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Kaj I, Mugal CF, Müller-Widmann R. A Wright-Fisher graph model and the impact of directional selection on genetic variation. Theor Popul Biol 2024; 159:13-24. [PMID: 39019334 DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2024.07.004] [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: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 07/06/2024] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024]
Abstract
We introduce a multi-allele Wright-Fisher model with mutation and selection such that allele frequencies at a single locus are traced by the path of a hybrid jump-diffusion process. The state space of the process is given by the vertices and edges of a topological graph, i.e. edges are unit intervals. Vertices represent monomorphic population states and positions on the edges mark the biallelic proportions of ancestral and derived alleles during polymorphic segments. In this setting, mutations can only occur at monomorphic loci. We derive the stationary distribution in mutation-selection-drift equilibrium and obtain the expected allele frequency spectrum under large population size scaling. For the extended model with multiple independent loci we derive rigorous upper bounds for a wide class of associated measures of genetic variation. Within this framework we present mathematically precise arguments to conclude that the presence of directional selection reduces the magnitude of genetic variation, as constrained by the bounds for neutral evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ingemar Kaj
- Department of Mathematics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Carina F Mugal
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Laboratory of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology, University of Lyon 1, UMR CNRS 5558, Villeurbanne, France
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2
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Weibel CA, Wheeler AL, James JE, Willis SM, McShea H, Masel J. The protein domains of vertebrate species in which selection is more effective have greater intrinsic structural disorder. eLife 2024; 12:RP87335. [PMID: 39239703 PMCID: PMC11379457 DOI: 10.7554/elife.87335] [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] [Indexed: 09/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution posits variation among species in the effectiveness of selection. In an idealized model, the census population size determines both this minimum magnitude of the selection coefficient required for deleterious variants to be reliably purged, and the amount of neutral diversity. Empirically, an 'effective population size' is often estimated from the amount of putatively neutral genetic diversity and is assumed to also capture a species' effectiveness of selection. A potentially more direct measure of the effectiveness of selection is the degree to which selection maintains preferred codons. However, past metrics that compare codon bias across species are confounded by among-species variation in %GC content and/or amino acid composition. Here, we propose a new Codon Adaptation Index of Species (CAIS), based on Kullback-Leibler divergence, that corrects for both confounders. We demonstrate the use of CAIS correlations, as well as the Effective Number of Codons, to show that the protein domains of more highly adapted vertebrate species evolve higher intrinsic structural disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine A Weibel
- Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
- Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
| | - Andrew L Wheeler
- Genetics Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
| | - Jennifer E James
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
| | - Sara M Willis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
| | - Hanon McShea
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
| | - Joanna Masel
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
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3
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Zhang H, Lundberg M, Ponnikas S, Hasselquist D, Hansson B. Male-biased recombination at chromosome ends in a songbird revealed by precisely mapping crossover positions. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2024; 14:jkae150. [PMID: 38985659 PMCID: PMC11373659 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkae150] [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: 03/13/2024] [Revised: 06/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Recombination plays a crucial role in evolution by generating novel haplotypes and disrupting linkage between genes, thereby enhancing the efficiency of selection. Here, we analyze the genomes of 12 great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) in a 3-generation pedigree to identify precise crossover positions along the chromosomes. We located more than 200 crossovers and found that these were highly concentrated toward the telomeric ends of the chromosomes. Apart from this major pattern in the recombination landscape, we found significantly higher frequencies of crossovers in genic compared with intergenic regions, and in exons compared with introns. Moreover, while the number of recombination events was similar between the sexes, the crossovers were located significantly closer to the ends of paternal compared with maternal chromosomes. In conclusion, our study of the great reed warbler revealed substantial variation in crossover frequencies within chromosomes, with a distinct bias toward the sub-telomeric regions, particularly on the paternal side. These findings emphasize the importance of thoroughly screening the entire length of chromosomes to characterize the recombination landscape and uncover potential sex-biases in recombination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongkai Zhang
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Max Lundberg
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 22362 Lund, Sweden
| | - Suvi Ponnikas
- Department of Biology, University of Oulu, 90570 Oulu, Finland
| | | | - Bengt Hansson
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 22362 Lund, Sweden
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4
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Ohadi M, Arabfard M, Khamse S, Alizadeh S, Vafadar S, Bayat H, Tajeddin N, Maddi AMA, Delbari A, Khorram Khorshid HR. Novel crossover and recombination hotspots massively spread across primate genomes. Biol Direct 2024; 19:70. [PMID: 39169390 PMCID: PMC11340189 DOI: 10.1186/s13062-024-00508-8] [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: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 07/29/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The recombination landscape and subsequent natural selection have vast consequences forevolution and speciation. However, most of the crossover and recombination hotspots are yet to be discovered. We previously reported the relevance of C and G trinucleotide two-repeat units (CG-TTUs) in crossovers and recombination. METHODS On a genome-wide scale, here we mapped all combinations of A and T trinucleotide two-repeat units (AT-TTUs) in human, consisting of AATAAT, ATAATA, ATTATT, TTATTA, TATTAT, and TAATAA. We also compared a number of the colonies formed by the AT-TTUs (distance between consecutive AT-TTUs < 500 bp) in several other primates and mouse. RESULTS We found that the majority of the AT-TTUs (> 96%) resided in approximately 1.4 million colonies, spread throughout the human genome. In comparison to the CG-TTU colonies, the AT-TTU colonies were significantly more abundant and larger in size. Pure units and overlapping units of the pure units were readily detectable in the same colonies, signifying that the units were the sites of unequal crossover. We discovered dynamic sharedness of several of the colonies across the primate species studied, which mainly reached maximum complexity and size in human. CONCLUSIONS We report novel crossover and recombination hotspots of the finest molecular resolution, massively spread and shared across the genomes of human and several other primates. With respect to crossovers and recombination, these genomes are far more dynamic than previously envisioned.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mina Ohadi
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Masoud Arabfard
- Chemical Injuries Research Center, Systems Biology and Poisonings Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Safoura Khamse
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Samira Alizadeh
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sara Vafadar
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hadi Bayat
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Biochemical Neuroendocrinology, Montreal Clinical and Research Institute (IRCM, affiliated to the McGill University, Montreal, QC, H2W 1R7, Canada
| | - Nahid Tajeddin
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Department of Biology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ali M A Maddi
- Laboratory of Complex Biological Systems and Bioinformatics (CBB), Department of Bioinformatics, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IBB), University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ahmad Delbari
- Iranian Research Center on Aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamid R Khorram Khorshid
- Personalized Medicine and Genometabolomics Research Center, Hope Generation Foundation, Tehran, Iran
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Qiu Y, Kang YM, Korfmann C, Pouyet F, Eckford A, Palazzo AF. The GC-content at the 5' ends of human protein-coding genes is undergoing mutational decay. Genome Biol 2024; 25:219. [PMID: 39138526 PMCID: PMC11323403 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03364-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 08/15/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In vertebrates, most protein-coding genes have a peak of GC-content near their 5' transcriptional start site (TSS). This feature promotes both the efficient nuclear export and translation of mRNAs. Despite the importance of GC-content for RNA metabolism, its general features, origin, and maintenance remain mysterious. We investigate the evolutionary forces shaping GC-content at the transcriptional start site (TSS) of genes through both comparative genomic analysis of nucleotide substitution rates between different species and by examining human de novo mutations. RESULTS Our data suggests that GC-peaks at TSSs were present in the last common ancestor of amniotes, and likely that of vertebrates. We observe that in apes and rodents, where recombination is directed away from TSSs by PRDM9, GC-content at the 5' end of protein-coding gene is currently undergoing mutational decay. In canids, which lack PRDM9 and perform recombination at TSSs, GC-content at the 5' end of protein-coding is increasing. We show that these patterns extend into the 5' end of the open reading frame, thus impacting synonymous codon position choices. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that the dynamics of this GC-peak in amniotes is largely shaped by historic patterns of recombination. Since decay of GC-content towards the mutation rate equilibrium is the default state for non-functional DNA, the observed decrease in GC-content at TSSs in apes and rodents indicates that the GC-peak is not being maintained by selection on most protein-coding genes in those species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Qiu
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G1M1, Canada
| | - Yoon Mo Kang
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G1M1, Canada
| | - Christopher Korfmann
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J1P3, Canada
| | - Fanny Pouyet
- Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique, Université Paris-Saclay, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Andrew Eckford
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J1P3, Canada
| | - Alexander F Palazzo
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G1M1, Canada.
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6
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Zhao H, Qin L, Deng X, Wang Z, Jiang R, Reitz SR, Wu S, He Z. Nucleotide and dinucleotide preference of segmented viruses are shaped more by segment: In case study of tomato spotted wilt virus. INFECTION, GENETICS AND EVOLUTION : JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2024; 122:105608. [PMID: 38796047 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 05/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/28/2024]
Abstract
Several studies have showed that the nucleotide and dinucleotide composition of viruses possibly follows their host species or protein coding region. Nevertheless, the influence of viral segment on viral nucleotide and dinucleotide composition is still unknown. Here, we explored through tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), a segmented virus that seriously threatens the production of tomatoes all over the world. Through nucleotide composition analysis, we found the same over-representation of A across all viral segments at the first and second codon position, but it exhibited distinct in segments at the third codon position. Interestingly, the protein coding regions which encoded by the same or different segments exhibit obvious distinct nucleotide preference. Then, we found that the dinucleotides UpG and CpU were overrepresented and the dinucleotides UpA, CpG and GpU were underrepresented, not only in the complete genomic sequences, but also in different segments, protein coding regions and host species. Notably, 100% of the data investigated here were predicted to the correct viral segment and protein coding region, despite the fact that only 67% of the data analyzed here were predicted to the correct viral host species. In conclusion, in case study of TSWV, nucleotide composition and dinucleotide preference of segment viruses are more strongly dependent on segment and protein coding region than on host species. This research provides a novel perspective on the molecular evolutionary mechanisms of TSWV and provides reference for future research on genetic diversity of segmented viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haiting Zhao
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
| | - Lang Qin
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
| | - Xiaolong Deng
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
| | - Zhilei Wang
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
| | - Runzhou Jiang
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
| | - Stuart R Reitz
- Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, USA
| | - Shengyong Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Zhen He
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety of Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
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Johnston SE. Understanding the Genetic Basis of Variation in Meiotic Recombination: Past, Present, and Future. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae112. [PMID: 38959451 PMCID: PMC11221659 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2024] [Revised: 06/03/2024] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Meiotic recombination is a fundamental feature of sexually reproducing species. It is often required for proper chromosome segregation and plays important role in adaptation and the maintenance of genetic diversity. The molecular mechanisms of recombination are remarkably conserved across eukaryotes, yet meiotic genes and proteins show substantial variation in their sequence and function, even between closely related species. Furthermore, the rate and distribution of recombination shows a huge diversity within and between chromosomes, individuals, sexes, populations, and species. This variation has implications for many molecular and evolutionary processes, yet how and why this diversity has evolved is not well understood. A key step in understanding trait evolution is to determine its genetic basis-that is, the number, effect sizes, and distribution of loci underpinning variation. In this perspective, I discuss past and current knowledge on the genetic basis of variation in recombination rate and distribution, explore its evolutionary implications, and present open questions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan E Johnston
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
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8
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Özer H, Wasser D, Sandner L, Soppa J. Intermolecular Gene Conversion for the Equalization of Genome Copies in the Polyploid Haloarchaeon Haloferax volcanii: Identification of Important Proteins. Genes (Basel) 2024; 15:861. [PMID: 39062640 PMCID: PMC11276520 DOI: 10.3390/genes15070861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2024] [Revised: 06/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/20/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The model haloarchaeon Haloferax volcanii is polyploid with about 20 copies of its major chromosome. Recently it has been described that highly efficient intermolecular gene conversion operates in H. volcanii to equalize the chromosomal copies. In the current study, 24 genes were selected that encode proteins with orthologs involved in gene conversion or homologous recombination in archaea, bacteria, or eukaryotes. Single gene deletion strains of 22 genes and a control gene were constructed in two parent strains for a gene conversion assay; only radA and radB were shown to be essential. Protoplast fusions were used to generate strains that were heterozygous for the gene HVO_2528, encoding an enzyme for carotinoid biosynthesis. It was revealed that a lack of six of the proteins did not influence the efficiency of gene conversion, while sixteen mutants had severe gene conversion defects. Notably, lack of paralogous proteins of gene families had very different effects, e.g., mutant Δrad25b had no phenotype, while mutants Δrad25a, Δrad25c, and Δrad25d were highly compromised. Generation of a quadruple rad25 and a triple sph deletion strain also indicated that the paralogs have different functions, in contrast to sph2 and sph4, which cannot be deleted simultaneously. There was no correlation between the severity of the phenotypes and the respective transcript levels under non-stressed conditions, indicating that gene expression has to be induced at the onset of gene conversion. Phylogenetic trees of the protein families Rad3/25, MutL/S, and Sph/SMC/Rad50 were generated to unravel the history of the paralogous proteins of H. volcanii. Taken together, unselected intermolecular gene conversion in H. volcanii involves at least 16 different proteins, the molecular roles of which can be studied in detail in future projects.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jörg Soppa
- Biocentre, Institute for Molecular Biosciences, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, D-60439 Frankfurt, Germany; (H.Ö.); (D.W.); (L.S.)
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Berasain L, Beati P, Trigila AP, Rubinstein M, Franchini LF. Accelerated evolution in the human lineage led to gain and loss of transcriptional enhancers in the RBFOX1 locus. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadl1049. [PMID: 38924416 PMCID: PMC11204294 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl1049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
A long-standing goal of evolutionary biology is to decode how changes in gene regulatory networks contribute to human-specific traits. Human accelerated regions (HARs) are prime candidates for driving gene regulatory modifications in human development. The RBFOX1 locus is densely populated with HARs, providing a set of potential regulatory elements that could have changed its expression in the human lineage. Here, we examined the role of RBFOX1-HARs using transgenic zebrafish reporter assays and identified 15 transcriptional enhancers that are active in the developing nervous system, 9 of which displayed differential activity between the human and chimpanzee sequences. The engineered loss of two selected RBFOX1-HARs in knockout mouse models modified Rbfox1 expression at specific developmental stages and tissues in the brain, influencing the expression and splicing of a high number of Rbfox1 target genes. Our results provided insight into the spatial and temporal changes in gene expression driven by RBFOX1-HARs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Berasain
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) “Dr. Hector N. Torres”, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina
| | - Paula Beati
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) “Dr. Hector N. Torres”, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina
| | - Anabella P. Trigila
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) “Dr. Hector N. Torres”, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina
| | - Marcelo Rubinstein
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) “Dr. Hector N. Torres”, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina
- Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
| | - Lucía F. Franchini
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI) “Dr. Hector N. Torres”, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina
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10
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Kocher AA, Dutrow EV, Uebbing S, Yim KM, Rosales Larios MF, Baumgartner M, Nottoli T, Noonan JP. CpG island turnover events predict evolutionary changes in enhancer activity. Genome Biol 2024; 25:156. [PMID: 38872220 PMCID: PMC11170920 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03300-z] [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: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genetic changes that modify the function of transcriptional enhancers have been linked to the evolution of biological diversity across species. Multiple studies have focused on the role of nucleotide substitutions, transposition, and insertions and deletions in altering enhancer function. CpG islands (CGIs) have recently been shown to influence enhancer activity, and here we test how their turnover across species contributes to enhancer evolution. RESULTS We integrate maps of CGIs and enhancer activity-associated histone modifications obtained from multiple tissues in nine mammalian species and find that CGI content in enhancers is strongly associated with increased histone modification levels. CGIs show widespread turnover across species and species-specific CGIs are strongly enriched for enhancers exhibiting species-specific activity across all tissues and species. Genes associated with enhancers with species-specific CGIs show concordant biases in their expression, supporting that CGI turnover contributes to gene regulatory innovation. Our results also implicate CGI turnover in the evolution of Human Gain Enhancers (HGEs), which show increased activity in human embryonic development and may have contributed to the evolution of uniquely human traits. Using a humanized mouse model, we show that a highly conserved HGE with a large CGI absent from the mouse ortholog shows increased activity at the human CGI in the humanized mouse diencephalon. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, our results point to CGI turnover as a mechanism driving gene regulatory changes potentially underlying trait evolution in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Acadia A Kocher
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
- Division of Molecular Genetics and Oncode Institute, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Emily V Dutrow
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
- Zoetis, Inc, 333 Portage St, Kalamazoo, MI, 49007, USA
| | - Severin Uebbing
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
- Genome Biology and Epigenetics, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Kristina M Yim
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | | | | | - Timothy Nottoli
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
- Yale Genome Editing Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | - James P Noonan
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
- Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
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11
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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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12
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Joseph J. Increased Positive Selection in Highly Recombining Genes Does not Necessarily Reflect an Evolutionary Advantage of Recombination. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae107. [PMID: 38829800 PMCID: PMC11173204 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
It is commonly thought that the long-term advantage of meiotic recombination is to dissipate genetic linkage, allowing natural selection to act independently on different loci. It is thus theoretically expected that genes with higher recombination rates evolve under more effective selection. On the other hand, recombination is often associated with GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC), which theoretically interferes with selection by promoting the fixation of deleterious GC alleles. To test these predictions, several studies assessed whether selection was more effective in highly recombining genes (due to dissipation of genetic linkage) or less effective (due to gBGC), assuming a fixed distribution of fitness effects (DFE) for all genes. In this study, I directly derive the DFE from a gene's evolutionary history (shaped by mutation, selection, drift, and gBGC) under empirical fitness landscapes. I show that genes that have experienced high levels of gBGC are less fit and thus have more opportunities for beneficial mutations. Only a small decrease in the genome-wide intensity of gBGC leads to the fixation of these beneficial mutations, particularly in highly recombining genes. This results in increased positive selection in highly recombining genes that is not caused by more effective selection. Additionally, I show that the death of a recombination hotspot can lead to a higher dN/dS than its birth, but with substitution patterns biased towards AT, and only at selected positions. This shows that controlling for a substitution bias towards GC is therefore not sufficient to rule out the contribution of gBGC to signatures of accelerated evolution. Finally, although gBGC does not affect the fixation probability of GC-conservative mutations, I show that by altering the DFE, gBGC can also significantly affect nonsynonymous GC-conservative substitution patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Joseph
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5558, Villeurbanne, France
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13
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Radrizzani S, Kudla G, Izsvák Z, Hurst LD. Selection on synonymous sites: the unwanted transcript hypothesis. Nat Rev Genet 2024; 25:431-448. [PMID: 38297070 DOI: 10.1038/s41576-023-00686-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Although translational selection to favour codons that match the most abundant tRNAs is not readily observed in humans, there is nonetheless selection in humans on synonymous mutations. We hypothesize that much of this synonymous site selection can be explained in terms of protection against unwanted RNAs - spurious transcripts, mis-spliced forms or RNAs derived from transposable elements or viruses. We propose not only that selection on synonymous sites functions to reduce the rate of creation of unwanted transcripts (for example, through selection on exonic splice enhancers and cryptic splice sites) but also that high-GC content (but low-CpG content), together with intron presence and position, is both particular to functional native mRNAs and used to recognize transcripts as native. In support of this hypothesis, transcription, nuclear export, liquid phase condensation and RNA degradation have all recently been shown to promote GC-rich transcripts and suppress AU/CpG-rich ones. With such 'traps' being set against AU/CpG-rich transcripts, the codon usage of native genes has, in turn, evolved to avoid such suppression. That parallel filters against AU/CpG-rich transcripts also affect the endosomal import of RNAs further supports the unwanted transcript hypothesis of synonymous site selection and explains the similar design rules that have enabled the successful use of transgenes and RNA vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Radrizzani
- Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Life Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK
- Milner Therapeutics Institute, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Grzegorz Kudla
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute for Genetics and Cancer, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Zsuzsanna Izsvák
- Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Society, Berlin, Germany
| | - Laurence D Hurst
- Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Life Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
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14
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Kotari I, Kosiol C, Borges R. The Patterns of Codon Usage between Chordates and Arthropods are Different but Co-evolving with Mutational Biases. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae080. [PMID: 38667829 PMCID: PMC11108087 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Different frequencies amongst codons that encode the same amino acid (i.e. synonymous codons) have been observed in multiple species. Studies focused on uncovering the forces that drive such codon usage showed that a combined effect of mutational biases and translational selection works to produce different frequencies of synonymous codons. However, only few have been able to measure and distinguish between these forces that may leave similar traces on the coding regions. Here, we have developed a codon model that allows the disentangling of mutation, selection on amino acids and synonymous codons, and GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC) which we employed on an extensive dataset of 415 chordates and 191 arthropods. We found that chordates need 15 more synonymous codon categories than arthropods to explain the empirical codon frequencies, which suggests that the extent of codon usage can vary greatly between animal phyla. Moreover, methylation at CpG sites seems to partially explain these patterns of codon usage in chordates but not in arthropods. Despite the differences between the two phyla, our findings demonstrate that in both, GC-rich codons are disfavored when mutations are GC-biased, and the opposite is true when mutations are AT-biased. This indicates that selection on the genomic coding regions might act primarily to stabilize its GC/AT content on a genome-wide level. Our study shows that the degree of synonymous codon usage varies considerably among animals, but is likely governed by a common underlying dynamic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioanna Kotari
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna 1210, Austria
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vienna, Austria
| | - Carolin Kosiol
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Rui Borges
- Institut für Populationsgenetik, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna 1210, Austria
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15
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Wielgoss S, Van Dyken JD, Velicer GJ. Mutation Rate and Effective Population Size of the Model Cooperative Bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. Genome Biol Evol 2024; 16:evae066. [PMID: 38526062 PMCID: PMC11069108 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evae066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 03/18/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Intrinsic rates of genetic mutation have diverged greatly across taxa and exhibit statistical associations with several other parameters and features. These include effective population size (Ne), genome size, and gametic multicellularity, with the latter being associated with both increased mutation rates and decreased effective population sizes. However, data sufficient to test for possible relationships between microbial multicellularity and mutation rate (µ) are lacking. Here, we report estimates of two key population-genetic parameters, Ne and µ, for Myxococcus xanthus, a bacterial model organism for the study of aggregative multicellular development, predation, and social swarming. To estimate µ, we conducted an ∼400-day mutation accumulation experiment with 46 lineages subjected to regular single colony bottlenecks prior to clonal regrowth. Upon conclusion, we sequenced one clonal-isolate genome per lineage. Given collective evolution for 85,323 generations across all lines, we calculate a per base-pair mutation rate of ∼5.5 × 10-10 per site per generation, one of the highest mutation rates among free-living eubacteria. Given our estimate of µ, we derived Ne at ∼107 from neutral diversity at four-fold degenerate sites across two dozen M. xanthus natural isolates. This estimate is below average for eubacteria and strengthens an already clear negative correlation between µ and Ne in prokaryotes. The higher and lower than average mutation rate and Ne for M. xanthus, respectively, amplify the question of whether any features of its multicellular life cycle-such as group-size reduction during fruiting-body development-or its highly structured spatial distribution have significantly influenced how these parameters have evolved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sébastien Wielgoss
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - James David Van Dyken
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA
| | - Gregory J Velicer
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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16
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Weibel CA, Wheeler AL, James JE, Willis SM, McShea H, Masel J. The protein domains of vertebrate species in which selection is more effective have greater intrinsic structural disorder. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.03.02.530449. [PMID: 38712167 PMCID: PMC11071303 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.02.530449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
The nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution posits variation among species in the effectiveness of selection. In an idealized model, the census population size determines both this minimum magnitude of the selection coefficient required for deleterious variants to be reliably purged, and the amount of neutral diversity. Empirically, an "effective population size" is often estimated from the amount of putatively neutral genetic diversity and is assumed to also capture a species' effectiveness of selection. A potentially more direct measure of the effectiveness of selection is the degree to which selection maintains preferred codons. However, past metrics that compare codon bias across species are confounded by among-species variation in %GC content and/or amino acid composition. Here we propose a new Codon Adaptation Index of Species (CAIS), based on Kullback-Leibler divergence, that corrects for both confounders. We demonstrate the use of CAIS correlations, as well as the Effective Number of Codons, to show that the protein domains of more highly adapted vertebrate species evolve higher intrinsic structural disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine A. Weibel
- Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
- present address: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, California, USA
| | - Andrew L. Wheeler
- Genetics Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
| | - Jennifer E. James
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
- present address: Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Center, Uppsala University, Sweden
| | - Sara M. Willis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
- present address: University Information Technology Services, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
| | - Hanon McShea
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University
| | - Joanna Masel
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
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17
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Vogl C, Karapetiants M, Yıldırım B, Kjartansdóttir H, Kosiol C, Bergman J, Majka M, Mikula LC. Inference of genomic landscapes using ordered Hidden Markov Models with emission densities (oHMMed). BMC Bioinformatics 2024; 25:151. [PMID: 38627634 PMCID: PMC11021005 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-024-05751-4] [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: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genomes are inherently inhomogeneous, with features such as base composition, recombination, gene density, and gene expression varying along chromosomes. Evolutionary, biological, and biomedical analyses aim to quantify this variation, account for it during inference procedures, and ultimately determine the causal processes behind it. Since sequential observations along chromosomes are not independent, it is unsurprising that autocorrelation patterns have been observed e.g., in human base composition. In this article, we develop a class of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) called oHMMed (ordered HMM with emission densities, the corresponding R package of the same name is available on CRAN): They identify the number of comparably homogeneous regions within autocorrelated observed sequences. These are modelled as discrete hidden states; the observed data points are realisations of continuous probability distributions with state-specific means that enable ordering of these distributions. The observed sequence is labelled according to the hidden states, permitting only neighbouring states that are also neighbours within the ordering of their associated distributions. The parameters that characterise these state-specific distributions are inferred. RESULTS We apply our oHMMed algorithms to the proportion of G and C bases (modelled as a mixture of normal distributions) and the number of genes (modelled as a mixture of poisson-gamma distributions) in windows along the human, mouse, and fruit fly genomes. This results in a partitioning of the genomes into regions by statistically distinguishable averages of these features, and in a characterisation of their continuous patterns of variation. In regard to the genomic G and C proportion, this latter result distinguishes oHMMed from segmentation algorithms based in isochore or compositional domain theory. We further use oHMMed to conduct a detailed analysis of variation of chromatin accessibility (ATAC-seq) and epigenetic markers H3K27ac and H3K27me3 (modelled as a mixture of poisson-gamma distributions) along the human chromosome 1 and their correlations. CONCLUSIONS Our algorithms provide a biologically assumption free approach to characterising genomic landscapes shaped by continuous, autocorrelated patterns of variation. Despite this, the resulting genome segmentation enables extraction of compositionally distinct regions for further downstream analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claus Vogl
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Vetmeduni Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, Austria.
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Mariia Karapetiants
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Vetmeduni Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, Austria
| | - Burçin Yıldırım
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Vetmeduni Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Hrönn Kjartansdóttir
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Vetmeduni Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, Vienna, Austria
| | - Carolin Kosiol
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| | - Juraj Bergman
- Department of Biology, Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE) & Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | | | - Lynette Caitlin Mikula
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK.
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18
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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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19
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Chase MA, Vilcot M, Mugal CF. The role of recombination dynamics in shaping signatures of direct and indirect selection across the Ficedula flycatcher genome †. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232382. [PMID: 38228173 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2382] [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: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Recombination is a central evolutionary process that reshuffles combinations of alleles along chromosomes, and consequently is expected to influence the efficacy of direct selection via Hill-Robertson interference. Additionally, the indirect effects of selection on neutral genetic diversity are expected to show a negative relationship with recombination rate, as background selection and genetic hitchhiking are stronger when recombination rate is low. However, owing to the limited availability of recombination rate estimates across divergent species, the impact of evolutionary changes in recombination rate on genomic signatures of selection remains largely unexplored. To address this question, we estimate recombination rate in two Ficedula flycatcher species, the taiga flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla) and collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). We show that recombination rate is strongly correlated with signatures of indirect selection, and that evolutionary changes in recombination rate between species have observable impacts on this relationship. Conversely, signatures of direct selection on coding sequences show little to no relationship with recombination rate, even when restricted to genes where recombination rate is conserved between species. Thus, using measures of indirect and direct selection that bridge micro- and macro-evolutionary timescales, we demonstrate that the role of recombination rate and its dynamics varies for different signatures of selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeline A Chase
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
- Swiss Ornithological Institute, 6204 Sempach, Switzerland
| | - Maurine Vilcot
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
- CEFE, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, 34293 Montpellier 5, France
| | - Carina F Mugal
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
- Laboratory of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology, University of Lyon 1, CNRS UMR 5558, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
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20
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Bredeson JV, Mudd AB, Medina-Ruiz S, Mitros T, Smith OK, Miller KE, Lyons JB, Batra SS, Park J, Berkoff KC, Plott C, Grimwood J, Schmutz J, Aguirre-Figueroa G, Khokha MK, Lane M, Philipp I, Laslo M, Hanken J, Kerdivel G, Buisine N, Sachs LM, Buchholz DR, Kwon T, Smith-Parker H, Gridi-Papp M, Ryan MJ, Denton RD, Malone JH, Wallingford JB, Straight AF, Heald R, Hockemeyer D, Harland RM, Rokhsar DS. Conserved chromatin and repetitive patterns reveal slow genome evolution in frogs. Nat Commun 2024; 15:579. [PMID: 38233380 PMCID: PMC10794172 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43012-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Frogs are an ecologically diverse and phylogenetically ancient group of anuran amphibians that include important vertebrate cell and developmental model systems, notably the genus Xenopus. Here we report a high-quality reference genome sequence for the western clawed frog, Xenopus tropicalis, along with draft chromosome-scale sequences of three distantly related emerging model frog species, Eleutherodactylus coqui, Engystomops pustulosus, and Hymenochirus boettgeri. Frog chromosomes have remained remarkably stable since the Mesozoic Era, with limited Robertsonian (i.e., arm-preserving) translocations and end-to-end fusions found among the smaller chromosomes. Conservation of synteny includes conservation of centromere locations, marked by centromeric tandem repeats associated with Cenp-a binding surrounded by pericentromeric LINE/L1 elements. This work explores the structure of chromosomes across frogs, using a dense meiotic linkage map for X. tropicalis and chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) data for all species. Abundant satellite repeats occupy the unusually long (~20 megabase) terminal regions of each chromosome that coincide with high rates of recombination. Both embryonic and differentiated cells show reproducible associations of centromeric chromatin and of telomeres, reflecting a Rabl-like configuration. Our comparative analyses reveal 13 conserved ancestral anuran chromosomes from which contemporary frog genomes were constructed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessen V Bredeson
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- DOE-Joint Genome Institute, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Austin B Mudd
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Sofia Medina-Ruiz
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Therese Mitros
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Owen Kabnick Smith
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Beckman Center 409, Stanford, CA, 94305-5307, USA
| | - Kelly E Miller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jessica B Lyons
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Sanjit S Batra
- Computer Science Division, University of California Berkeley, 2626 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Joseph Park
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Kodiak C Berkoff
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Christopher Plott
- HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Jane Grimwood
- HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Jeremy Schmutz
- HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Guadalupe Aguirre-Figueroa
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Beckman Center 409, Stanford, CA, 94305-5307, USA
| | - Mustafa K Khokha
- Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | - Maura Lane
- Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | - Isabelle Philipp
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Mara Laslo
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - James Hanken
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Gwenneg Kerdivel
- Département Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7221 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Buisine
- Département Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7221 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Laurent M Sachs
- Département Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7221 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Daniel R Buchholz
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Taejoon Kwon
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
- Center for Genomic Integrity, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
| | - Heidi Smith-Parker
- Department of Integrative Biology, Patterson Labs, 2401 Speedway, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Marcos Gridi-Papp
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA, 95211, USA
| | - Michael J Ryan
- Department of Integrative Biology, Patterson Labs, 2401 Speedway, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Robert D Denton
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute of Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, 181 Auditorium Road, Unit 3197, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
| | - John H Malone
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute of Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, 181 Auditorium Road, Unit 3197, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
| | - John B Wallingford
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Patterson Labs, 2401 Speedway, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Aaron F Straight
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Beckman Center 409, Stanford, CA, 94305-5307, USA
| | - Rebecca Heald
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Dirk Hockemeyer
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Chan-Zuckerberg BioHub, 499 Illinois Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Richard M Harland
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Daniel S Rokhsar
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- DOE-Joint Genome Institute, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- Chan-Zuckerberg BioHub, 499 Illinois Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa, 9040495, Japan.
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21
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Versoza CJ, Weiss S, Johal R, La Rosa B, Jensen JD, Pfeifer SP. Novel Insights into the Landscape of Crossover and Noncrossover Events in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta). Genome Biol Evol 2024; 16:evad223. [PMID: 38051960 PMCID: PMC10773715 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad223] [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: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 11/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Meiotic recombination landscapes differ greatly between distantly and closely related taxa, populations, individuals, sexes, and even within genomes; however, the factors driving this variation are yet to be well elucidated. Here, we directly estimate contemporary crossover rates and, for the first time, noncrossover rates in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) from four three-generation pedigrees comprising 32 individuals. We further compare these results with historical, demography-aware, linkage disequilibrium-based recombination rate estimates. From paternal meioses in the pedigrees, 165 crossover events with a median resolution of 22.3 kb were observed, corresponding to a male autosomal map length of 2,357 cM-approximately 15% longer than an existing linkage map based on human microsatellite loci. In addition, 85 noncrossover events with a mean tract length of 155 bp were identified-similar to the tract lengths observed in the only other two primates in which noncrossovers have been studied to date, humans and baboons. Consistent with observations in other placental mammals with PRDM9-directed recombination, crossover (and to a lesser extent noncrossover) events in rhesus macaques clustered in intergenic regions and toward the chromosomal ends in males-a pattern in broad agreement with the historical, sex-averaged recombination rate estimates-and evidence of GC-biased gene conversion was observed at noncrossover sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cyril J Versoza
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Sarah Weiss
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Ravneet Johal
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Bruno La Rosa
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jeffrey D Jensen
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Susanne P Pfeifer
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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22
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Liu Y, Liang N, Xian Q, Zhang W. GC heterogeneity reveals sequence-structures evolution of angiosperm ITS2. BMC PLANT BIOLOGY 2023; 23:608. [PMID: 38036992 PMCID: PMC10691020 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-023-04634-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite GC variation constitutes a fundamental element of genome and species diversity, the precise mechanisms driving it remain unclear. The abundant sequence data available for the ITS2, a commonly employed phylogenetic marker in plants, offers an exceptional resource for exploring the GC variation across angiosperms. RESULTS A comprehensive selection of 8666 species, comprising 165 genera, 63 families, and 30 orders were used for the analyses. The alignment of ITS2 sequence-structures and partitioning of secondary structures into paired and unpaired regions were performed using 4SALE. Substitution rates and frequencies among GC base-pairs in the paired regions of ITS2 were calculated using RNA-specific models in the PHASE package. The results showed that the distribution of ITS2 GC contents on the angiosperm phylogeny was heterogeneous, but their increase was generally associated with ITS2 sequence homogenization, thereby supporting the occurrence of GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC) during the concerted evolution of ITS2. Additionally, the GC content in the paired regions of the ITS2 secondary structure was significantly higher than that of the unpaired regions, indicating the selection of GC for thermodynamic stability. Furthermore, the RNA substitution models demonstrated that base-pair transformations favored both the elevation and fixation of GC in the paired regions, providing further support for gBGC. CONCLUSIONS Our findings highlight the significance of secondary structure in GC investigation, which demonstrate that both gBGC and structure-based selection are influential factors driving angiosperm ITS2 GC content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yubo Liu
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209, China
- Division of Physical Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Interfacial Physics and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, China
| | - Nan Liang
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209, China
- Allergy Department, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, China
| | - Qing Xian
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209, China.
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23
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Zhang H, Hansson B. RecView: an interactive R application for locating recombination positions using pedigree data. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:712. [PMID: 38007417 PMCID: PMC10676570 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09807-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recombination reshuffles alleles at linked loci, allowing genes to evolve independently and consequently enhancing the efficiency of selection. This makes quantifying recombination along chromosomes an important goal for understanding how selection and drift are acting on genes and chromosomes. RESULTS We present RecView, an interactive R application and its homonymous R package, to facilitate locating recombination positions along chromosomes or scaffolds using whole-genome genotype data of a three-generation pedigree. RecView analyses and plots the grandparent-of-origin of all informative alleles along each chromosome of the offspring in the pedigree, and infers recombination positions with either of two built-in algorithms: one based on change in the proportion of the alleles with specific grandparent-of-origin, and one on the degree of continuity of alleles with the same grandparent-of-origin. RecView handles multiple offspring and chromosomes simultaneously, and all putative recombination positions are reported in base pairs together with an estimated precision based on the local density of informative alleles. We demonstrate RecView using genotype data of a passerine bird with an available reference genome, the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), and show that recombination events can be located to specific positions. CONCLUSIONS RecView is an easy-to-use and highly effective application for locating recombination positions with high precision. RecView is available on GitHub ( https://github.com/HKyleZhang/RecView.git ).
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongkai Zhang
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, 22362, Sweden.
| | - Bengt Hansson
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, 22362, Sweden.
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24
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Beichman AC, Robinson J, Lin M, Moreno-Estrada A, Nigenda-Morales S, Harris K. Evolution of the Mutation Spectrum Across a Mammalian Phylogeny. Mol Biol Evol 2023; 40:msad213. [PMID: 37770035 PMCID: PMC10566577 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msad213] [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: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Although evolutionary biologists have long theorized that variation in DNA repair efficacy might explain some of the diversity of lifespan and cancer incidence across species, we have little data on the variability of normal germline mutagenesis outside of humans. Here, we shed light on the spectrum and etiology of mutagenesis across mammals by quantifying mutational sequence context biases using polymorphism data from thirteen species of mice, apes, bears, wolves, and cetaceans. After normalizing the mutation spectrum for reference genome accessibility and k-mer content, we use the Mantel test to deduce that mutation spectrum divergence is highly correlated with genetic divergence between species, whereas life history traits like reproductive age are weaker predictors of mutation spectrum divergence. Potential bioinformatic confounders are only weakly related to a small set of mutation spectrum features. We find that clock-like mutational signatures previously inferred from human cancers cannot explain the phylogenetic signal exhibited by the mammalian mutation spectrum, despite the ability of these signatures to fit each species' 3-mer spectrum with high cosine similarity. In contrast, parental aging signatures inferred from human de novo mutation data appear to explain much of the 1-mer spectrum's phylogenetic signal in combination with a novel mutational signature. We posit that future models purporting to explain the etiology of mammalian mutagenesis need to capture the fact that more closely related species have more similar mutation spectra; a model that fits each marginal spectrum with high cosine similarity is not guaranteed to capture this hierarchy of mutation spectrum variation among species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annabel C Beichman
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Jacqueline Robinson
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Meixi Lin
- Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Andrés Moreno-Estrada
- National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity, Advanced Genomics Unit (UGA-LANGEBIO), CINVESTAV, Irapuato, Mexico
| | - Sergio Nigenda-Morales
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA
| | - Kelley Harris
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Herbold Computational Biology Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA
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25
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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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26
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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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27
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Brovkina MV, Chapman MA, Holding ML, Clowney EJ. Emergence and influence of sequence bias in evolutionarily malleable, mammalian tandem arrays. BMC Biol 2023; 21:179. [PMID: 37612705 PMCID: PMC10463633 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01673-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The radiation of mammals at the extinction of the dinosaurs produced a plethora of new forms-as diverse as bats, dolphins, and elephants-in only 10-20 million years. Behind the scenes, adaptation to new niches is accompanied by extensive innovation in large families of genes that allow animals to contact the environment, including chemosensors, xenobiotic enzymes, and immune and barrier proteins. Genes in these "outward-looking" families are allelically diverse among humans and exhibit tissue-specific and sometimes stochastic expression. RESULTS Here, we show that these tandem arrays of outward-looking genes occupy AT-biased isochores and comprise the "tissue-specific" gene class that lack CpG islands in their promoters. Models of mammalian genome evolution have not incorporated the sharply different functions and transcriptional patterns of genes in AT- versus GC-biased regions. To examine the relationship between gene family expansion, sequence content, and allelic diversity, we use population genetic data and comparative analysis. First, we find that AT bias can emerge during evolutionary expansion of gene families in cis. Second, human genes in AT-biased isochores or with GC-poor promoters experience relatively low rates of de novo point mutation today but are enriched for non-synonymous variants. Finally, we find that isochores containing gene clusters exhibit low rates of recombination. CONCLUSIONS Our analyses suggest that tolerance of non-synonymous variation and low recombination are two forces that have produced the depletion of GC bases in outward-facing gene arrays. In turn, high AT content exerts a profound effect on their chromatin organization and transcriptional regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margarita V Brovkina
- Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Margaret A Chapman
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | | | - E Josephine Clowney
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
- Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
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28
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Näsvall K, Boman J, Talla V, Backström N. Base Composition, Codon Usage, and Patterns of Gene Sequence Evolution in Butterflies. Genome Biol Evol 2023; 15:evad150. [PMID: 37565492 PMCID: PMC10462419 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad150] [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: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Coding sequence evolution is influenced by both natural selection and neutral evolutionary forces. In many species, the effects of mutation bias, codon usage, and GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC) on gene sequence evolution have not been detailed. Quantification of how these forces shape substitution patterns is therefore necessary to understand the strength and direction of natural selection. Here, we used comparative genomics to investigate the association between base composition and codon usage bias on gene sequence evolution in butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), including an in-depth analysis of underlying patterns and processes in one species, Leptidea sinapis. The data revealed significant G/C to A/T substitution bias at third codon position with some variation in the strength among different butterfly lineages. However, the substitution bias was lower than expected from previously estimated mutation rate ratios, partly due to the influence of gBGC. We found that A/T-ending codons were overrepresented in most species, but there was a positive association between the magnitude of codon usage bias and GC-content in third codon positions. In addition, the tRNA-gene population in L. sinapis showed higher GC-content at third codon positions compared to coding sequences in general and less overrepresentation of A/T-ending codons. There was an inverse relationship between synonymous substitutions and codon usage bias indicating selection on synonymous sites. We conclude that the evolutionary rate in Lepidoptera is affected by a complex interaction between underlying G/C -> A/T mutation bias and partly counteracting fixation biases, predominantly conferred by overall purifying selection, gBGC, and selection on codon usage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karin Näsvall
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jesper Boman
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Venkat Talla
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Niclas Backström
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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29
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Peng C, Wu DD, Ren JL, Peng ZL, Ma Z, Wu W, Lv Y, Wang Z, Deng C, Jiang K, Parkinson CL, Qi Y, Zhang ZY, Li JT. Large-scale snake genome analyses provide insights into vertebrate development. Cell 2023; 186:2959-2976.e22. [PMID: 37339633 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/22/2023]
Abstract
Snakes are a remarkable squamate lineage with unique morphological adaptations, especially those related to the evolution of vertebrate skeletons, organs, and sensory systems. To clarify the genetic underpinnings of snake phenotypes, we assembled and analyzed 14 de novo genomes from 12 snake families. We also investigated the genetic basis of the morphological characteristics of snakes using functional experiments. We identified genes, regulatory elements, and structural variations that have potentially contributed to the evolution of limb loss, an elongated body plan, asymmetrical lungs, sensory systems, and digestive adaptations in snakes. We identified some of the genes and regulatory elements that might have shaped the evolution of vision, the skeletal system and diet in blind snakes, and thermoreception in infrared-sensitive snakes. Our study provides insights into the evolution and development of snakes and vertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changjun Peng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Dong-Dong Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
| | - Jin-Long Ren
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China
| | - Zhong-Liang Peng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhifei Ma
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Wei Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yunyun Lv
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; College of Life Science, Neijiang Normal University, Neijiang, Sichuan 641100, China
| | - Zeng Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Cao Deng
- Departments of Bioinformatics, DNA Stories Bioinformatics Center, Chengdu 610000, China
| | - Ke Jiang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China
| | | | - Yin Qi
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China
| | - Zhi-Yi Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China
| | - Jia-Tang Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization & Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610040, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw 05282, Myanmar.
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30
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Lee Y, Cho CH, Noh C, Yang JH, Park SI, Lee YM, West JA, Bhattacharya D, Jo K, Yoon HS. Origin of minicircular mitochondrial genomes in red algae. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3363. [PMID: 37291154 PMCID: PMC10250338 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39084-2] [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: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Eukaryotic organelle genomes are generally of conserved size and gene content within phylogenetic groups. However, significant variation in genome structure may occur. Here, we report that the Stylonematophyceae red algae contain multipartite circular mitochondrial genomes (i.e., minicircles) which encode one or two genes bounded by a specific cassette and a conserved constant region. These minicircles are visualized using fluorescence microscope and scanning electron microscope, proving the circularity. Mitochondrial gene sets are reduced in these highly divergent mitogenomes. Newly generated chromosome-level nuclear genome assembly of Rhodosorus marinus reveals that most mitochondrial ribosomal subunit genes are transferred to the nuclear genome. Hetero-concatemers that resulted from recombination between minicircles and unique gene inventory that is responsible for mitochondrial genome stability may explain how the transition from typical mitochondrial genome to minicircles occurs. Our results offer inspiration on minicircular organelle genome formation and highlight an extreme case of mitochondrial gene inventory reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongsung Lee
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea
| | - Chung Hyun Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea
| | - Chanyoung Noh
- Department of Chemistry, Sogang University, Seoul, 04107, Korea
| | - Ji Hyun Yang
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea
| | - Seung In Park
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea
| | - Yu Min Lee
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea
| | - John A West
- School of Biosciences 2, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Debashish Bhattacharya
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, 08901, USA
| | - Kyubong Jo
- Department of Chemistry, Sogang University, Seoul, 04107, Korea.
| | - Hwan Su Yoon
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea.
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31
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Deb SK, Edger PP, Pires JC, McKain MR. Patterns, mechanisms, and consequences of homoeologous exchange in allopolyploid angiosperms: a genomic and epigenomic perspective. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 238:2284-2304. [PMID: 37010081 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Allopolyploids result from hybridization between different evolutionary lineages coupled with genome doubling. Homoeologous chromosomes (chromosomes with common shared ancestry) may undergo recombination immediately after allopolyploid formation and continue over successive generations. The outcome of this meiotic pairing behavior is dynamic and complex. Homoeologous exchanges (HEs) may lead to the formation of unbalanced gametes, reduced fertility, and selective disadvantage. By contrast, HEs could act as sources of novel evolutionary substrates, shifting the relative dosage of parental gene copies, generating novel phenotypic diversity, and helping the establishment of neo-allopolyploids. However, HE patterns vary among lineages, across generations, and even within individual genomes and chromosomes. The causes and consequences of this variation are not fully understood, though interest in this evolutionary phenomenon has increased in the last decade. Recent technological advances show promise in uncovering the mechanistic basis of HEs. Here, we describe recent observations of the common patterns among allopolyploid angiosperm lineages, underlying genomic and epigenomic features, and consequences of HEs. We identify critical research gaps and discuss future directions with far-reaching implications in understanding allopolyploid evolution and applying them to the development of important phenotypic traits of polyploid crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sontosh K Deb
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA
- Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh
| | - Patrick P Edger
- Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA
- Genetics and Genome Sciences Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA
| | - J Chris Pires
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - Michael R McKain
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA
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32
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Lamolle G, Simón D, Iriarte A, Musto H. Main Factors Shaping Amino Acid Usage Across Evolution. J Mol Evol 2023:10.1007/s00239-023-10120-5. [PMID: 37264211 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-023-10120-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The standard genetic code determines that in most species, including viruses, there are 20 amino acids that are coded by 61 codons, while the other three codons are stop triplets. Considering the whole proteome each species features its own amino acid frequencies, given the slow rate of change, closely related species display similar GC content and amino acids usage. In contrast, distantly related species display different amino acid frequencies. Furthermore, within certain multicellular species, as mammals, intragenomic differences in the usage of amino acids are evident. In this communication, we shall summarize some of the most prominent and well-established factors that determine the differences found in the amino acid usage, both across evolution and intragenomically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Lamolle
- Laboratorio de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Diego Simón
- Laboratorio de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Centro de Investigaciones Nucleares, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Andrés Iriarte
- Laboratorio de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Laboratorio de Biología Computacional, Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Héctor Musto
- Laboratorio de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
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33
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Beichman AC, Robinson J, Lin M, Moreno-Estrada A, Nigenda-Morales S, Harris K. "Evolution of the mutation spectrum across a mammalian phylogeny". BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.31.543114. [PMID: 37398383 PMCID: PMC10312511 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.31.543114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
Little is known about how the spectrum and etiology of germline mutagenesis might vary among mammalian species. To shed light on this mystery, we quantify variation in mutational sequence context biases using polymorphism data from thirteen species of mice, apes, bears, wolves, and cetaceans. After normalizing the mutation spectrum for reference genome accessibility and k -mer content, we use the Mantel test to deduce that mutation spectrum divergence is highly correlated with genetic divergence between species, whereas life history traits like reproductive age are weaker predictors of mutation spectrum divergence. Potential bioinformatic confounders are only weakly related to a small set of mutation spectrum features. We find that clocklike mutational signatures previously inferred from human cancers cannot explain the phylogenetic signal exhibited by the mammalian mutation spectrum, despite the ability of these clocklike signatures to fit each species' 3-mer spectrum with high cosine similarity. In contrast, parental aging signatures inferred from human de novo mutation data appear to explain much of the mutation spectrum's phylogenetic signal when fit to non-context-dependent mutation spectrum data in combination with a novel mutational signature. We posit that future models purporting to explain the etiology of mammalian mutagenesis need to capture the fact that more closely related species have more similar mutation spectra; a model that fits each marginal spectrum with high cosine similarity is not guaranteed to capture this hierarchy of mutation spectrum variation among species.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jacqueline Robinson
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
| | - Meixi Lin
- Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA
| | - Andrés Moreno-Estrada
- National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity, Advanced Genomics Unit (UGA-LANGEBIO), CINVESTAV, Irapuato, Mexico
| | - Sergio Nigenda-Morales
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos CA
| | - Kelley Harris
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle WA
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34
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Kocher AA, Dutrow EV, Uebbing S, Yim KM, Larios MFR, Baumgartner M, Nottoli T, Noonan JP. CpG island turnover events predict evolutionary changes in enhancer activity. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.09.540063. [PMID: 37214934 PMCID: PMC10197647 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.09.540063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Genetic changes that modify the function of transcriptional enhancers have been linked to the evolution of biological diversity across species. Multiple studies have focused on the role of nucleotide substitutions, transposition, and insertions and deletions in altering enhancer function. Here we show that turnover of CpG islands (CGIs), which contribute to enhancer activation, is broadly associated with changes in enhancer activity across mammals, including humans. We integrated maps of CGIs and enhancer activity-associated histone modifications obtained from multiple tissues in nine mammalian species and found that CGI content in enhancers was strongly associated with increased histone modification levels. CGIs showed widespread turnover across species and species-specific CGIs were strongly enriched for enhancers exhibiting species-specific activity across all tissues and species we examined. Genes associated with enhancers with species-specific CGIs showed concordant biases in their expression, supporting that CGI turnover contributes to gene regulatory innovation. Our results also implicate CGI turnover in the evolution of Human Gain Enhancers (HGEs), which show increased activity in human embryonic development and may have contributed to the evolution of uniquely human traits. Using a humanized mouse model, we show that a highly conserved HGE with a large CGI absent from the mouse ortholog shows increased activity at the human CGI in the humanized mouse diencephalon. Collectively, our results point to CGI turnover as a mechanism driving gene regulatory changes potentially underlying trait evolution in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Acadia A. Kocher
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT 06510, USA
| | - Emily V. Dutrow
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT 06510, USA
- Present address: Cancer Genetics and Comparative Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Severin Uebbing
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT 06510, USA
| | - Kristina M. Yim
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT 06510, USA
| | | | | | - Timothy Nottoli
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
- Yale Genome Editing Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - James P. Noonan
- Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT 06510, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
- Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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35
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Vollger MR, Dishuck PC, Harvey WT, DeWitt WS, Guitart X, Goldberg ME, Rozanski AN, Lucas J, Asri M, Munson KM, Lewis AP, Hoekzema K, Logsdon GA, Porubsky D, Paten B, Harris K, Hsieh P, Eichler EE. Increased mutation and gene conversion within human segmental duplications. Nature 2023; 617:325-334. [PMID: 37165237 PMCID: PMC10172114 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05895-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in segmental duplications (SDs) have not been systematically assessed because of the limitations of mapping short-read sequencing data1,2. Here we constructed 1:1 unambiguous alignments spanning high-identity SDs across 102 human haplotypes and compared the pattern of SNVs between unique and duplicated regions3,4. We find that human SNVs are elevated 60% in SDs compared to unique regions and estimate that at least 23% of this increase is due to interlocus gene conversion (IGC) with up to 4.3 megabase pairs of SD sequence converted on average per human haplotype. We develop a genome-wide map of IGC donors and acceptors, including 498 acceptor and 454 donor hotspots affecting the exons of about 800 protein-coding genes. These include 171 genes that have 'relocated' on average 1.61 megabase pairs in a subset of human haplotypes. Using a coalescent framework, we show that SD regions are slightly evolutionarily older when compared to unique sequences, probably owing to IGC. SNVs in SDs, however, show a distinct mutational spectrum: a 27.1% increase in transversions that convert cytosine to guanine or the reverse across all triplet contexts and a 7.6% reduction in the frequency of CpG-associated mutations when compared to unique DNA. We reason that these distinct mutational properties help to maintain an overall higher GC content of SD DNA compared to that of unique DNA, probably driven by GC-biased conversion between paralogous sequences5,6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchell R Vollger
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
- Division of Medical Genetics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Philip C Dishuck
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - William T Harvey
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - William S DeWitt
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
- Computational Biology Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Xavi Guitart
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Michael E Goldberg
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Allison N Rozanski
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Julian Lucas
- UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Mobin Asri
- UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Katherine M Munson
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Alexandra P Lewis
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Kendra Hoekzema
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Glennis A Logsdon
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - David Porubsky
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Benedict Paten
- UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Kelley Harris
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - PingHsun Hsieh
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Evan E Eichler
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA.
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36
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Palahí I Torres A, Höök L, Näsvall K, Shipilina D, Wiklund C, Vila R, Pruisscher P, Backström N. The fine-scale recombination rate variation and associations with genomic features in a butterfly. Genome Res 2023; 33:810-823. [PMID: 37308293 PMCID: PMC10317125 DOI: 10.1101/gr.277414.122] [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: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Recombination is a key molecular mechanism that has profound implications on both micro- and macroevolutionary processes. However, the determinants of recombination rate variation in holocentric organisms are poorly understood, in particular in Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). The wood white butterfly (Leptidea sinapis) shows considerable intraspecific variation in chromosome numbers and is a suitable system for studying regional recombination rate variation and its potential molecular underpinnings. Here, we developed a large whole-genome resequencing data set from a population of wood whites to obtain high-resolution recombination maps using linkage disequilibrium information. The analyses revealed that larger chromosomes had a bimodal recombination landscape, potentially caused by interference between simultaneous chiasmata. The recombination rate was significantly lower in subtelomeric regions, with exceptions associated with segregating chromosome rearrangements, showing that fissions and fusions can have considerable effects on the recombination landscape. There was no association between the inferred recombination rate and base composition, supporting a limited influence of GC-biased gene conversion in butterflies. We found significant but variable associations between the recombination rate and the density of different classes of transposable elements, most notably a significant enrichment of short interspersed nucleotide elements in genomic regions with higher recombination rate. Finally, the analyses unveiled significant enrichment of genes involved in farnesyltranstransferase activity in recombination coldspots, potentially indicating that expression of transferases can inhibit formation of chiasmata during meiotic division. Our results provide novel information about recombination rate variation in holocentric organisms and have particular implications for forthcoming research in population genetics, molecular/genome evolution, and speciation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleix Palahí I Torres
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden;
| | - Lars Höök
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Karin Näsvall
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Daria Shipilina
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Christer Wiklund
- Department of Zoology: Division of Ecology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Roger Vila
- Butterfly Diversity and Evolution Lab, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Peter Pruisscher
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Niclas Backström
- Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG), Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
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37
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Comaills V, Castellano-Pozo M. Chromosomal Instability in Genome Evolution: From Cancer to Macroevolution. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:biology12050671. [PMID: 37237485 DOI: 10.3390/biology12050671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The integrity of the genome is crucial for the survival of all living organisms. However, genomes need to adapt to survive certain pressures, and for this purpose use several mechanisms to diversify. Chromosomal instability (CIN) is one of the main mechanisms leading to the creation of genomic heterogeneity by altering the number of chromosomes and changing their structures. In this review, we will discuss the different chromosomal patterns and changes observed in speciation, in evolutional biology as well as during tumor progression. By nature, the human genome shows an induction of diversity during gametogenesis but as well during tumorigenesis that can conclude in drastic changes such as the whole genome doubling to more discrete changes as the complex chromosomal rearrangement chromothripsis. More importantly, changes observed during speciation are strikingly similar to the genomic evolution observed during tumor progression and resistance to therapy. The different origins of CIN will be treated as the importance of double-strand breaks (DSBs) or the consequences of micronuclei. We will also explain the mechanisms behind the controlled DSBs, and recombination of homologous chromosomes observed during meiosis, to explain how errors lead to similar patterns observed during tumorigenesis. Then, we will also list several diseases associated with CIN, resulting in fertility issues, miscarriage, rare genetic diseases, and cancer. Understanding better chromosomal instability as a whole is primordial for the understanding of mechanisms leading to tumor progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentine Comaills
- Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine-CABIMER, University of Pablo de Olavide-University of Seville-CSIC, Junta de Andalucía, 41092 Seville, Spain
| | - Maikel Castellano-Pozo
- Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine-CABIMER, University of Pablo de Olavide-University of Seville-CSIC, Junta de Andalucía, 41092 Seville, Spain
- Genetic Department, Faculty of Biology, University of Seville, 41080 Seville, Spain
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38
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Keough KC, Whalen S, Inoue F, Przytycki PF, Fair T, Deng C, Steyert M, Ryu H, Lindblad-Toh K, Karlsson E, Nowakowski T, Ahituv N, Pollen A, Pollard KS. Three-dimensional genome rewiring in loci with human accelerated regions. Science 2023; 380:eabm1696. [PMID: 37104607 PMCID: PMC10999243 DOI: 10.1126/science.abm1696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Human accelerated regions (HARs) are conserved genomic loci that evolved at an accelerated rate in the human lineage and may underlie human-specific traits. We generated HARs and chimpanzee accelerated regions with an automated pipeline and an alignment of 241 mammalian genomes. Combining deep learning with chromatin capture experiments in human and chimpanzee neural progenitor cells, we discovered a significant enrichment of HARs in topologically associating domains containing human-specific genomic variants that change three-dimensional (3D) genome organization. Differential gene expression between humans and chimpanzees at these loci suggests rewiring of regulatory interactions between HARs and neurodevelopmental genes. Thus, comparative genomics together with models of 3D genome folding revealed enhancer hijacking as an explanation for the rapid evolution of HARs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen C Keough
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Sean Whalen
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Fumitaka Inoue
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Pawel F Przytycki
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Tyler Fair
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Chengyu Deng
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Marilyn Steyert
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Hane Ryu
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Kerstin Lindblad-Toh
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Elinor Karlsson
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
- Program in Molecular Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Tomasz Nowakowski
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Anatomy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Nadav Ahituv
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Alex Pollen
- Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Katherine S Pollard
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Bakar Institute for Computational Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA
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39
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Valero-Regalón FJ, Solé M, López-Jiménez P, Valerio-de Arana M, Martín-Ruiz M, de la Fuente R, Marín-Gual L, Renfree MB, Shaw G, Berríos S, Fernández-Donoso R, Waters PD, Ruiz-Herrera A, Gómez R, Page J. Divergent patterns of meiotic double strand breaks and synapsis initiation dynamics suggest an evolutionary shift in the meiosis program between American and Australian marsupials. Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1147610. [PMID: 37181752 PMCID: PMC10166821 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1147610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
In eutherian mammals, hundreds of programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are generated at the onset of meiosis. The DNA damage response is then triggered. Although the dynamics of this response is well studied in eutherian mammals, recent findings have revealed different patterns of DNA damage signaling and repair in marsupial mammals. To better characterize these differences, here we analyzed synapsis and the chromosomal distribution of meiotic DSBs markers in three different marsupial species (Thylamys elegans, Dromiciops gliorides, and Macropus eugenii) that represent South American and Australian Orders. Our results revealed inter-specific differences in the chromosomal distribution of DNA damage and repair proteins, which were associated with differing synapsis patterns. In the American species T. elegans and D. gliroides, chromosomal ends were conspicuously polarized in a bouquet configuration and synapsis progressed exclusively from the telomeres towards interstitial regions. This was accompanied by sparse H2AX phosphorylation, mainly accumulating at chromosomal ends. Accordingly, RAD51 and RPA were mainly localized at chromosomal ends throughout prophase I in both American marsupials, likely resulting in reduced recombination rates at interstitial positions. In sharp contrast, synapsis initiated at both interstitial and distal chromosomal regions in the Australian representative M. eugenii, the bouquet polarization was incomplete and ephemeral, γH2AX had a broad nuclear distribution, and RAD51 and RPA foci displayed an even chromosomal distribution. Given the basal evolutionary position of T. elegans, it is likely that the meiotic features reported in this species represent an ancestral pattern in marsupials and that a shift in the meiotic program occurred after the split of D. gliroides and the Australian marsupial clade. Our results open intriguing questions about the regulation and homeostasis of meiotic DSBs in marsupials. The low recombination rates observed at the interstitial chromosomal regions in American marsupials can result in the formation of large linkage groups, thus having an impact in the evolution of their genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mireia Solé
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Genetics of Male Fertility Group, Unitat de Biologia Cel·lular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pablo López-Jiménez
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Valerio-de Arana
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marta Martín-Ruiz
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Roberto de la Fuente
- Department of Experimental Embryology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of The Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, Poland
| | - Laia Marín-Gual
- Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Genome Integrity and Instability Group, Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marilyn B. Renfree
- School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Geoff Shaw
- School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Soledad Berríos
- Programa de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Raúl Fernández-Donoso
- Programa de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Paul D. Waters
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science, Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Aurora Ruiz-Herrera
- Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Genome Integrity and Instability Group, Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rocío Gómez
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jesús Page
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Xian Q, Wang S, Liu Y, Kan S, Zhang W. Structure-Based GC Investigation Sheds New Light on ITS2 Evolution in Corydalis Species. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24097716. [PMID: 37175423 PMCID: PMC10178233 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24097716] [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: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Guanine and cytosine (GC) content is a fundamental component of genetic diversity and essential for phylogenetic analyses. However, the GC content of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) remains unknown, despite the fact that ITS2 is a widely used phylogenetic marker. Here, the ITS2 was high-throughput sequenced from 29 Corydalis species, and their GC contents were comparatively investigated in the context of ITS2's characteristic secondary structure and concerted evolution. Our results showed that the GC contents of ITS2 were 131% higher than those of their adjacent 5.8S regions, suggesting that ITS2 underwent GC-biased evolution. These GCs were distributed in a heterogeneous manner in the ITS2 secondary structure, with the paired regions being 130% larger than the unpaired regions, indicating that GC is chosen for thermodynamic stability. In addition, species with homogeneous ITS2 sequences were always GC-rich, supporting GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC), which occurred with ITS2's concerted evolution. The RNA substitution model inferred also showed a GC preference among base pair transformations, which again supports gBGC. Overall, structurally based GC investigation reveals that ITS2 evolves under structural stability and gBGC selection, significantly increasing its GC content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Xian
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China
| | - Suyin Wang
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China
| | - Yanyan Liu
- College of Plant Protection, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
| | - Shenglong Kan
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China
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Marlétaz F, de la Calle-Mustienes E, Acemel RD, Paliou C, Naranjo S, Martínez-García PM, Cases I, Sleight VA, Hirschberger C, Marcet-Houben M, Navon D, Andrescavage A, Skvortsova K, Duckett PE, González-Rajal Á, Bogdanovic O, Gibcus JH, Yang L, Gallardo-Fuentes L, Sospedra I, Lopez-Rios J, Darbellay F, Visel A, Dekker J, Shubin N, Gabaldón T, Nakamura T, Tena JJ, Lupiáñez DG, Rokhsar DS, Gómez-Skarmeta JL. The little skate genome and the evolutionary emergence of wing-like fins. Nature 2023; 616:495-503. [PMID: 37046085 PMCID: PMC10115646 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05868-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
Skates are cartilaginous fish whose body plan features enlarged wing-like pectoral fins, enabling them to thrive in benthic environments1,2. However, the molecular underpinnings of this unique trait remain unclear. Here we investigate the origin of this phenotypic innovation by developing the little skate Leucoraja erinacea as a genomically enabled model. Analysis of a high-quality chromosome-scale genome sequence for the little skate shows that it preserves many ancestral jawed vertebrate features compared with other sequenced genomes, including numerous ancient microchromosomes. Combining genome comparisons with extensive regulatory datasets in developing fins-including gene expression, chromatin occupancy and three-dimensional conformation-we find skate-specific genomic rearrangements that alter the three-dimensional regulatory landscape of genes that are involved in the planar cell polarity pathway. Functional inhibition of planar cell polarity signalling resulted in a reduction in anterior fin size, confirming that this pathway is a major contributor to batoid fin morphology. We also identified a fin-specific enhancer that interacts with several hoxa genes, consistent with the redeployment of hox gene expression in anterior pectoral fins, and confirmed its potential to activate transcription in the anterior fin using zebrafish reporter assays. Our findings underscore the central role of genome reorganization and regulatory variation in the evolution of phenotypes, shedding light on the molecular origin of an enigmatic trait.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferdinand Marlétaz
- Centre for Life's Origin and Evolution, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK.
- Molecular Genetics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan.
| | - Elisa de la Calle-Mustienes
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Rafael D Acemel
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
- Epigenetics and Sex Development Group, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Christina Paliou
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Silvia Naranjo
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Pedro Manuel Martínez-García
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Ildefonso Cases
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Victoria A Sleight
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
| | | | - Marina Marcet-Houben
- Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BCS-CNS), Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Dina Navon
- Department of Genetics, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Ali Andrescavage
- Department of Genetics, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Ksenia Skvortsova
- Genomics and Epigenetics Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Paul Edward Duckett
- Genomics and Epigenetics Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Álvaro González-Rajal
- Genomics and Epigenetics Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ozren Bogdanovic
- Genomics and Epigenetics Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Johan H Gibcus
- Department of Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Liyan Yang
- Department of Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Lourdes Gallardo-Fuentes
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Ismael Sospedra
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Javier Lopez-Rios
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Fabrice Darbellay
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Axel Visel
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
- School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA, USA
| | - Job Dekker
- Department of Systems Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Neil Shubin
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Toni Gabaldón
- Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BCS-CNS), Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Tetsuya Nakamura
- Department of Genetics, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
| | - Juan J Tena
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain.
| | - Darío G Lupiáñez
- Epigenetics and Sex Development Group, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB), Berlin, Germany.
| | - Daniel S Rokhsar
- Molecular Genetics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan.
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - José Luis Gómez-Skarmeta
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide/Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
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Picard MAL, Leblay F, Cassan C, Willemsen A, Daron J, Bauffe F, Decourcelle M, Demange A, Bravo IG. Transcriptomic, proteomic, and functional consequences of codon usage bias in human cells during heterologous gene expression. Protein Sci 2023; 32:e4576. [PMID: 36692287 PMCID: PMC9926478 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4576] [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: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Differences in codon frequency between genomes, genes, or positions along a gene, modulate transcription and translation efficiency, leading to phenotypic and functional differences. Here, we present a multiscale analysis of the effects of synonymous codon recoding during heterologous gene expression in human cells, quantifying the phenotypic consequences of codon usage bias at different molecular and cellular levels, with an emphasis on translation elongation. Six synonymous versions of an antibiotic resistance gene were generated, fused to a fluorescent reporter, and independently expressed in HEK293 cells. Multiscale phenotype was analyzed by means of quantitative transcriptome and proteome assessment, as proxies for gene expression; cellular fluorescence, as a proxy for single-cell level expression; and real-time cell proliferation in absence or presence of antibiotic, as a proxy for the cell fitness. We show that differences in codon usage bias strongly impact the molecular and cellular phenotype: (i) they result in large differences in mRNA levels and protein levels, leading to differences of over 15 times in translation efficiency; (ii) they introduce unpredicted splicing events; (iii) they lead to reproducible phenotypic heterogeneity; and (iv) they lead to a trade-off between the benefit of antibiotic resistance and the burden of heterologous expression. In human cells in culture, codon usage bias modulates gene expression by modifying mRNA availability and suitability for translation, leading to differences in protein levels and eventually eliciting functional phenotypic changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion A. L. Picard
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Fiona Leblay
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Cécile Cassan
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Anouk Willemsen
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Josquin Daron
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Frédérique Bauffe
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Mathilde Decourcelle
- BioCampus Montpellier (University of Montpellier, CNRS, INSERM)MontpellierFrance
| | - Antonin Demange
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
| | - Ignacio G. Bravo
- French National Center for Scientific ResearchLaboratory MIVEGEC (CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier)MontpellierFrance
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Gao Z, Zhang Y, Cramer N, Przeworski M, Moorjani P. Limited role of generation time changes in driving the evolution of the mutation spectrum in humans. eLife 2023; 12:e81188. [PMID: 36779395 PMCID: PMC10014080 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested that the human germline mutation rate and spectrum evolve rapidly. Variation in generation time has been linked to these changes, though its contribution remains unclear. We develop a framework to characterize temporal changes in polymorphisms within and between populations, while controlling for the effects of natural selection and biased gene conversion. Application to the 1000 Genomes Project dataset reveals multiple independent changes that arose after the split of continental groups, including a previously reported, transient elevation in TCC>TTC mutations in Europeans and novel signals of divergence in C>Gand T>A mutation rates among population samples. We also find a significant difference between groups sampled in and outside of Africa in old T>C polymorphisms that predate the out-of-Africa migration. This surprising signal is driven by TpG>CpG mutations and stems in part from mis-polarized CpG transitions, which are more likely to undergo recurrent mutations. Finally, by relating the mutation spectrum of polymorphisms to parental age effects on de novo mutations, we show that plausible changes in the generation time cannot explain the patterns observed for different mutation types jointly. Thus, other factors - genetic modifiers or environmental exposures - must have had a non-negligible impact on the human mutation landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyue Gao
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of MedicinePhiladelphiaUnited States
| | - Yulin Zhang
- Center for Computational Biology, University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Nathan Cramer
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Molly Przeworski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
| | - Priya Moorjani
- Center for Computational Biology, University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
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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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Bonito M, Ravasini F, Novelletto A, D'Atanasio E, Cruciani F, Trombetta B. Disclosing complex mutational dynamics at a Y chromosome palindrome evolving through intra- and inter-chromosomal gene conversion. Hum Mol Genet 2023; 32:65-78. [PMID: 35921243 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddac144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The human MSY ampliconic region is mainly composed of large duplicated sequences that are organized in eight palindromes (termed P1-P8), and may undergo arm-to-arm gene conversion. Although the importance of these elements is widely recognized, their evolutionary dynamics are still nuanced. Here, we focused on the P8 palindrome, which shows a complex evolutionary history, being involved in intra- and inter-chromosomal gene conversion. To disclose its evolutionary complexity, we performed a high-depth (50×) targeted next-generation sequencing of this element in 157 subjects belonging to the most divergent lineages of the Y chromosome tree. We found a total of 72 polymorphic paralogous sequence variants that have been exploited to identify 41 Y-Y gene conversion events that occurred during recent human history. Through our analysis, we were able to categorize P8 arms into three portions, whose molecular diversity was modelled by different evolutionary forces. Notably, the outer region of the palindrome is not involved in any gene conversion event and evolves exclusively through the action of mutational pressure. The inner region is affected by Y-Y gene conversion occurring at a rate of 1.52 × 10-5 conversions/base/year, with no bias towards the retention of the ancestral state of the sequence. In this portion, GC-biased gene conversion is counterbalanced by a mutational bias towards AT bases. Finally, the middle region of the arms, in addition to intra-chromosomal gene conversion, is involved in X-to-Y gene conversion (at a rate of 6.013 × 10-8 conversions/base/year) thus being a major force in the evolution of the VCY/VCX gene family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Bonito
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Rome 00185, Italy
| | - Francesco Ravasini
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Rome 00185, Italy
| | - Andrea Novelletto
- Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy
| | - Eugenia D'Atanasio
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM), CNR, Rome 00185, Italy
| | - Fulvio Cruciani
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Rome 00185, Italy.,Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM), CNR, Rome 00185, Italy
| | - Beniamino Trombetta
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia - Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Rome 00185, Italy
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Bergman J, Schierup MH. Evolutionary dynamics of pseudoautosomal region 1 in humans and great apes. Genome Biol 2022; 23:215. [PMID: 36253794 PMCID: PMC9575207 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-022-02784-x] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The pseudoautosomal region 1 (PAR1) is a 2.7 Mb telomeric region of human sex chromosomes. PAR1 has a crucial role in ensuring proper segregation of sex chromosomes during male meiosis, exposing it to extreme recombination and mutation processes. We investigate PAR1 evolution using population genomic datasets of extant humans, eight populations of great apes, and two archaic human genome sequences. RESULTS We find that PAR1 is fast evolving and closer to evolutionary nucleotide equilibrium than autosomal telomeres. We detect a difference between substitution patterns and extant diversity in PAR1, mainly driven by the conflict between strong mutation and recombination-associated fixation bias at CpG sites. We detect excess C-to-G mutations in PAR1 of all great apes, specific to the mutagenic effect of male recombination. Despite recent evidence for Y chromosome introgression from humans into Neanderthals, we find that the Neanderthal PAR1 retained similarity to the Denisovan sequence. We find differences between substitution spectra of these archaics suggesting rapid evolution of PAR1 in recent hominin history. Frequency analysis of alleles segregating in females and males provided no evidence for recent sexual antagonism in this region. We study repeat content and double-strand break hotspot regions in PAR1 and find that they may play roles in ensuring the obligate X-Y recombination event during male meiosis. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides an unprecedented quantification of population genetic forces governing PAR1 biology across extant and extinct hominids. PAR1 evolutionary dynamics are predominantly governed by recombination processes with a strong impact on mutation patterns across all species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juraj Bergman
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
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Schield DR, Perry BW, Card DC, Pasquesi GIM, Westfall AK, Mackessy SP, Castoe TA. The Rattlesnake W Chromosome: A GC-Rich Retroelement Refugium with Retained Gene Function Across Ancient Evolutionary Strata. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 14:evac116. [PMID: 35867356 PMCID: PMC9447483 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [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] [Accepted: 07/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex chromosomes diverge after the establishment of recombination suppression, resulting in differential sex-linkage of genes involved in genetic sex determination and dimorphic traits. This process produces systems of male or female heterogamety wherein the Y and W chromosomes are only present in one sex and are often highly degenerated. Sex-limited Y and W chromosomes contain valuable information about the evolutionary transition from autosomes to sex chromosomes, yet detailed characterizations of the structure, composition, and gene content of sex-limited chromosomes are lacking for many species. In this study, we characterize the female-specific W chromosome of the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) and evaluate how recombination suppression and other processes have shaped sex chromosome evolution in ZW snakes. Our analyses indicate that the rattlesnake W chromosome is over 80% repetitive and that an abundance of GC-rich mdg4 elements has driven an overall high degree of GC-richness despite a lack of recombination. The W chromosome is also highly enriched for repeat sequences derived from endogenous retroviruses and likely acts as a "refugium" for these and other retroelements. We annotated 219 putatively functional W-linked genes across at least two evolutionary strata identified based on estimates of sequence divergence between Z and W gametologs. The youngest of these strata is relatively gene-rich, however gene expression across strata suggests retained gene function amidst a greater degree of degeneration following ancient recombination suppression. Functional annotation of W-linked genes indicates a specialization of the W chromosome for reproductive and developmental function since recombination suppression from the Z chromosome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew R Schield
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Blair W Perry
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
| | - Daren C Card
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Giulia I M Pasquesi
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Aundrea K Westfall
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA
| | - Stephen P Mackessy
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado, USA
| | - Todd A Castoe
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA
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Poszewiecka B, Gogolewski K, Stankiewicz P, Gambin A. Revised time estimation of the ancestral human chromosome 2 fusion. BMC Genomics 2022; 23:616. [PMID: 36008753 PMCID: PMC9413910 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08828-7] [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: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The reduction of the chromosome number from 48 in the Great Apes to 46 in modern humans is thought to result from the end-to-end fusion of two ancestral non-human primate chromosomes forming the human chromosome 2 (HSA2). Genomic signatures of this event are the presence of inverted telomeric repeats at the HSA2 fusion site and a block of degenerate satellite sequences that mark the remnants of the ancestral centromere. It has been estimated that this fusion arose up to 4.5 million years ago (Mya). Results We have developed an enhanced algorithm for the detection and efficient counting of the locally over-represented weak-to-strong (AT to GC) substitutions. By analyzing the enrichment of these substitutions around the fusion site of HSA2 we estimated its formation time at 0.9 Mya with a 95% confidence interval of 0.4-1.5 Mya. Additionally, based on the statistics derived from our algorithm, we have reconstructed the evolutionary distances among the Great Apes (Hominoidea). Conclusions Our results shed light on the HSA2 fusion formation and provide a novel computational alternative for the estimation of the speciation chronology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paweł Stankiewicz
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, US
| | - Anna Gambin
- Institute of Informatics, Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
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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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de Manuel M, Wu FL, Przeworski M. A paternal bias in germline mutation is widespread in amniotes and can arise independently of cell division numbers. eLife 2022; 11:e80008. [PMID: 35916372 PMCID: PMC9439683 DOI: 10.7554/elife.80008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In humans and other mammals, germline mutations are more likely to arise in fathers than in mothers. Although this sex bias has long been attributed to DNA replication errors in spermatogenesis, recent evidence from humans points to the importance of mutagenic processes that do not depend on cell division, calling into question our understanding of this basic phenomenon. Here, we infer the ratio of paternal-to-maternal mutations, α, in 42 species of amniotes, from putatively neutral substitution rates of sex chromosomes and autosomes. Despite marked differences in gametogenesis, physiologies and environments across species, fathers consistently contribute more mutations than mothers in all the species examined, including mammals, birds, and reptiles. In mammals, α is as high as 4 and correlates with generation times; in birds and snakes, α appears more stable around 2. These observations are consistent with a simple model, in which mutations accrue at equal rates in both sexes during early development and at a higher rate in the male germline after sexual differentiation, with a conserved paternal-to-maternal ratio across species. Thus, α may reflect the relative contributions of two or more developmental phases to total germline mutations, and is expected to depend on generation time even if mutations do not track cell divisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc de Manuel
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
| | - Felix L Wu
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
| | - Molly Przeworski
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
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