1
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Smith T, Olagunju T, Rosen B, Neibergs H, Becker G, Davenport K, Elsik C, Hadfield T, Koren S, Kuhn K, Rhie A, Shira K, Skibiel A, Stegemiller M, Thorne J, Villamediana P, Cockett N, Murdoch B. The first complete T2T Assemblies of Cattle and Sheep Y-Chromosomes uncover remarkable divergence in structure and gene content. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-4033388. [PMID: 38712074 PMCID: PMC11071540 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4033388/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Reference genomes of cattle and sheep have lacked contiguous assemblies of the sex-determining Y chromosome. We assembled complete and gapless telomere to telomere (T2T) Y chromosomes for these species. The pseudo-autosomal regions were similar in length, but the total chromosome size was substantially different, with the cattle Y more than twice the length of the sheep Y. The length disparity was accounted for by expanded ampliconic region in cattle. The genic amplification in cattle contrasts with pseudogenization in sheep suggesting opposite evolutionary mechanisms since their divergence 18MYA. The centromeres also differed dramatically despite the close relationship between these species at the overall genome sequence level. These Y chromosome have been added to the current reference assemblies in GenBank opening new opportunities for the study of evolution and variation while supporting efforts to improve sustainability in these important livestock species that generally use sire-driven genetic improvement strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Smith
- USDA, ARS, U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Sergey Koren
- Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health
| | | | - Arang Rhie
- Genome Informatics Section, Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
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2
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Ghorbel M, Baklouti-Gargouri S, Keskes R, Sellami A, McElreavy K, Ammar-Keskes L. Y-chromosome haplogroups and Azoospermia Factor (AZF) analysis in Tunisian infertile male. HUM FERTIL 2023; 26:1238-1247. [PMID: 36591797 DOI: 10.1080/14647273.2022.2163194] [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: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to clarify the implication of Y chromosome genetic variations and haplogroups in Tunisian infertile men. A total of 27 Y-chromosomal binary markers partial microdeletions (gr/gr, b1/b3 and b2/b3) and copy number variation of DAZ and CDY genes in the AZFc region were analysed in 131 Tunisian infertile men with spermatogenic failure and severe reduced sperm concentrations and in 85 normospermic men as controls. Eleven different haplogroups in the overall population study (E3b2; J1J*, E1, E3b*, F, G, K, P/Q, R*, R1* and R1a1) were found. Interestingly, the J1J* haplogroup was significantly more frequent in azoo/oligospermic patients than in normospermic men (35.1% and 22.3%, respectively (p value = 0.04)). Results showed also that patients without DAZ/CDY1 copies loss and without partial microdeletions belonged to the R1 haplogroup. The relative high frequencies of two haplogroups, E3b2 (35.1%) and J (30%) was confirmed in Tunisia. We reported in the present study and for the first time, that J1J* haplogroup may confer a risk factor for infertility in the Tunisian population and we suggested that R1 haplogroup may ensure certain stability to Y-chromosome in Tunisian men.
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Affiliation(s)
- Myriam Ghorbel
- Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Human Molecular Genetics, Universite de Sfax Faculte de Medecine de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Siwar Baklouti-Gargouri
- Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Human Molecular Genetics, Universite de Sfax Faculte de Medecine de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Rim Keskes
- Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Human Molecular Genetics, Universite de Sfax Faculte de Medecine de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Afifa Sellami
- Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Histology & Embryology, Universite de Sfax Faculte de Medecine de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Ken McElreavy
- Human Developmental Genetics Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Leila Ammar-Keskes
- Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Human Molecular Genetics, Universite de Sfax Faculte de Medecine de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
- Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory of Histology & Embryology, Universite de Sfax Faculte de Medecine de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
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3
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Tomaszkiewicz M, Sahlin K, Medvedev P, Makova KD. Transcript Isoform Diversity of Ampliconic Genes on the Y Chromosome of Great Apes. Genome Biol Evol 2023; 15:evad205. [PMID: 37967251 PMCID: PMC10673640 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad205] [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: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Y chromosomal ampliconic genes (YAGs) are important for male fertility, as they encode proteins functioning in spermatogenesis. The variation in copy number and expression levels of these multicopy gene families has been studied in great apes; however, the diversity of splicing variants remains unexplored. Here, we deciphered the sequences of polyadenylated transcripts of all nine YAG families (BPY2, CDY, DAZ, HSFY, PRY, RBMY, TSPY, VCY, and XKRY) from testis samples of six great ape species (human, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, and Sumatran orangutan). To achieve this, we enriched YAG transcripts with capture probe hybridization and sequenced them with long (Pacific Biosciences) reads. Our analysis of this data set resulted in several findings. First, we observed evolutionarily conserved alternative splicing patterns for most YAG families except for BPY2 and PRY. Second, our results suggest that BPY2 transcripts and proteins originate from separate genomic regions in bonobo versus human, which is possibly facilitated by acquiring new promoters. Third, our analysis indicates that the PRY gene family, having the highest representation of noncoding transcripts, has been undergoing pseudogenization. Fourth, we have not detected signatures of selection in the five YAG families shared among great apes, even though we identified many species-specific protein-coding transcripts. Fifth, we predicted consensus disorder regions across most gene families and species, which could be used for future investigations of male infertility. Overall, our work illuminates the YAG isoform landscape and provides a genomic resource for future functional studies focusing on infertility phenotypes in humans and critically endangered great apes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Tomaszkiewicz
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Kristoffer Sahlin
- Department of Mathematics, Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Paul Medvedev
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Medical Genomics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Kateryna D Makova
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Medical Genomics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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4
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Lucotte EA, Guðmundsdóttir VB, Jensen JM, Skov L, Macià MC, Almstrup K, Schierup MH, Helgason A, Stefansson K. Characterizing the evolution and phenotypic impact of ampliconic Y chromosome regions. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3990. [PMID: 37414752 PMCID: PMC10326017 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39644-6] [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: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A major part of the human Y chromosome consists of palindromes with multiple copies of genes primarily expressed in testis, many of which have been claimed to affect male fertility. Here we examine copy number variation in these palindromes based on whole genome sequence data from 11,527 Icelandic men. Using a subset of 7947 men grouped into 1449 patrilineal genealogies, we infer 57 large scale de novo copy number mutations affecting palindrome 1. This corresponds to a mutation rate of 2.34 × 10-3 mutations per meiosis, which is 4.1 times larger than our phylogenetic estimate of the mutation rate (5.72 × 10-4), suggesting that de novo mutations on the Y are lost faster than expected under neutral evolution. Although simulations indicate a selection coefficient of 1.8% against non-reference copy number carriers, we do not observe differences in fertility among sequenced men associated with their copy number genotype, but we lack statistical power to detect differences resulting from weak negative selection. We also perform association testing of a diverse set of 341 traits to palindromic copy number without any significant associations. We conclude that large-scale palindrome copy number variation on the Y chromosome has little impact on human phenotype diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elise A Lucotte
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Dk-8000, Aarhus C., Denmark.
- Ecologie Systematique et Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
| | - Valdís Björt Guðmundsdóttir
- deCODE genetics/Amgen Inc., 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
- Department of Anthropology, University of Iceland, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Jacob M Jensen
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Dk-8000, Aarhus C., Denmark
| | - Laurits Skov
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Dk-8000, Aarhus C., Denmark
| | - Moisès Coll Macià
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Dk-8000, Aarhus C., Denmark
| | - Kristian Almstrup
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mikkel H Schierup
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Dk-8000, Aarhus C., Denmark
| | - Agnar Helgason
- deCODE genetics/Amgen Inc., 101, Reykjavik, Iceland.
- Department of Anthropology, University of Iceland, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland.
| | - Kari Stefansson
- deCODE genetics/Amgen Inc., 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
- Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland
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5
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Tomaszkiewicz M, Sahlin K, Medvedev P, Makova KD. Transcript Isoform Diversity of Ampliconic Genes on the Y Chromosome of Great Apes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.03.02.530874. [PMID: 36993458 PMCID: PMC10054944 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.02.530874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Y-chromosomal Ampliconic Genes (YAGs) are important for male fertility, as they encode proteins functioning in spermatogenesis. The variation in copy number and expression levels of these multicopy gene families has been recently studied in great apes, however, the diversity of splicing variants remains unexplored. Here we deciphered the sequences of polyadenylated transcripts of all nine YAG families (BPY2, CDY, DAZ, HSFY, PRY, RBMY, TSPY, VCY, and XKRY) from testis samples of six great ape species (human, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, and Sumatran orangutan). To achieve this, we enriched YAG transcripts with capture-probe hybridization and sequenced them with long (Pacific Biosciences) reads. Our analysis of this dataset resulted in several findings. First, we uncovered a high diversity of YAG transcripts across great apes. Second, we observed evolutionarily conserved alternative splicing patterns for most YAG families except for BPY2 and PRY. Our results suggest that BPY2 transcripts and predicted proteins in several great ape species (bonobo and the two orangutans) have independent evolutionary origins and are not homologous to human reference transcripts and proteins. In contrast, our results suggest that the PRY gene family, having the highest representation of transcripts without open reading frames, has been undergoing pseudogenization. Third, even though we have identified many species-specific protein-coding YAG transcripts, we have not detected any signatures of positive selection. Overall, our work illuminates the YAG isoform landscape and its evolutionary history, and provides a genomic resource for future functional studies focusing on infertility phenotypes in humans and critically endangered great apes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Tomaszkiewicz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Kristoffer Sahlin
- Department of Mathematics, Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Paul Medvedev
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Medical Genomics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Kateryna D Makova
- Center for Medical Genomics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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6
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Castaneda C, Radović L, Felkel S, Juras R, Davis BW, Cothran EG, Wallner B, Raudsepp T. Copy number variation of horse Y chromosome genes in normal equine populations and in horses with abnormal sex development and subfertility: relationship of copy number variations with Y haplogroups. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2022; 12:jkac278. [PMID: 36227030 PMCID: PMC9713435 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkac278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Structural rearrangements like copy number variations in the male-specific Y chromosome have been associated with male fertility phenotypes in human and mouse but have been sparsely studied in other mammalian species. Here, we designed digital droplet PCR assays for 7 horse male-specific Y chromosome multicopy genes and SRY and evaluated their absolute copy numbers in 209 normal male horses of 22 breeds, 73 XY horses with disorders of sex development and/or infertility, 5 Przewalski's horses and 2 kulans. This established baseline copy number for these genes in horses. The TSPY gene showed the highest copy number and was the most copy number variable between individuals and breeds. SRY was a single-copy gene in most horses but had 2-3 copies in some indigenous breeds. Since SRY is flanked by 2 copies of RBMY, their copy number variations were interrelated and may lead to SRY-negative XY disorders of sex development. The Przewalski's horse and kulan had 1 copy of SRY and RBMY. TSPY and ETSTY2 showed significant copy number variations between cryptorchid and normal males (P < 0.05). No significant copy number variations were observed in subfertile/infertile males. Notably, copy number of TSPY and ETSTY5 differed between successive male generations and between cloned horses, indicating germline and somatic mechanisms for copy number variations. We observed no correlation between male-specific Y chromosome gene copy number variations and male-specific Y chromosome haplotypes. We conclude that the ampliconic male-specific Y chromosome reference assembly has deficiencies and further studies with an improved male-specific Y chromosome assembly are needed to determine selective constraints over horse male-specific Y chromosome gene copy number and their relation to stallion reproduction and male biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin Castaneda
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 7784-4458, USA
| | - Lara Radović
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna 1210, Austria
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna 1210, Austria
| | - Sabine Felkel
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna 1210, Austria
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna 1210, Austria
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Computational Biology, BOKU University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - Rytis Juras
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 7784-4458, USA
| | - Brian W Davis
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 7784-4458, USA
| | - Ernest Gus Cothran
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 7784-4458, USA
| | - Barbara Wallner
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna 1210, Austria
| | - Terje Raudsepp
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 7784-4458, USA
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7
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Wren G, Davies W. Sex-linked genetic mechanisms and atrial fibrillation risk. Eur J Med Genet 2022; 65:104459. [PMID: 35189376 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmg.2022.104459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a cardiac condition characterised by an irregular heartbeat, atrial pathology and an elevated downstream risk of thrombosis and heart failure, as well as neurological sequelae including stroke and dementia. The prevalence and presentation of, risk factors for, and therapeutic responses to, AF differ by sex, and this sex bias may be partially explained in terms of genetics. Here, we consider four sex-linked genetic mechanisms that may influence sex-biased phenotypes related to AF and provide examples of each: X-linked gene dosage, X-linked genomic imprinting, sex-biased autosomal gene expression, and male-limited Y-linked gene expression. We highlight novel candidate risk genes and pathways that warrant further investigation in clinical and preclinical studies. Understanding the biological basis of sex differences in AF should allow better prediction of disease risk, identification of novel risk/protective factors, and the development of more effective sex-tailored interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - William Davies
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK; School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK.
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8
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Vegesna R, Tomaszkiewicz M, Ryder OA, Campos-Sánchez R, Medvedev P, DeGiorgio M, Makova KD. Ampliconic Genes on the Great Ape Y Chromosomes: Rapid Evolution of Copy Number but Conservation of Expression Levels. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 12:842-859. [PMID: 32374870 PMCID: PMC7313670 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Multicopy ampliconic gene families on the Y chromosome play an important role in spermatogenesis. Thus, studying their genetic variation in endangered great ape species is critical. We estimated the sizes (copy number) of nine Y ampliconic gene families in population samples of chimpanzee, bonobo, and orangutan with droplet digital polymerase chain reaction, combined these estimates with published data for human and gorilla, and produced genome-wide testis gene expression data for great apes. Analyzing this comprehensive data set within an evolutionary framework, we, first, found high inter- and intraspecific variation in gene family size, with larger families exhibiting higher variation as compared with smaller families, a pattern consistent with random genetic drift. Second, for four gene families, we observed significant interspecific size differences, sometimes even between sister species—chimpanzee and bonobo. Third, despite substantial variation in copy number, Y ampliconic gene families’ expression levels did not differ significantly among species, suggesting dosage regulation. Fourth, for three gene families, size was positively correlated with gene expression levels across species, suggesting that, given sufficient evolutionary time, copy number influences gene expression. Our results indicate high variability in size but conservation in gene expression levels in Y ampliconic gene families, significantly advancing our understanding of Y-chromosome evolution in great apes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahulsimham Vegesna
- Bioinformatics and Genomics Graduate Program, The Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | | | - Oliver A Ryder
- Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, California
| | | | - Paul Medvedev
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.,Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.,Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.,Center for Medical Genomics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | - Michael DeGiorgio
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.,Institute for Computational and Data Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
| | - Kateryna D Makova
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.,Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.,Center for Medical Genomics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
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9
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Rogers TF, Pizzari T, Wright AE. Multi-Copy Gene Family Evolution on the Avian W Chromosome. J Hered 2021; 112:250-259. [PMID: 33758922 DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esab016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2020] [Revised: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The sex chromosomes often follow unusual evolutionary trajectories. In particular, the sex-limited chromosomes frequently exhibit a small but unusual gene content in numerous species, where many genes have undergone massive gene amplification. The reasons for this remain elusive with a number of recent studies implicating meiotic drive, sperm competition, genetic drift, and gene conversion in the expansion of gene families. However, our understanding is primarily based on Y chromosome studies as few studies have systematically tested for copy number variation on W chromosomes. Here, we conduct a comprehensive investigation into the abundance, variability, and evolution of ampliconic genes on the avian W. First, we quantified gene copy number and variability across the duck W chromosome. We find a limited number of gene families as well as conservation in W-linked gene copy number across duck breeds, indicating that gene amplification may not be such a general feature of sex chromosome evolution as Y studies would initially suggest. Next, we investigated the evolution of HINTW, a prominent ampliconic gene family hypothesized to play a role in female reproduction and oogenesis. In particular, we investigated the factors driving the expansion of HINTW using contrasts between modern chicken and duck breeds selected for different female-specific selection regimes and their wild ancestors. Although we find the potential for selection related to fecundity in explaining small-scale gene amplification of HINTW in the chicken, purifying selection seems to be the dominant mode of evolution in the duck. Together, this challenges the assumption that HINTW is key for female fecundity across the avian phylogeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thea F Rogers
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK
| | - Tommaso Pizzari
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK
| | - Alison E Wright
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK
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10
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Rogers MJ. Y chromosome copy number variation and its effects on fertility and other health factors: a review. Transl Androl Urol 2021; 10:1373-1382. [PMID: 33850773 PMCID: PMC8039628 DOI: 10.21037/tau.2020.04.06] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The Y chromosome is essential for testis development and spermatogenesis. It is a chromosome with the lowest gene density owing to its medium size but paucity of coding genes. The Y chromosome is unique in that the majority of its structure is highly repetitive sequences, with the majority of these limited genes occurring in 9 amplionic sequences throughout the chromosome. The repetitive nature has its benefits as it can be protective against gene loss over many generations, but it can also predispose the Y chromosome to having wide variations of the number of gene copies present in these repeated sequences. This is known as copy number variation. Copy number variation is not unique to the Y chromosome but copy number variation is a well-known cause of male infertility and having effects on spermatogenesis. This is most commonly seen as deletions of the AZF sequences on the Y chromosome. However, there are other implications for copy number variation beyond just the AZF deletions that can affect spermatogenesis and potentially have other health implications. Copy number variations of TSPY1, DAZ, CDY1, RBMY1, the DYZ1 array, along with minor deletions of gr/gr, b1/b3, and b2/b3 have all be implicated in affecting spermatogenesis. UTY copy number variations have been implicated in risk for cardiovascular disease, and other deletions within gr/gr and the AZF sequences have been implicated in cancer and neuropsychiatric diseases. This review sets out to describe the Y chromosome and unique susceptibility to copy number variation and then to examine how this growing body of research impacts spermatogenesis and other health factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc J Rogers
- Department of Urology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
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11
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The Role of Number of Copies, Structure, Behavior and Copy Number Variations (CNV) of the Y Chromosome in Male Infertility. Genes (Basel) 2019; 11:genes11010040. [PMID: 31905733 PMCID: PMC7016774 DOI: 10.3390/genes11010040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/23/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines infertility as the inability of a sexually active, non-contracepting couple to achieve spontaneous pregnancy within one year. Statistics show that the two sexes are equally at risk. Several causes may be responsible for male infertility; however, in 30–40% of cases a diagnosis of idiopathic male infertility is made in men with normal urogenital anatomy, no history of familial fertility-related diseases and a normal panel of values as for endocrine, genetic and biochemical markers. Idiopathic male infertility may be the result of gene/environment interactions, genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. Numerical and structural anomalies of the Y chromosome represent a minor yet significant proportion and are the topic discussed in this review. We searched the PubMed database and major search engines for reports about Y-linked male infertility. We present cases of Y-linked male infertility in terms of (i) anomalies of the Y chromosome structure/number; (ii) Y chromosome misbehavior in a normal genetic background; (iii) Y chromosome copy number variations (CNVs). We discuss possible explanations of male infertility caused by mutations, lower or higher number of copies of otherwise wild type, Y-linked sequences. Despite Y chromosome structural anomalies are not a major cause of male infertility, in case of negative results and of normal DNA sequencing of the ascertained genes causing infertility and mapping on this chromosome, we recommend an analysis of the karyotype integrity in all cases of idiopathic fertility impairment, with an emphasis on the structure and number of this chromosome.
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12
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Vegesna R, Tomaszkiewicz M, Medvedev P, Makova KD. Dosage regulation, and variation in gene expression and copy number of human Y chromosome ampliconic genes. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1008369. [PMID: 31525193 PMCID: PMC6772104 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Revised: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The Y chromosome harbors nine multi-copy ampliconic gene families expressed exclusively in testis. The gene copies within each family are >99% identical to each other, which poses a major challenge in evaluating their copy number. Recent studies demonstrated high variation in Y ampliconic gene copy number among humans. However, how this variation affects expression levels in human testis remains understudied. Here we developed a novel computational tool Ampliconic Copy Number Estimator (AmpliCoNE) that utilizes read sequencing depth information to estimate Y ampliconic gene copy number per family. We applied this tool to whole-genome sequencing data of 149 men with matched testis expression data whose samples are part of the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. We found that the Y ampliconic gene families with low copy number in humans were deleted or pseudogenized in non-human great apes, suggesting relaxation of functional constraints. Among the Y ampliconic gene families, higher copy number leads to higher expression. Within the Y ampliconic gene families, copy number does not influence gene expression, rather a high tolerance for variation in gene expression was observed in testis of presumably healthy men. No differences in gene expression levels were found among major Y haplogroups. Age positively correlated with expression levels of the HSFY and PRY gene families in the African subhaplogroup E1b, but not in the European subhaplogroups R1b and I1. We also found that expression of five Y ampliconic gene families is coordinated with that of their non-Y (i.e. X or autosomal) homologs. Indeed, five ampliconic gene families had consistently lower expression levels when compared to their non-Y homologs suggesting dosage regulation, while the HSFY family had higher expression levels than its X homolog and thus lacked dosage regulation.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Chromosomes, Human, Y/genetics
- Chromosomes, Human, Y/physiology
- DNA Copy Number Variations/genetics
- Databases, Genetic
- Dosage Compensation, Genetic/genetics
- Dosage Compensation, Genetic/physiology
- Epigenesis, Genetic/genetics
- Gene Dosage/genetics
- Gene Expression/genetics
- Gene Expression Regulation/genetics
- Genes, Y-Linked/genetics
- Genes, Y-Linked/physiology
- Heat Shock Transcription Factors/genetics
- Heat Shock Transcription Factors/metabolism
- Humans
- Male
- Multigene Family/genetics
- Sequence Analysis, DNA/methods
- Testis/metabolism
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Affiliation(s)
- Rahulsimham Vegesna
- Bioinformatics and Genomics Graduate Program, The Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
| | - Marta Tomaszkiewicz
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
| | - Paul Medvedev
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Center for Medical Genomics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
| | - Kateryna D. Makova
- Bioinformatics and Genomics Graduate Program, The Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
- Center for Medical Genomics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
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13
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Son JH, Kohlbrenner T, Heinze S, Beukeboom LW, Bopp D, Meisel RP. Minimal Effects of Proto- Y Chromosomes on House Fly Gene Expression in Spite of Evidence that Selection Maintains Stable Polygenic Sex Determination. Genetics 2019; 213:313-327. [PMID: 31315889 PMCID: PMC6727804 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.119.302441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Sex determination, the developmental process by which organismal sex is established, evolves fast, often due to changes in the master regulators at the top of the pathway. Additionally, in species with polygenic sex determination, multiple different master regulators segregate as polymorphisms. Understanding the forces that maintain polygenic sex determination can be informative of the factors that drive the evolution of sex determination. The house fly, Musca domestica, is a well-suited model to those ends because natural populations harbor male-determining loci on each of the six chromosomes and a biallelic female determiner. To investigate how natural selection maintains polygenic sex determination in the house fly, we assayed the phenotypic effects of proto-Y chromosomes by performing mRNA-sequencing experiments to measure gene expression in house fly males carrying different proto-Y chromosomes. We find that the proto-Y chromosomes have similar effects as a nonsex-determining autosome. In addition, we created sex-reversed males without any proto-Y chromosomes and they had nearly identical gene expression profiles as genotypic males. Therefore, the proto-Y chromosomes have a minor effect on male gene expression, consistent with previously described minimal X-Y sequence differences. Despite these minimal differences, we find evidence for a disproportionate effect of one proto-Y chromosome on male-biased expression, which could be partially responsible for fitness differences between males with different proto-Y chromosome genotypes. Therefore our results suggest that, if natural selection maintains polygenic sex determination in house fly via gene expression differences, the phenotypes under selection likely depend on a small number of genetic targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jae Hak Son
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Texas 77204-5001
| | - Tea Kohlbrenner
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Switzerland CH-8057
| | - Svenia Heinze
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Switzerland CH-8057
| | - Leo W Beukeboom
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 9700
| | - Daniel Bopp
- Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zurich, Switzerland CH-8057
| | - Richard P Meisel
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Texas 77204-5001
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14
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Shi W, Louzada S, Grigorova M, Massaia A, Arciero E, Kibena L, Ge XJ, Chen Y, Ayub Q, Poolamets O, Tyler-Smith C, Punab M, Laan M, Yang F, Hallast P, Xue Y. Evolutionary and functional analysis of RBMY1 gene copy number variation on the human Y chromosome. Hum Mol Genet 2019; 28:2785-2798. [PMID: 31108506 PMCID: PMC6687947 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddz101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2019] [Revised: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 05/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Human RBMY1 genes are located in four variable-sized clusters on the Y chromosome, expressed in male germ cells and possibly associated with sperm motility. We have re-investigated the mutational background and evolutionary history of the RBMY1 copy number distribution in worldwide samples and its relevance to sperm parameters in an Estonian cohort of idiopathic male factor infertility subjects. We estimated approximate RBMY1 copy numbers in 1218 1000 Genomes Project phase 3 males from sequencing read-depth, then chose 14 for valid ation by multicolour fibre-FISH. These fibre-FISH samples provided accurate calibration standards for the entire panel and led to detailed insights into population variation and mutational mechanisms. RBMY1 copy number worldwide ranged from 3 to 13 with a mode of 8. The two larger proximal clusters were the most variable, and additional duplications, deletions and inversions were detected. Placing the copy number estimates onto the published Y-SNP-based phylogeny of the same samples suggested a minimum of 562 mutational changes, translating to a mutation rate of 2.20 × 10-3 (95% CI 1.94 × 10-3 to 2.48 × 10-3) per father-to-son Y-transmission, higher than many short tandem repeat (Y-STRs), and showed no evidence for selection for increased or decreased copy number, but possible copy number stabilizing selection. An analysis of RBMY1 copy numbers among 376 infertility subjects failed to replicate a previously reported association with sperm motility and showed no significant effect on sperm count and concentration, serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone levels or testicular and semen volume. These results provide the first in-depth insights into the structural rearrangements underlying RBMY1 copy number variation across diverse human lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wentao Shi
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
- Department of Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300070, China
| | - Sandra Louzada
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Marina Grigorova
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu 50411, Estonia
| | - Andrea Massaia
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
- National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Elena Arciero
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Laura Kibena
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu 50411, Estonia
| | - Xiangyu Jack Ge
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, School of Biological Science, Division of Musculoskeletal and Dermatological Science, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Yuan Chen
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Qasim Ayub
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
- Monash University Malaysia Genomics Facility, Tropical Medicine and Biology Multidisciplinary Platform, Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan 47500, Malaysia
- School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan 47500, Malaysia
| | - Olev Poolamets
- Andrology Unit, Tartu University Hospital, Tartu 50406, Estonia
| | - Chris Tyler-Smith
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Margus Punab
- Andrology Unit, Tartu University Hospital, Tartu 50406, Estonia
| | - Maris Laan
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu 50411, Estonia
| | - Fengtang Yang
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Pille Hallast
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
- Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu 50411, Estonia
| | - Yali Xue
- Wellcome Genome Campus, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
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15
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Dynamic Copy Number Evolution of X- and Y-Linked Ampliconic Genes in Human Populations. Genetics 2018; 209:907-920. [PMID: 29769284 PMCID: PMC6028258 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.118.300826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 05/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Ampliconic genes are multicopy genes often located on sex chromosomes and enriched for testis-expressed genes. Here, Lucotte et al. developed new bioinformatic approaches to investigate the ampliconic gene copy number and their coding... Ampliconic genes are multicopy, with the majority found on sex chromosomes and enriched for testis-expressed genes. While ampliconic genes have been associated with the emergence of hybrid incompatibilities, we know little about their copy number distribution and their turnover in human populations. Here, we explore the evolution of human X- and Y-linked ampliconic genes by investigating copy number variation (CNV) and coding variation between populations using the Simons Genome Diversity Project. We develop a method to assess CNVs using the read depth on modified X and Y chromosome targets containing only one repetition of each ampliconic gene. Our results reveal extensive standing variation in copy number both within and between human populations for several ampliconic genes. For the Y chromosome, we can infer multiple independent amplifications and losses of these gene copies even within closely related Y haplogroups, that diversified < 50,000 years ago. Moreover, X- and Y-linked ampliconic genes seem to have a faster amplification dynamic than autosomal multicopy genes. Looking at expression data from another study, we also find that X- and Y-linked ampliconic genes with extensive CNV are significantly more expressed than genes with no CNV during meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (for both X and Y) and postmeiotic sex chromosome repression (for the Y chromosome only). While we cannot rule out that the XY-linked ampliconic genes are evolving neutrally, this study gives insights into the distribution of copy number within human populations and demonstrates an extremely fast turnover in copy number of these regions.
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