-specific expression. This work identifies unique regulatory evolution and hybrid misexpression properties of the accessory gland and suggests the importance of tissue-specific allele-specific expression studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alex C Majane
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Julie M Cridland
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Logan K Blair
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - David J Begun
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Gupta S, Groen SC, Zaidem ML, Sajise AGC, Calic I, Natividad MA, McNally KL, Vergara GV, Satija R, Franks SJ, Singh RK, Joly-Lopez Z, Purugganan MD. Systems genomics of salinity stress response in rice. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.31.596807. [PMID: 38895411 PMCID: PMC11185513 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.31.596807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Populations can adapt to stressful environments through changes in gene expression. However, the role of gene regulation in mediating stress response and adaptation remains largely unexplored. Here, we use an integrative field dataset obtained from 780 plants of Oryza sativa ssp. indica (rice) grown in a field experiment under normal or moderate salt stress conditions to examine selection and evolution of gene expression variation under salinity stress conditions. We find that salinity stress induces increased selective pressure on gene expression. Further, we show that trans-eQTLs rather than cis-eQTLs are primarily associated with rice's gene expression under salinity stress, potentially via a few master-regulators. Importantly, and contrary to the expectations, we find that cis-trans reinforcement is more common than cis-trans compensation which may be reflective of rice diversification subsequent to domestication. We further identify genetic fixation as the likely mechanism underlying this compensation/reinforcement. Additionally, we show that cis- and trans-eQTLs are under different selection regimes, giving us insights into the evolutionary dynamics of gene expression variation. By examining genomic, transcriptomic, and phenotypic variation across a rice population, we gain insights into the molecular and genetic landscape underlying adaptive salinity stress responses, which is relevant for other crops and other stresses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sonal Gupta
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY USA
| | - Simon C Groen
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY USA
- Department of Nematology and Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA USA
- Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA USA
| | - Maricris L. Zaidem
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY USA
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, England
| | | | - Irina Calic
- Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx, NY USA
- Inari Agriculture Nv, Gent, Belgium
| | | | | | - Georgina V. Vergara
- International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines
- Institute of Crop Science, University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Philippines
| | - Rahul Satija
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY USA
- New York Genome Center, New York, NY USA
| | - Steven J. Franks
- Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx, NY USA
| | - Rakesh K. Singh
- International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines
- International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE (current affiliation)
| | - Zoé Joly-Lopez
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY USA
- Département de Chimie, Université du Quebéc à Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Liu L, He W, Xu P, Wei W, Wang J, Liu K. Contribution of the transcription factor SfGATAe to Bt Cry toxin resistance in Spodoptera frugiperda through reduction of ABCC2 expression. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 267:131459. [PMID: 38593893 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Insect resistance evolution poses a significant threat to the advantages of biopesticides and transgenic crops utilizing insecticidal Cry-toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). However, there is limited research on the relationship between transcriptional regulation of specific toxin receptors in lepidopteran insects and their resistance to Bt toxins. Here, we report the positive regulatory role of the SfGATAe transcription factor on the expression of the ABCC2 gene in Spodoptera frugiperda. DNA regions in the SfABCC2 promoter that are vital for regulation by SfGATAe, utilizing DAP-seq technology and promoter deletion mapping. Through yeast one-hybrid assays, DNA pull-down experiments, and site-directed mutagenesis, we confirmed that the transcription factor SfGATAe regulates the core control site PBS2 in the ABCC2 target gene. Tissue-specific expression analysis has revealed that SfGATAe is involved in the regulation and expression of midgut cells in the fall armyworm. Silencing SfGATAe in fall armyworm larvae resulted in reduced expression of SfABCC2 and decreased sensitivity to Cry1Ac toxin. Overall, this study elucidated the regulatory mechanism of the transcription factor SfGATAe on the expression of the toxin receptor gene SfABCC2 and this transcriptional control mechanism impacts the resistance of the fall armyworm to Bt toxins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leilei Liu
- Center of Applied Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Wuhan University of Bioengineering, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
| | - Wenfeng He
- Center of Applied Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Wuhan University of Bioengineering, Wuhan, Hubei, China; College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Peiwen Xu
- Center of Applied Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Wuhan University of Bioengineering, Wuhan, Hubei, China; College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Wei Wei
- Center of Applied Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Wuhan University of Bioengineering, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jintao Wang
- Center of Applied Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Wuhan University of Bioengineering, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Kaiyu Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Hansen TJ, Fong SL, Day JK, Capra JA, Hodges E. Human gene regulatory evolution is driven by the divergence of regulatory element function in both cis and trans. CELL GENOMICS 2024; 4:100536. [PMID: 38604126 PMCID: PMC11019363 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2024.100536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Gene regulatory divergence between species can result from cis-acting local changes to regulatory element DNA sequences or global trans-acting changes to the regulatory environment. Understanding how these mechanisms drive regulatory evolution has been limited by challenges in identifying trans-acting changes. We present a comprehensive approach to directly identify cis- and trans-divergent regulatory elements between human and rhesus macaque lymphoblastoid cells using assay for transposase-accessible chromatin coupled to self-transcribing active regulatory region (ATAC-STARR) sequencing. In addition to thousands of cis changes, we discover an unexpected number (∼10,000) of trans changes and show that cis and trans elements exhibit distinct patterns of sequence divergence and function. We further identify differentially expressed transcription factors that underlie ∼37% of trans differences and trace how cis changes can produce cascades of trans changes. Overall, we find that most divergent elements (67%) experienced changes in both cis and trans, revealing a substantial role for trans divergence-alone and together with cis changes-in regulatory differences between species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyler J Hansen
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Sarah L Fong
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Jessica K Day
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - John A Capra
- Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
| | - Emily Hodges
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Simon NM, Kim Y, Bautista DM, Dutton JR, Brem RB. Stem cell transcriptional profiles from mouse subspecies reveal cis-regulatory evolution at translation genes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.07.18.549406. [PMID: 37503246 PMCID: PMC10370129 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.18.549406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
A key goal of evolutionary genomics is to harness molecular data to draw inferences about selective forces that have acted on genomes. The field progresses in large part through the development of advanced molecular-evolution analysis methods. Here we explored the intersection between classical sequence-based tests for selection and an empirical expression-based approach, using stem cells from Mus musculus subspecies as a model. Using a test of directional, cis-regulatory evolution across genes in pathways, we discovered a unique program of induction of translation genes in stem cells of the Southeast Asian mouse M. m. castaneus relative to its sister taxa. As a complement, we used sequence analyses to find population-genomic signatures of selection in M. m. castaneus, at the upstream regions of the translation genes, including at transcription factor binding sites. We interpret our data under a model of changes in lineage-specific pressures across Mus musculus in stem cells with high translational capacity. Together, our findings underscore the rigor of integrating expression and sequence-based methods to generate hypotheses about evolutionary events from long ago.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Noah M. Simon
- Biology of Aging Doctoral Program, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
- Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA 94945, USA
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, USA
| | - Yujin Kim
- Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Diana M. Bautista
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720
| | - James R. Dutton
- Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Rachel B. Brem
- Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA 94945, USA
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Heath H, Peng S, Szmatola T, Ryan S, Bellone R, Kalbfleisch T, Petersen J, Finno C. A Comprehensive Allele Specific Expression Resource for the Equine Transcriptome. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-4182812. [PMID: 38645140 PMCID: PMC11030527 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4182812/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Background Allele-specific expression (ASE) analysis provides a nuanced view of cis-regulatory mechanisms affecting gene expression. Results An equine ASE analysis was performed, using integrated Iso-seq and short-read RNA sequencing data from four healthy Thoroughbreds (2 mares and 2 stallions) across 9 tissues from the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) project. Allele expression was quantified by haplotypes from long-read data, with 42,900 allele expression events compared. Within these events, 635 (1.48%) demonstrated ASE, with liver tissue containing the highest proportion. Genetic variants within ASE events were in histone modified regions 64.2% of the time. Validation of allele-specific variants, using a set of 66 equine liver samples from multiple breeds, confirmed that 97% of variants demonstrated ASE. Conclusions This valuable publicly accessible resource is poised to facilitate investigations into regulatory variation in equine tissues. Our results highlight the tissue-specific nature of allelic imbalance in the equine genome.
Collapse
|
7
|
Lai WY, Nolte V, Jakšić AM, Schlötterer C. Evolution of Phenotypic Variance Provides Insights into the Genetic Basis of Adaptation. Genome Biol Evol 2024; 16:evae077. [PMID: 38620076 PMCID: PMC11057206 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evae077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Most traits are polygenic, and the contributing loci can be identified by genome-wide association studies. The genetic basis of adaptation (adaptive architecture) is, however, difficult to characterize. Here, we propose to study the adaptive architecture of traits by monitoring the evolution of their phenotypic variance during adaptation to a new environment in well-defined laboratory conditions. Extensive computer simulations show that the evolution of phenotypic variance in a replicated experimental evolution setting can distinguish between oligogenic and polygenic adaptive architectures. We compared gene expression variance in male Drosophila simulans before and after 100 generations of adaptation to a novel hot environment. The variance change in gene expression was indistinguishable for genes with and without a significant change in mean expression after 100 generations of evolution. We suggest that the majority of adaptive gene expression evolution can be explained by a polygenic architecture. We propose that tracking the evolution of phenotypic variance across generations can provide an approach to characterize the adaptive architecture.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Yun Lai
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Viola Nolte
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ana Marija Jakšić
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Present address: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Veltsos P, Kelly JK. The quantitative genetics of gene expression in Mimulus guttatus. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011072. [PMID: 38603726 PMCID: PMC11060551 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Gene expression can be influenced by genetic variants that are closely linked to the expressed gene (cis eQTLs) and variants in other parts of the genome (trans eQTLs). We created a multiparental mapping population by sampling genotypes from a single natural population of Mimulus guttatus and scored gene expression in the leaves of 1,588 plants. We find that nearly every measured gene exhibits cis regulatory variation (91% have FDR < 0.05). cis eQTLs are usually allelic series with three or more functionally distinct alleles. The cis locus explains about two thirds of the standing genetic variance (on average) but varies among genes and tends to be greatest when there is high indel variation in the upstream regulatory region and high nucleotide diversity in the coding sequence. Despite mapping over 10,000 trans eQTL / affected gene pairs, most of the genetic variance generated by trans acting loci remains unexplained. This implies a large reservoir of trans acting genes with subtle or diffuse effects. Mapped trans eQTLs show lower allelic diversity but much higher genetic dominance than cis eQTLs. Several analyses also indicate that trans eQTLs make a substantial contribution to the genetic correlations in expression among different genes. They may thus be essential determinants of "gene expression modules," which has important implications for the evolution of gene expression and how it is studied by geneticists.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paris Veltsos
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - John K. Kelly
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Grieshop K, Ho EKH, Kasimatis KR. Dominance reversals: the resolution of genetic conflict and maintenance of genetic variation. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232816. [PMID: 38471544 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Beneficial reversals of dominance reduce the costs of genetic trade-offs and can enable selection to maintain genetic variation for fitness. Beneficial dominance reversals are characterized by the beneficial allele for a given context (e.g. habitat, developmental stage, trait or sex) being dominant in that context but recessive where deleterious. This context dependence at least partially mitigates the fitness consequence of heterozygotes carrying one non-beneficial allele for their context and can result in balancing selection that maintains alternative alleles. Dominance reversals are theoretically plausible and are supported by mounting empirical evidence. Here, we highlight the importance of beneficial dominance reversals as a mechanism for the mitigation of genetic conflict and review the theory and empirical evidence for them. We identify some areas in need of further research and development and outline three methods that could facilitate the identification of antagonistic genetic variation (dominance ordination, allele-specific expression and allele-specific ATAC-Seq (assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing)). There is ample scope for the development of new empirical methods as well as reanalysis of existing data through the lens of dominance reversals. A greater focus on this topic will expand our understanding of the mechanisms that resolve genetic conflict and whether they maintain genetic variation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Karl Grieshop
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Eddie K H Ho
- Department of Biology, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97202, USA
| | - Katja R Kasimatis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Hu X, Zhang D, Huang L, Zeng Z, Su Y, Chen S, Lin X, Hong S. Construction of a Functional Nucleic Acid-Based Artificial Vesicle-Encapsulated Composite Nanoparticle and Its Application in Retinoblastoma-Targeted Theranostics. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2024; 10:1830-1842. [PMID: 38408449 DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c01972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
Retinoblastoma (RB) is an aggressive tumor of the infant retina. However, the ineffective targeting of its theranostic agents results in poor imaging and therapeutic efficacy, which makes it difficult to identify and treat RB at an early stage. In order to improve the imaging and therapeutic efficacy, we constructed an RB-targeted artificial vesicle composite nanoparticle. In this study, the MnO2 nanosponge (hMNs) was used as the core to absorb two fluorophore-modified DNAzymes to form the Dual/hMNs nanoparticle; after loaded with the artificial vesicle derived from human red blood cells, the RB-targeted DNA aptamers were modified on the surface, thus forming the Apt-EG@Dual/hMNs complex nanoparticle. The DNA aptamer endows this nanoparticle to target the nucleolin-overexpressed RB cell membrane specifically and enters cells via endocytosis. The nanoparticle could release fluorophore-modified DNAzymes and supplies Mn2+ as a DNAzyme cofactor and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agent. Subsequently, the DNAzymes can target two different mRNAs, thereby realizing fluorescence/MR bimodal imaging and dual-gene therapy. This study is expected to provide a reliable and valuable basis for ocular tumor theranostics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xueqi Hu
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Dongdong Zhang
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Linjie Huang
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Zheng Zeng
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Yina Su
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Shanshan Chen
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, School of Medical Technology and Engineering, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Xiahui Lin
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| | - Shanni Hong
- School of Medical Imaging, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, PR China
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Balogun EJ, Ness RW. The Effects of De Novo Mutation on Gene Expression and the Consequences for Fitness in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae035. [PMID: 38366781 PMCID: PMC10910851 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 02/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Mutation is the ultimate source of genetic variation, the bedrock of evolution. Yet, predicting the consequences of new mutations remains a challenge in biology. Gene expression provides a potential link between a genotype and its phenotype. But the variation in gene expression created by de novo mutation and the fitness consequences of mutational changes to expression remain relatively unexplored. Here, we investigate the effects of >2,600 de novo mutations on gene expression across the transcriptome of 28 mutation accumulation lines derived from 2 independent wild-type genotypes of the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We observed that the amount of genetic variance in gene expression created by mutation (Vm) was similar to the variance that mutation generates in typical polygenic phenotypic traits and approximately 15-fold the variance seen in the limited species where Vm in gene expression has been estimated. Despite the clear effect of mutation on expression, we did not observe a simple additive effect of mutation on expression change, with no linear correlation between the total expression change and mutation count of individual MA lines. We therefore inferred the distribution of expression effects of new mutations to connect the number of mutations to the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Our inferred DEE is highly L-shaped with 95% of mutations causing 0-1 DEG while the remaining 5% are spread over a long tail of large effect mutations that cause multiple genes to change expression. The distribution is consistent with many cis-acting mutation targets that affect the expression of only 1 gene and a large target of trans-acting targets that have the potential to affect tens or hundreds of genes. Further evidence for cis-acting mutations can be seen in the overabundance of mutations in or near differentially expressed genes. Supporting evidence for trans-acting mutations comes from a 15:1 ratio of DEGs to mutations and the clusters of DEGs in the co-expression network, indicative of shared regulatory architecture. Lastly, we show that there is a negative correlation with the extent of expression divergence from the ancestor and fitness, providing direct evidence of the deleterious effects of perturbing gene expression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eniolaye J Balogun
- Department of Biology, William G. Davis Building, University of Toronto, Mississauga L5L-1C6, Canada
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S-3B2, Canada
| | - Rob W Ness
- Department of Biology, William G. Davis Building, University of Toronto, Mississauga L5L-1C6, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Innes PA, Goebl AM, Smith CCR, Rosenberger K, Kane NC. Gene expression and alternative splicing contribute to adaptive divergence of ecotypes. Heredity (Edinb) 2024; 132:120-132. [PMID: 38071268 PMCID: PMC10924094 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-023-00665-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Regulation of gene expression is a critical link between genotype and phenotype explaining substantial heritable variation within species. However, we are only beginning to understand the ways that specific gene regulatory mechanisms contribute to adaptive divergence of populations. In plants, the post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism of alternative splicing (AS) plays an important role in both development and abiotic stress response, making it a compelling potential target of natural selection. AS allows organisms to generate multiple different transcripts/proteins from a single gene and thus may provide a source of evolutionary novelty. Here, we examine whether variation in alternative splicing and gene expression levels might contribute to adaptation and incipient speciation of dune-adapted prairie sunflowers in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, USA. We conducted a common garden experiment to assess transcriptomic variation among ecotypes and analyzed differential expression, differential splicing, and gene coexpression. We show that individual genes are strongly differentiated for both transcript level and alternative isoform proportions, even when grown in a common environment, and that gene coexpression networks are disrupted between ecotypes. Furthermore, we examined how genome-wide patterns of sequence divergence correspond to divergence in transcript levels and isoform proportions and find evidence for both cis and trans-regulation. Together, our results emphasize that alternative splicing has been an underappreciated mechanism providing source material for natural selection at short evolutionary time scales.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter A Innes
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
| | - April M Goebl
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- Research and Conservation Department, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Chris C R Smith
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Kaylee Rosenberger
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Nolan C Kane
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Panten J, Heinen T, Ernst C, Eling N, Wagner RE, Satorius M, Marioni JC, Stegle O, Odom DT. The dynamic genetic determinants of increased transcriptional divergence in spermatids. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1272. [PMID: 38341412 PMCID: PMC10858866 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45133-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Cis-genetic effects are key determinants of transcriptional divergence in discrete tissues and cell types. However, how cis- and trans-effects act across continuous trajectories of cellular differentiation in vivo is poorly understood. Here, we quantify allele-specific expression during spermatogenic differentiation at single-cell resolution in an F1 hybrid mouse system, allowing for the comprehensive characterisation of cis- and trans-genetic effects, including their dynamics across cellular differentiation. Collectively, almost half of the genes subject to genetic regulation show evidence for dynamic cis-effects that vary during differentiation. Our system also allows us to robustly identify dynamic trans-effects, which are less pervasive than cis-effects. In aggregate, genetic effects were strongest in round spermatids, which parallels their increased transcriptional divergence we identified between species. Our approach provides a comprehensive quantification of the variability of genetic effects in vivo, and demonstrates a widely applicable strategy to dissect the impact of regulatory variants on gene regulation in dynamic systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jasper Panten
- Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
- Division of Computational Genomics and Systems Genetics, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
- Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Tobias Heinen
- Division of Computational Genomics and Systems Genetics, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
- Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christina Ernst
- School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nils Eling
- University of Zurich, Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
- ETH Zurich, Institute for Molecular Health Sciences, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland
| | - Rebecca E Wagner
- Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
- Division of Mechanisms Regulating Gene Expression, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maja Satorius
- Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - John C Marioni
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Oliver Stegle
- Division of Computational Genomics and Systems Genetics, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Genome Biology Unit, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Duncan T Odom
- Division of Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
- Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Durkin SM, Ballinger MA, Nachman MW. Tissue-specific and cis-regulatory changes underlie parallel, adaptive gene expression evolution in house mice. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1010892. [PMID: 38306396 PMCID: PMC10866503 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Changes in gene regulation have long been appreciated as a driving force of adaptive evolution, however the relative contributions of cis- and trans-acting changes to gene regulation over short evolutionary timescales remain unclear. Instances of recent, parallel phenotypic evolution provide an opportunity to assess whether parallel patterns are seen at the level of gene expression, and to assess the relative contribution of cis- and trans- changes to gene regulation in the early stages of divergence. Here, we studied gene expression in liver and brown adipose tissue in two wild-derived strains of house mice that independently adapted to cold, northern environments, and we compared them to a strain of house mice from a warm, tropical environment. To investigate gene regulatory evolution, we studied expression in parents and allele-specific expression in F1 hybrids of crosses between warm-adapted and cold-adapted strains. First, we found that the different cold-adapted mice showed both unique and shared changes in expression, but that the proportion of shared changes (i.e. parallelism) was greater than expected by chance. Second, we discovered that expression evolution occurred largely at tissue-specific and cis-regulated genes, and that these genes were over-represented in parallel cases of evolution. Finally, we integrated the expression data with scans for selection in natural populations and found substantial parallelism in the two northern populations for genes under selection. Furthermore, selection outliers were associated with cis-regulated genes more than expected by chance; cis-regulated genes under selection influenced phenotypes such as body size, immune functioning, and activity level. These results demonstrate that parallel patterns of gene expression in mice that have independently adapted to cold environments are driven largely by tissue-specific and cis-regulatory changes, providing insight into the mechanisms of adaptive gene regulatory evolution at the earliest stages of divergence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sylvia M. Durkin
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Mallory A. Ballinger
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Shaw DE, Naftaly AS, White MA. Positive Selection Drives cis-regulatory Evolution Across the Threespine Stickleback Y Chromosome. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae020. [PMID: 38306314 PMCID: PMC10899008 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Revised: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Allele-specific gene expression evolves rapidly on heteromorphic sex chromosomes. Over time, the accumulation of mutations on the Y chromosome leads to widespread loss of gametolog expression, relative to the X chromosome. It remains unclear if expression evolution on degrading Y chromosomes is primarily driven by mutations that accumulate through processes of selective interference, or if positive selection can also favor the down-regulation of coding regions on the Y chromosome that contain deleterious mutations. Identifying the relative rates of cis-regulatory sequence evolution across Y chromosomes has been challenging due to the limited number of reference assemblies. The threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) Y chromosome is an excellent model to identify how regulatory mutations accumulate on Y chromosomes due to its intermediate state of divergence from the X chromosome. A large number of Y-linked gametologs still exist across 3 differently aged evolutionary strata to test these hypotheses. We found that putative enhancer regions on the Y chromosome exhibited elevated substitution rates and decreased polymorphism when compared to nonfunctional sites, like intergenic regions and synonymous sites. This suggests that many cis-regulatory regions are under positive selection on the Y chromosome. This divergence was correlated with X-biased gametolog expression, indicating the loss of expression from the Y chromosome may be favored by selection. Our findings provide evidence that Y-linked cis-regulatory regions exhibit signs of positive selection quickly after the suppression of recombination and allow comparisons with recent theoretical models that suggest the rapid divergence of regulatory regions may be favored to mask deleterious mutations on the Y chromosome.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Shaw
- Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | | | - Michael A White
- Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Zilinskas R, Li C, Shen X, Pan W, Yang T. Inferring a directed acyclic graph of phenotypes from GWAS summary statistics. Biometrics 2024; 80:ujad039. [PMID: 38470257 PMCID: PMC10928990 DOI: 10.1093/biomtc/ujad039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Estimating phenotype networks is a growing field in computational biology. It deepens the understanding of disease etiology and is useful in many applications. In this study, we present a method that constructs a phenotype network by assuming a Gaussian linear structure model embedding a directed acyclic graph (DAG). We utilize genetic variants as instrumental variables and show how our method only requires access to summary statistics from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a reference panel of genotype data. Besides estimation, a distinct feature of the method is its summary statistics-based likelihood ratio test on directed edges. We applied our method to estimate a causal network of 29 cardiovascular-related proteins and linked the estimated network to Alzheimer's disease (AD). A simulation study was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. An R package sumdag implementing the proposed method, all relevant code, and a Shiny application are available.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Chunlin Li
- Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, United States
| | - Xiaotong Shen
- School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States
| | - Wei Pan
- Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States
| | - Tianzhong Yang
- Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Kautt AF, Chen J, Lewarch CL, Hu C, Turner K, Lassance JM, Baier F, Bedford NL, Bendesky A, Hoekstra HE. Evolution of gene expression across brain regions in behaviourally divergent deer mice. Mol Ecol 2024:e17270. [PMID: 38263608 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
The evolution of innate behaviours is ultimately due to genetic variation likely acting in the nervous system. Gene regulation may be particularly important because it can evolve in a modular brain-region specific fashion through the concerted action of cis- and trans-regulatory changes. Here, to investigate transcriptional variation and its regulatory basis across the brain, we perform RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) on ten brain subregions in two sister species of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus and P. polionotus)-which differ in a range of innate behaviours, including their social system-and their F1 hybrids. We find that most of the variation in gene expression distinguishes subregions, followed by species. Interspecific differential expression (DE) is pervasive (52-59% of expressed genes), whereas the number of DE genes between sexes is modest overall (~3%). Interestingly, the identity of DE genes varies considerably across brain regions. Much of this modularity is due to cis-regulatory divergence, and while 43% of genes were consistently assigned to the same gene regulatory class across subregions (e.g. conserved, cis- or trans-regulatory divergence), a similar number were assigned to two or more different gene regulatory classes. Together, these results highlight the modularity of gene expression differences and divergence in the brain, which may be key to explain how the evolution of brain gene expression can contribute to the astonishing diversity of animal behaviours.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andreas F Kautt
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jenny Chen
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Caitlin L Lewarch
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Caroline Hu
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Kyle Turner
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jean-Marc Lassance
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Felix Baier
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Nicole L Bedford
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Andres Bendesky
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Hopi E Hoekstra
- Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
He B, Zhu TT, Liang Y, Wei HJ, Huang ZL, Liang LJ, Zhong JH, Luo Y, Lian XL, Zhao DH, Liao XP, Liu YH, Ren H, Sun J. Adaptive evolution in asymptomatic host confers MDR Salmonella with enhanced environmental persistence and virulence. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 908:168340. [PMID: 37931815 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Abstract
As a common cause for food-borne diseases, the Salmonella spp. are generally prevalent among livestock, whereby they are likely to be transmitted to human via environmental contamination. To explore the potential mechanism for prevalence of MDR Salmonella and its risk for dissemination via contaminated environments, we profiled the colonization dynamics of MDR Salmonella in chicken, herein we found that an adaptive evolution, driven by mutagenesis in a small protein-encoding gene (STM14_1829), conferred the multidrug resistant (MDR) Salmonella with increased fitness in asymptomatic host. Then the mechanistic study demonstrated that only one amino acid substitution in small protein STM14_1829 rendered MDR Salmonella capable to better invade and persist in phagocytotic cells by modulating bacterial flagella overexpression. Concerningly, the evolved Salmonella was also more resilient to the potential stressors generally found in environments and food processing, including heat, cold, adverse pH and oxidations. It implied that the evolved subpopulations are plausibly more persistent in environments once they contaminated through animal manure or human excreta. Moreover, the evolution promoted the pathogenesis caused by MDR Salmonella in susceptible hosts, resulting in higher risk for dissemination of pathogens via contaminated environments. Together, our data provided the novel insights into that in vivo adaptive evolution benefits Salmonella colonization, persistence and pathogenesis, by promoting bacterial tolerance via modulating flagella expression. These findings may explain the rationale behind the increasing prevalence of certain MDR Salmonella clones in livestock and associated environment, and underscoring the need for advanced strategies to tackle the possible evolution of such zoonotic pathogens.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bing He
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Ting-Ting Zhu
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Yin Liang
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Hai-Jing Wei
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Zi-Lei Huang
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Li-Jie Liang
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Jia-Hao Zhong
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Yang Luo
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Xin-Lei Lian
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Dong-Hao Zhao
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Xiao-Ping Liao
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Ya-Hong Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for the Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, PR China
| | - Hao Ren
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
| | - Jian Sun
- State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, National Risk Assessment Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance of Animal Original Bacteria, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Development and Safety Evaluation, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Tsouris A, Brach G, Schacherer J, Hou J. Non-additive genetic components contribute significantly to population-wide gene expression variation. CELL GENOMICS 2024; 4:100459. [PMID: 38190102 PMCID: PMC10794783 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Gene expression variation, an essential step between genotype and phenotype, is collectively controlled by local (cis) and distant (trans) regulatory changes. Nevertheless, how these regulatory elements differentially influence gene expression variation remains unclear. Here, we bridge this gap by analyzing the transcriptomes of a large diallel panel consisting of 323 unique hybrids originating from genetically divergent Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolates. Our analysis across 5,087 transcript abundance traits showed that non-additive components account for 36% of the gene expression variance on average. By comparing allele-specific read counts in parent-hybrid trios, we found that trans-regulatory changes underlie the majority of gene expression variation in the population. Remarkably, most cis-regulatory variations are also exaggerated or attenuated by additional trans effects. Overall, we showed that the transcriptome is globally buffered at the genetic level mainly due to trans-regulatory variation in the population.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Tsouris
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR, 7156 Strasbourg, France
| | - Gauthier Brach
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR, 7156 Strasbourg, France
| | - Joseph Schacherer
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR, 7156 Strasbourg, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
| | - Jing Hou
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, GMGM UMR, 7156 Strasbourg, France.
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Jiang D, Zhang J. Ascertainment Bias in the Genomic Test of Positive Selection on Regulatory Sequences. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msad284. [PMID: 38149460 PMCID: PMC10766478 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2023] [Revised: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Evolution of gene expression mediated by cis-regulatory changes is thought to be an important contributor to organismal adaptation, but identifying adaptive cis-regulatory changes is challenging due to the difficulty in knowing the expectation under no positive selection. A new approach for detecting positive selection on transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) was recently developed, thanks to the application of machine learning in predicting transcription factor (TF) binding affinities of DNA sequences. Given a TFBS sequence from a focal species and the corresponding inferred ancestral sequence that differs from the former at n sites, one can predict the TF-binding affinities of many n-step mutational neighbors of the ancestral sequence and obtain a null distribution of the derived binding affinity, which allows testing whether the binding affinity of the real derived sequence deviates significantly from the null distribution. Applying this test genomically to all experimentally identified binding sites of 3 TFs in humans, a recent study reported positive selection for elevated binding affinities of TFBSs. Here, we show that this genomic test suffers from an ascertainment bias because, even in the absence of positive selection for strengthened binding, the binding affinities of known human TFBSs are more likely to have increased than decreased in evolution. We demonstrate by computer simulation that this bias inflates the false positive rate of the selection test. We propose several methods to mitigate the ascertainment bias and show that almost all previously reported positive selection signals disappear when these methods are applied.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daohan Jiang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Present address: Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Jianzhi Zhang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Heath HD, Peng S, Szmatola T, Bellone RR, Kalbfleisch T, Petersen JL, Finno CJ. A Comprehensive Allele Specific Expression Resource for the Equine Transcriptome. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.12.31.573798. [PMID: 38260378 PMCID: PMC10802363 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.31.573798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Background Allele-specific expression (ASE) analysis provides a nuanced view of cis-regulatory mechanisms affecting gene expression. Results In this work, we introduce and highlight the significance of an equine ASE analysis, containing integrated long- and short-read RNA sequencing data, along with insight from histone modification data, from four healthy Thoroughbreds (2 mares and 2 stallions) across 9 tissues. Conclusions This valuable publicly accessible resource is poised to facilitate investigations into regulatory variation in equine tissues and foster a deeper understanding of the impact of allelic imbalance in equine health and disease at the molecular level.
Collapse
|
22
|
An H, Pires JC, Conant GC. Gene expression bias between the subgenomes of allopolyploid hybrids is an emergent property of the kinetics of expression. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011803. [PMID: 38227592 PMCID: PMC10817154 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 01/06/2024] [Indexed: 01/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Hybridization coupled to polyploidy, or allopolyploidy, has dramatically shaped the evolution of flowering plants, teleost fishes, and other lineages. Studies of recently formed allopolyploid plants have shown that the two subgenomes that merged to form that new allopolyploid do not generally express their genes equally. Instead, one of the two subgenomes expresses its paralogs more highly on average. Meanwhile, older allopolyploidy events tend to show biases in duplicate losses, with one of the two subgenomes retaining more genes than the other. Since reduced expression is a pathway to duplicate loss, understanding the origins of expression biases may help explain the origins of biased losses. Because we expect gene expression levels to experience stabilizing selection, our conceptual frameworks for how allopolyploid organisms form tend to assume that the new allopolyploid will show balanced expression between its subgenomes. It is then necessary to invoke phenomena such as differences in the suppression of repetitive elements to explain the observed expression imbalances. Here we show that, even for phenotypically identical diploid progenitors, the inherent kinetics of gene expression give rise to biases between the expression levels of the progenitor genes in the hybrid. Some of these biases are expected to be gene-specific and not give rise to global differences in progenitor gene expression. However, particularly in the case of allopolyploids formed from progenitors with different genome sizes, global expression biases favoring one subgenome are expected immediately on formation. Hence, expression biases are arguably the expectation upon allopolyploid formation rather than a phenomenon needing explanation. In the future, a deeper understanding of the kinetics of allopolyploidy may allow us to better understand both biases in duplicate losses and hybrid vigor.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hong An
- MU Bioinformatics and Analytics Core, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America
| | - J. Chris Pires
- Department of Soil and Crop Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Gavin C. Conant
- Bioinformatics Research Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
- Program in Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Zilinskas R, Li C, Shen X, Pan W, Yang T. Inferring a directed acyclic graph of phenotypes from GWAS summary statistics. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.10.528092. [PMID: 38045347 PMCID: PMC10690198 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.10.528092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Estimating phenotype networks is a growing field in computational biology. It deepens the understanding of disease etiology and is useful in many applications. In this study, we present a method that constructs a phenotype network by assuming a Gaussian linear structure model embedding a directed acyclic graph (DAG). We utilize genetic variants as instrumental variables and show how our method only requires access to summary statistics from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a reference panel of genotype data. Besides estimation, a distinct feature of the method is its summary statistics-based likelihood ratio test on directed edges. We applied our method to estimate a causal network of 29 cardiovascular-related proteins and linked the estimated network to Alzheimer's disease (AD). A simulation study was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. An R package sumdag implementing the proposed method, all relevant code, and a Shiny application are available at https://github.com/chunlinli/sumdag.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Chunlin Li
- Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, U.S.A
| | - Xiaotong Shen
- School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A
| | - Wei Pan
- Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A
| | - Tianzhong Yang
- Division of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, U.S.A
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Veltsos P, Kelly JK. The quantitative genetics of gene expression in Mimulus guttatus. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.21.568003. [PMID: 38045261 PMCID: PMC10690227 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.21.568003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Gene expression can be influenced by genetic variants that are closely linked to the expressed gene (cis eQTLs) and variants in other parts of the genome (trans eQTLs). We created a multiparental mapping population by sampling genotypes from a single natural population of Mimulus guttatus and scored gene expression in the leaves of 1,588 plants. We find that nearly every measured gene exhibits cis regulatory variation (91% have FDR < 0.05) and that cis eQTLs are usually allelic series with three or more functionally distinct alleles. The cis locus explains about two thirds of the standing genetic variance (on average) but varies among genes and tends to be greatest when there is high indel variation in the upstream regulatory region and high nucleotide diversity in the coding sequence. Despite mapping over 10,000 trans eQTL / affected gene pairs, most of the genetic variance generated by trans acting loci remains unexplained. This implies a large reservoir of trans acting genes with subtle or diffuse effects. Mapped trans eQTLs show lower allelic diversity but much higher genetic dominance than cis eQTLs. Several analyses also indicate that trans eQTL make a substantial contribution to the genetic correlations in expression among different genes. They may thus be essential determinants of "gene expression modules", which has important implications for the evolution of gene expression and also how it is studied by geneticists.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paris Veltsos
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
- Current address: Ecology, Evolution and Genetics Research Group, Biology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - John K. Kelly
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Zhang K, Yang Q, Du M, Zhang Z, Wang W, Zhang G, Li A, Li L. Genome-wide mapping of regulatory variants for temperature- and salinity-adaptive genes reveals genetic basis of genotype-by-environment interaction in Crassostrea ariakensis. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 236:116614. [PMID: 37442261 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/09/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
Regulatory variants in gene expression serve as bridges linking genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity. Environmental conditions typically influence the effects of regulatory variants on phenotypic plasticity; however, such genotype-by-environment interactions (G × E) are poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the genetic basis of G × E in estuarine oyster (Crassostrea ariakensis), which is an important model animal for studying environmental adaption owing to its high plasticity and large intraspecific divergence. Genome-wide mapping of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) for 23 environmental adaptive genes was performed for 256 estuarine oysters. We identified 1194 eQTL single nucleotide polymorphisms (eSNPs), including 433 cis-eSNPs in four genes and 722 trans-eSNPs in eight genes. The expression variation explanation of cis-eSNPs (9.95%) was significantly higher than that of trans-eSNPs (9.15%). We specifically showed cis- and trans-eSNPs with high linkage disequilibrium (LD) for Traf7, Slc6a5, Ggt, and Dap3. For example, we identified a cis-regulatory LD block containing 68 cis-eSNP and a trans-regulatory LD block, including 20 trans-eSNPs in Traf7. A high proportion (85%) of 40 vital eSNPs exhibited significant G × E effects. We identified crossing and nonparallel interactions of G × E, with the tag cis-eSNPs of Baat and Slc6a5 as representatives. Our results indicated that cis-eQTLs are highly conserved. This study provides insights into the understanding of adaptive evolutionary mechanisms and phenotypic response prediction to variable environments, as well as the genetic improvement for superior adaptive traits for genetic resource conservation and aquaculture.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kexin Zhang
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Qi Yang
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
| | - Mingyang Du
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Ziyan Zhang
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Wei Wang
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Key Laboratory of Breeding Biotechnology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Ecological Mariculture, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Guofan Zhang
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Ecological Mariculture, Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Ao Li
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Key Laboratory of Breeding Biotechnology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Ecological Mariculture, Qingdao 266071, China.
| | - Li Li
- CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Key Laboratory of Breeding Biotechnology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Ecological Mariculture, Qingdao 266071, China; Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Oyster Seed Industry, Qingdao 266000, China.
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Bennett H, Troutman TD, Zhou E, Spann NJ, Link VM, Seidman JS, Nickl CK, Abe Y, Sakai M, Pasillas MP, Marlman JM, Guzman C, Hosseini M, Schnabl B, Glass CK. Discrimination of cell-intrinsic and environment-dependent effects of natural genetic variation on Kupffer cell epigenomes and transcriptomes. Nat Immunol 2023; 24:1825-1838. [PMID: 37735593 PMCID: PMC10602851 DOI: 10.1038/s41590-023-01631-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
Noncoding genetic variation drives phenotypic diversity, but underlying mechanisms and affected cell types are incompletely understood. Here, investigation of effects of natural genetic variation on the epigenomes and transcriptomes of Kupffer cells derived from inbred mouse strains identified strain-specific environmental factors influencing Kupffer cell phenotypes, including leptin signaling in Kupffer cells from a steatohepatitis-resistant strain. Cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous effects of genetic variation were resolved by analysis of F1 hybrid mice and cells engrafted into an immunodeficient host. During homeostasis, non-cell-autonomous trans effects of genetic variation dominated control of Kupffer cells, while strain-specific responses to acute lipopolysaccharide injection were dominated by actions of cis-acting effects modifying response elements for lineage-determining and signal-dependent transcription factors. These findings demonstrate that epigenetic landscapes report on trans effects of genetic variation and serve as a resource for deeper analyses into genetic control of transcription in Kupffer cells and macrophages in vitro.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hunter Bennett
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Ty D Troutman
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Center for Inflammation and Tolerance, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
| | - Enchen Zhou
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Nathanael J Spann
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Verena M Link
- Metaorganism Immunity Section, Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Jason S Seidman
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Christian K Nickl
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Yohei Abe
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Mashito Sakai
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Martina P Pasillas
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Justin M Marlman
- Division of Allergy and Immunology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Carlos Guzman
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Mojgan Hosseini
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Bernd Schnabl
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Christopher K Glass
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Palominos MF, Muhl V, Richards EJ, Miller CT, Martin CH. Jaw size variation is associated with a novel craniofacial function for galanin receptor 2 in an adaptive radiation of pupfishes. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231686. [PMID: 37876194 PMCID: PMC10598438 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the genetic basis of novel adaptations in new species is a fundamental question in biology. Here we demonstrate a new role for galr2 in vertebrate craniofacial development using an adaptive radiation of trophic specialist pupfishes endemic to San Salvador Island, Bahamas. We confirmed the loss of a putative Sry transcription factor binding site upstream of galr2 in scale-eating pupfish and found significant spatial differences in galr2 expression among pupfish species in Meckel's cartilage using in situ hybridization chain reaction (HCR). We then experimentally demonstrated a novel role for Galr2 in craniofacial development by exposing embryos to Garl2-inhibiting drugs. Galr2-inhibition reduced Meckel's cartilage length and increased chondrocyte density in both trophic specialists but not in the generalist genetic background. We propose a mechanism for jaw elongation in scale-eaters based on the reduced expression of galr2 due to the loss of a putative Sry binding site. Fewer Galr2 receptors in the scale-eater Meckel's cartilage may result in their enlarged jaw lengths as adults by limiting opportunities for a circulating Galr2 agonist to bind to these receptors during development. Our findings illustrate the growing utility of linking candidate adaptive SNPs in non-model systems with highly divergent phenotypes to novel vertebrate gene functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- M. Fernanda Palominos
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Vanessa Muhl
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Emilie J. Richards
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Craig T. Miller
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Christopher H. Martin
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Zhu P, Schon M, Questa J, Nodine M, Dean C. Causal role of a promoter polymorphism in natural variation of the Arabidopsis floral repressor gene FLC. Curr Biol 2023; 33:4381-4391.e3. [PMID: 37729909 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Noncoding polymorphism frequently associates with phenotypic variation, but causation and mechanism are rarely established. Noncoding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) characterize the major haplotypes of the Arabidopsis thaliana floral repressor gene FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). This noncoding polymorphism generates a range of FLC expression levels, determining the requirement for and the response to winter cold. The major adaptive determinant of these FLC haplotypes was shown to be the autumnal levels of FLC expression. Here, we investigate how noncoding SNPs influence FLC transcriptional output. We identify an upstream transcription start site (uTSS) cluster at FLC, whose usage is increased by an A variant at the promoter SNP-230. This variant is present in relatively few Arabidopsis accessions, with the majority containing G at this site. We demonstrate a causal role for the A variant at -230 in reduced FLC transcriptional output. The G variant upregulates FLC expression redundantly with the major transcriptional activator FRIGIDA (FRI). We demonstrate an additive interaction of SNP-230 with an intronic SNP+259, which also differentially influences uTSS usage. Combinatorial interactions between noncoding SNPs and transcriptional activators thus generate quantitative variation in FLC transcription that has facilitated the adaptation of Arabidopsis accessions to distinct climates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pan Zhu
- John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK
| | - Michael Schon
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6708 PB, the Netherlands; Gregor Mendel Institute, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - Julia Questa
- John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK
| | - Michael Nodine
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6708 PB, the Netherlands; Gregor Mendel Institute, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - Caroline Dean
- John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Herbert AL, Allard CAH, McCoy MJ, Wucherpfennig JI, Krueger SP, Chen HI, Gourlay AN, Jackson KD, Abbo LA, Bennett SH, Sears JD, Rhyne AL, Bellono NW, Kingsley DM. The genetic basis of novel trait gain in walking fish. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.14.562356. [PMID: 37873105 PMCID: PMC10592820 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.14.562356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
A major goal in biology is to understand how organisms evolve novel traits. Multiple studies have identified genes contributing to regressive evolution, the loss of structures that existed in a recent ancestor. However, fewer examples exist for genes underlying constructive evolution, the gain of novel structures and capabilities in lineages that previously lacked them. Sea robins are fish that have evolved enlarged pectoral fins, six mobile locomotory fin rays (legs) and six novel macroscopic lobes in the central nervous system (CNS) that innervate the corresponding legs. Here, we establish successful husbandry and use a combination of transcriptomics, CRISPR-Cas9 editing, and behavioral assays to identify key transcription factors that are required for leg formation and function in sea robins. We also generate hybrids between two sea robin species with distinct leg morphologies and use allele-specific expression analysis and gene editing to explore the genetic basis of species-specific trait diversity, including a novel sensory gain of function. Collectively, our study establishes sea robins as a new model for studying the genetic basis of novel organ formation, and demonstrates a crucial role for the conserved limb gene tbx3a in the evolution of chemosensory legs in walking fish.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amy L Herbert
- Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Corey AH Allard
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Matthew J McCoy
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Julia I Wucherpfennig
- Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Stephanie P Krueger
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - Heidi I Chen
- Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | | | - Kohle D Jackson
- Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Lisa A Abbo
- Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, 02543 USA
| | | | | | | | - Nicholas W Bellono
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 USA
| | - David M Kingsley
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford CA 94305 USA
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Ballinger MA, Mack KL, Durkin SM, Riddell EA, Nachman MW. Environmentally robust cis-regulatory changes underlie rapid climatic adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2214614120. [PMID: 37725649 PMCID: PMC10523592 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2214614120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Changes in gene expression are thought to play a major role in adaptive evolution. While it is known that gene expression is highly sensitive to the environment, very few studies have determined the influence of genetic and environmental effects on adaptive gene expression differences in natural populations. Here, we utilize allele-specific expression to characterize cis and trans gene regulatory divergence in temperate and tropical house mice in two metabolic tissues under two thermal conditions. First, we show that gene expression divergence is pervasive between populations and across thermal conditions, with roughly 5 to 10% of genes exhibiting genotype-by-environment interactions. Second, we found that most expression divergence was due to cis-regulatory changes that were stable across temperatures. In contrast, patterns of expression plasticity were largely attributable to trans-effects, which showed greater sensitivity to temperature. Nonetheless, we found a small subset of temperature-dependent cis-regulatory changes, thereby identifying loci underlying expression plasticity. Finally, we performed scans for selection in wild house mice to identify genomic signatures of rapid adaptation. Genomic outliers were enriched in genes with evidence for cis-regulatory divergence. Notably, these genes were associated with phenotypes that affected body weight and metabolism, suggesting that cis-regulatory changes are a possible mechanism for adaptive body size evolution between populations. Our results show that gene expression plasticity, largely controlled in trans, may facilitate the colonization of new environments, but that evolved changes in gene expression are largely controlled in cis, illustrating the genetic and nongenetic mechanisms underlying the establishment of populations in new environments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mallory A. Ballinger
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT84322
| | - Katya L. Mack
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305
| | - Sylvia M. Durkin
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| | - Eric A. Riddell
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA50011
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Song C, Zhang Y, Huang H, Wang Y, Zhao X, Zhang G, Yin M, Feng C, Wang Q, Qian F, Shang D, Zhang J, Liu J, Li C, Tang H. Cis-Cardio: A comprehensive analysis platform for cardiovascular-relavant cis-regulation in human and mouse. MOLECULAR THERAPY. NUCLEIC ACIDS 2023; 33:655-667. [PMID: 37637211 PMCID: PMC10458290 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2023.07.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Cis-regulatory elements are important molecular switches in controlling gene expression and are regarded as determinant hubs in the transcriptional regulatory network. Collection and processing of large-scale cis-regulatory data are urgent to decipher the potential mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases from a cis-regulatory element aspect. Here, we developed a novel web server, Cis-Cardio, which aims to document a large number of available cardiovascular-related cis-regulatory data and to provide analysis for unveiling the comprehensive mechanisms at a cis-regulation level. The current version of Cis-Cardio catalogs a total of 45,382,361 genomic regions from 1,013 human and mouse epigenetic datasets, including ATAC-seq, DNase-seq, Histone ChIP-seq, TF/TcoF ChIP-seq, RNA polymerase ChIP-seq, and Cohesin ChIP-seq. Importantly, Cis-Cardio provides six analysis tools, including region overlap analysis, element upstream/downstream analysis, transcription regulator enrichment analysis, variant interpretation, and protein-protein interaction-based co-regulatory analysis. Additionally, Cis-Cardio provides detailed and abundant (epi-) genetic annotations in cis-regulatory regions, such as super-enhancers, enhancers, transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), methylation sites, common SNPs, risk SNPs, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), motifs, DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs), and 3D chromatin interactions. In summary, Cis-Cardio is a valuable resource for elucidating and analyzing regulatory cues of cardiovascular-specific cis-regulatory elements. The platform is freely available at http://www.licpathway.net/Cis-Cardio/index.html.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chao Song
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
| | - Yuexin Zhang
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
| | - Hong Huang
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
- Clinical Research Center for Myocardial Injury in Hunan Province, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| | - Yuezhu Wang
- School of Medical Informatics, Daqing Campus, Harbin Medical University, Daqing 163319, China
| | - Xilong Zhao
- School of Medical Informatics, Daqing Campus, Harbin Medical University, Daqing 163319, China
| | - Guorui Zhang
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| | - Mingxue Yin
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| | - Chenchen Feng
- School of Medical Informatics, Daqing Campus, Harbin Medical University, Daqing 163319, China
| | - Qiuyu Wang
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| | - Fengcui Qian
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
| | - Desi Shang
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| | - Jian Zhang
- School of Medical Informatics, Daqing Campus, Harbin Medical University, Daqing 163319, China
| | - Jiaqi Liu
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
| | - Chunquan Li
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Birth Defect Research and Prevention, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China
- Key Laboratory of Rare Pediatric Diseases, Ministry of Education, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| | - Huifang Tang
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Cardiovascular Lab of Big Data and Imaging Artificial Intelligence, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-omics and Artificial Intelligence of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- School of Computer, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, China
- Clinical Research Center for Myocardial Injury in Hunan Province, Hengyang, Hunan 421001, China
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Jiang D, Zhang J. Ascertainment bias in the genomic test of positive selection on regulatory sequences. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.20.554030. [PMID: 37662307 PMCID: PMC10473660 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.20.554030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Evolution of gene expression mediated by cis-regulatory changes is thought to be an important contributor to organismal adaptation, but identifying adaptive cis-regulatory changes is challenging due to the difficulty in knowing the expectation under no positive selection. A new approach for detecting positive selection on transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) was recently developed, thanks to the application of machine learning in predicting transcription factor (TF) binding affinities of DNA sequences. Given a TFBS sequence from a focal species and the corresponding inferred ancestral sequence that differs from the former at n sites, one can predict the TF binding affinities of many n-step mutational neighbors of the ancestral sequence and obtain a null distribution of the derived binding affinity, which allows testing whether the binding affinity of the real derived sequence deviates significantly from the null distribution. Applying this test genomically to all experimentally identified binding sites of three TFs in humans, a recent study reported positive selection for elevated binding affinities of TFBSs. Here we show that this genomic test suffers from an ascertainment bias because, even in the absence of positive selection for strengthened binding, the binding affinities of known human TFBSs are more likely to have increased than decreased in evolution. We demonstrate by computer simulation that this bias inflates the false positive rate of the selection test. We propose several methods to mitigate the ascertainment bias and show that almost all previously reported positive selection signals disappear when these methods are applied.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daohan Jiang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - Jianzhi Zhang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Puixeu G, Macon A, Vicoso B. Sex-specific estimation of cis and trans regulation of gene expression in heads and gonads of Drosophila melanogaster. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2023; 13:jkad121. [PMID: 37259621 PMCID: PMC10411594 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkad121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The regulatory architecture of gene expression is known to differ substantially between sexes in Drosophila, but most studies performed so far used whole-body data and only single crosses, which may have limited their scope to detect patterns that are robust across tissues and biological replicates. Here, we use allele-specific gene expression of parental and reciprocal hybrid crosses between 6 Drosophila melanogaster inbred lines to quantify cis- and trans-regulatory variation in heads and gonads of both sexes separately across 3 replicate crosses. Our results suggest that female and male heads, as well as ovaries, have a similar regulatory architecture. On the other hand, testes display more and substantially different cis-regulatory effects, suggesting that sex differences in the regulatory architecture that have been previously observed may largely derive from testis-specific effects. We also examine the difference in cis-regulatory variation of genes across different levels of sex bias in gonads and heads. Consistent with the idea that intersex correlations constrain expression and can lead to sexual antagonism, we find more cis variation in unbiased and moderately biased genes in heads. In ovaries, reduced cis variation is observed for male-biased genes, suggesting that cis variants acting on these genes in males do not lead to changes in ovary expression. Finally, we examine the dominance patterns of gene expression and find that sex- and tissue-specific patterns of inheritance as well as trans-regulatory variation are highly variable across biological crosses, although these were performed in highly controlled experimental conditions. This highlights the importance of using various genetic backgrounds to infer generalizable patterns.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gemma Puixeu
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg 3400, Austria
| | - Ariana Macon
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg 3400, Austria
| | - Beatriz Vicoso
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, Klosterneuburg 3400, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Wang J, Hu K, Wang J, Gong Z, Li S, Deng X, Li Y. Integrated Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analyses Uncover the Differential Mechanism in Saline-Alkaline Tolerance between Indica and Japonica Rice at the Seedling Stage. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:12387. [PMID: 37569762 PMCID: PMC10418499 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241512387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Saline-alkaline stress is one of the major damages that severely affects rice (Oryza sativa L.) growth and grain yield; however, the mechanism of the tolerance remains largely unknown in rice. Herein, we comparatively investigated the transcriptome and metabolome of two contrasting rice subspecies genotypes, Luohui 9 (abbreviation for Chao2R under study, O. sativa ssp. indica, saline-alkaline-sensitive) and RPY geng (O. sativa ssp. japonica, saline-alkaline-tolerant), to identify the main pathways and important factors related to saline-alkaline tolerance. Transcriptome analysis showed that 68 genes involved in fatty acid, amino acid (such as phenylalanine and tryptophan), phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, energy metabolism (such as Glycolysis and TCA cycle), as well as signal transduction (such as hormone and MAPK signaling) were identified to be specifically upregulated in RPY geng under saline-alkaline conditions, implying that a series of cascade changes from these genes promotes saline-alkaline stress tolerance. The transcriptome changes observed in RPY geng were in high accordance with the specifically accumulation of metabolites, consisting mainly of 14 phenolic acids, 8 alkaloids, and 19 lipids based on the combination analysis of transcriptome and metabolome. Moreover, some genes involved in signal transduction as hub genes, such as PR5, FLS2, BRI1, and NAC, may participate in the saline-alkaline stress response of RPY geng by modulating key genes involved in fatty acid, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, amino acid metabolism, and glycolysis metabolic pathways based on the gene co-expression network analysis. The present research results not only provide important insights for understanding the mechanism underlying of rice saline-alkaline tolerance at the transcriptome and metabolome levels but also provide key candidate target genes for further enhancing rice saline-alkaline stress tolerance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jianyong Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
- Lushan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiujiang 332900, China
| | - Keke Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
| | - Jien Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
| | - Ziyun Gong
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
| | - Shuangmiao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
| | - Xiaoxiao Deng
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
| | - Yangsheng Li
- State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; (J.W.); (K.H.); (J.W.); (Z.G.); (S.L.); (X.D.)
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Palominos MF, Muhl V, Richards EJ, Miller CT, Martin CH. Jaw size variation is associated with a novel craniofacial function for galanin receptor 2 in an adaptive radiation of pupfishes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.02.543513. [PMID: 37333213 PMCID: PMC10274624 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.02.543513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the genetic basis of novel adaptations in new species is a fundamental question in biology that also provides an opportunity to uncover new genes and regulatory networks with potential clinical relevance. Here we demonstrate a new role for galr2 in vertebrate craniofacial development using an adaptive radiation of trophic specialist pupfishes endemic to San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. We confirmed the loss of a putative Sry transcription factor binding site in the upstream region of galr2 in scale-eating pupfish and found significant spatial differences in galr2 expression among pupfish species in Meckel's cartilage and premaxilla using in situ hybridization chain reaction (HCR). We then experimentally demonstrated a novel function for Galr2 in craniofacial development and jaw elongation by exposing embryos to drugs that inhibit Galr2 activity. Galr2-inhibition reduced Meckel's cartilage length and increased chondrocyte density in both trophic specialists but not in the generalist genetic background. We propose a mechanism for jaw elongation in scale-eaters based on the reduced expression of galr2 due to the loss of a putative Sry binding site. Fewer Galr2 receptors in the scale-eater Meckel's cartilage may result in their enlarged jaw lengths as adults by limiting opportunities for a postulated Galr2 agonist to bind to these receptors during development. Our findings illustrate the growing utility of linking candidate adaptive SNPs in non-model systems with highly divergent phenotypes to novel vertebrate gene functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- M Fernanda Palominos
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Vanessa Muhl
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Emilie J Richards
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
| | - Craig T Miller
- Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Christopher H Martin
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Cutter AD. Speciation and development. Evol Dev 2023; 25:289-327. [PMID: 37545126 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Understanding general principles about the origin of species remains one of the foundational challenges in evolutionary biology. The genomic divergence between groups of individuals can spawn hybrid inviability and hybrid sterility, which presents a tantalizing developmental problem. Divergent developmental programs may yield either conserved or divergent phenotypes relative to ancestral traits, both of which can be responsible for reproductive isolation during the speciation process. The genetic mechanisms of developmental evolution involve cis- and trans-acting gene regulatory change, protein-protein interactions, genetic network structures, dosage, and epigenetic regulation, all of which also have roots in population genetic and molecular evolutionary processes. Toward the goal of demystifying Darwin's "mystery of mysteries," this review integrates microevolutionary concepts of genetic change with principles of organismal development, establishing explicit links between population genetic process and developmental mechanisms in the production of macroevolutionary pattern. This integration aims to establish a more unified view of speciation that binds process and mechanism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Asher D Cutter
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Hsu P, Cheng Y, Liao C, Litan RRR, Jhou Y, Opoc FJG, Amine AAA, Leu J. Rapid evolutionary repair by secondary perturbation of a primary disrupted transcriptional network. EMBO Rep 2023; 24:e56019. [PMID: 37009824 PMCID: PMC10240213 DOI: 10.15252/embr.202256019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The discrete steps of transcriptional rewiring have been proposed to occur neutrally to ensure steady gene expression under stabilizing selection. A conflict-free switch of a regulon between regulators may require an immediate compensatory evolution to minimize deleterious effects. Here, we perform an evolutionary repair experiment on the Lachancea kluyveri yeast sef1Δ mutant using a suppressor development strategy. Complete loss of SEF1 forces cells to initiate a compensatory process for the pleiotropic defects arising from misexpression of TCA cycle genes. Using different selective conditions, we identify two adaptive loss-of-function mutations of IRA1 and AZF1. Subsequent analyses show that Azf1 is a weak transcriptional activator regulated by the Ras1-PKA pathway. Azf1 loss-of-function triggers extensive gene expression changes responsible for compensatory, beneficial, and trade-off phenotypes. The trade-offs can be alleviated by higher cell density. Our results not only indicate that secondary transcriptional perturbation provides rapid and adaptive mechanisms potentially stabilizing the initial stage of transcriptional rewiring but also suggest how genetic polymorphisms of pleiotropic mutations could be maintained in the population.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Po‐Chen Hsu
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
| | - Yu‐Hsuan Cheng
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
- Present address:
Morgridge Institute for ResearchMadisonWIUSA
- Present address:
Howard Hughes Medical InstituteUniversity of Wisconsin‐MadisonMadisonWIUSA
| | - Chia‐Wei Liao
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
| | | | - Yu‐Ting Jhou
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
| | | | | | - Jun‐Yi Leu
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Colbran LL, Ramos-Almodovar FC, Mathieson I. A gene-level test for directional selection on gene expression. Genetics 2023; 224:iyad060. [PMID: 37036411 PMCID: PMC10213495 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyad060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Most variants identified in human genome-wide association studies and scans for selection are noncoding. Interpretation of their effects and the way in which they contribute to phenotypic variation and adaptation in human populations is therefore limited by our understanding of gene regulation and the difficulty of confidently linking noncoding variants to genes. To overcome this, we developed a gene-wise test for population-specific selection based on combinations of regulatory variants. Specifically, we use the QX statistic to test for polygenic selection on cis-regulatory variants based on whether the variance across populations in the predicted expression of a particular gene is higher than expected under neutrality. We then applied this approach to human data, testing for selection on 17,388 protein-coding genes in 26 populations from the Thousand Genomes Project. We identified 45 genes with significant evidence (FDR<0.1) for selection, including FADS1, KHK, SULT1A2, ITGAM, and several genes in the HLA region. We further confirm that these signals correspond to plausible population-level differences in predicted expression. While the small number of significant genes (0.2%) is consistent with most cis-regulatory variation evolving under genetic drift or stabilizing selection, it remains possible that there are effects not captured in this study. Our gene-level QX score is independent of standard genomic tests for selection, and may therefore be useful in combination with traditional selection scans to specifically identify selection on regulatory variation. Overall, our results demonstrate the utility of combining population-level genomic data with functional data to understand the evolution of gene expression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura L Colbran
- Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
39
|
Baier F, Gauye F, Perez-Carrasco R, Payne JL, Schaerli Y. Environment-dependent epistasis increases phenotypic diversity in gene regulatory networks. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadf1773. [PMID: 37224262 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf1773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Mutations to gene regulatory networks can be maladaptive or a source of evolutionary novelty. Epistasis confounds our understanding of how mutations affect the expression patterns of gene regulatory networks, a challenge exacerbated by the dependence of epistasis on the environment. We used the toolkit of synthetic biology to systematically assay the effects of pairwise and triplet combinations of mutant genotypes on the expression pattern of a gene regulatory network expressed in Escherichia coli that interprets an inducer gradient across a spatial domain. We uncovered a preponderance of epistasis that can switch in magnitude and sign across the inducer gradient to produce a greater diversity of expression pattern phenotypes than would be possible in the absence of such environment-dependent epistasis. We discuss our findings in the context of the evolution of hybrid incompatibilities and evolutionary novelties.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Florian Baier
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Florence Gauye
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Joshua L Payne
- Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Yolanda Schaerli
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Wittkopp PJ. Contributions of mutation and selection to regulatory variation: lessons from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae TDH3 gene. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220057. [PMID: 37004723 PMCID: PMC10067266 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Heritable variation in gene expression is common within and among species and contributes to phenotypic diversity. Mutations affecting either cis- or trans-regulatory sequences controlling gene expression give rise to variation in gene expression, and natural selection acting on this variation causes some regulatory variants to persist in a population for longer than others. To understand how mutation and selection interact to produce the patterns of regulatory variation we see within and among species, my colleagues and I have been systematically determining the effects of new mutations on expression of the TDH3 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and comparing them to the effects of polymorphisms segregating within this species. We have also investigated the molecular mechanisms by which regulatory variants act. Over the past decade, this work has revealed properties of cis- and trans-regulatory mutations including their relative frequency, effects, dominance, pleiotropy and fitness consequences. Comparing these mutational effects to the effects of polymorphisms in natural populations, we have inferred selection acting on expression level, expression noise and phenotypic plasticity. Here, I summarize this body of work and synthesize its findings to make inferences not readily discernible from the individual studies alone. This article is part of the theme issue 'Interdisciplinary approaches to predicting evolutionary biology'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patricia J. Wittkopp
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Orr SE, Goodisman MA. Social insect transcriptomics and the molecular basis of caste diversity. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2023; 57:101040. [PMID: 37105497 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Studies of gene expression provide fundamentally important information on the molecular mechanisms underlying variation in phenotype. Recent technological advances have allowed for the robust study of gene expression through analysis of whole transcriptomes. Here, we review current advances in social insect transcriptomics and discuss their implications in understanding phenotypic diversity. Recent transcriptomic studies provide detailed inventories of the genes involved in producing distinct phenotypes in social species. These investigations have identified key genes and networks involved in producing distinct social insect castes. Nevertheless, questions concerning the evolution of gene expression patterns remain. We suggest a path forward for studying gene expression in future studies of biological systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E Orr
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Michael Ad Goodisman
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Mahmud M, Bekele M, Behera N. A computational investigation of cis-gene regulation in evolution. Theory Biosci 2023; 142:151-165. [PMID: 37041403 DOI: 10.1007/s12064-023-00391-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2023]
Abstract
In biological processes involving gene networks, genes regulate other genes that determine the phenotypic traits. Gene regulation plays an important role in evolutionary dynamics. In a genetic algorithm, a trans-gene regulatory mechanism was shown to speed up adaptation and evolution. Here, we examine the effect of cis-gene regulation on an adaptive system. The model is haploid. A chromosome is partitioned into regulatory loci and structural loci. The regulatory genes regulate the expression and functioning of structural genes via the cis-elements in a probabilistic manner. In the simulation, the change in the allele frequency, the mean population fitness and the efficiency of phenotypic selection are monitored. Cis-gene regulation increases adaption and accelerates the evolutionary process in comparison with the case involving absence of gene regulation. Some special features of the simulation results are as follows. A low ratio of regulatory loci and structural loci gives higher adaptation for fixed total number of loci. Plasticity is advantageous beyond a threshold value. Adaptation is better for large number of total loci when the ratio of regulatory loci to structural loci is one. However, it reaches a saturation beyond which the increase in the total loci is not advantageous. Efficiency of the phenotypic selection is higher for larger value of the initial plasticity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mohammed Mahmud
- Department of Physics, Addis Ababa University, P.O.Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Mulugeta Bekele
- Department of Physics, Addis Ababa University, P.O.Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Narayan Behera
- Department of Applied Physics, Adama Science and Technology University, P. O. Box 1888, Adama, Ethiopia.
- Division of Physical Science, SVYASA University, Eknath Bhavan, Kempegowda Nagar, Bengaluru, 560019, India.
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Lanctot A. A lotus by any other color: Gene regulation divergence in lotus petal development. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 191:1470-1472. [PMID: 36567508 PMCID: PMC10022601 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
|
44
|
Gao Z, Yang X, Chen J, Rausher MD, Shi T. Expression inheritance and constraints on cis- and trans-regulatory mutations underlying lotus color variation. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 191:1662-1683. [PMID: 36417237 PMCID: PMC10022630 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Both cis- and trans-regulatory mutations drive changes in gene expression that underpin plant phenotypic evolution. However, how and why these two major types of regulatory mutations arise in different genes and how gene expression is inherited and associated with these regulatory changes are unclear. Here, by studying allele-specific expression in F1 hybrids of pink-flowered sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and yellow-flowered American lotus (N. lutea), we reveal the relative contributions of cis- and trans-regulatory changes to interspecific expression rewiring underlying petal color change and how the expression is inherited in hybrids. Although cis-only variants influenced slightly more genes, trans-only variants had a stronger impact on expression differences between species. In F1 hybrids, genes under cis-only and trans-only regulatory effects showed a propensity toward additive and dominant inheritance, respectively, whereas transgressive inheritance was observed in genes carrying both cis- and trans-variants acting in opposite directions. By investigating anthocyanin and carotenoid coexpression networks in petals, we found that the same category of regulatory mutations, particularly trans-variants, tend to rewire hub genes in coexpression modules underpinning flower color differentiation between species; we identified 45 known genes with cis- and trans-regulatory variants significantly correlated with flower coloration, such as ANTHOCYANIN 5-AROMATIC ACYLTRANSFERASE (ACT), GLUTATHIONE S-TRANSFERASE F11 (GSTF11), and LYCOPENE Ε-CYCLASE (LCYE). Notably, the relative abundance of genes in different categories of regulatory divergence was associated with the inferred magnitude of constraints like expression level and breadth. Overall, our study suggests distinct selective constraints and modes of gene expression inheritance among different regulatory mutations underlying lotus petal color divergence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhiyan Gao
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
- Center of Conservation Biology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xingyu Yang
- Wuhan Institute of Landscape Architecture, Wuhan 430081, China
| | - Jinming Chen
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
- Center of Conservation Biology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Mark D Rausher
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
| | - Tao Shi
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
- Center of Conservation Biology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Mack KL, Square TA, Zhao B, Miller CT, Fraser HB. Evolution of Spatial and Temporal cis-Regulatory Divergence in Sticklebacks. Mol Biol Evol 2023; 40:7048494. [PMID: 36805962 PMCID: PMC10015619 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Cis-regulatory changes are thought to play a major role in adaptation. Threespine sticklebacks have repeatedly colonized freshwater habitats in the Northern Hemisphere, where they have evolved a suite of phenotypes that distinguish them from marine populations, including changes in physiology, behavior, and morphology. To understand the role of gene regulatory evolution in adaptive divergence, here we investigate cis-regulatory changes in gene expression between marine and freshwater ecotypes through allele-specific expression (ASE) in F1 hybrids. Surveying seven ecologically relevant tissues, including three sampled across two developmental stages, we identified cis-regulatory divergence affecting a third of genes, nearly half of which were tissue-specific. Next, we compared allele-specific expression in dental tissues at two timepoints to characterize cis-regulatory changes during development between marine and freshwater fish. Applying a genome-wide test for selection on cis-regulatory changes, we find evidence for lineage-specific selection on several processes between ecotypes, including the Wnt signaling pathway in dental tissues. Finally, we show that genes with ASE, particularly those that are tissue-specific, are strongly enriched in genomic regions of repeated marine-freshwater divergence, supporting an important role for these cis-regulatory differences in parallel adaptive evolution of sticklebacks to freshwater habitats. Altogether, our results provide insight into the cis-regulatory landscape of divergence between stickleback ecotypes across tissues and during development, and support a fundamental role for tissue-specific cis-regulatory changes in rapid adaptation to new environments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katya L Mack
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Tyler A Square
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA
| | - Bin Zhao
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Craig T Miller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA
| | | |
Collapse
|
46
|
Arsenault SV, Riba-Grognuz O, Shoemaker D, Hunt BG, Keller L. Direct and indirect genetic effects of a social supergene. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:1087-1097. [PMID: 36541826 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Indirect genetic effects describe phenotypic variation that results from differences in the genotypic composition of social partners. Such effects represent heritable sources of environmental variation in eusocial organisms because individuals are typically reared by their siblings. In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, a social supergene exhibits striking indirect genetic effects on worker regulation of colony queen number, such that the genotypic composition of workers at the supergene determines whether colonies contain a single or multiple queens. We assessed the direct and indirect genetic effects of this supergene on gene expression in brains and abdominal tissues from laboratory-reared workers and compared these with previously published data from field-collected prereproductive queens. We found that direct genetic effects caused larger gene expression changes and were more consistent across tissue types and castes than indirect genetic effects. Indirect genetic effects influenced the expression of many loci but were generally restricted to the abdominal tissues. Further, indirect genetic effects were only detected when the genotypic composition of social partners differed throughout the development and adult life of focal workers, and were often only significant with relatively lenient statistical cutoffs. Our study provides insight into direct and indirect genetic effects of a social supergene on gene regulatory dynamics across tissues and castes in a complex society.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Oksana Riba-Grognuz
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - DeWayne Shoemaker
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Brendan G Hunt
- Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
| | - Laurent Keller
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
King SB, Singh M. Primate protein-ligand interfaces exhibit significant conservation and unveil human-specific evolutionary drivers. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010966. [PMID: 36952575 PMCID: PMC10035887 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the vast phenotypic differences observed across primates, their protein products are largely similar to each other at the sequence level. We hypothesized that, since proteins accomplish all their functions via interactions with other molecules, alterations in the sites that participate in these interactions may be of critical importance. To uncover the extent to which these sites evolve across primates, we built a structurally-derived dataset of ~4,200 one-to-one orthologous sequence groups across 18 primate species, consisting of ~68,000 ligand-binding sites that interact with DNA, RNA, small molecules, ions, or peptides. Using this dataset, we identify functionally important patterns of conservation and variation within the amino acid residues that facilitate protein-ligand interactions across the primate phylogeny. We uncover that interaction sites are significantly more conserved than other sites, and that sites binding DNA and RNA further exhibit the lowest levels of variation. We also show that the subset of ligand-binding sites that do vary are enriched in components of gene regulatory pathways and uncover several instances of human-specific ligand-binding site changes within transcription factors. Altogether, our results suggest that ligand-binding sites have experienced selective pressure in primates and propose that variation in these sites may have an outsized effect on phenotypic variation in primates through pleiotropic effects on gene regulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sean B King
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Mona Singh
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Hansen T, Fong S, Capra JA, Hodges E. Human gene regulatory evolution is driven by the divergence of regulatory element function in both cis and trans. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.14.528376. [PMID: 36824965 PMCID: PMC9949080 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.14.528376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
Gene regulatory divergence between species can result from cis-acting local changes to regulatory element DNA sequences or global trans-acting changes to the regulatory environment. Understanding how these mechanisms drive regulatory evolution has been limited by challenges in identifying trans-acting changes. We present a comprehensive approach to directly identify cis- and trans-divergent regulatory elements between human and rhesus macaque lymphoblastoid cells using ATAC-STARR-seq. In addition to thousands of cis changes, we discover an unexpected number (~10,000) of trans changes and show that cis and trans elements exhibit distinct patterns of sequence divergence and function. We further identify differentially expressed transcription factors that underlie >50% of trans differences and trace how cis changes can produce cascades of trans changes. Overall, we find that most divergent elements (67%) experienced changes in both cis and trans, revealing a substantial role for trans divergence-alone and together with cis changes-to regulatory differences between species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyler Hansen
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37212, USA
| | - Sarah Fong
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37212, USA
- Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - John A. Capra
- Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Emily Hodges
- Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37212, USA
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37212, USA
- Lead contact
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Heidarzadehpilehrood R, Pirhoushiaran M, Binti Osman M, Abdul Hamid H, Ling KH. Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) Discovered Novel Long Non-Coding RNAs for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Biomedicines 2023; 11:biomedicines11020518. [PMID: 36831054 PMCID: PMC9953234 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11020518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2022] [Revised: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects reproductive-age women. This condition causes infertility, insulin resistance, obesity, and heart difficulties. The molecular basis and mechanism of PCOS might potentially generate effective treatments. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) show control over multifactorial disorders' growth and incidence. Numerous studies have emphasized its significance and alterations in PCOS. We used bioinformatic methods to find novel dysregulated lncRNAs in PCOS. To achieve this objective, the gene expression profile of GSE48301, comprising PCOS patients and normal control tissue samples, was evaluated using the R limma package with the following cut-off criterion: p-value < 0.05. Firstly, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to determine the co-expression genes of lncRNAs; subsequently, hub gene identification and pathway enrichment analysis were used. With the defined criteria, nine novel dysregulated lncRNAs were identified. In WGCNA, different colors represent different modules. In the current study, WGCNA resulted in turquoise, gray, blue, and black co-expression modules with dysregulated lncRNAs. The pathway enrichment analysis of these co-expressed modules revealed enrichment in PCOS-associated pathways, including gene expression, signal transduction, metabolism, and apoptosis. In addition, CCT7, EFTUD2, ESR1, JUN, NDUFAB1, CTTNB1, GRB2, and CTNNB1 were identified as hub genes, and some of them have been investigated in PCOS. This study uncovered nine novel PCOS-related lncRNAs. To confirm how these lncRNAs control translational modification in PCOS, functional studies are required.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Roozbeh Heidarzadehpilehrood
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
| | - Maryam Pirhoushiaran
- Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1417613151, Iran
| | - Malina Binti Osman
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
| | - Habibah Abdul Hamid
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
- Correspondence: (H.A.H.); (K.-H.L.)
| | - King-Hwa Ling
- Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
- Correspondence: (H.A.H.); (K.-H.L.)
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Lin Y, Li J, Chen L, Bai J, Zhang J, Wang Y, Liu P, Long K, Ge L, Jin L, Gu Y, Li M. Allele-specific regulatory effects on the pig transcriptome. Gigascience 2022; 12:giad076. [PMID: 37776365 PMCID: PMC10541795 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giad076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2023] [Revised: 06/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Allele-specific expression (ASE) refers to the preferential expression of one allele over the other and contributes to adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Here, we used a reciprocal cross-model between phenotypically divergent European Berkshire and Asian Tibetan pigs to characterize 2 ASE classes: imprinting (i.e., the unequal expression between parental alleles) and sequence dependent (i.e., unequal expression between breed-specific alleles). We examined 3 transcript types, including protein-coding genes (PCGs), long noncoding RNAs, and transcripts of unknown coding potential, across 7 representative somatic tissues from hybrid pigs generated by reciprocal crosses. RESULTS We identified a total of 92 putative imprinted transcripts, 69 (75.00%) of which are described here for the first time. By combining the transcriptome from purebred Berkshire and Tibetan pigs, we found ∼6.59% of PCGs are differentially expressed between breeds that are regulated by trans-elements (e.g., transcriptional factors), while only ∼1.35% are attributable to cis (e.g., promoters). The higher prevalence of trans-PCGs indicates the dominated effects of trans-regulation in driving expression differences and shaping adaptive phenotypic plasticity between breeds, which were supported by functional enrichment analysis. We also found strong evidence that expression changes mediated by cis-effects were associated with accumulated variants in promoters. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides a comprehensive map of expression regulation that constitutes a valuable resource for the agricultural improvement of pig breeds.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yu Lin
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Jing Li
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Li Chen
- Pig Industry Sciences Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences, Chongqing 402460, China
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Pigs, Chongqing 402460, China
| | - Jingyi Bai
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Jiaman Zhang
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Yujie Wang
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Pengliang Liu
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Keren Long
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Liangpeng Ge
- Pig Industry Sciences Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences, Chongqing 402460, China
- National Center of Technology Innovation for Pigs, Chongqing 402460, China
| | - Long Jin
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| | - Yiren Gu
- College of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China
- Animal Breeding and Genetics Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Animal Science Academy, Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Mingzhou Li
- Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
| |
Collapse
|