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Witt ASA, Carvalho JVRP, Serafim MSM, Arias NEC, Rodrigues RAL, Abrahão JS. The GC% landscape of the Nucleocytoviricota. Braz J Microbiol 2024:10.1007/s42770-024-01496-7. [PMID: 39180708 DOI: 10.1007/s42770-024-01496-7] [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: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 08/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Genomic studies on sequence composition employ various approaches, such as calculating the proportion of guanine and cytosine within a given sequence (GC% content), which can shed light on various aspects of the organism's biology. In this context, GC% can provide insights into virus-host relationships and evolution. Here, we present a comprehensive gene-by-gene analysis of 61 representatives belonging to the phylum Nucleocytoviricota, which comprises viruses with the largest genomes known in the virosphere. Parameters were evaluated not only based on the average GC% of a given viral species compared to the entire phylum but also considering gene position and phylogenetic history. Our results reveal that while some families exhibit similar GC% among their representatives (e.g., Marseilleviridae), others such as Poxviridae, Phycodnaviridae, and Mimiviridae have members with discrepant GC% values, likely reflecting adaptation to specific biological cycles and hosts. Interestingly, certain genes located at terminal regions or within specific genomic clusters show GC% values distinct from the average, suggesting recent acquisition or unique evolutionary pressures. Horizontal gene transfer and the presence of potential paralogs were also assessed in genes with the most discrepant GC% values, indicating multiple evolutionary histories. Taken together, to the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first global and gene-by-gene analysis of GC% distribution and profiles within genomes of Nucleocytoviricota members, highlighting their diversity and identifying potential new targets for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Stéphanie Arantes Witt
- Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | | | - Mateus Sá Magalhães Serafim
- Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Nidia Esther Colquehuanca Arias
- Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Rodrigo Araújo Lima Rodrigues
- Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Jônatas Santos Abrahão
- Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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2
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Berv JS, Singhal S, Field DJ, Walker-Hale N, McHugh SW, Shipley JR, Miller ET, Kimball RT, Braun EL, Dornburg A, Parins-Fukuchi CT, Prum RO, Winger BM, Friedman M, Smith SA. Genome and life-history evolution link bird diversification to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadp0114. [PMID: 39083615 PMCID: PMC11290531 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp0114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 08/02/2024]
Abstract
Complex patterns of genome evolution associated with the end-Cretaceous [Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg)] mass extinction limit our understanding of the early evolutionary history of modern birds. Here, we analyzed patterns of avian molecular evolution and identified distinct macroevolutionary regimes across exons, introns, untranslated regions, and mitochondrial genomes. Bird clades originating near the K-Pg boundary exhibited numerous shifts in the mode of molecular evolution, suggesting a burst of genomic heterogeneity at this point in Earth's history. These inferred shifts in substitution patterns were closely related to evolutionary shifts in developmental mode, adult body mass, and patterns of metabolic scaling. Our results suggest that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction triggered integrated patterns of evolution across avian genomes, physiology, and life history near the dawn of the modern bird radiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S. Berv
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Sonal Singhal
- Department of Biology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA 90747, USA
| | - Daniel J. Field
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
- Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Nathanael Walker-Hale
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
| | - Sean W. McHugh
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Population Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - J. Ryan Shipley
- Department of Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Eliot T. Miller
- Center for Avian Population Studies, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
| | - Rebecca T. Kimball
- Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Edward L. Braun
- Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Alex Dornburg
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
| | - C. Tomomi Parins-Fukuchi
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Richard O. Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Benjamin M. Winger
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Matt Friedman
- Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100 North University Avenue, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Stephen A. Smith
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Avenue, Biological Sciences Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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3
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Grant AR, Johnson KP, Stanley EL, Baldwin-Brown J, Kolenčík S, Allen JM. Rapid Targeted Assembly of the Proteome Reveals Evolutionary Variation of GC Content in Avian Lice. Bioinform Biol Insights 2024; 18:11779322241257991. [PMID: 38860163 PMCID: PMC11163934 DOI: 10.1177/11779322241257991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Nucleotide base composition plays an influential role in the molecular mechanisms involved in gene function, phenotype, and amino acid composition. GC content (proportion of guanine and cytosine in DNA sequences) shows a high level of variation within and among species. Many studies measure GC content in a small number of genes, which may not be representative of genome-wide GC variation. One challenge when assembling extensive genomic data sets for these studies is the significant amount of resources (monetary and computational) associated with data processing, and many bioinformatic tools have not been optimized for resource efficiency. Using a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster, we manipulated resources provided to the targeted gene assembly program, automated target restricted assembly method (aTRAM), to determine an optimum way to run the program to maximize resource use. Using our optimum assembly approach, we assembled and measured GC content of all of the protein-coding genes of a diverse group of parasitic feather lice. Of the 499 426 genes assembled across 57 species, feather lice were GC-poor (mean GC = 42.96%) with a significant amount of variation within and between species (GC range = 19.57%-73.33%). We found a significant correlation between GC content and standard deviation per taxon for overall GC and GC3, which could indicate selection for G and C nucleotides in some species. Phylogenetic signal of GC content was detected in both GC and GC3. This research provides a large-scale investigation of GC content in parasitic lice laying the foundation for understanding the basis of variation in base composition across species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avery R Grant
- Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Kevin P Johnson
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA
| | - Edward L Stanley
- Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | | | - Stanislav Kolenčík
- Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
| | - Julie M Allen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
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4
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Sgarlata GM, Rasolondraibe E, Salmona J, Le Pors B, Ralantoharijaona T, Rakotonanahary A, Jan F, Manzi S, Iribar A, Zaonarivelo JR, Volasoa Andriaholinirina N, Rasoloharijaona S, Chikhi L. The genomic diversity of the Eliurus genus in northern Madagascar with a putative new species. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2024; 193:107997. [PMID: 38128795 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107997] [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: 02/10/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Madagascar exhibits extraordinarily high level of species richness and endemism, while being severely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation (HL&F). In front of these threats to biodiversity, conservation effort can be directed, for instance, in the documentation of species that are still unknown to science, or in investigating how species respond to HL&F. The tufted-tail rats genus (Eliurus spp.) is the most speciose genus of endemic rodents in Madagascar, with 13 described species, which occupy two major habitat types: dry or humid forests. The large species diversity and association to specific habitat types make the Eliurus genus a suitable model for investigating species adaptation to new environments, as well as response to HL&F (dry vs humid). In the present study, we investigated Eliurus spp. genomic diversity across northern Madagascar, a region covered by both dry and humid fragmented forests. From the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear genomic (RAD-seq) data of 124 Eliurus individuals sampled in poorly studied forests of northern Madagascar, we identified an undescribed Eliurus taxon (Eliurus sp. nova). We tested the hypothesis of a new Eliurus species using several approaches: i) DNA barcoding; ii) phylogenetic inferences; iii) species delimitation tests based on the Multi-Species Coalescent (MSC) model, iv) genealogical divergence index (gdi); v) an ad-hoc test of isolation-by-distance within versus between sister-taxa, vi) comparisons of %GC content patterns and vii) morphological analyses. All analyses support the recognition of the undescribed lineage as a putative distinct species. In addition, we show that Eliurus myoxinus, a species known from the dry forests of western Madagascar, is, surprisingly, found mostly in humid forests in northern Madagascar. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of such findings in the context of Eliurus species evolution and diversification, and use the distribution of northern Eliurus species as a proxy for reconstructing past changes in forest cover and vegetation type in northern Madagascar.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emmanuel Rasolondraibe
- Département de Biologie Animale et Ecologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar.
| | - Jordi Salmona
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal; Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement (CRBE),Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3 -Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France.
| | - Barbara Le Pors
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Tantely Ralantoharijaona
- Département de Biologie Animale et Ecologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar
| | - Ando Rakotonanahary
- Département de Biologie Animale et Ecologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar.
| | - Fabien Jan
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Sophie Manzi
- Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement (CRBE),Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3 -Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France.
| | - Amaia Iribar
- Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement (CRBE),Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3 -Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France.
| | - John Rigobert Zaonarivelo
- Département des Sciences de la Nature et de l'Environnement, Université d'Antsiranana, 201 Antsiranana, Madagascar.
| | | | - Solofonirina Rasoloharijaona
- Département de Biologie Animale et Ecologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar
| | - Lounès Chikhi
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal; Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l'Environnement (CRBE),Université de Toulouse, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse INP, Université Toulouse 3 -Paul Sabatier (UT3), Toulouse, France.
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5
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Kyriacou RG, Mulhair PO, Holland PWH. GC Content Across Insect Genomes: Phylogenetic Patterns, Causes and Consequences. J Mol Evol 2024; 92:138-152. [PMID: 38491221 PMCID: PMC10978632 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-024-10160-5] [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: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
The proportions of A:T and G:C nucleotide pairs are often unequal and can vary greatly between animal species and along chromosomes. The causes and consequences of this variation are incompletely understood. The recent release of high-quality genome sequences from the Darwin Tree of Life and other large-scale genome projects provides an opportunity for GC heterogeneity to be compared across a large number of insect species. Here we analyse GC content along chromosomes, and within protein-coding genes and codons, of 150 insect species from four holometabolous orders: Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera. We find that protein-coding sequences have higher GC content than the genome average, and that Lepidoptera generally have higher GC content than the other three insect orders examined. GC content is higher in small chromosomes in most Lepidoptera species, but this pattern is less consistent in other orders. GC content also increases towards subtelomeric regions within protein-coding genes in Diptera, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. Two species of Diptera, Bombylius major and B. discolor, have very atypical genomes with ubiquitous increase in AT content, especially at third codon positions. Despite dramatic AT-biased codon usage, we find no evidence that this has driven divergent protein evolution. We argue that the GC landscape of Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera genomes is influenced by GC-biased gene conversion, strongest in Lepidoptera, with some outlier taxa affected drastically by counteracting processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo G Kyriacou
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Peter O Mulhair
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Peter W H Holland
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK.
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6
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Wesp V, Theißen G, Schuster S. Statistical analysis of synonymous and stop codons in pseudo-random and real sequences as a function of GC content. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22996. [PMID: 38151539 PMCID: PMC10752896 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49626-9] [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: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Knowledge of the frequencies of synonymous triplets in protein-coding and non-coding DNA stretches can be used in gene finding. These frequencies depend on the GC content of the genome or parts of it. An example of interest is provided by stop codons. This is relevant for the definition of Open Reading Frames. A generic case is provided by pseudo-random sequences, especially when they code for complex proteins or when they are non-coding and not subject to selection pressure. Here, we calculate, for such sequences and for all 25 known genetic codes, the frequency of each amino acid and stop codon based on their set of codons and as a function of GC content. The amino acids can be classified into five groups according to the GC content where their expected frequency reaches its maximum. We determine the overall Shannon information based on groups of synonymous codons and show that it becomes maximum at a percent GC of 43.3% (for the standard code). This is in line with the observation that in most fungi, plants, and animals, this genomic parameter is in the range from 35 to 50%. By analysing natural sequences, we show that there is a clear bias for triplets corresponding to stop codons near the 5'- and 3'-splice sites in the introns of various clades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Wesp
- Department of Bioinformatics, Matthias Schleiden Institute, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Ernst-Abbe-Platz 2, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Günter Theißen
- Department of Genetics, Matthias Schleiden Institute, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 12, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Stefan Schuster
- Department of Bioinformatics, Matthias Schleiden Institute, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Ernst-Abbe-Platz 2, 07743, Jena, Germany.
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7
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Raja TV, Alex R, Singh U, Kumar S, Das AK, Sengar G, Singh AK. Genome wide mining of SNPs and INDELs through ddRAD sequencing in Sahiwal cattle. Anim Biotechnol 2023; 34:4885-4899. [PMID: 37093232 DOI: 10.1080/10495398.2023.2200517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2023]
Abstract
The study was conducted in Sahiwal cattle for genome wide identification and annotation of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions and deletions (INDELs) in Sahiwal cattle. The double digest restriction-site associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing, a reduced representation method was used for the identification of variants at nucleotide level. A total of 1,615,211 variants were identified at RD10 and Q30 consisting of 1,480,930 SNPs and 134,281 INDELs with respect to the Bos taurus reference genome. The SNPs were annotated for their location, impact and functional class. The SNPs identified in Sahiwal cattle were found to be associated with a total of 26,229 genes. A total of 1819 SNPs were annotated for 209 candidate genes associated with different production and reproduction traits. The variants identified in the present study may be useful to strengthen the existing bovine SNP chips for reducing the biasness over the taurine cattle breeds. The diversity analysis provides the insight of the genetic architecture of the Sahiwal population Studied. The large genetic variations identified at the nucleotide level provide ample scope for implementing an effective and efficient breed improvement programme for increasing the productivity of Sahiwal cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiruvothur Venkatesan Raja
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Cattle Genetics and Breeding Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut Cantt, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Rani Alex
- ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India
| | - Umesh Singh
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Cattle Genetics and Breeding Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut Cantt, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Sushil Kumar
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Cattle Genetics and Breeding Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut Cantt, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Achintya Kumar Das
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Cattle Genetics and Breeding Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut Cantt, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Gyanendra Sengar
- National Research Centre on Pigs, Rani (Near Airport), Guwahati, Assam, India
| | - Amit Kumar Singh
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Cattle Genetics and Breeding Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle, Meerut Cantt, Uttar Pradesh, India
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8
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O’Brien A, Bauer DC, Burgio G. Predicting CRISPR-Cas12a guide efficiency for targeting using machine learning. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0292924. [PMID: 37847697 PMCID: PMC10581463 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292924] [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: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome editing through the development of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat)-Cas technology has revolutionized many fields in biology. Beyond Cas9 nucleases, Cas12a (formerly Cpf1) has emerged as a promising alternative to Cas9 for editing AT-rich genomes. Despite the promises, guide RNA efficiency prediction through computational tools search still lacks accuracy. Through a computational meta-analysis, here we report that Cas12a target and off-target cleavage behavior are a factor of nucleotide bias combined with nucleotide mismatches relative to the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) site. These features helped to train a Random Forest machine learning model to improve the accuracy by at least 15% over existing algorithms to predict guide RNA efficiency for the Cas12a enzyme. Despite the progresses, our report underscores the need for more representative datasets and further benchmarking to reliably and accurately predict guide RNA efficiency and off-target effects for Cas12a enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aidan O’Brien
- Division of Genome Science and Cancer and The Shine-Dalgarno Centre for RNA Innovation, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, College of Health and Medicine, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIRO) Health and Biosecurity, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Denis C. Bauer
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIRO) Health and Biosecurity, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Australia
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Applied BioSciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Australia
| | - Gaetan Burgio
- Division of Genome Science and Cancer and The Shine-Dalgarno Centre for RNA Innovation, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, College of Health and Medicine, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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9
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Nedwed AS, Helbich SS, Braband KL, Volkmar M, Delacher M, Marini F. Using combined single-cell gene expression, TCR sequencing and cell surface protein barcoding to characterize and track CD4+ T cell clones from murine tissues. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1241283. [PMID: 37901204 PMCID: PMC10602882 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1241283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Single-cell gene expression analysis using sequencing (scRNA-seq) has gained increased attention in the past decades for studying cellular transcriptional programs and their heterogeneity in an unbiased manner, and novel protocols allow the simultaneous measurement of gene expression, T-cell receptor clonality and cell surface protein expression. In this article, we describe the methods to isolate scRNA/TCR-seq-compatible CD4+ T cells from murine tissues, such as skin, spleen, and lymph nodes. We describe the processing of cells and quality control parameters during library preparation, protocols for multiplexing of samples, and strategies for sequencing. Moreover, we describe a step-by-step bioinformatic analysis pipeline from sequencing data generated using these protocols. This includes quality control, preprocessing of sequencing data and demultiplexing of individual samples. We perform quantification of gene expression and extraction of T-cell receptor alpha and beta chain sequences, followed by quality control and doublet detection, and methods for harmonization and integration of datasets. Next, we describe the identification of highly variable genes and dimensionality reduction, clustering and pseudotemporal ordering of data, and we demonstrate how to visualize the results with interactive and reproducible dashboards. We will combine different analytic R-based frameworks such as Bioconductor and Seurat, illustrating how these can be interoperable to optimally analyze scRNA/TCR-seq data of CD4+ T cells from murine tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annekathrin Silvia Nedwed
- Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sara Salome Helbich
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Kathrin Luise Braband
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Michael Volkmar
- Helmholtz-Institute for Translational Oncology Mainz (HI-TRON Mainz), Mainz, Germany
| | - Michael Delacher
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Federico Marini
- Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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10
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Liu A, Wang N, Xie G, Li Y, Yan X, Li X, Zhu Z, Li Z, Yang J, Meng F, Dou M, Chen W, Ma N, Jiang Y, Gao Y, Wang Y. GC-biased gene conversion drives accelerated evolution of ultraconserved elements in mammalian and avian genomes. Genome Res 2023; 33:1673-1689. [PMID: 37884342 PMCID: PMC10691551 DOI: 10.1101/gr.277784.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Ultraconserved elements (UCEs) are the most conserved regions among the genomes of evolutionarily distant species and are thought to play critical biological functions. However, some UCEs rapidly evolved in specific lineages, and whether they contributed to adaptive evolution is still controversial. Here, using an increased number of sequenced genomes with high taxonomic coverage, we identified 2191 mammalian UCEs and 5938 avian UCEs from 95 mammal and 94 bird genomes, respectively. Our results show that these UCEs are functionally constrained and that their adjacent genes are prone to widespread expression with low expression diversity across tissues. Functional enrichment of mammalian and avian UCEs shows different trends indicating that UCEs may contribute to adaptive evolution of taxa. Focusing on lineage-specific accelerated evolution, we discover that the proportion of fast-evolving UCEs in nine mammalian and 10 avian test lineages range from 0.19% to 13.2%. Notably, up to 62.1% of fast-evolving UCEs in test lineages are much more likely to result from GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC). A single cervid-specific gBGC region embracing the uc.359 allele significantly alters the expression of Nova1 and other neural-related genes in the rat brain. Combined with the altered regulatory activity of ancient gBGC-induced fast-evolving UCEs in eutherians, our results provide evidence that synergy between gBGC and selection shaped lineage-specific substitution patterns, even in the most constrained regulatory elements. In summary, our results show that gBGC played an important role in facilitating lineage-specific accelerated evolution of UCEs, and further support the idea that a combination of multiple evolutionary forces shapes adaptive evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anguo Liu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Nini Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Cologne, and Cologne Excellence Cluster for Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University Hospital Cologne, Cologne 50931, Germany
| | - Guoxiang Xie
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Yang Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Xixi Yan
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Xinmei Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Zhenliang Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Zhuohui Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Jing Yang
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Fanxin Meng
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Mingle Dou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Weihuang Chen
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Nange Ma
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Yu Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Center for Functional Genomics, Institute of Future Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Yuanpeng Gao
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China;
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
- Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Yu Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China;
- Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
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11
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Xu Z, He J, Han P, Dai P, Lv W, Liu N, Liu L, Liu L, Pan X, Xiang X, Li H, Ge F, Gao S, Liao Z, Luo Y, Li Y. Plasma extrachromosomal circular DNA is a pathophysiological hallmark of short-term intensive insulin therapy for type 2 diabetes. Clin Transl Med 2023; 13:e1437. [PMID: 37859516 PMCID: PMC10587738 DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.1437] [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: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) has emerged as a promising biomarker for disease diagnosis and prognosis prediction. However, its role in type 2 diabetes remains unexplored. OBJECTIVE To investigate the characteristics and dynamics of circulating eccDNAs in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients undergoing short-term intensive insulin therapy (SIIT), a highly effective treatment for inducing long-term glycemic remission. METHODS We conducted Circle-Seq analysis on plasma samples from 35 T2DM patients at three time points: pre-SIIT, post-SIIT, and 1-year post-SIIT. Our analysis encompassed the characterization of eccDNA features, including GC content, eccDNA length distribution, genomic distribution, and the genes in eccDNAs. RESULTS Following SIIT, we observed an increase in plasma eccDNA load, suggesting metabolic alterations during therapy. Notably, a correlation was identified between eccDNA profiles and glycemia in T2DM, both quantitatively and genetically. Our analysis also revealed the frequent presence of metabolism-related genes within T2DM plasma eccDNAs, some of which spanned gene exons and/or fractions. CONCLUSION This study represents the first report of cell-free eccDNA in T2DM and underscores a compelling association between cell-free eccDNA and profound glycemic changes. These findings highlight the potential of eccDNAs as crucial players in the context of T2DM and glycemic control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhe Xu
- College of Life SciencesUniversity of Chinese Academy of ScienceBeijingChina
| | - Junyu He
- Department of EndocrinologyThe First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Peng Han
- Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative MedicineQingdao‐Europe Advanced Institute for Life SciencesBGI ResearchQingdaoChina
| | - Peiji Dai
- Department of EndocrinologyThe First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Wei Lv
- College of Life SciencesUniversity of Chinese Academy of ScienceBeijingChina
- Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative MedicineQingdao‐Europe Advanced Institute for Life SciencesBGI ResearchQingdaoChina
| | - Nian Liu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologySchool of Basic MedicineQingdao UniversityQingdaoChina
| | - Liyi Liu
- Department of EndocrinologyThe First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Liehua Liu
- Department of EndocrinologyThe First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Xiaoguang Pan
- Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative MedicineQingdao‐Europe Advanced Institute for Life SciencesBGI ResearchQingdaoChina
| | - Xi Xiang
- Scientific Research CenterThe Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat‐sen UniversityShenzhenPeople's Republic of China
| | | | - Fangfang Ge
- Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative MedicineQingdao‐Europe Advanced Institute for Life SciencesBGI ResearchQingdaoChina
| | - Shan Gao
- Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative MedicineQingdao‐Europe Advanced Institute for Life SciencesBGI ResearchQingdaoChina
| | - Zhihong Liao
- Department of EndocrinologyThe First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Yonglun Luo
- Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative MedicineQingdao‐Europe Advanced Institute for Life SciencesBGI ResearchQingdaoChina
- BGI ResearchShenzhenChina
| | - Yanbing Li
- Department of EndocrinologyThe First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
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12
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Smith SA, Walker-Hale N, Parins-Fukuchi CT. Compositional shifts associated with major evolutionary transitions in plants. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 239:2404-2415. [PMID: 37381083 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19099] [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: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
Heterogeneity in gene trees, morphological characters, and composition has been associated with several major plant clades. Here, we examine heterogeneity in composition across a large transcriptomic dataset of plants to better understand whether locations of shifts in composition are shared across gene regions and whether directions of shifts within clades are shared across gene regions. We estimate mixed models of composition for both nucleotide and amino acids across a recent large-scale transcriptomic dataset for plants. We find shifts in composition across both nucleotide and amino acid datasets, with more shifts detected in nucleotides. We find that Chlorophytes and lineages within experience the most shifts. However, many shifts occur at the origins of land, vascular, and seed plants. While genes in these clades do not typically share the same composition, they tend to shift in the same direction. We discuss potential causes of these patterns. Compositional heterogeneity has been highlighted as a potential problem for phylogenetic analysis, but the variation presented here highlights the need to further investigate these patterns for the signal of biological processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen A Smith
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48103, USA
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13
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Du W, Li E, Guo J, Arano R, Kim Y, Chen YT, Thompson A, Oh SJ, Samuel A, Li Y, Oyibo HK, Xu W. Directed stepwise tracing of polysynaptic neuronal circuits with replication-deficient pseudorabies virus. CELL REPORTS METHODS 2023; 3:100506. [PMID: 37426757 PMCID: PMC10326449 DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2023.100506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Brain functions are accomplished by polysynaptic circuits formed by neurons wired together through multiple orders of synaptic connections. Polysynaptic connectivity has been difficult to examine due to a lack of methods of continuously tracing the pathways in a controlled manner. Here, we demonstrate directed, stepwise retrograde polysynaptic tracing by inducible reconstitution of replication-deficient trans-neuronal pseudorabies virus (PRVΔIE) in the brain. Furthermore, PRVΔIE replication can be temporally restricted to minimize its neurotoxicity. With this tool, we delineate a wiring diagram between the hippocampus and striatum-two major brain systems for learning, memory, and navigation-that consists of projections from specific hippocampal domains to specific striatal areas via distinct intermediate brain regions. Therefore, this inducible PRVΔIE system provides a tool for dissecting polysynaptic circuits underlying complex brain functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenqin Du
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Elizabeth Li
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Jun Guo
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Rachel Arano
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Yerim Kim
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Yuh-Tarng Chen
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Alyssa Thompson
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - So Jung Oh
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Aspen Samuel
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Ying Li
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
| | - Hassana K. Oyibo
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Wei Xu
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
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14
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Genome Evolution and the Future of Phylogenomics of Non-Avian Reptiles. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:ani13030471. [PMID: 36766360 PMCID: PMC9913427 DOI: 10.3390/ani13030471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Non-avian reptiles comprise a large proportion of amniote vertebrate diversity, with squamate reptiles-lizards and snakes-recently overtaking birds as the most species-rich tetrapod radiation. Despite displaying an extraordinary diversity of phenotypic and genomic traits, genomic resources in non-avian reptiles have accumulated more slowly than they have in mammals and birds, the remaining amniotes. Here we review the remarkable natural history of non-avian reptiles, with a focus on the physical traits, genomic characteristics, and sequence compositional patterns that comprise key axes of variation across amniotes. We argue that the high evolutionary diversity of non-avian reptiles can fuel a new generation of whole-genome phylogenomic analyses. A survey of phylogenetic investigations in non-avian reptiles shows that sequence capture-based approaches are the most commonly used, with studies of markers known as ultraconserved elements (UCEs) especially well represented. However, many other types of markers exist and are increasingly being mined from genome assemblies in silico, including some with greater information potential than UCEs for certain investigations. We discuss the importance of high-quality genomic resources and methods for bioinformatically extracting a range of marker sets from genome assemblies. Finally, we encourage herpetologists working in genomics, genetics, evolutionary biology, and other fields to work collectively towards building genomic resources for non-avian reptiles, especially squamates, that rival those already in place for mammals and birds. Overall, the development of this cross-amniote phylogenomic tree of life will contribute to illuminate interesting dimensions of biodiversity across non-avian reptiles and broader amniotes.
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15
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Silva JM, Pratas D, Caetano T, Matos S. The complexity landscape of viral genomes. Gigascience 2022; 11:6661051. [PMID: 35950839 PMCID: PMC9366995 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giac079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viruses are among the shortest yet highly abundant species that harbor minimal instructions to infect cells, adapt, multiply, and exist. However, with the current substantial availability of viral genome sequences, the scientific repertory lacks a complexity landscape that automatically enlights viral genomes' organization, relation, and fundamental characteristics. RESULTS This work provides a comprehensive landscape of the viral genome's complexity (or quantity of information), identifying the most redundant and complex groups regarding their genome sequence while providing their distribution and characteristics at a large and local scale. Moreover, we identify and quantify inverted repeats abundance in viral genomes. For this purpose, we measure the sequence complexity of each available viral genome using data compression, demonstrating that adequate data compressors can efficiently quantify the complexity of viral genome sequences, including subsequences better represented by algorithmic sources (e.g., inverted repeats). Using a state-of-the-art genomic compressor on an extensive viral genomes database, we show that double-stranded DNA viruses are, on average, the most redundant viruses while single-stranded DNA viruses are the least. Contrarily, double-stranded RNA viruses show a lower redundancy relative to single-stranded RNA. Furthermore, we extend the ability of data compressors to quantify local complexity (or information content) in viral genomes using complexity profiles, unprecedently providing a direct complexity analysis of human herpesviruses. We also conceive a features-based classification methodology that can accurately distinguish viral genomes at different taxonomic levels without direct comparisons between sequences. This methodology combines data compression with simple measures such as GC-content percentage and sequence length, followed by machine learning classifiers. CONCLUSIONS This article presents methodologies and findings that are highly relevant for understanding the patterns of similarity and singularity between viral groups, opening new frontiers for studying viral genomes' organization while depicting the complexity trends and classification components of these genomes at different taxonomic levels. The whole study is supported by an extensive website (https://asilab.github.io/canvas/) for comprehending the viral genome characterization using dynamic and interactive approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Miguel Silva
- Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Diogo Pratas
- Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.,Department of Electronics Telecommunications and Informatics, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.,Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tânia Caetano
- Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Sérgio Matos
- Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.,Department of Electronics Telecommunications and Informatics, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
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16
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Kołomański M, Szyda J, Frąszczak M, Mielczarek M. DNA sequence features underlying large-scale duplications and deletions in human. J Appl Genet 2022; 63:527-533. [PMID: 35590085 PMCID: PMC9365719 DOI: 10.1007/s13353-022-00704-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Copy number variants (CNVs) may cover up to 12% of the whole genome and have substantial impact on phenotypes. We used 5867 duplications and 33,181 deletions available from the 1000 Genomes Project to characterise genomic regions vulnerable to CNV formation and to identify sequence features characteristic for those regions. The GC content for deletions was lower and for duplications was higher than for randomly selected regions. In regions flanking deletions and downstream of duplications, content was higher than in the random sequences, but upstream of duplication content was lower. In duplications and downstream of deletion regions, the percentage of low-complexity sequences was not different from the randomised data. In deletions and upstream of CNVs, it was higher, while for downstream of duplications, it was lower as compared to random sequences. The majority of CNVs intersected with genic regions — mainly with introns. GC content may be associated with CNV formation and CNVs, especially duplications are initiated in low-complexity regions. Moreover, CNVs located or overlapped with introns indicate their role in shaping intron variability. Genic CNV regions were enriched in many essential biological processes such as cell adhesion, synaptic transmission, transport, cytoskeleton organization, immune response and metabolic mechanisms, which indicates that these large-scaled variants play important biological roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz Kołomański
- Biostatistics Group, Department of Genetics, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Joanna Szyda
- Biostatistics Group, Department of Genetics, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Magdalena Frąszczak
- Biostatistics Group, Department of Genetics, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Magda Mielczarek
- Biostatistics Group, Department of Genetics, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland.
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17
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Steenwyk JL, Buida Iii TJ, Gonçalves C, Goltz DC, Morales G, Mead ME, LaBella AL, Chavez CM, Schmitz JE, Hadjifrangiskou M, Li Y, Rokas A. BioKIT: a versatile toolkit for processing and analyzing diverse types of sequence data. Genetics 2022; 221:6583183. [PMID: 35536198 PMCID: PMC9252278 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyac079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Bioinformatic analysis-such as genome assembly quality assessment, alignment summary statistics, relative synonymous codon usage, file format conversion, and processing and analysis-is integrated into diverse disciplines in the biological sciences. Several command-line pieces of software have been developed to conduct some of these individual analyses, but unified toolkits that conduct all these analyses are lacking. To address this gap, we introduce BioKIT, a versatile command line toolkit that has, upon publication, 42 functions, several of which were community-sourced, that conduct routine and novel processing and analysis of genome assemblies, multiple sequence alignments, coding sequences, sequencing data, and more. To demonstrate the utility of BioKIT, we conducted a comprehensive examination of relative synonymous codon usage across 171 fungal genomes that use alternative genetic codes, showed that the novel metric of gene-wise relative synonymous codon usage can accurately estimate gene-wise codon optimization, evaluated the quality and characteristics of 901 eukaryotic genome assemblies, and calculated alignment summary statistics for 10 phylogenomic data matrices. BioKIT will be helpful in facilitating and streamlining sequence analysis workflows. BioKIT is freely available under the MIT license from GitHub (https://github.com/JLSteenwyk/BioKIT), PyPi (https://pypi.org/project/jlsteenwyk-biokit/), and the Anaconda Cloud (https://anaconda.org/jlsteenwyk/jlsteenwyk-biokit). Documentation, user tutorials, and instructions for requesting new features are available online (https://jlsteenwyk.com/BioKIT).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob L Steenwyk
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | | | - Carla Gonçalves
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Associate Laboratory i4HB-Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2819-516 Caparica, Portugal.,UCIBIO-Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Life Sciences, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2819-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | | | - Grace Morales
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Center for Personalized Microbiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Matthew E Mead
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Abigail L LaBella
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Christina M Chavez
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Jonathan E Schmitz
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Center for Personalized Microbiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Maria Hadjifrangiskou
- Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Center for Personalized Microbiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Yuanning Li
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Antonis Rokas
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.,Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
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18
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Jonasson J, Harkonen T, Sundkvist L, Edwards SV, Harding KC. A unifying framework for estimating generation time in age-structured populations: implications for phylogenetics and conservation biology. Am Nat 2022; 200:48-62. [DOI: 10.1086/719667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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19
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Tejada-Martinez D, Avelar RA, Lopes I, Zhang B, Novoa G, de Magalhães JP, Trizzino M. Positive Selection and Enhancer Evolution Shaped Lifespan and Body Mass in Great Apes. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 39:msab369. [PMID: 34971383 PMCID: PMC8837823 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msab369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Within primates, the great apes are outliers both in terms of body size and lifespan, since they include the largest and longest-lived species in the order. Yet, the molecular bases underlying such features are poorly understood. Here, we leveraged an integrated approach to investigate multiple sources of molecular variation across primates, focusing on over 10,000 genes, including approximately 1,500 previously associated with lifespan, and additional approximately 9,000 for which an association with longevity has never been suggested. We analyzed dN/dS rates, positive selection, gene expression (RNA-seq), and gene regulation (ChIP-seq). By analyzing the correlation between dN/dS, maximum lifespan, and body mass, we identified 276 genes whose rate of evolution positively correlates with maximum lifespan in primates. Further, we identified five genes, important for tumor suppression, adaptive immunity, metastasis, and inflammation, under positive selection exclusively in the great ape lineage. RNA-seq data, generated from the liver of six species representing all the primate lineages, revealed that 8% of approximately 1,500 genes previously associated with longevity are differentially expressed in apes relative to other primates. Importantly, by integrating RNA-seq with ChIP-seq for H3K27ac (which marks active enhancers), we show that the differentially expressed longevity genes are significantly more likely than expected to be located near a novel "ape-specific" enhancer. Moreover, these particular ape-specific enhancers are enriched for young transposable elements, and specifically SINE-Vntr-Alus. In summary, we demonstrate that multiple evolutionary forces have contributed to the evolution of lifespan and body size in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Tejada-Martinez
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Roberto A Avelar
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Inês Lopes
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Bruce Zhang
- Institute of Healthy Ageing, and Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Guy Novoa
- Department of Structure of Macromolecules, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología—CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - João Pedro de Magalhães
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Marco Trizzino
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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20
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Li W, Almirantis Y, Provata A. Revisiting the neutral dynamics derived limiting guanine-cytosine content using human de novo point mutation data. Meta Gene 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mgene.2021.100994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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21
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Silva JM, Pratas D, Caetano T, Matos S. Feature-Based Classification of Archaeal Sequences Using Compression-Based Methods. PATTERN RECOGNITION AND IMAGE ANALYSIS 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-04881-4_25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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22
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Qi M, Stenson PD, Ball EV, Tainer JA, Bacolla A, Kehrer-Sawatzki H, Cooper DN, Zhao H. Distinct sequence features underlie microdeletions and gross deletions in the human genome. Hum Mutat 2021; 43:328-346. [PMID: 34918412 PMCID: PMC9069542 DOI: 10.1002/humu.24314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Microdeletions and gross deletions are important causes (~20%) of human inherited disease and their genomic locations are strongly influenced by the local DNA sequence environment. This notwithstanding, no study has systematically examined their underlying generative mechanisms. Here, we obtained 42,098 pathogenic microdeletions and gross deletions from the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) that together form a continuum of germline deletions ranging in size from 1 to 28,394,429 bp. We analyzed the DNA sequence within 1 kb of the breakpoint junctions and found that the frequencies of non‐B DNA‐forming repeats, GC‐content, and the presence of seven of 78 specific sequence motifs in the vicinity of pathogenic deletions correlated with deletion length for deletions of length ≤30 bp. Further, we found that the presence of DR, GQ, and STR repeats is important for the formation of longer deletions (>30 bp) but not for the formation of shorter deletions (≤30 bp) while significantly (χ2, p < 2E−16) more microhomologies were identified flanking short deletions than long deletions (length >30 bp). We provide evidence to support a functional distinction between microdeletions and gross deletions. Finally, we propose that a deletion length cut‐off of 25–30 bp may serve as an objective means to functionally distinguish microdeletions from gross deletions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengling Qi
- Department of Medical Research Center, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Guangzhou, China
| | - Peter D Stenson
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK
| | - Edward V Ball
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK
| | - John A Tainer
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Albino Bacolla
- Departments of Cancer Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | | | - David N Cooper
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK
| | - Huiying Zhao
- Department of Medical Research Center, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Guangzhou, China
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23
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Li J, Guo Y, Roellig DM, Li N, Feng Y, Xiao L. Cryptosporidium felis differs from other Cryptosporidium spp. in codon usage. Microb Genom 2021; 7. [PMID: 34907893 PMCID: PMC8767354 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.000711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Cryptosporidium spp. are important enteric pathogens in a wide range of vertebrates including humans. Previous comparative analysis revealed conservation in genome composition, gene content, and gene organization among Cryptosporidium spp., with a progressive reductive evolution in metabolic pathways and invasion-related proteins. In this study, we sequenced the genome of zoonotic pathogen Cryptosporidium felis and conducted a comparative genomic analysis. While most intestinal Cryptosporidium species have similar genomic characteristics and almost complete genome synteny, fewer protein-coding genes and some sequence inversions and translocations were found in the C. felis genome. The C. felis genome exhibits much higher GC content (39.6 %) than other Cryptosporidium species (24.3–32.9 %), especially at the third codon position (GC3) of protein-coding genes. Thus, C. felis has a different codon usage, which increases the use of less energy costly amino acids (Gly and Ala) encoded by GC-rich codons. While the tRNA usage is conserved among Cryptosporidium species, consistent with its higher GC content, C. felis uses a unique tRNA for GTG for valine instead of GTA in other Cryptosporidium species. Both mutational pressures and natural selection are associated with the evolution of the codon usage in Cryptosporidium spp., while natural selection seems to drive the codon usage in C. felis. Other unique features of the C. felis genome include the loss of the entire traditional and alternative electron transport systems and several invasion-related proteins. Thus, the preference for the use of some less energy costly amino acids in C. felis may lead to a more harmonious parasite–host interaction, and the strengthened host-adaptation is reflected by the further reductive evolution of metabolism and host invasion-related proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayu Li
- Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Yaqiong Guo
- Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Dawn M. Roellig
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
| | - Na Li
- Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
| | - Yaoyu Feng
- Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
- *Correspondence: Yaoyu Feng,
| | - Lihua Xiao
- Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
- *Correspondence: Lihua Xiao,
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24
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Bravo GA, Schmitt CJ, Edwards SV. What Have We Learned from the First 500 Avian Genomes? ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS 2021. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012121-085928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The increased capacity of DNA sequencing has significantly advanced our understanding of the phylogeny of birds and the proximate and ultimate mechanisms molding their genomic diversity. In less than a decade, the number of available avian reference genomes has increased to over 500—approximately 5% of bird diversity—placing birds in a privileged position to advance the fields of phylogenomics and comparative, functional, and population genomics. Whole-genome sequence data, as well as indels and rare genomic changes, are further resolving the avian tree of life. The accumulation of bird genomes, increasingly with long-read sequence data, greatly improves the resolution of genomic features such as germline-restricted chromosomes and the W chromosome, and is facilitating the comparative integration of genotypes and phenotypes. Community-based initiatives such as the Bird 10,000 Genomes Project and Vertebrate Genome Project are playing a fundamental role in amplifying and coalescing a vibrant international program in avian comparative genomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo A. Bravo
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA;, ,
| | - C. Jonathan Schmitt
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA;, ,
| | - Scott V. Edwards
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA;, ,
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25
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Huttener R, Thorrez L, Veld TI, Granvik M, Van Lommel L, Waelkens E, Derua R, Lemaire K, Goyvaerts L, De Coster S, Buyse J, Schuit F. Sequencing refractory regions in bird genomes are hotspots for accelerated protein evolution. BMC Ecol Evol 2021; 21:176. [PMID: 34537008 PMCID: PMC8449477 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-021-01905-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Approximately 1000 protein encoding genes common for vertebrates are still unannotated in avian genomes. Are these genes evolutionary lost or are they not yet found for technical reasons? Using genome landscapes as a tool to visualize large-scale regional effects of genome evolution, we reexamined this question. Results On basis of gene annotation in non-avian vertebrate genomes, we established a list of 15,135 common vertebrate genes. Of these, 1026 were not found in any of eight examined bird genomes. Visualizing regional genome effects by our sliding window approach showed that the majority of these "missing" genes can be clustered to 14 regions of the human reference genome. In these clusters, an additional 1517 genes (often gene fragments) were underrepresented in bird genomes. The clusters of “missing” genes coincided with regions of very high GC content, particularly in avian genomes, making them “hidden” because of incomplete sequencing. Moreover, proteins encoded by genes in these sequencing refractory regions showed signs of accelerated protein evolution. As a proof of principle for this idea we experimentally characterized the mRNA and protein products of four "hidden" bird genes that are crucial for energy homeostasis in skeletal muscle: ALDOA, ENO3, PYGM and SLC2A4. Conclusions A least part of the “missing” genes in bird genomes can be attributed to an artifact caused by the difficulty to sequence regions with extreme GC% (“hidden” genes). Biologically, these “hidden” genes are of interest as they encode proteins that evolve more rapidly than the genome wide average. Finally we show that four of these “hidden” genes encode key proteins for energy metabolism in flight muscle. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-021-01905-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Huttener
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - L Thorrez
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.,Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven Campus Kulak, Kortrijk, Belgium
| | - T In't Veld
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - M Granvik
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - L Van Lommel
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - E Waelkens
- Laboratory of Protein Phosphorylation and Proteomics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - R Derua
- Laboratory of Protein Phosphorylation and Proteomics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - K Lemaire
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - L Goyvaerts
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - S De Coster
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - J Buyse
- Laboratory of Livestock Physiology, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - F Schuit
- Gene Expression Unit, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Herestraat 49, O&N1, bus 901, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
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26
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Riba A, Fumagalli MR, Caselle M, Osella M. A Model-Driven Quantitative Analysis of Retrotransposon Distributions in the Human Genome. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 12:2045-2059. [PMID: 32986810 PMCID: PMC7750997 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Retrotransposons, DNA sequences capable of creating copies of themselves, compose about half of the human genome and played a central role in the evolution of mammals. Their current position in the host genome is the result of the retrotranscription process and of the following host genome evolution. We apply a model from statistical physics to show that the genomic distribution of the two most populated classes of retrotransposons in human deviates from random placement, and that this deviation increases with time. The time dependence suggests a major role of the host genome dynamics in shaping the current retrotransposon distributions. Focusing on a neutral scenario, we show that a simple model based on random placement followed by genome expansion and sequence duplications can reproduce the empirical retrotransposon distributions, even though more complex and possibly selective mechanisms can have contributed. Besides the inherent interest in understanding the origin of current retrotransposon distributions, this work sets a general analytical framework to analyze quantitatively the effects of genome evolutionary dynamics on the distribution of genomic elements.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Rita Fumagalli
- Institute of Biophysics - CNR, National Research Council, Genova, Italy.,Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Center for Complexity and Biosystems, University of Milan, Milano, Italy
| | - Michele Caselle
- Department of Physics and INFN, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Matteo Osella
- Department of Physics and INFN, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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27
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Srikulnath K, Ahmad SF, Singchat W, Panthum T. Why Do Some Vertebrates Have Microchromosomes? Cells 2021; 10:2182. [PMID: 34571831 PMCID: PMC8466491 DOI: 10.3390/cells10092182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Revised: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
With more than 70,000 living species, vertebrates have a huge impact on the field of biology and research, including karyotype evolution. One prominent aspect of many vertebrate karyotypes is the enigmatic occurrence of tiny and often cytogenetically indistinguishable microchromosomes, which possess distinctive features compared to macrochromosomes. Why certain vertebrate species carry these microchromosomes in some lineages while others do not, and how they evolve remain open questions. New studies have shown that microchromosomes exhibit certain unique characteristics of genome structure and organization, such as high gene densities, low heterochromatin levels, and high rates of recombination. Our review focuses on recent concepts to expand current knowledge on the dynamic nature of karyotype evolution in vertebrates, raising important questions regarding the evolutionary origins and ramifications of microchromosomes. We introduce the basic karyotypic features to clarify the size, shape, and morphology of macro- and microchromosomes and report their distribution across different lineages. Finally, we characterize the mechanisms of different evolutionary forces underlying the origin and evolution of microchromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kornsorn Srikulnath
- Animal Genomics and Bioresource Research Center (AGB Research Center), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; (S.F.A.); (W.S.); (T.P.)
- Laboratory of Animal Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics (ACCG), Department of Genetics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- The International Undergraduate Program in Bioscience and Technology, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- Special Research Unit for Wildlife Genomics (SRUWG), Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- Amphibian Research Center, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1, Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima 739-8526, Japan
| | - Syed Farhan Ahmad
- Animal Genomics and Bioresource Research Center (AGB Research Center), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; (S.F.A.); (W.S.); (T.P.)
- Laboratory of Animal Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics (ACCG), Department of Genetics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- The International Undergraduate Program in Bioscience and Technology, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- Special Research Unit for Wildlife Genomics (SRUWG), Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
| | - Worapong Singchat
- Animal Genomics and Bioresource Research Center (AGB Research Center), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; (S.F.A.); (W.S.); (T.P.)
- Laboratory of Animal Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics (ACCG), Department of Genetics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- Special Research Unit for Wildlife Genomics (SRUWG), Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
| | - Thitipong Panthum
- Animal Genomics and Bioresource Research Center (AGB Research Center), Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; (S.F.A.); (W.S.); (T.P.)
- Laboratory of Animal Cytogenetics and Comparative Genomics (ACCG), Department of Genetics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
- Special Research Unit for Wildlife Genomics (SRUWG), Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
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28
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Ferrer Obiol J, James HF, Chesser RT, Bretagnolle V, González-Solís J, Rozas J, Riutort M, Welch AJ. Integrating Sequence Capture and Restriction Site-Associated DNA Sequencing to Resolve Recent Radiations of Pelagic Seabirds. Syst Biol 2021; 70:976-996. [PMID: 33512506 PMCID: PMC8357341 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2020] [Revised: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The diversification of modern birds has been shaped by a number of radiations. Rapid diversification events make reconstructing the evolutionary relationships among taxa challenging due to the convoluted effects of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and introgression. Phylogenomic data sets have the potential to detect patterns of phylogenetic incongruence, and to address their causes. However, the footprints of ILS and introgression on sequence data can vary between different phylogenomic markers at different phylogenetic scales depending on factors such as their evolutionary rates or their selection pressures. We show that combining phylogenomic markers that evolve at different rates, such as paired-end double-digest restriction site-associated DNA (PE-ddRAD) and ultraconserved elements (UCEs), allows a comprehensive exploration of the causes of phylogenetic discordance associated with short internodes at different timescales. We used thousands of UCE and PE-ddRAD markers to produce the first well-resolved phylogeny of shearwaters, a group of medium-sized pelagic seabirds that are among the most phylogenetically controversial and endangered bird groups. We found that phylogenomic conflict was mainly derived from high levels of ILS due to rapid speciation events. We also documented a case of introgression, despite the high philopatry of shearwaters to their breeding sites, which typically limits gene flow. We integrated state-of-the-art concatenated and coalescent-based approaches to expand on previous comparisons of UCE and RAD-Seq data sets for phylogenetics, divergence time estimation, and inference of introgression, and we propose a strategy to optimize RAD-Seq data for phylogenetic analyses. Our results highlight the usefulness of combining phylogenomic markers evolving at different rates to understand the causes of phylogenetic discordance at different timescales. [Aves; incomplete lineage sorting; introgression; PE-ddRAD-Seq; phylogenomics; radiations; shearwaters; UCEs.].
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan Ferrer Obiol
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Helen F James
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - R Terry Chesser
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - Vincent Bretagnolle
- Centre d’Études Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS & La Rochelle Université, 79360, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Jacob González-Solís
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Julio Rozas
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Marta Riutort
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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29
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The Mutational Robustness of the Genetic Code and Codon Usage in Environmental Context: A Non-Extremophilic Preference? Life (Basel) 2021; 11:life11080773. [PMID: 34440517 PMCID: PMC8398314 DOI: 10.3390/life11080773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Revised: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The genetic code was evolved, to some extent, to minimize the effects of mutations. The effects of mutations depend on the amino acid repertoire, the structure of the genetic code and frequencies of amino acids in proteomes. The amino acid compositions of proteins and corresponding codon usages are still under selection, which allows us to ask what kind of environment the standard genetic code is adapted to. Using simple computational models and comprehensive datasets comprising genomic and environmental data from all three domains of Life, we estimate the expected severity of non-synonymous genomic mutations in proteins, measured by the change in amino acid physicochemical properties. We show that the fidelity in these physicochemical properties is expected to deteriorate with extremophilic codon usages, especially in thermophiles. These findings suggest that the genetic code performs better under non-extremophilic conditions, which not only explains the low substitution rates encountered in halophiles and thermophiles but the revealed relationship between the genetic code and habitat allows us to ponder on earlier phases in the history of Life.
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30
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Bergman J, Schierup MH. Population dynamics of GC-changing mutations in humans and great apes. Genetics 2021; 218:6291657. [PMID: 34081117 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyab083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The nucleotide composition of the genome is a balance between origin and fixation rates of different mutations. For example, it is well-known that transitions occur more frequently than transversions, particularly at CpG sites. Differences in fixation rates of mutation types are less explored. Specifically, recombination-associated GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC) may differentially impact GC-changing mutations, due to differences in their genomic distributions and efficiency of mismatch repair mechanisms. Given that recombination evolves rapidly across species, we explore gBGC of different mutation types across human populations and great ape species. We report a stronger correlation between segregating GC frequency and recombination for transitions than for transversions. Notably, CpG transitions are most strongly affected by gBGC in humans and chimpanzees. We show that the overall strength of gBGC is generally correlated with effective population sizes in humans, with some notable exceptions, such as a stronger effect of gBGC on non-CpG transitions in populations of European descent. Furthermore, species of the Gorilla and Pongo genus have a greatly reduced gBGC effect on CpG sites. We also study the dependence of gBGC dynamics on flanking nucleotides and show that some mutation types evolve in opposition to the gBGC expectation, likely due to hypermutability of specific nucleotide contexts. Our results highlight the importance of different gBGC dynamics experienced by GC-changing mutations and their impact on nucleotide composition evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juraj Bergman
- Bioinformatics Research Institute, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
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31
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Sivaprakasam B, Sadagopan P. Development of shiny dashboard application for “genome-wide association study on analysis of SNPs injected in Homo sapiens genome (snips-HsG)”. GENE REPORTS 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.genrep.2021.101033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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32
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Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) based on mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA genes. CONSERV GENET RESOUR 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12686-021-01212-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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33
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Abstract
Recombination increases the local GC-content in genomic regions through GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC). The recent discovery of a large genomic region with extreme GC-content in the fat sand rat Psammomys obesus provides a model to study the effects of gBGC on chromosome evolution. Here, we compare the GC-content and GC-to-AT substitution patterns across protein-coding genes of four gerbil species and two murine rodents (mouse and rat). We find that the known high-GC region is present in all the gerbils, and is characterized by high substitution rates for all mutational categories (AT-to-GC, GC-to-AT, and GC-conservative) both at synonymous and nonsynonymous sites. A higher AT-to-GC than GC-to-AT rate is consistent with the high GC-content. Additionally, we find more than 300 genes outside the known region with outlying values of AT-to-GC synonymous substitution rates in gerbils. Of these, over 30% are organized into at least 17 large clusters observable at the megabase-scale. The unusual GC-skewed substitution pattern suggests the evolution of genomic regions with very high recombination rates in the gerbil lineage, which can lead to a runaway increase in GC-content. Our results imply that rapid evolution of GC-content is possible in mammals, with gerbil species providing a powerful model to study the mechanisms of gBGC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Pracana
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - John F Mulley
- School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, United Kingdom
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34
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Gao NL, He Z, Zhu Q, Jiang P, Hu S, Chen WH. Selection for Cheaper Amino Acids Drives Nucleotide Usage at the Start of Translation in Eukaryotic Genes. GENOMICS PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2021; 19:949-957. [PMID: 33741525 PMCID: PMC9403032 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2021.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Coding regions have complex interactions among multiple selective forces, which are manifested as biases in nucleotide composition. Previous studies have revealed a decreasing GC gradient from the 5′-end to 3′-end of coding regions in various organisms. We confirmed that this gradient is universal in eukaryotic genes, but the decrease only starts from the ∼ 25th codon. This trend is mostly found in nonsynonymous (ns) sites at which the GC gradient is universal across the eukaryotic genome. Increased GC contents at ns sites result in cheaper amino acids, indicating a universal selection for energy efficiency toward the N-termini of encoded proteins. Within a genome, the decreasing GC gradient is intensified from lowly to highly expressed genes (more and more protein products), further supporting this hypothesis. This reveals a conserved selective constraint for cheaper amino acids at the translation start that drives the increased GC contents at ns sites. Elevated GC contents can facilitate transcription but result in a more stable local secondary structure around the start codon and subsequently impede translation initiation. Conversely, the GC gradients at four-fold and two-fold synonymous sites vary across species. They could decrease or increase, suggesting different constraints acting at the GC contents of different codon sites in different species. This study reveals that the overall GC contents at the translation start are consequences of complex interactions among several major biological processes that shape the nucleotide sequences, especially efficient energy usage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Na L Gao
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; Institute for Computer Science and Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf 40225, Germany
| | - Zilong He
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Interdisciplinary Innovation Institute of Medicine and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Qianhui Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Puzi Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Songnian Hu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Wei-Hua Chen
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
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Majda S, Beisser D, Boenigk J. Nutrient-driven genome evolution revealed by comparative genomics of chrysomonad flagellates. Commun Biol 2021; 4:328. [PMID: 33712682 PMCID: PMC7954800 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01781-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Phototrophic eukaryotes have evolved mainly by the primary or secondary uptake of photosynthetic organisms. A return to heterotrophy occurred multiple times in various protistan groups such as Chrysophyceae, despite the expected advantage of autotrophy. It is assumed that the evolutionary shift to mixotrophy and further to heterotrophy is triggered by a differential importance of nutrient and carbon limitation. We sequenced the genomes of 16 chrysophyte strains and compared them in terms of size, function, and sequence characteristics in relation to photo-, mixo- and heterotrophic nutrition. All strains were sequenced with Illumina and partly with PacBio. Heterotrophic taxa have reduced genomes and a higher GC content of up to 59% as compared to phototrophic taxa. Heterotrophs have a large pan genome, but a small core genome, indicating a differential specialization of the distinct lineages. The pan genome of mixotrophs and heterotrophs taken together but not the pan genome of the mixotrophs alone covers the complete functionality of the phototrophic strains indicating a random reduction of genes. The observed ploidy ranges from di- to tetraploidy and was found to be independent of taxonomy or trophic mode. Our results substantiate an evolution driven by nutrient and carbon limitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan Majda
- Department of Biodiversity, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
| | - Daniela Beisser
- Department of Biodiversity, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Jens Boenigk
- Department of Biodiversity, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
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Liu J, Wang Z, Li J, Xu L, Liu J, Feng S, Guo C, Chen S, Ren Z, Rao J, Wei K, Chen Y, Jarvis ED, Zhang G, Zhou Q. A new emu genome illuminates the evolution of genome configuration and nuclear architecture of avian chromosomes. Genome Res 2021; 31:497-511. [PMID: 33408157 PMCID: PMC7919449 DOI: 10.1101/gr.271569.120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 12/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Emu and other ratites are more informative than any other birds in reconstructing the evolution of the ancestral avian or vertebrate karyotype because of their much slower rate of genome evolution. Here, we generated a new chromosome-level genome assembly of a female emu, and estimated the tempo of chromosome evolution across major avian phylogenetic branches, by comparing it to chromosome-level genome assemblies of 11 other bird and one turtle species. We found ratites exhibited the lowest numbers of intra- and inter-chromosomal changes among birds since their divergence with turtles. The small-sized and gene-rich emu microchromosomes have frequent inter-chromosomal contacts that are associated with housekeeping genes, which appears to be driven by clustering their centromeres in the nuclear interior, away from the macrochromosomes in the nuclear periphery. Unlike nonratite birds, only less than one-third of the emu W Chromosome regions have lost homologous recombination and diverged between the sexes. The emu W is demarcated into a highly heterochromatic region (WS0) and another recently evolved region (WS1) with only moderate sequence divergence with the Z Chromosome. WS1 has expanded its inactive chromatin compartment, increased chromatin contacts within the region, and decreased contacts with the nearby regions, possibly influenced by the spreading of heterochromatin from WS0. These patterns suggest that alteration of chromatin conformation comprises an important early step of sex chromosome evolution. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the evolution of avian genome structure and sex chromosomes in three-dimensional space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Liu
- MOE Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cancer Molecular Cell Biology, Life Sciences Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
| | - Zongji Wang
- MOE Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cancer Molecular Cell Biology, Life Sciences Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
- Institute of Animal Sex and Development, Zhejiang Wanli University, Ningbo 315100, China
| | - Jing Li
- MOE Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cancer Molecular Cell Biology, Life Sciences Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Luohao Xu
- Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
| | - Jiaqi Liu
- Wuhan Gooalgene Technology Company, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Shaohong Feng
- BGI-Shenzhen, Beishan Industrial Zone, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | - Chunxue Guo
- BGI-Shenzhen, Beishan Industrial Zone, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | - Shengchan Chen
- Longteng Ecological Culture Company, Limited, Zhashui 711400, China
| | - Zhanjun Ren
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Jinpeng Rao
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310052, China
| | - Kai Wei
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310052, China
| | - Yuezhou Chen
- Jianzhou Poultry Industry Company, Limited, Yong'an 366000, China
| | - Erich D Jarvis
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA
| | - Guojie Zhang
- China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518120, China
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
| | - Qi Zhou
- MOE Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cancer Molecular Cell Biology, Life Sciences Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310052, China
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Borůvková V, Howell WM, Matoulek D, Symonová R. Quantitative Approach to Fish Cytogenetics in the Context of Vertebrate Genome Evolution. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12020312. [PMID: 33671814 PMCID: PMC7926999 DOI: 10.3390/genes12020312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Our novel Python-based tool EVANGELIST allows the visualization of GC and repeats percentages along chromosomes in sequenced genomes and has enabled us to perform quantitative large-scale analyses on the chromosome level in fish and other vertebrates. This is a different approach from the prevailing analyses, i.e., analyses of GC% in the coding sequences that make up not more than 2% in human. We identified GC content (GC%) elevations in microchromosomes in ancient fish lineages similar to avian microchromosomes and a large variability in the relationship between the chromosome size and their GC% across fish lineages. This raises the question as to what extent does the chromosome size drive GC% as posited by the currently accepted explanation based on the recombination rate. We ascribe the differences found across fishes to varying GC% of repetitive sequences. Generally, our results suggest that the GC% of repeats and proportion of repeats are independent of the chromosome size. This leaves an open space for another mechanism driving the GC evolution in vertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Borůvková
- Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, 500 03 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; (V.B.); (D.M.)
| | - W. Mike Howell
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Samford University, Birmingham, AL 35226, USA;
| | - Dominik Matoulek
- Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, 500 03 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; (V.B.); (D.M.)
| | - Radka Symonová
- Department of Bioinformatics, Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, 85354 Freising, Germany
- Correspondence:
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Jaiswal SK, Gupta A, Shafer ABA, P. K. VP, Vijay N, Sharma VK. Genomic Insights Into the Molecular Basis of Sexual Selection in Birds. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.538498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual selection is a well-known biological process, yet the genomic basis and patterns of sexual selection are not fully understood. The extravagant ornamental plumage of peacock (Pavo cristatus) was instrumental in shaping Charles Darwin's theory of sexual selection and is considered to be an honest signal of its immunocompetence. Here, we used the recently generated draft genome sequence of peafowl (Pavo cristatus) and carried out a comparative analysis across 11 bird genomes that encompass a range of sexual selection and also had high-quality genomic and phenotypic data publically available to study the genomic basis of sexual selection. We found that varying degree of purifying selection was the predominant mechanism of action for sexual selection at the genome-wide scale and observed that sexual selection mostly influences genes regulating gene expression and protein processing. Specifically, the genome-wide phylogenetically corrected regression analysis supported the continuous or ongoing model of sexual selection. Genes involved in nucleic acid binding and gene expression regulation, including a specific regulator of sex-determination known as TRA2A to be under positive selection in the species with high post-copulatory sexual selection manifested as high sperm competition. We also detected specific feather-related and immune-related gene-pairs evolving under similar selection pressures across the 11 species, including peacock (Pavo cristatus), which is consistent with the Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis. The comparative genomics analysis of 11 avian taxa has provided new insights on the molecular underpinnings of sexual selection and identifies specific genomic regions for future in-depth analysis.
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James JE, Willis SM, Nelson PG, Weibel C, Kosinski LJ, Masel J. Universal and taxon-specific trends in protein sequences as a function of age. eLife 2021; 10:e57347. [PMID: 33416492 PMCID: PMC7819706 DOI: 10.7554/elife.57347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Extant protein-coding sequences span a huge range of ages, from those that emerged only recently to those present in the last universal common ancestor. Because evolution has had less time to act on young sequences, there might be 'phylostratigraphy' trends in any properties that evolve slowly with age. A long-term reduction in hydrophobicity and hydrophobic clustering was found in previous, taxonomically restricted studies. Here we perform integrated phylostratigraphy across 435 fully sequenced species, using sensitive HMM methods to detect protein domain homology. We find that the reduction in hydrophobic clustering is universal across lineages. However, only young animal domains have a tendency to have higher structural disorder. Among ancient domains, trends in amino acid composition reflect the order of recruitment into the genetic code, suggesting that the composition of the contemporary descendants of ancient sequences reflects amino acid availability during the earliest stages of life, when these sequences first emerged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer E James
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
| | - Sara M Willis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
| | - Paul G Nelson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
| | - Catherine Weibel
- Department of Physics, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
- Department of Mathematics, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
| | - Luke J Kosinski
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
| | - Joanna Masel
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of ArizonaTucsonUnited States
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Lv X, Hu J, Hu Y, Li Y, Xu D, Ryder OA, Irwin DM, Yu L. Diverse phylogenomic datasets uncover a concordant scenario of laurasiatherian interordinal relationships. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2020; 157:107065. [PMID: 33387649 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Resolving the interordinal relationships in the mammalian superorder Laurasiatheria has been among the most intractable problems in higher-level mammalian systematics, with many conflicting hypotheses having been proposed. The present study collected three different sources of genome-scale data with comprehensive taxon sampling of laurasiatherian species, including two protein-coding datasets (4,186 protein-coding genes for an amino acid dataset comprising 2,761,247 amino acid residues and a nucleotide dataset comprising 5,516,340 nucleotides from 1st and 2nd codon positions), an intronic dataset (1,210 introns comprising 1,162,723 nucleotides) and an ultraconserved elements (UCEs) dataset (1,246 UCEs comprising 1,946,472 nucleotides) from 40 species representing all six laurasiatherian orders and 7 non-laurasiatherian outgroups. Remarkably, phylogenetic trees reconstructed with the four datasets using different tree-building methods (RAxML, FastTree, ASTRAL and MP-EST) all supported the relationship (Eulipotyphla, (Chiroptera, ((Carnivora, Pholidota), (Cetartiodactyla, Perissodactyla)))). We find a resolution of interordinal relationships of Laurasiatheria among all types of markers used in the present study, and the likelihood ratio tests for tree comparisons confirmed that the present tree topology is the optimal hypothesis compared to other examined hypotheses. Jackknifing subsampling analyses demonstrate that the results of laurasiatherian tree reconstruction varied with the number of loci and ordinal representatives used, which are likely the two main contributors to phylogenetic disagreements of Laurasiatheria seen in previous studies. Our study provides significant insight into laurasiatherian evolution, and moreover, an important methodological strategy and reference for resolving phylogenies of adaptive radiation, which have been a long-standing challenge in the field of phylogenetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xue Lv
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University, Kunming, China; School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Jingyang Hu
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University, Kunming, China; School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China; Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
| | - Yiwen Hu
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University, Kunming, China; School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Yitian Li
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University, Kunming, China; School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Dongming Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, China
| | - Oliver A Ryder
- Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global, Escondido, CA, USA
| | - David M Irwin
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Li Yu
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
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Dai Y, Pracana R, Holland PWH. Divergent genes in gerbils: prevalence, relation to GC-biased substitution, and phenotypic relevance. BMC Evol Biol 2020; 20:134. [PMID: 33076817 PMCID: PMC7574485 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-020-01696-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Two gerbil species, sand rat (Psammomys obesus) and Mongolian jird (Meriones unguiculatus), can become obese and show signs of metabolic dysregulation when maintained on standard laboratory diets. The genetic basis of this phenotype is unknown. Recently, genome sequencing has uncovered very unusual regions of high guanine and cytosine (GC) content scattered across the sand rat genome, most likely generated by extreme and localized biased gene conversion. A key pancreatic transcription factor PDX1 is encoded by a gene in the most extreme GC-rich region, is remarkably divergent and exhibits altered biochemical properties. Here, we ask if gerbils have proteins in addition to PDX1 that are aberrantly divergent in amino acid sequence, whether they have also become divergent due to GC-biased nucleotide changes, and whether these proteins could plausibly be connected to metabolic dysfunction exhibited by gerbils. Results We analyzed ~ 10,000 proteins with 1-to-1 orthologues in human and rodents and identified 50 proteins that accumulated unusually high levels of amino acid change in the sand rat and 41 in Mongolian jird. We show that more than half of the aberrantly divergent proteins are associated with GC biased nucleotide change and many are in previously defined high GC regions. We highlight four aberrantly divergent gerbil proteins, PDX1, INSR, MEDAG and SPP1, that may plausibly be associated with dietary metabolism. Conclusions We show that through the course of gerbil evolution, many aberrantly divergent proteins have accumulated in the gerbil lineage, and GC-biased nucleotide substitution rather than positive selection is the likely cause of extreme divergence in more than half of these. Some proteins carry putatively deleterious changes that could be associated with metabolic and physiological phenotypes observed in some gerbil species. We propose that these animals provide a useful model to study the ‘tug-of-war’ between natural selection and the excessive accumulation of deleterious substitutions mutations through biased gene conversion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yichen Dai
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Rodrigo Pracana
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Peter W H Holland
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, UK.
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The whale shark genome reveals how genomic and physiological properties scale with body size. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:20662-20671. [PMID: 32753383 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1922576117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The endangered whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest fish on Earth and a long-lived member of the ancient Elasmobranchii clade. To characterize the relationship between genome features and biological traits, we sequenced and assembled the genome of the whale shark and compared its genomic and physiological features to those of 83 animals and yeast. We examined the scaling relationships between body size, temperature, metabolic rates, and genomic features and found both general correlations across the animal kingdom and features specific to the whale shark genome. Among animals, increased lifespan is positively correlated to body size and metabolic rate. Several genomic traits also significantly correlated with body size, including intron and gene length. Our large-scale comparative genomic analysis uncovered general features of metazoan genome architecture: Guanine and cytosine (GC) content and codon adaptation index are negatively correlated, and neural connectivity genes are longer than average genes in most genomes. Focusing on the whale shark genome, we identified multiple features that significantly correlate with lifespan. Among these were very long gene length, due to introns being highly enriched in repetitive elements such as CR1-like long interspersed nuclear elements, and considerably longer neural genes of several types, including connectivity, activity, and neurodegeneration genes. The whale shark genome also has the second slowest evolutionary rate observed in vertebrates to date. Our comparative genomics approach uncovered multiple genetic features associated with body size, metabolic rate, and lifespan and showed that the whale shark is a promising model for studies of neural architecture and lifespan.
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Cardoso JCR, Bergqvist CA, Larhammar D. Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) Gene Family Duplications in Lampreys Correlate With Two Early Vertebrate Genome Doublings. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:672. [PMID: 32848532 PMCID: PMC7406891 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The ancestor of gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) is generally considered to have undergone two rounds of whole genome duplication (WGD). The timing of these WGD events relative to the divergence of the closest relatives of the gnathostomes, the cyclostomes, has remained contentious. Lampreys and hagfishes are extant cyclostomes whose gene families can shed light on the relationship between the WGDs and the cyclostome-gnathostome divergence. Previously, we have characterized in detail the evolution of the gnathostome corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) family and found that its five members arose from two ancestral genes that existed before the WGDs. The two WGDs resulted, after secondary losses, in one triplet consisting of CRH1, CRH2, and UCN1, and one pair consisting of UCN2 and UCN3. All five genes exist in representatives for cartilaginous fishes, ray-finned fishes, and lobe-finned fishes. Differential losses have occurred in some lineages. We present here analyses of CRH-family members in lamprey and hagfish by comparing sequences and gene synteny with gnathostomes. We found five CRH-family genes in each of two lamprey species (Petromyzon marinus and Lethenteron camtschaticum) and two genes in a hagfish (Eptatretus burgeri). Synteny analyses show that all five lamprey CRH-family genes have similar chromosomal neighbors as the gnathostome genes. The most parsimonious explanation is that the lamprey CRH-family genes are orthologs of the five gnathostome genes and thus arose in the same chromosome duplications. This suggests that lampreys and gnathostomes share the same two WGD events and that these took place before the lamprey-gnathostome divergence.
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Affiliation(s)
- João C R Cardoso
- Comparative Endocrinology and Integrative Biology, Centre of Marine Sciences, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Christina A Bergqvist
- Department of Neuroscience, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Dan Larhammar
- Department of Neuroscience, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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Abstract
CRISPR-Cas is one of the mechanisms used by bacteria to defend against viral predation. Increasing our knowledge of the biology and diversity of CRISPR-Cas systems will also improve our understanding of virus-bacterium interactions. As CRISPR-Cas systems acquiring novel immunities under laboratory conditions are rare, Streptococcus mutans strain P42S provides an alternative model to study the adaptation step, which is still the least understood step in CRISPR-Cas biology. Furthermore, the availability of a natural Cas9 protein recognizing an AT-rich PAM opens up new avenues for genome editing purposes. Streptococcus mutans and its virulent phages are important members of the human oral microbiota. S. mutans is also the primary causal agent of dental caries. To survive in this ecological niche, S. mutans must encode phage defense mechanisms, which include CRISPR-Cas systems. Here, we describe the CRISPR-Cas type II-A system of S. mutans strain P42S, which was found to display natural adaptation and interference activity in response to phage infection and plasmid transformation. Newly acquired spacers were integrated both at the 5′ end of the CRISPR locus and ectopically. In comparisons of the cas genes of P42S to those of other strains of S. mutans, cas1, cas2, and csn2 appear to be highly conserved within the species. However, more diversity was observed with cas9. While the nuclease domains of S. mutans Cas9 (SmCas9) are conserved, the C terminus of the protein, including the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) recognition domain, is less conserved. In support of these findings, we experimentally demonstrated that the PAMs associated with SmCas9 of strain P42S are NAA and NGAA. These PAMs are different from those previously reported for the CRISPR-Cas system of the model strain S. mutans UA159. This study illustrates the diversity of CRISPR-Cas type II-A systems that can be found within the same bacterial species. IMPORTANCE CRISPR-Cas is one of the mechanisms used by bacteria to defend against viral predation. Increasing our knowledge of the biology and diversity of CRISPR-Cas systems will also improve our understanding of virus-bacterium interactions. As CRISPR-Cas systems acquiring novel immunities under laboratory conditions are rare, Streptococcus mutans strain P42S provides an alternative model to study the adaptation step, which is still the least understood step in CRISPR-Cas biology. Furthermore, the availability of a natural Cas9 protein recognizing an AT-rich PAM opens up new avenues for genome editing purposes.
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Adapting Biased Gene Conversion theory to account for intensive GC-content deterioration in the human genome by novel mutations. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0232167. [PMID: 32353016 PMCID: PMC7192473 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined seventy million well-characterized human mutations, and their impact on G+C-compositional dynamics, in order to understand the formation and maintenance of major genomic nucleotide sequence patterns. Among novel mutations, those that change a strong (S) base pair G:C/C:G to a weak (W) pair A:T/T:A occur at nearly twice the frequency of the opposite mutations. Such imbalance puts strong downward pressure on overall GC-content. However, along protracted paths to fixation, S→W mutations are much less likely to propagate than W→S mutations. The magnitude of relative propagation disadvantages for S→W mutations is inexplicable by any currently-accepted model. This fact forced us to re-examine the quantitative features of Biased Gene Conversion (BGC) theory. Revised parameters of BGC that, per average individual, convert 7–14 W base pairs into S pairs, would account for the S-content turnover differences between new and old mutations, and make BGC an instrumental force for nucleotide dynamics and evolution. BGC should thus be considered seriously in both theories and biomedical practice. In particular, BGC should be taken into account during allele imputations, where missing SNP alleles are computationally predicted based on the information about several neighboring alleles. Finally, we analyzed the effect of neighboring nucleotide context on the mutation frequencies, dynamics, and GC-composition turnover. For this purpose, we examined genomic regions having extremely biased nucleotide compositions (enriched for S-, W-, purine/pyrimidine strand asymmetry, or AC/GT-strand asymmetry). It was found that point mutations in these regions preferentially degrade the nucleotide inhomogeneities, decreasing the sequence biases. Degradation of sequence bias is highest for novel mutations, and considerably lower for older mutations (those widespread across populations). Besides BGC, there may be additional, still uncharacterized molecular mechanisms that either preserve genomic regions with biased nucleotide compositions from mutational degradation or fail to degrade such inhomogeneities in specific chromosomal regions.
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Abstract
Reconstruction of target genomes from sequence data produced by instruments that are agnostic as to the species-of-origin may be confounded by contaminant DNA. Whether introduced during sample processing or through co-extraction alongside the target DNA, if insufficient care is taken during the assembly process, the final assembled genome may be a mixture of data from several species. Such assemblies can confound sequence-based biological inference and, when deposited in public databases, may be included in downstream analyses by users unaware of underlying problems. We present BlobToolKit, a software suite to aid researchers in identifying and isolating non-target data in draft and publicly available genome assemblies. BlobToolKit can be used to process assembly, read and analysis files for fully reproducible interactive exploration in the browser-based Viewer. BlobToolKit can be used during assembly to filter non-target DNA, helping researchers produce assemblies with high biological credibility. We have been running an automated BlobToolKit pipeline on eukaryotic assemblies publicly available in the International Nucleotide Sequence Data Collaboration and are making the results available through a public instance of the Viewer at https://blobtoolkit.genomehubs.org/view. We aim to complete analysis of all publicly available genomes and then maintain currency with the flow of new genomes. We have worked to embed these views into the presentation of genome assemblies at the European Nucleotide Archive, providing an indication of assembly quality alongside the public record with links out to allow full exploration in the Viewer.
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Naim DM, Nor SAM, Mahboob S. Reassessment of species distribution and occurrence of mud crab ( Scylla spp., Portunidae) in Malaysia through morphological and molecular identification. Saudi J Biol Sci 2020; 27:643-652. [PMID: 32210683 PMCID: PMC6997873 DOI: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2019.11.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Revised: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 11/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
This study utilized genetic and morphometric approaches to assess the molecular and morphometric differentiation among commercially important species of mud crab. Molecular investigations were derived from 542 bp mitochondrial DNA COI on 249 individuals within genus Scylla from nine states in Malaysia represents four marine regions; South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Straits of Singapore and Straits of Malacca. Four specimens were obtained from Indonesia to give a robust analysis in this study. For species delimitation, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) method on a web interface was employed. Analysis on phylogenetics was implemented utilizing Neighbour joining (NJ) and Maximum Parsimony (MP) methods. The inter- and intraspecies genetic distances (Ds) was computed using Kimura 2-parameter distance and executed in MEGA version 5.05. All samples were genetically and morphologically identified and clustered into four distinct species. Among the species, S. olivacea was the most abundant (n = 111), on the other hand the occurrence of S. paramamosain in Malaysia was very low (n = 29). No single individual of S. serrata from Malaysia was recorded in this study. Both genetic distance and phylogenetic approaches exhibited a correlative monophyletic association among all specimens analysed. This present study is crucial as it reports the reassessment of all species within genus Scylla in Malaysia, eventually could be employed as a reference source for subsequent research mainly on mariculture and other conservation efforts for the species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darlina Md Naim
- School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
| | - Siti Azizah Mohd Nor
- Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
| | - Shahid Mahboob
- Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
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Xu L, Wa Sin SY, Grayson P, Edwards SV, Sackton TB. Evolutionary Dynamics of Sex Chromosomes of Paleognathous Birds. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 11:2376-2390. [PMID: 31329234 PMCID: PMC6735826 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Standard models of sex chromosome evolution propose that recombination suppression leads to the degeneration of the heterogametic chromosome, as is seen for the Y chromosome in mammals and the W chromosome in most birds. Unlike other birds, paleognaths (ratites and tinamous) possess large nondegenerate regions on their sex chromosomes (PARs or pseudoautosomal regions). It remains unclear why these large PARs are retained over >100 Myr, and how this retention impacts the evolution of sex chromosomes within this system. To address this puzzle, we analyzed Z chromosome evolution and gene expression across 12 paleognaths, several of whose genomes have recently been sequenced. We confirm at the genomic level that most paleognaths retain large PARs. As in other birds, we find that all paleognaths have incomplete dosage compensation on the regions of the Z chromosome homologous to degenerated portions of the W (differentiated regions), but we find no evidence for enrichments of male-biased genes in PARs. We find limited evidence for increased evolutionary rates (faster-Z) either across the chromosome or in differentiated regions for most paleognaths with large PARs, but do recover signals of faster-Z evolution in tinamou species with mostly degenerated W chromosomes, similar to the pattern seen in neognaths. Unexpectedly, in some species, PAR-linked genes evolve faster on average than genes on autosomes, suggested by diverse genomic features to be due to reduced efficacy of selection in paleognath PARs. Our analysis shows that paleognath Z chromosomes are atypical at the genomic level, but the evolutionary forces maintaining largely homomorphic sex chromosomes in these species remain elusive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luohao Xu
- Department of Molecular Evolution and Development, University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Simon Yung Wa Sin
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Phil Grayson
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
| | - Scott V Edwards
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
| | - Timothy B Sackton
- Informatics Group, Division of Science, Harvard University
- Corresponding author: E-mail:
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Kmiec D, Nchioua R, Sherrill-Mix S, Stürzel CM, Heusinger E, Braun E, Gondim MVP, Hotter D, Sparrer KMJ, Hahn BH, Sauter D, Kirchhoff F. CpG Frequency in the 5' Third of the env Gene Determines Sensitivity of Primary HIV-1 Strains to the Zinc-Finger Antiviral Protein. mBio 2020; 11:e02903-19. [PMID: 31937644 PMCID: PMC6960287 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02903-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 11/27/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
CpG dinucleotide suppression has been reported to allow HIV-1 to evade inhibition by the zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP). Here, we show that primate lentiviruses display marked differences in CpG frequencies across their genome, ranging from 0.44% in simian immunodeficiency virus SIVwrc from Western red colobus to 2.3% in SIVmon infecting mona monkeys. Moreover, functional analyses of a large panel of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses revealed that the magnitude of CpG suppression does not correlate with their susceptibility to ZAP. However, we found that the number of CpG dinucleotides within a region of ∼700 bases at the 5' end of the env gene determines ZAP sensitivity of primary HIV-1 strains but not of HIV-2. Increased numbers of CpGs in this region were associated with reduced env mRNA expression and viral protein production. ZAP sensitivity profiles of chimeric simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) expressing different HIV-1 env genes were highly similar to those of the corresponding HIV-1 strains. The frequency of CpGs in the identified env region correlated with differences in clinical progression rates. Thus, the CpG frequency in a specific part of env, rather than the overall genomic CpG content, governs the susceptibility of HIV-1 to ZAP and might affect viral pathogenicity in vivoIMPORTANCE Evasion of the zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) may drive CpG dinucleotide suppression in HIV-1 and many other viral pathogens but the viral determinants of ZAP sensitivity are poorly defined. Here, we examined CpG suppression and ZAP sensitivity in a large number of primate lentiviruses and demonstrate that their genomic frequency of CpGs varies substantially and does not correlate with ZAP sensitivity. We further show that the number of CpG residues in a defined region at the 5' end of the env gene together with structural features plays a key role in HIV-1 susceptibility to ZAP and correlates with differences in clinical progression rates in HIV-1-infected individuals. Our identification of a specific part of env as a major determinant of HIV-1 susceptibility to ZAP restriction provides a basis for future studies of the underlying inhibitory mechanisms and their potential relevance in the pathogenesis of AIDS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorota Kmiec
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | - Rayhane Nchioua
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | - Scott Sherrill-Mix
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Christina M Stürzel
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | - Elena Heusinger
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Braun
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | - Marcos V P Gondim
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Dominik Hotter
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | | | - Beatrice H Hahn
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Daniel Sauter
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
| | - Frank Kirchhoff
- Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
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White ND, Braun MJ. Extracting phylogenetic signal from phylogenomic data: Higher-level relationships of the nightbirds (Strisores). Mol Phylogenet Evol 2019; 141:106611. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2019] [Revised: 09/04/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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