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Xu S, Neupane S, Wang H, Pham TP, Snyman M, Huynh TV, Wang L. Efficient CRISPR genome editing and integrative genomic analyses reveal the mosaicism of Cas-induced mutations and pleiotropic effects of scarlet gene in an emerging model system. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.29.577787. [PMID: 38352317 PMCID: PMC10862705 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.29.577787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
Despite the revolutionary impacts of CRISPR-Cas gene editing systems, the effective and widespread use of CRISPR technologies in emerging model organisms still faces significant challenges. These include the inefficiency in generating heritable mutations at the organismal level, limited knowledge about the genomic consequences of gene editing, and an inadequate understanding of the inheritance patterns of CRISPR-Cas-induced mutations. This study addresses these issues by 1) developing an efficient microinjection delivery method for CRISPR editing in the microcrustacean Daphnia pulex; 2) assessing the editing efficiency of Cas9 and Cas12a nucleases, examining mutation inheritance patterns, and analyzing the local and global mutation spectrum in the scarlet mutants; and 3) investigating the transcriptomes of scarlet mutants to understand the pleiotropic effects of scarlet underlying their swimming behavior changes. Our reengineered CRISPR microinjection method results in efficient biallelic editing with both nucleases. While indels are dominant in Cas-induced mutations, a few on-site large deletions (>1kb) are observed, most likely caused by microhomology-mediated end joining repair. Knock-in of a stop codon cassette to the scarlet locus was successful, despite complex induced mutations surrounding the target site. Moreover, extensive germline mosaicism exists in some mutants, which unexpectedly produce different phenotypes/genotypes in their asexual progenies. Lastly, our transcriptomic analyses unveil significant gene expression changes associated with scarlet knock-out and altered swimming behavior in mutants, including several genes (e.g., NMDA1, ABAT, CNTNAP2) involved in human neurodegenerative diseases. This study expands our understanding of the dynamics of gene editing in the tractable model organism Daphnia and highlights its promising potential as a neurological disease model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sen Xu
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA
| | - Swatantra Neupane
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA
| | - Hongjun Wang
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 76019, USA
| | - Thinh Phu Pham
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 76019, USA
| | - Marelize Snyman
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 76019, USA
| | - Trung V. Huynh
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA
| | - Li Wang
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA
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2
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Carscadden KA, Batstone RT, Hauser FE. Origins and evolution of biological novelty. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1472-1491. [PMID: 37056155 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12963] [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: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the origins and impacts of novel traits has been a perennial interest in many realms of ecology and evolutionary biology. Here, we build on previous evolutionary and philosophical treatments of this subject to encompass novelties across biological scales and eco-evolutionary perspectives. By defining novelties as new features at one biological scale that have emergent effects at other biological scales, we incorporate many forms of novelty that have previously been treated in isolation (such as novelty from genetic mutations, new developmental pathways, new morphological features, and new species). Our perspective is based on the fundamental idea that the emergence of a novelty, at any biological scale, depends on its environmental and genetic context. Through this lens, we outline a broad array of generative mechanisms underlying novelty and highlight how genomic tools are transforming our understanding of the origins of novelty. Lastly, we present several case studies to illustrate how novelties across biological scales and systems can be understood based on common mechanisms of change and their environmental and genetic contexts. Specifically, we highlight how gene duplication contributes to the evolution of new complex structures in visual systems; how genetic exchange in symbiosis alters functions of both host and symbiont, resulting in a novel organism; and how hybridisation between species can generate new species with new niches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly A Carscadden
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, 1900 Pleasant St, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA
| | - Rebecca T Batstone
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Frances E Hauser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
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Vöcking O, Macias-Muñoz A, Jaeger SJ, Oakley TH. Deep Diversity: Extensive Variation in the Components of Complex Visual Systems across Animals. Cells 2022; 11:cells11243966. [PMID: 36552730 PMCID: PMC9776813 DOI: 10.3390/cells11243966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 11/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the molecular underpinnings of the evolution of complex (multi-part) systems is a fundamental topic in biology. One unanswered question is to what the extent do similar or different genes and regulatory interactions underlie similar complex systems across species? Animal eyes and phototransduction (light detection) are outstanding systems to investigate this question because some of the genetics underlying these traits are well characterized in model organisms. However, comparative studies using non-model organisms are also necessary to understand the diversity and evolution of these traits. Here, we compare the characteristics of photoreceptor cells, opsins, and phototransduction cascades in diverse taxa, with a particular focus on cnidarians. In contrast to the common theme of deep homology, whereby similar traits develop mainly using homologous genes, comparisons of visual systems, especially in non-model organisms, are beginning to highlight a "deep diversity" of underlying components, illustrating how variation can underlie similar complex systems across taxa. Although using candidate genes from model organisms across diversity was a good starting point to understand the evolution of complex systems, unbiased genome-wide comparisons and subsequent functional validation will be necessary to uncover unique genes that comprise the complex systems of non-model groups to better understand biodiversity and its evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Vöcking
- Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508, USA
| | - Aide Macias-Muñoz
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Stuart J. Jaeger
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Todd H. Oakley
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
- Correspondence:
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Au DD, Liu JC, Nguyen TH, Foden AJ, Park SJ, Dimalanta M, Yu Z, Holmes TC. Nocturnal mosquito Cryptochrome 1 mediates greater electrophysiological and behavioral responses to blue light relative to diurnal mosquito Cryptochrome 1. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1042508. [PMID: 36532283 PMCID: PMC9749892 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1042508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Nocturnal Anopheles mosquitoes exhibit strong behavioral avoidance to blue-light while diurnal Aedes mosquitoes are behaviorally attracted to blue-light and a wide range of other wavelengths of light. To determine the molecular mechanism of these effects, we expressed light-sensing Anopheles gambiae (AgCRY1) and Aedes aegypti (AeCRY1) Cryptochrome 1 (CRY) genes under a crypGAL4-24 driver line in a mutant Drosophila genetic background lacking native functional CRY, then tested behavioral and electrophysiological effects of mosquito CRY expression relative to positive and negative CRY control conditions. Neither mosquito CRY stops the circadian clock as shown by robust circadian behavioral rhythmicity in constant darkness in flies expressing either AgCRY1 or AeCRY1. AgCRY1 and AeCRY1 both mediate acute increases in large ventral lateral neuronal firing rate evoked by 450 nm blue-light, corresponding to CRY's peak absorbance in its base state, indicating that both mosquito CRYs are functional, however, AgCRY1 mediates significantly stronger sustained electrophysiological light-evoked depolarization in response to blue-light relative to AeCRY1. In contrast, neither AgCRY1 nor AeCRY1 expression mediates measurable increases in large ventral lateral neuronal firing rates in response to 405 nm violet-light, the peak of the Rhodopsin-7 photoreceptor that is co-expressed in the large lateral ventral neurons. These results are consistent with the known action spectra of type 1 CRYs and lack of response in cry-null controls. AgCRY1 and AeCRY1 expressing flies show behavioral attraction to low intensity blue-light, but AgCRY1 expressing flies show behavioral avoidance to higher intensity blue-light. These results show that nocturnal and diurnal mosquito Cryptochrome 1 proteins mediate differential physiological and behavioral responses to blue-light that are consistent with species-specific mosquito behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- David D. Au
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Jenny C. Liu
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Thanh H. Nguyen
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Alexander J. Foden
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Soo Jee Park
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Mia Dimalanta
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Zhaoxia Yu
- Department of Statistics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States,Center for Neural Circuit Mapping, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Todd C. Holmes
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States,Center for Neural Circuit Mapping, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States,*Correspondence: Todd C. Holmes,
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Wang Y, Fang G, Chen X, Cao Y, Wu N, Cui Q, Zhu C, Qian L, Huang Y, Zhan S. The genome of the black cutworm Agrotis ipsilon. INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2021; 139:103665. [PMID: 34624466 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2021.103665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The black cutworm (BCW), Agrotis ipsilon, is a worldwide polyphagous and underground pest that causes a high level of economic loss to a wide range of crops through the damage of roots. This species performs non-directed migration throughout East and Southeast Asia seasonally. Lack of a genome information has limited further studies on its unique biology and the development of novel management approaches. In this study, we present a 476 Mb de novo assembly of BCW, along with a consensus gene set of 14,801 protein-coding gene models. Quality controls show that both genome assembly and annotations are high-quality and mostly complete. We focus manual annotation and comparative genomics on gene families that related to the unique attributes of this species, such as nocturnality, long-distance migration, and host adaptation. We find that the BCW genome encodes a similar gene repertoire in various migration-related gene families to the diural migratory butterfly Danaus plexiipus, with additional copies of long wavelength opsin and two eye development-related genes. On the other hand, we find that the genomes of BCW and many other polyphagous lepidopterans encode many more gustatory receptor genes, particularly the lineage-specific expanded bitter receptor genes, than the mono- or oligo-phagous species, suggesting a common role of gustatory receptors (GRs) expansion in host range expansion. The availability of a BCW genome provides valuable resources to study the molecular mechanisms of non-directed migration in lepidopteran pests and to develop novel strategies to control migratory nocturnal pests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaohui Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Gangqi Fang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xi'en Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanghui Cao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Ningning Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Qian Cui
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chenxu Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Lansa Qian
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yongping Huang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Shuai Zhan
- CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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6
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Martin GJ, Lower SE, Suvorov A, Bybee SM. Molecular Evolution of Phototransduction Pathway Genes in Nocturnal and Diurnal Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12060561. [PMID: 34207188 PMCID: PMC8235688 DOI: 10.3390/insects12060561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Most organisms are dependent on sensory cues from their environment for survival and reproduction. Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) represent an ideal system for studying sensory niche adaptation due to many species relying on bioluminescent communication; as well as a diversity of ecologies. Here; using transcriptomics; we examine the phototransduction pathway in this non-model organism; and provide some of the first evidence for positive selection in the phototransduction pathway beyond opsins in beetles. Evidence for gene duplications within Lampyridae are found in inactivation no afterpotential C and inactivation no afterpotential D. We also find strong support for positive selection in arrestin-2; inactivation no afterpotential D; and transient receptor potential-like; with weak support for positive selection in guanine nucleotide-binding protein G(q) subunit alpha and neither inactivation nor afterpotential C. Taken with other recent work in flies; butterflies; and moths; this represents an exciting new avenue of study as we seek to further understand diversification and constraint on the phototransduction pathway in light of organism ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin J. Martin
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA; (A.S.); (S.M.B.)
- Monte L. Bean Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
- Correspondence:
| | - Sarah E. Lower
- Department of Biology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA;
| | - Anton Suvorov
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA; (A.S.); (S.M.B.)
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Seth M. Bybee
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA; (A.S.); (S.M.B.)
- Monte L. Bean Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
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7
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Gao Y, Zhang X, Zhang X, Yuan J, Xiang J, Li F. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutation reveals Pax6 is essential for development of the compound eye in Decapoda Exopalaemon carinicauda. Dev Biol 2020; 465:157-167. [PMID: 32702356 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2020.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Revised: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The compound eye in crustaceans is a main eye type in the animal kingdom, knowledge about the mechanism to determine the development of compound eye is very limited. Paired box protein 6 (Pax6) is generally regarded as a master regulator for eye development. In the present study, a genome-based analysis of the Pax6 gene in the ridge tail white prawn Exopalaemon carinicauda was performed and two members of Pax6 homologs, named Ec-Eyeless (EcEy) and Ec-Twin of eyeless (EcToy) were identified. To understand the function of these two homologs of Pax6 gene in the prawn, the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technique was applied to generate EcEy and EcToy knock-out (KO) prawns and their phenotypes were analyzed. The surviving EcEy-KO embryos and larvae exhibited severe abnormal eye morphology, suggesting that EcEy is necessary for the compound eye development in prawn, while no mutant phenotype was found in EcToy-KO individuals. These findings highlighted the conservative role of Pax6 gene in the compound eye formation, and the functional differentiation between EcEy and EcToy gene may reveal a novel regulating mechanism of Pax6 on the compound eye development in the decapods. These data will provide important information for understanding the regulation mechanism for crustacean compound eye development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Gao
- Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
| | - Xiaoxi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Xiaojun Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
| | - Jianbo Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China
| | - Jianhai Xiang
- Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266237, China
| | - Fuhua Li
- Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China; Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266237, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China.
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Macias-Muñoz A, Murad R, Mortazavi A. Molecular evolution and expression of opsin genes in Hydra vulgaris. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:992. [PMID: 31847811 PMCID: PMC6918707 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-6349-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The evolution of opsin genes is of great interest because it can provide insight into the evolution of light detection and vision. An interesting group in which to study opsins is Cnidaria because it is a basal phylum sister to Bilateria with much visual diversity within the phylum. Hydra vulgaris (H. vulgaris) is a cnidarian with a plethora of genomic resources to characterize the opsin gene family. This eyeless cnidarian has a behavioral reaction to light, but it remains unknown which of its many opsins functions in light detection. Here, we used phylogenetics and RNA-seq to investigate the molecular evolution of opsin genes and their expression in H. vulgaris. We explored where opsin genes are located relative to each other in an improved genome assembly and where they belong in a cnidarian opsin phylogenetic tree. In addition, we used RNA-seq data from different tissues of the H. vulgaris adult body and different time points during regeneration and budding stages to gain insight into their potential functions. RESULTS We identified 45 opsin genes in H. vulgaris, many of which were located near each other suggesting evolution by tandem duplications. Our phylogenetic tree of cnidarian opsin genes supported previous claims that they are evolving by lineage-specific duplications. We identified two H. vulgaris genes (HvOpA1 and HvOpB1) that fall outside of the two commonly determined Hydra groups; these genes possibly have a function in nematocytes and mucous gland cells respectively. We also found opsin genes that have similar expression patterns to phototransduction genes in H. vulgaris. We propose a H. vulgaris phototransduction cascade that has components of both ciliary and rhabdomeric cascades. CONCLUSIONS This extensive study provides an in-depth look at the molecular evolution and expression of H. vulgaris opsin genes. The expression data that we have quantified can be used as a springboard for additional studies looking into the specific function of opsin genes in this species. Our phylogeny and expression data are valuable to investigations of opsin gene evolution and cnidarian biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aide Macias-Muñoz
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
| | - Rabi Murad
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Ali Mortazavi
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
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Macias-Muñoz A, Rangel Olguin AG, Briscoe AD. Evolution of Phototransduction Genes in Lepidoptera. Genome Biol Evol 2019; 11:2107-2124. [PMID: 31298692 PMCID: PMC6698658 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision is underpinned by phototransduction, a signaling cascade that converts light energy into an electrical signal. Among insects, phototransduction is best understood in Drosophila melanogaster. Comparison of D. melanogaster against three insect species found several phototransduction gene gains and losses, however, lepidopterans were not examined. Diurnal butterflies and nocturnal moths occupy different light environments and have distinct eye morphologies, which might impact the expression of their phototransduction genes. Here we investigated: 1) how phototransduction genes vary in gene gain or loss between D. melanogaster and Lepidoptera, and 2) variations in phototransduction genes between moths and butterflies. To test our prediction of phototransduction differences due to distinct visual ecologies, we used insect reference genomes, phylogenetics, and moth and butterfly head RNA-Seq and transcriptome data. As expected, most phototransduction genes were conserved between D. melanogaster and Lepidoptera, with some exceptions. Notably, we found two lepidopteran opsins lacking a D. melanogaster ortholog. Using antibodies we found that one of these opsins, a candidate retinochrome, which we refer to as unclassified opsin (UnRh), is expressed in the crystalline cone cells and the pigment cells of the butterfly, Heliconius melpomene. Our results also show that butterflies express similar amounts of trp and trpl channel mRNAs, whereas moths express ∼50× less trp, a potential adaptation to darkness. Our findings suggest that while many single-copy D. melanogaster phototransduction genes are conserved in lepidopterans, phototransduction gene expression differences exist between moths and butterflies that may be linked to their visual light environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aide Macias-Muñoz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine
| | | | - Adriana D Briscoe
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine
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10
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Pluripotency and the origin of animal multicellularity. Nature 2019; 570:519-522. [PMID: 31189954 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1290-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 05/16/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
A widely held-but rarely tested-hypothesis for the origin of animals is that they evolved from a unicellular ancestor, with an apical cilium surrounded by a microvillar collar, that structurally resembled modern sponge choanocytes and choanoflagellates1-4. Here we test this view of animal origins by comparing the transcriptomes, fates and behaviours of the three primary sponge cell types-choanocytes, pluripotent mesenchymal archaeocytes and epithelial pinacocytes-with choanoflagellates and other unicellular holozoans. Unexpectedly, we find that the transcriptome of sponge choanocytes is the least similar to the transcriptomes of choanoflagellates and is significantly enriched in genes unique to either animals or sponges alone. By contrast, pluripotent archaeocytes upregulate genes that control cell proliferation and gene expression, as in other metazoan stem cells and in the proliferating stages of two unicellular holozoans, including a colonial choanoflagellate. Choanocytes in the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica exist in a transient metastable state and readily transdifferentiate into archaeocytes, which can differentiate into a range of other cell types. These sponge cell-type conversions are similar to the temporal cell-state changes that occur in unicellular holozoans5. Together, these analyses argue against homology of sponge choanocytes and choanoflagellates, and the view that the first multicellular animals were simple balls of cells with limited capacity to differentiate. Instead, our results are consistent with the first animal cell being able to transition between multiple states in a manner similar to modern transdifferentiating and stem cells.
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11
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Smith RD, Kinser TJ, Smith GDC, Puzey JR. A likelihood ratio test for changes in homeolog expression bias. BMC Bioinformatics 2019; 20:149. [PMID: 30894122 PMCID: PMC6427896 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-019-2709-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 03/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gene duplications are a major source of raw material for evolution and a likely contributor to the diversity of life on earth. Duplicate genes (i.e., homeologs, in the case of a whole genome duplication) may retain their ancestral function, sub- or neofunctionalize, or be lost entirely. A primary way that duplicate genes evolve new functions is by altering their expression patterns. Comparing the expression patterns of duplicate genes gives clues as to whether any of these evolutionary processes have occurred. RESULTS We develop a likelihood ratio test for the analysis of the expression ratios of duplicate genes across two conditions (e.g., tissues). We demonstrate an application of this test by comparing homeolog expression patterns of 1448 homeologous gene pairs using RNA-seq data generated from leaves and petals of an allotetraploid monkeyflower (Mimulus luteus). We assess the sensitivity of this test to different levels of homeolog expression bias and compare the method to several alternatives. CONCLUSIONS The likelihood ratio test derived here is a direct, transparent, and easily implemented method for detecting changes in homeolog expression bias that outperforms alternative approaches. While our method was derived with homeolog analysis in mind, this method can be used to analyze changes in the ratio of expression levels between any two genes in any two conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronald D Smith
- Department of Applied Science, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, 23187, VA, USA
| | - Taliesin J Kinser
- Department of Biology, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, 23187, VA, USA
| | | | - Joshua R Puzey
- Department of Biology, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, 23187, VA, USA.
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Stern DB, Crandall KA. Phototransduction Gene Expression and Evolution in Cave and Surface Crayfishes. Integr Comp Biol 2019; 58:398-410. [PMID: 29762661 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icy029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In the absence of light in caves, animals have repeatedly evolved reduced eyes and visual systems. Whether the underlying genetic components remain intact in blind species remains unanswered across taxa. The freshwater crayfish have evolved to live in caves multiple times throughout their history; therefore, this system provides an opportunity to probe the genetic patterns and processes underlying repeated vision loss. Using transcriptomic data from the eyes of 14 species of cave and surface crayfishes, we identify the expression of 17 genes putatively related to visual phototransduction. We find a similarly complete repertoire of phototransduction gene families expressed in cave and surface species, but that the expression levels of those transcripts are consistently lower in cave species. We find statistical support for episodic positive selection, increased and decreased selection strength in caves, depending on the gene family. Analyses of gene expression evolution suggest convergent and possibly adaptive downregulation of these genes across eye-reduction events. Our results reveal a combination of evolutionary processes acting on the sequences and gene expression levels of vision-related genes underlying the loss of vision in caves.
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Affiliation(s)
- David B Stern
- The George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health, Computational Biology Institute, 800 22nd St NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,Birge Hall, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Keith A Crandall
- The George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health, Computational Biology Institute, 800 22nd St NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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13
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Turetzek N, Khadjeh S, Schomburg C, Prpic NM. Rapid diversification of homothorax expression patterns after gene duplication in spiders. BMC Evol Biol 2017; 17:168. [PMID: 28709396 PMCID: PMC5513375 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-1013-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Gene duplications provide genetic material for the evolution of new morphological and physiological features. One copy can preserve the original gene functions while the second copy may evolve new functions (neofunctionalisation). Gene duplications may thus provide new genes involved in evolutionary novelties. Results We have studied the duplicated homeobox gene homothorax (hth) in the spider species Parasteatoda tepidariorum and Pholcus phalangioides and have compared these data with previously published data from additional spider species. We show that the expression pattern of hth1 is highly conserved among spiders, consistent with the notion that this gene copy preserves the original hth functions. By contrast, hth2 has a markedly different expression profile especially in the prosomal appendages. The pattern in the pedipalps and legs consists of several segmental rings, suggesting a possible role of hth2 in limb joint development. Intriguingly, however, the hth2 pattern is much less conserved between the species than hth1 and shows a species specific pattern in each species investigated so far. Conclusions We hypothesise that the hth2 gene has gained a new patterning function after gene duplication, but has then undergone a second phase of diversification of its new role in the spider clade. The evolution of hth2 may thus provide an interesting example for a duplicated gene that has not only contributed to genetic diversity through neofunctionalisation, but beyond that has been able to escape evolutionary conservation after neofunctionalisation thus forming the basis for further genetic diversification. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-1013-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natascha Turetzek
- Abteilung für Entwicklungsbiologie, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany.,Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Göttingen, Germany.,Current address: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Abteilung Zelluläre Neurobiologie, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sara Khadjeh
- Abteilung für Entwicklungsbiologie, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany.,Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Göttingen, Germany.,Present address: Clinic for Cardiology and Pneumology, University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Christoph Schomburg
- Abteilung für Entwicklungsbiologie, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany.,Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nikola-Michael Prpic
- Abteilung für Entwicklungsbiologie, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany. .,Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB), Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Göttingen, Germany.
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14
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Kim BM, Kang S, Ahn DH, Kim JH, Ahn I, Lee CW, Cho JL, Min GS, Park H. First Insights into the Subterranean Crustacean Bathynellacea Transcriptome: Transcriptionally Reduced Opsin Repertoire and Evidence of Conserved Homeostasis Regulatory Mechanisms. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0170424. [PMID: 28107438 PMCID: PMC5249073 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2016] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Bathynellacea (Crustacea, Syncarida, Parabathynellidae) are subterranean aquatic crustaceans that typically inhabit freshwater interstitial spaces (e.g., groundwater) and are occasionally found in caves and even hot springs. In this study, we sequenced the whole transcriptome of Allobathynella bangokensis using RNA-seq. De novo sequence assembly produced 74,866 contigs including 28,934 BLAST hits. Overall, the gene sequences were most similar to those of the waterflea Daphnia pulex. In the A. bangokensis transcriptome, no opsin or related sequences were identified, and no contig aligned to the crustacean visual opsins and non-visual opsins (i.e. arthropsins, peropsins, and melaopsins), suggesting potential regressive adaptation to the dark environment. However, A. bangokensis expressed conserved gene family sets, such as heat shock proteins and those related to key innate immunity pathways and antioxidant defense systems, at the transcriptional level, suggesting that this species has evolved adaptations involving molecular mechanisms of homeostasis. The transcriptomic information of A. bangokensis will be useful for investigating molecular adaptations and response mechanisms to subterranean environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo-Mi Kim
- Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Seunghyun Kang
- Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Do-Hwan Ahn
- Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Jin-Hyoung Kim
- Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Inhye Ahn
- Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
- Polar Sciences, University of Science & Technology, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Chi-Woo Lee
- Department of Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Joo-Lae Cho
- Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources, Sangju, South Korea
| | - Gi-Sik Min
- Department of Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Hyun Park
- Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
- Polar Sciences, University of Science & Technology, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea
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15
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Porath-Krause AJ, Pairett AN, Faggionato D, Birla BS, Sankar K, Serb JM. Structural differences and differential expression among rhabdomeric opsins reveal functional change after gene duplication in the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians (Pectinidae). BMC Evol Biol 2016; 16:250. [PMID: 27855630 PMCID: PMC5114761 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-016-0823-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 11/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Opsins are the only class of proteins used for light perception in image-forming eyes. Gene duplication and subsequent functional divergence of opsins have played an important role in expanding photoreceptive capabilities of organisms by altering what wavelengths of light are absorbed by photoreceptors (spectral tuning). However, new opsin copies may also acquire novel function or subdivide ancestral functions through changes to temporal, spatial or the level of gene expression. Here, we test how opsin gene copies diversify in function and evolutionary fate by characterizing four rhabdomeric (Gq-protein coupled) opsins in the scallop, Argopecten irradians, identified from tissue-specific transcriptomes. Results Under a phylogenetic analysis, we recovered a pattern consistent with two rounds of duplication that generated the genetic diversity of scallop Gq-opsins. We found strong support for differential expression of paralogous Gq-opsins across ocular and extra-ocular photosensitive tissues, suggesting that scallop Gq-opsins are used in different biological contexts due to molecular alternations outside and within the protein-coding regions. Finally, we used available protein models to predict which amino acid residues interact with the light-absorbing chromophore. Variation in these residues suggests that the four Gq-opsin paralogs absorb different wavelengths of light. Conclusions Our results uncover novel genetic and functional diversity in the light-sensing structures of the scallop, demonstrating the complicated nature of Gq-opsin diversification after gene duplication. Our results highlight a change in the nearly ubiquitous shadow response in molluscs to a narrowed functional specificity for visual processes in the eyed scallop. Our findings provide a starting point to study how gene duplication may coincide with eye evolution, and more specifically, different ways neofunctionalization of Gq-opsins may occur. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0823-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita J Porath-Krause
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA
| | - Autum N Pairett
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA
| | - Davide Faggionato
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA
| | - Bhagyashree S Birla
- Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA.,Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA
| | - Kannan Sankar
- Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA.,Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA
| | - Jeanne M Serb
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, IA, USA.
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16
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Suvorov A, Jensen NO, Sharkey CR, Fujimoto MS, Bodily P, Wightman HMC, Ogden TH, Clement MJ, Bybee SM. Opsins have evolved under the permanent heterozygote model: insights from phylotranscriptomics of Odonata. Mol Ecol 2016; 26:1306-1322. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.13884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2016] [Revised: 09/24/2016] [Accepted: 10/04/2016] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Anton Suvorov
- Department of Biology; Brigham Young University; Provo UT 84602 USA
| | | | | | | | - Paul Bodily
- Computer Science Department; Brigham Young University; Provo UT 84602 USA
| | | | - T. Heath Ogden
- Department of Biology; Utah Valley University; Orem UT 84058 USA
| | - Mark J. Clement
- Computer Science Department; Brigham Young University; Provo UT 84602 USA
| | - Seth M. Bybee
- Department of Biology; Brigham Young University; Provo UT 84602 USA
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17
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Morrow JM, Lazic S, Dixon Fox M, Kuo C, Schott RK, de A Gutierrez E, Santini F, Tropepe V, Chang BSW. A second visual rhodopsin gene, rh1-2, is expressed in zebrafish photoreceptors and found in other ray-finned fishes. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 220:294-303. [PMID: 27811293 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.145953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2016] [Accepted: 10/25/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Rhodopsin (rh1) is the visual pigment expressed in rod photoreceptors of vertebrates that is responsible for initiating the critical first step of dim-light vision. Rhodopsin is usually a single copy gene; however, we previously discovered a novel rhodopsin-like gene expressed in the zebrafish retina, rh1-2, which we identified as a functional photosensitive pigment that binds 11-cis retinal and activates in response to light. Here, we localized expression of rh1-2 in the zebrafish retina to a subset of peripheral photoreceptor cells, which indicates a partially overlapping expression pattern with rh1 We also expressed, purified and characterized Rh1-2, including investigation of the stability of the biologically active intermediate. Using fluorescence spectroscopy, we found the half-life of the rate of retinal release of Rh1-2 following photoactivation to be more similar to that of the visual pigment rhodopsin than to the non-visual pigment exo-rhodopsin (exorh), which releases retinal around 5 times faster. Phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analyses show that rh1-2 has ancient origins within teleost fishes, is under similar selective pressure to rh1, and likely experienced a burst of positive selection following its duplication and divergence from rh1 These findings indicate that rh1-2 is another functional visual rhodopsin gene, which contradicts the prevailing notion that visual rhodopsin is primarily found as a single copy gene within ray-finned fishes. The reasons for retention of this duplicate gene, as well as possible functional consequences for the visual system, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M Morrow
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3G5.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3B2
| | - Savo Lazic
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 1A8
| | - Monica Dixon Fox
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3G5
| | - Claire Kuo
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3G5
| | - Ryan K Schott
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3B2
| | - Eduardo de A Gutierrez
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3B2
| | - Francesco Santini
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Vincent Tropepe
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3G5.,Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5T 3A9.,Centre for the Analysis of Genome Evolution and Function, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3B2
| | - Belinda S W Chang
- Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3G5 .,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3B2.,Centre for the Analysis of Genome Evolution and Function, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5S 3B2
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18
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Chakraborty M, Jarvis ED. Brain evolution by brain pathway duplication. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2015.0056. [PMID: 26554045 PMCID: PMC4650129 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms of evolution of brain pathways for complex behaviours is still in its infancy. Making further advances requires a deeper understanding of brain homologies, novelties and analogies. It also requires an understanding of how adaptive genetic modifications lead to restructuring of the brain. Recent advances in genomic and molecular biology techniques applied to brain research have provided exciting insights into how complex behaviours are shaped by selection of novel brain pathways and functions of the nervous system. Here, we review and further develop some insights to a new hypothesis on one mechanism that may contribute to nervous system evolution, in particular by brain pathway duplication. Like gene duplication, we propose that whole brain pathways can duplicate and the duplicated pathway diverge to take on new functions. We suggest that one mechanism of brain pathway duplication could be through gene duplication, although other mechanisms are possible. We focus on brain pathways for vocal learning and spoken language in song-learning birds and humans as example systems. This view presents a new framework for future research in our understanding of brain evolution and novel behavioural traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mukta Chakraborty
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27713, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Erich D Jarvis
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27713, USA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
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19
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Rund SSC, Yoo B, Alam C, Green T, Stephens MT, Zeng E, George GF, Sheppard AD, Duffield GE, Milenković T, Pfrender ME. Genome-wide profiling of 24 hr diel rhythmicity in the water flea, Daphnia pulex: network analysis reveals rhythmic gene expression and enhances functional gene annotation. BMC Genomics 2016; 17:653. [PMID: 27538446 PMCID: PMC4991082 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-016-2998-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2016] [Accepted: 08/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Marine and freshwater zooplankton exhibit daily rhythmic patterns of behavior and physiology which may be regulated directly by the light:dark (LD) cycle and/or a molecular circadian clock. One of the best-studied zooplankton taxa, the freshwater crustacean Daphnia, has a 24 h diel vertical migration (DVM) behavior whereby the organism travels up and down through the water column daily. DVM plays a critical role in resource tracking and the behavioral avoidance of predators and damaging ultraviolet radiation. However, there is little information at the transcriptional level linking the expression patterns of genes to the rhythmic physiology/behavior of Daphnia. Results Here we analyzed genome-wide temporal transcriptional patterns from Daphnia pulex collected over a 44 h time period under a 12:12 LD cycle (diel) conditions using a cosine-fitting algorithm. We used a comprehensive network modeling and analysis approach to identify novel co-regulated rhythmic genes that have similar network topological properties and functional annotations as rhythmic genes identified by the cosine-fitting analyses. Furthermore, we used the network approach to predict with high accuracy novel gene-function associations, thus enhancing current functional annotations available for genes in this ecologically relevant model species. Our results reveal that genes in many functional groupings exhibit 24 h rhythms in their expression patterns under diel conditions. We highlight the rhythmic expression of immunity, oxidative detoxification, and sensory process genes. We discuss differences in the chronobiology of D. pulex from other well-characterized terrestrial arthropods. Conclusions This research adds to a growing body of literature suggesting the genetic mechanisms governing rhythmicity in crustaceans may be divergent from other arthropod lineages including insects. Lastly, these results highlight the power of using a network analysis approach to identify differential gene expression and provide novel functional annotation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-2998-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel S C Rund
- Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, Institute of Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, UK.,Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FL, UK
| | - Boyoung Yoo
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Present Address: Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Camille Alam
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Taryn Green
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Melissa T Stephens
- Notre Dame Genomics and Bioinformatics Core Facility, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Erliang Zeng
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Notre Dame Genomics and Bioinformatics Core Facility, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Present Address: Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 57069, USA.,Present Address: Department of Computer Science, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 57069, USA
| | - Gary F George
- Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Aaron D Sheppard
- Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Giles E Duffield
- Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Tijana Milenković
- Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.,Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications (iCeNSA), University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA
| | - Michael E Pfrender
- Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA. .,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA. .,Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.
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20
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Abstract
Correctly estimating the age of a gene or gene family is important for a variety of fields, including molecular evolution, comparative genomics, and phylogenetics, and increasingly for systems biology and disease genetics. However, most studies use only a point estimate of a gene’s age, neglecting the substantial uncertainty involved in this estimation. Here, we characterize this uncertainty by investigating the effect of algorithm choice on gene-age inference and calculate consensus gene ages with attendant error distributions for a variety of model eukaryotes. We use 13 orthology inference algorithms to create gene-age datasets and then characterize the error around each age-call on a per-gene and per-algorithm basis. Systematic error was found to be a large factor in estimating gene age, suggesting that simple consensus algorithms are not enough to give a reliable point estimate. We also found that different sources of error can affect downstream analyses, such as gene ontology enrichment. Our consensus gene-age datasets, with associated error terms, are made fully available at so that researchers can propagate this uncertainty through their analyses (geneages.org).
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J Liebeskind
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Texas at Austin
| | - Claire D McWhite
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin
| | - Edward M Marcotte
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin
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21
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Two temporal functions of Glass: Ommatidium patterning and photoreceptor differentiation. Dev Biol 2016; 414:4-20. [PMID: 27105580 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2016.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2015] [Revised: 04/04/2016] [Accepted: 04/13/2016] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Much progress has been made in elucidating the molecular networks required for specifying retinal cells, including photoreceptors, but the downstream mechanisms that maintain identity and regulate differentiation remain poorly understood. Here, we report that the transcription factor Glass has a dual role in establishing a functional Drosophila eye. Utilizing conditional rescue approaches, we confirm that persistent defects in ommatidium patterning combined with cell death correlate with the overall disruption of eye morphology in glass mutants. In addition, we reveal that Glass exhibits a separable role in regulating photoreceptor differentiation. In particular, we demonstrate the apparent loss of glass mutant photoreceptors is not only due to cell death but also a failure of the surviving photoreceptors to complete differentiation. Moreover, the late reintroduction of Glass in these developmentally stalled photoreceptors is capable of restoring differentiation in the absence of correct ommatidium patterning. Mechanistically, transcription profiling at the time of differentiation reveals that Glass is necessary for the expression of many genes implicated in differentiation, i.e. rhabdomere morphogenesis, phototransduction, and synaptogenesis. Specifically, we show Glass directly regulates the expression of Pph13, which encodes a transcription factor necessary for opsin expression and rhabdomere morphogenesis. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of Glass to choreograph photoreceptor differentiation is conserved between Drosophila and Tribolium, two holometabolous insects. Altogether, our work identifies a fundamental regulatory mechanism to generate the full complement of cells required for a functional rhabdomeric visual system and provides a critical framework to investigate the basis of differentiation and maintenance of photoreceptor identity.
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22
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Manwaring KF, Whiting MF, Wilcox E, Bybee SM. A study of common scorpionfly (Mecoptera: Panorpidae) visual systems reveals the expression of a single opsin. ORG DIVERS EVOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s13127-015-0241-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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23
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Sajuthi A, Carrillo-Zazueta B, Hu B, Wang A, Brodnansky L, Mayberry J, Rivera AS. Sexually dimorphic gene expression in the lateral eyes of Euphilomedes carcharodonta (Ostracoda, Pancrustacea). EvoDevo 2015; 6:34. [PMID: 26561519 PMCID: PMC4641368 DOI: 10.1186/s13227-015-0026-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2015] [Accepted: 09/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The evolution and development of sexual dimorphism illuminates a central question in biology: How do similar genomes produce different phenotypes? In an XX/XO system especially the state of a sexually dimorphic trait is determined by differences in gene expression, as there are no additional genetic loci in either sex. Here, we examine the XX/XO ostracod crustacean species Euphilomedes carcharodonta. This species exhibits radical sexual dimorphism of their lateral eyes, females have only a tiny simple lateral eye while males have elaborate ommatidial eyes. Results We find that males express three of nine eye-development gene homologs at significantly higher levels during juvenile eye development, compared to females. We also find that most eye-development genes examined are pleiotropic, with high expression levels during embryonic development as well as during juvenile eye development. Later, in adults, we find that phototransduction genes are expressed at higher levels in males than in females, as we might expect when comparing ommatidial to simple eyes. Conclusions We show here that expression changes of a handful of developmental genes may underlie the radical difference in a dimorphic character. This work gives an important point of comparison for studying eye evolution and development in the Pancrustacea. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13227-015-0026-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Sajuthi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA ; Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago, IL USA
| | - Brenna Carrillo-Zazueta
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA ; Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - Briana Hu
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA
| | - Anita Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA ; Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA
| | - Logan Brodnansky
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA ; Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA
| | - John Mayberry
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA
| | - Ajna S Rivera
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA USA
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Macias-Muñoz A, Smith G, Monteiro A, Briscoe AD. Transcriptome-Wide Differential Gene Expression in Bicyclus anynana Butterflies: Female Vision-Related Genes Are More Plastic. Mol Biol Evol 2015; 33:79-92. [PMID: 26371082 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msv197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision is energetically costly to maintain. Consequently, over time many cave-adapted species downregulate the expression of vision genes or even lose their eyes and associated eye genes entirely. Alternatively, organisms that live in fluctuating environments, with different requirements for vision at different times, may evolve phenotypic plasticity for expression of vision genes. Here, we use a global transcriptomic and candidate gene approach to compare gene expression in the heads of a polyphenic butterfly. Bicyclus anynana have two seasonal forms that display sexual dimorphism and plasticity in eye morphology, and female-specific plasticity in opsin gene expression. Nonchoosy dry season females downregulate opsin expression, consistent with the high physiological cost of vision. To identify other genes associated with sexually dimorphic and seasonally plastic differences in vision, we analyzed RNA-sequencing data from whole head tissues. We identified two eye development genes (klarsicht and warts homologs) and an eye pigment biosynthesis gene (henna) differentially expressed between seasonal forms. By comparing sex-specific expression across seasonal forms, we found that klarsicht, warts, henna, and another eye development gene (domeless) were plastic in a female-specific manner. In a male-only analysis, white (w) was differentially expressed between seasonal forms. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction confirmed that warts and white are expressed in eyes only, whereas klarsicht, henna and domeless are expressed in both eyes and brain. We find that differential expression of eye development and eye pigment genes is associated with divergent eye phenotypes in B. anynana seasonal forms, and that there is a larger effect of season on female vision-related genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aide Macias-Muñoz
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action
| | - Gilbert Smith
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action
| | - Antónia Monteiro
- Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore Yale-NUS College, Singapore
| | - Adriana D Briscoe
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action
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25
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Applications of comparative evolution to human disease genetics. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2015; 35:16-24. [PMID: 26338499 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2015.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2015] [Revised: 08/11/2015] [Accepted: 08/12/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Direct comparison of human diseases with model phenotypes allows exploration of key areas of human biology which are often inaccessible for practical or ethical reasons. We review recent developments in comparative evolutionary approaches for finding models for genetic disease, including high-throughput generation of gene/phenotype relationship data, the linking of orthologous genes and phenotypes across species, and statistical methods for linking human diseases to model phenotypes.
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26
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Yang Z, Wafula EK, Honaas LA, Zhang H, Das M, Fernandez-Aparicio M, Huang K, Bandaranayake PCG, Wu B, Der JP, Clarke CR, Ralph PE, Landherr L, Altman NS, Timko MP, Yoder JI, Westwood JH, dePamphilis CW. Comparative transcriptome analyses reveal core parasitism genes and suggest gene duplication and repurposing as sources of structural novelty. Mol Biol Evol 2014; 32:767-90. [PMID: 25534030 PMCID: PMC4327159 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msu343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The origin of novel traits is recognized as an important process underlying many major evolutionary radiations. We studied the genetic basis for the evolution of haustoria, the novel feeding organs of parasitic flowering plants, using comparative transcriptome sequencing in three species of Orobanchaceae. Around 180 genes are upregulated during haustorial development following host attachment in at least two species, and these are enriched in proteases, cell wall modifying enzymes, and extracellular secretion proteins. Additionally, about 100 shared genes are upregulated in response to haustorium inducing factors prior to host attachment. Collectively, we refer to these newly identified genes as putative “parasitism genes.” Most of these parasitism genes are derived from gene duplications in a common ancestor of Orobanchaceae and Mimulus guttatus, a related nonparasitic plant. Additionally, the signature of relaxed purifying selection and/or adaptive evolution at specific sites was detected in many haustorial genes, and may play an important role in parasite evolution. Comparative analysis of gene expression patterns in parasitic and nonparasitic angiosperms suggests that parasitism genes are derived primarily from root and floral tissues, but with some genes co-opted from other tissues. Gene duplication, often taking place in a nonparasitic ancestor of Orobanchaceae, followed by regulatory neofunctionalization, was an important process in the origin of parasitic haustoria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenzhen Yang
- Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Eric K Wafula
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Loren A Honaas
- Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Huiting Zhang
- Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Malay Das
- Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
| | - Monica Fernandez-Aparicio
- Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Department of Biology, University of Virginia
| | - Kan Huang
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia
| | | | - Biao Wu
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis
| | - Joshua P Der
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Christopher R Clarke
- Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
| | - Paula E Ralph
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Lena Landherr
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University
| | - Naomi S Altman
- Department of Statistics and Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
| | | | - John I Yoder
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis
| | - James H Westwood
- Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
| | - Claude W dePamphilis
- Intercollege Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University
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Speiser DI, Pankey MS, Zaharoff AK, Battelle BA, Bracken-Grissom HD, Breinholt JW, Bybee SM, Cronin TW, Garm A, Lindgren AR, Patel NH, Porter ML, Protas ME, Rivera AS, Serb JM, Zigler KS, Crandall KA, Oakley TH. Using phylogenetically-informed annotation (PIA) to search for light-interacting genes in transcriptomes from non-model organisms. BMC Bioinformatics 2014; 15:350. [PMID: 25407802 PMCID: PMC4255452 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-014-0350-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2014] [Accepted: 10/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Tools for high throughput sequencing and de novo assembly make the analysis of transcriptomes (i.e. the suite of genes expressed in a tissue) feasible for almost any organism. Yet a challenge for biologists is that it can be difficult to assign identities to gene sequences, especially from non-model organisms. Phylogenetic analyses are one useful method for assigning identities to these sequences, but such methods tend to be time-consuming because of the need to re-calculate trees for every gene of interest and each time a new data set is analyzed. In response, we employed existing tools for phylogenetic analysis to produce a computationally efficient, tree-based approach for annotating transcriptomes or new genomes that we term Phylogenetically-Informed Annotation (PIA), which places uncharacterized genes into pre-calculated phylogenies of gene families. Results We generated maximum likelihood trees for 109 genes from a Light Interaction Toolkit (LIT), a collection of genes that underlie the function or development of light-interacting structures in metazoans. To do so, we searched protein sequences predicted from 29 fully-sequenced genomes and built trees using tools for phylogenetic analysis in the Osiris package of Galaxy (an open-source workflow management system). Next, to rapidly annotate transcriptomes from organisms that lack sequenced genomes, we repurposed a maximum likelihood-based Evolutionary Placement Algorithm (implemented in RAxML) to place sequences of potential LIT genes on to our pre-calculated gene trees. Finally, we implemented PIA in Galaxy and used it to search for LIT genes in 28 newly-sequenced transcriptomes from the light-interacting tissues of a range of cephalopod mollusks, arthropods, and cubozoan cnidarians. Our new trees for LIT genes are available on the Bitbucket public repository (http://bitbucket.org/osiris_phylogenetics/pia/) and we demonstrate PIA on a publicly-accessible web server (http://galaxy-dev.cnsi.ucsb.edu/pia/). Conclusions Our new trees for LIT genes will be a valuable resource for researchers studying the evolution of eyes or other light-interacting structures. We also introduce PIA, a high throughput method for using phylogenetic relationships to identify LIT genes in transcriptomes from non-model organisms. With simple modifications, our methods may be used to search for different sets of genes or to annotate data sets from taxa outside of Metazoa. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-014-0350-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel I Speiser
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. .,Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - M Sabrina Pankey
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
| | - Alexander K Zaharoff
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
| | - Barbara A Battelle
- The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL, USA.
| | - Heather D Bracken-Grissom
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University-Biscayne Bay Campus, North Miami, FL, USA.
| | - Jesse W Breinholt
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
| | - Seth M Bybee
- Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA.
| | - Thomas W Cronin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Anders Garm
- Department of Biology, Marine Biological Section, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Annie R Lindgren
- Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA.
| | - Nipam H Patel
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology & Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Megan L Porter
- Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA.
| | - Meredith E Protas
- Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Dominican University of California, San Rafael, CA, USA.
| | - Ajna S Rivera
- Department of Biology, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, USA.
| | - Jeanne M Serb
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
| | - Kirk S Zigler
- Department of Biology, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, USA.
| | - Keith A Crandall
- Computational Biology Institute, George Washington University, Ashburn, VA, USA. .,Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
| | - Todd H Oakley
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
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28
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Suzek BE, Wang Y, Huang H, McGarvey PB, Wu CH. UniRef clusters: a comprehensive and scalable alternative for improving sequence similarity searches. Bioinformatics 2014; 31:926-32. [PMID: 25398609 PMCID: PMC4375400 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btu739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 934] [Impact Index Per Article: 93.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION UniRef databases provide full-scale clustering of UniProtKB sequences and are utilized for a broad range of applications, particularly similarity-based functional annotation. Non-redundancy and intra-cluster homogeneity in UniRef were recently improved by adding a sequence length overlap threshold. Our hypothesis is that these improvements would enhance the speed and sensitivity of similarity searches and improve the consistency of annotation within clusters. RESULTS Intra-cluster molecular function consistency was examined by analysis of Gene Ontology terms. Results show that UniRef clusters bring together proteins of identical molecular function in more than 97% of the clusters, implying that clusters are useful for annotation and can also be used to detect annotation inconsistencies. To examine coverage in similarity results, BLASTP searches against UniRef50 followed by expansion of the hit lists with cluster members demonstrated advantages compared with searches against UniProtKB sequences; the searches are concise (∼7 times shorter hit list before expansion), faster (∼6 times) and more sensitive in detection of remote similarities (>96% recall at e-value <0.0001). Our results support the use of UniRef clusters as a comprehensive and scalable alternative to native sequence databases for similarity searches and reinforces its reliability for use in functional annotation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baris E Suzek
- Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Yuqi Wang
- Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Hongzhan Huang
- Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Peter B McGarvey
- Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Cathy H Wu
- Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland Protein Information Resource, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007, USA, Department of Computer Engineering, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla 48000, Turkey, Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Protein Information Resource, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
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Kamijyo A, Yura K, Ogura A. Distinct evolutionary rate in the eye field transcription factors found by estimation of ancestral protein structure. Gene 2014; 555:73-9. [PMID: 25300250 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2014.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2014] [Revised: 09/16/2014] [Accepted: 10/02/2014] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Eye-field transcription factors (EFTFs) are a set of genes that compose a regulatory network for eye development in animals, which are highly conserved among various animal phyla. To investigate the processes of conservation and diversification of the transcription factors for eye development, we examined the structural changes in the EFTF proteins by estimating the ancestral sequences with the available genome information. Among the different types of EFTFs, we selected otx2, tbx3, rx1, pax6, six3/6, lhx2 and nr2e1 because they are highly conserved in bilaterian animals. We searched the genome sequences of representative animal phyla for EFTF protein sequences. With deduced ancestral sequences and three-dimensional structures of EFTFs, we traced the evolutionary changes in amino acid residues and found that the DNA-binding domains were always more conserved than other regions, and that the other regions showed distinct evolutionary rates. The EFTF rx1, which resides at the pivotal part of the EFTF network, had a faster evolutionary rate than the others. These results indicated that the evolutionary rates of each protein in the EFTF network, which were expected to be consistent with each other to maintain the interactions in the network, were not constant among or within the factors, but rather, varied to a significant extent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ai Kamijyo
- Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan
| | - Kei Yura
- Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan; Center for Informational Biology, Ochanomizu University 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan; National Institute of Genetics, 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
| | - Atsushi Ogura
- Department of Computer Bio-Science, Nagahama Institute of BioScience and Technology, 1266 Tamura, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0829, Japan.
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30
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Mahato S, Morita S, Tucker AE, Liang X, Jackowska M, Friedrich M, Shiga Y, Zelhof AC. Common transcriptional mechanisms for visual photoreceptor cell differentiation among Pancrustaceans. PLoS Genet 2014; 10:e1004484. [PMID: 24991928 PMCID: PMC4084641 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2013] [Accepted: 05/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
A hallmark of visual rhabdomeric photoreceptors is the expression of a rhabdomeric opsin and uniquely associated phototransduction molecules, which are incorporated into a specialized expanded apical membrane, the rhabdomere. Given the extensive utilization of rhabdomeric photoreceptors in the eyes of protostomes, here we address whether a common transcriptional mechanism exists for the differentiation of rhabdomeric photoreceptors. In Drosophila, the transcription factors Pph13 and Orthodenticle (Otd) direct both aspects of differentiation: rhabdomeric opsin transcription and rhabdomere morphogenesis. We demonstrate that the orthologs of both proteins are expressed in the visual systems of the distantly related arthropod species Tribolium castaneum and Daphnia magna and that their functional roles are similar in these species. In particular, we establish that the Pph13 homologs have the ability to bind a subset of Rhodopsin core sequence I sites and that these sites are present in key phototransduction genes of both Tribolium and Daphnia. Furthermore, Pph13 and Otd orthologs are capable of executing deeply conserved functions of photoreceptor differentiation as evidenced by the ability to rescue their respective Drosophila mutant phenotypes. Pph13 homologs are equivalent in their ability to direct both rhabdomere morphogenesis and opsin expression within Drosophila, whereas Otd paralogs demonstrate differential abilities to regulate photoreceptor differentiation. Finally, loss-of-function analyses in Tribolium confirm the conserved requirement of Pph13 and Otd in regulating both rhabdomeric opsin transcription and rhabdomere morphogenesis. Taken together, our data identify components of a regulatory framework for rhabdomeric photoreceptor differentiation in Pancrustaceans, providing a foundation for defining ancestral regulatory modules of rhabdomeric photoreceptor differentiation. Visual systems are populated by one of two fundamental types of photoreceptors, ciliary and rhabdomeric. Each photoreceptor type is defined by the opsin molecule expressed and the final morphological form adapted to house the phototransduction machinery. Here we address whether a common transcriptional mechanisms exists for the differentiation of rhabdomeric photoreceptors. We demonstrate that orthologs of two Drosophila (fruit fly) transcription factors, Pph13 and Orthodenticle, are expressed in photoreceptors of Pancrustaceans, Tribolium (red flour beetle) and Daphnia (water flea), and are capable of executing conserved functions of rhabdomeric photoreceptor differentiation. In particular, Tribolium and Daphnia orthologs are capable of substituting and rescuing the photoreceptor differentiation defects observed in their corresponding Drosophila mutants. Furthermore, loss of function analysis in Tribolium of both Pph13 and orthodenticle genes demonstrate they regulate opsin transcription and morphogenesis of the photoreceptor apical membrane. Our data illuminate a framework for rhabdomeric photoreceptor differentiation and provide the foundation for defining the ancestral regulatory modules for rhabdomeric differentiation and potential modifications that underlie the functional diversity observed in rhabdomeric photoreceptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simpla Mahato
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Shinichi Morita
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Abraham E. Tucker
- Department of Biology, Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Arkansas, United States of America
| | - Xulong Liang
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Magdalena Jackowska
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Markus Friedrich
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Yasuhiro Shiga
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Andrew C. Zelhof
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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31
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Cephalopod eye evolution was modulated by the acquisition of Pax-6 splicing variants. Sci Rep 2014; 4:4256. [PMID: 24594543 PMCID: PMC3942700 DOI: 10.1038/srep04256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2013] [Accepted: 02/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have reported that the developmental processes of vertebrate eyes are controlled by four Pax-6 splicing variants, each modulating different downstream genes, whereas those of insect eyes are controlled by duplicated Pax-6 genes. Cephalopods belong to the Protostomes but possess a camera-type eye similar to those in vertebrates. We examined Pax-6 variations in the squid and found five types of Pax-6 splicing variants but no duplication of the Pax-6 gene. In the five splicing variants, the splicing patterns were produced by the combination of two additional exons to the ortholog and one jettisoned exon containing most of the Homeobox domain (HD). These five variants show spatio-temporal patterns of gene expression during development in the squid. Our study suggests that cephalopods acquired Pax-6 splicing variants independent of those in vertebrates and that these variants were similarly utilized in the development of the squid eye.
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Serb JM, Porath-Krause AJ, Pairett AN. Uncovering a Gene Duplication of the Photoreceptive Protein, Opsin, in Scallops (Bivalvia: Pectinidae). Integr Comp Biol 2013; 53:68-77. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/ict063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Porter ML, Speiser DI, Zaharoff AK, Caldwell RL, Cronin TW, Oakley TH. The evolution of complexity in the visual systems of stomatopods: insights from transcriptomics. Integr Comp Biol 2013; 53:39-49. [PMID: 23727979 DOI: 10.1093/icb/ict060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Stomatopod crustaceans have complex visual systems containing up to 16 different spectral classes of photoreceptors, more than described for any other animal. A previous molecular study of this visual system focusing on the expression of opsin genes found many more transcripts than predicted on the basis of physiology, but was unable to fully document the expressed opsin genes responsible for this diversity. Furthermore, questions remain about how other components of phototransduction cascades are involved. This study continues prior investigations by examining the molecular function of stomatopods' visual systems using new whole eye 454 transcriptome datasets from two species, Hemisquilla californiensis and Pseudosquilla ciliata. These two species represent taxonomic diversity within the order Stomatopoda, as well as variations in the anatomy and physiology of the visual system. Using an evolutionary placement algorithm to annotate the transcriptome, we identified the presence of nine components of the stomatopods' G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) phototransduction cascade, including two visual arrestins, subunits of the heterotrimeric G-protein, phospholipase C, transient receptor potential channels, and opsin transcripts. The set of expressed transduction genes suggests that stomatopods utilize a Gq-mediated GPCR-signaling cascade. The most notable difference in expression between the phototransduction cascades of the two species was the number of opsin contigs recovered, with 18 contigs found in retinas of H. californiensis, and 49 contigs in those of P. ciliata. Based on phylogenetic placement and fragment overlap, these contigs were estimated to represent 14 and 33 expressed transcripts, respectively. These data expand the known opsin diversity in stomatopods to clades of arthropod opsins that are sensitive to short wavelengths and ultraviolet wavelengths and confirm the results of previous studies recovering more opsin transcripts than spectrally distinct types of photoreceptors. Many of the recovered transcripts were phylogenetically placed in an evolutionary clade of crustacean opsin sequences that is rapidly expanding as the visual systems from more species are investigated. We discuss these results in relation to the emerging pattern, particularly in crustacean visual systems, of the expression of multiple opsin transcripts in photoreceptors of the same spectral class, and even in single photoreceptor cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan L Porter
- Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
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Speiser DI, Lampe RI, Lovdahl VR, Carrillo-Zazueta B, Rivera AS, Oakley TH. Evasion of Predators Contributes to the Maintenance of Male Eyes in Sexually Dimorphic Euphilomedes Ostracods (Crustacea). Integr Comp Biol 2013; 53:78-88. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/ict025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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35
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Rivera AS, Ozturk N, Fahey B, Plachetzki DC, Degnan BM, Sancar A, Oakley TH. Blue-light-receptive cryptochrome is expressed in a sponge eye lacking neurons and opsin. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 215:1278-86. [PMID: 22442365 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.067140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Many larval sponges possess pigment ring eyes that apparently mediate phototactic swimming. Yet sponges are not known to possess nervous systems or opsin genes, so the unknown molecular components of sponge phototaxis must differ fundamentally from those in other animals, inspiring questions about how this sensory system functions. Here we present molecular and biochemical data on cryptochrome, a candidate gene for functional involvement in sponge pigment ring eyes. We report that Amphimedon queenslandica, a demosponge, possesses two cryptochrome/photolyase genes, Aq-Cry1 and Aq-Cry2. The mRNA of one gene (Aq-Cry2) is expressed in situ at the pigment ring eye. Additionally, we report that Aq-Cry2 lacks photolyase activity and contains a flavin-based co-factor that is responsive to wavelengths of light that also mediate larval photic behavior. These results suggest that Aq-Cry2 may act in the aneural, opsin-less phototaxic behavior of a sponge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ajna S Rivera
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211, USA
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36
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Extensive and Continuous Duplication Facilitates Rapid Evolution and Diversification of Gene Families. Mol Biol Evol 2012; 29:2019-29. [DOI: 10.1093/molbev/mss068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
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37
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Yang D, Zhong F, Li D, Liu Z, Wei H, Jiang Y, He F. General trends in the utilization of structural factors contributing to biological complexity. Mol Biol Evol 2012; 29:1957-68. [PMID: 22328715 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/mss064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
During evolution, proteins containing newly emerged domains and the increasing proportion of multidomain proteins in the full genome-encoded proteome (GEP) have substantially contributed to increasing biological complexity. However, it is not known how these two potential structural factors are preferentially utilized at given physiological states. Here, we classified proteins according to domain number and domain age and explored the general trends across species for the utilization of proteins from GEP to various certain-state proteomes (CSPs, i.e., all the proteins expressed at certain physiological states). We found that multidomain proteins or only older domain-containing proteins are significantly overrepresented in CSPs compared with GEP, which is a trend that is stronger in multicellular organisms than in unicellular organisms. Interestingly, the strengths of overrepresentation decreased during evolution of multicellular eukaryotes. When comparing across CSPs, we found that multidomain proteins are more overrepresented in complex tissues than in simpler ones, whereas no difference among proteins with domains of different ages is evident between complex and simple tissues. Thus, biological complexity under certain conditions is more significantly realized by diverse domain organization than by the emergence of new types of domain. In addition, we found that multidomain or only older domain-containing proteins tend to evolve slowly and generally are under stronger purifying selection, which may partly result from their general overrepresentation trends in CSPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing Proteome Research Center, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, P R China
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Doyon JP, Ranwez V, Daubin V, Berry V. Models, algorithms and programs for phylogeny reconciliation. Brief Bioinform 2011; 12:392-400. [DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbr045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 123] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
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