Gene conversion and DNA sequence polymorphism in the sex-determination gene fog-2 and its paralog ftr-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans

Friend turned foe: selfish behavior of a spontaneously arising mitochondrial deletion in an experimentally evolved Caenorhabditis elegans population

Selfish mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are variants that can proliferate within cells and enjoy a replication or transmission bias without fitness benefits for the host. mtDNA deletions in Caenorhabditis elegans can reach high heteroplasmic frequencies despite significantly reducing fitness, illustrating how new mtDNA variants can give rise to genetic conflict between different levels of selection and between the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. During a mutation accumulation experiment in C. elegans, a 1,034-bp deletion originated spontaneously and reached an 81.7% frequency within an experimental evolution line. This heteroplasmic mtDNA deletion, designated as meuDf1, eliminated portions of 2 protein-coding genes (coxIII and nd4) and tRNA-thr in entirety. mtDNA copy number in meuDf1 heteroplasmic individuals was 35% higher than in individuals with wild-type mitochondria. After backcrossing into a common genetic background, the meuDf1 mitotype was associated with reduction in several fitness traits and independent competition experiments found a 40% reduction in composite fitness. Experiments that relaxed individual selection by single individual bottlenecks demonstrated that the deletion-bearing mtDNA possessed a strong transmission bias, thereby qualifying it as a novel selfish mitotype.

Gene conversion restores selfing in experimentally evolving C. elegans populations with fog-2 loss-of-function mutation

We have discovered a new case of gene conversion restoring ability of self-fertilization in obligatory outcrossing Caenorhabditis elegans populations. The fog-2(q71) mutation, used to transform the nematodes’ mating system from mostly self-fertilization to obligatory outcrossing, was spontaneously removed by replacing a fragment of fog-2 gene with a fragment of its paralog, ftr-1 . This has occurred spontaneously in experimental evolution with large populations, evolving with fog-2(q71) mutation for over a hundred generations, without addition mutagens or other factors promoting mutation accumulation. A converted fog-2 allele restoring hermaphrodite sperm production was detected in five experimental populations. This raises the question about stability of obligatory outcrossing populations in long-term experiments.

Males, Outcrossing, and Sexual Selection in Caenorhabditis Nematodes

Males of Caenorhabditis elegans provide a crucial practical tool in the laboratory, but, as the rarer and more finicky sex, have not enjoyed the same depth of research attention as hermaphrodites. Males, however, have attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists who are exploiting the C. elegans system to test longstanding hypotheses about sexual selection, sexual conflict, transitions in reproductive mode, and genome evolution, as well as to make new discoveries about Caenorhabditis organismal biology. Here, we review the evolutionary concepts and data informed by study of males of C. elegans and other Caenorhabditis We give special attention to the important role of sperm cells as a mediator of inter-male competition and male-female conflict that has led to drastic trait divergence across species, despite exceptional phenotypic conservation in many other morphological features. We discuss the evolutionary forces important in the origins of reproductive mode transitions from males being common (gonochorism: females and males) to rare (androdioecy: hermaphrodites and males) and the factors that modulate male frequency in extant androdioecious populations, including the potential influence of selective interference, host-pathogen coevolution, and mutation accumulation. Further, we summarize the consequences of males being common vs rare for adaptation and for trait divergence, trait degradation, and trait dimorphism between the sexes, as well as for molecular evolution of the genome, at both micro-evolutionary and macro-evolutionary timescales. We conclude that C. elegans male biology remains underexploited and that future studies leveraging its extensive experimental resources are poised to discover novel biology and to inform profound questions about animal function and evolution.

Early evolutionary history and genomic features of gene duplicates in the human genome

BACKGROUND

Human gene duplicates have been the focus of intense research since the development of array-based and targeted next-generation sequencing approaches in the last decade. These studies have primarily concentrated on determining the extant copy-number variation from a population-genomic perspective but lack a robust evolutionary framework to elucidate the early structural and genomic characteristics of gene duplicates at emergence and their subsequent evolution with increasing age.

RESULTS

We analyzed 184 gene duplicate pairs comprising small gene families in the draft human genome with 10% or less synonymous sequence divergence. Human gene duplicates primarily originate from DNA-mediated events, taking up genomic residence as intrachromosomal copies in direct or inverse orientation. The distribution of paralogs on autosomes follows random expectations in contrast to their significant enrichment on the sex chromosomes. Furthermore, human gene duplicates exhibit a skewed gradient of distribution along the chromosomal length with significant clustering in pericentromeric regions. Surprisingly, despite the large average length of human genes, the majority of extant duplicates (83%) are complete duplicates, wherein the entire ORF of the ancestral copy was duplicated. The preponderance of complete duplicates is in accord with an extremely large median duplication span of 36 kb, which enhances the probability of capturing ancestral ORFs in their entirety. With increasing evolutionary age, human paralogs exhibit declines in (i) the frequency of intrachromosomal paralogs, and (ii) the proportion of complete duplicates. These changes may reflect lower survival rates of certain classes of duplicates and/or the role of purifying selection. Duplications arising from RNA-mediated events comprise a small fraction (11.4%) of all human paralogs and are more numerous in older evolutionary cohorts of duplicates.

CONCLUSIONS

The degree of structural resemblance, genomic location and duplication span appear to influence the long-term maintenance of paralogs in the human genome. The median duplication span in the human genome far exceeds that in C. elegans and yeast and likely contributes to the high prevalence of complete duplicates relative to structurally heterogeneous duplicates (partial and chimeric). The relative roles of regulatory sequence versus exon-intron structure changes in the acquisition of novel function by human paralogs remains to be determined.

Multiple conversion between the genes encoding bacterial class-I release factors

Bacteria require two class-I release factors, RF1 and RF2, that recognize stop codons and promote peptide release from the ribosome. RF1 and RF2 were most likely established through gene duplication followed by altering their stop codon specificities in the common ancestor of extant bacteria. This scenario expects that the two RF gene families have taken independent evolutionary trajectories after the ancestral gene duplication event. However, we here report two independent cases of conversion between RF1 and RF2 genes (RF1-RF2 gene conversion), which were severely examined by procedures incorporating the maximum-likelihood phylogenetic method. In both cases, RF1-RF2 gene conversion was predicted to occur in the region encoding nearly entire domain 3, of which functions are common between RF paralogues. Nevertheless, the ‘direction’ of gene conversion appeared to be opposite from one another—from RF2 gene to RF1 gene in one case, while from RF1 gene to RF2 gene in the other. The two cases of RF1-RF2 gene conversion prompt us to propose two novel aspects in the evolution of bacterial class-I release factors: (i) domain 3 is interchangeable between RF paralogues, and (ii) RF1-RF2 gene conversion have occurred frequently in bacterial genome evolution.

Interplay of interlocus gene conversion and crossover in segmental duplications under a neutral scenario

Interlocus gene conversion is a major evolutionary force that drives the concerted evolution of duplicated genomic regions. Theoretical models successfully have addressed the effects of interlocus gene conversion and the importance of crossover in the evolutionary fate of gene families and duplications but have not considered complex recombination scenarios, such as the presence of hotspots. To study the interplay between interlocus gene conversion and crossover, we have developed a forward-time simulator that allows the exploration of a wide range of interlocus gene conversion rates under different crossover models. Using it, we have analyzed patterns of nucleotide variation and linkage disequilibrium within and between duplicate regions, focusing on a neutral scenario with constant population size and validating our results with the existing theoretical models. We show that the interaction of gene conversion and crossover is nontrivial and that the location of crossover junctions is a fundamental determinant of levels of variation and linkage disequilibrium in duplicated regions. We also show that if crossover activity between duplications is strong enough, recurrent interlocus gene conversion events can break linkage disequilibrium within duplicates. Given the complex nature of interlocus gene conversion and crossover, we provide a framework to explore their interplay to help increase knowledge on molecular evolution within segmental duplications under more complex scenarios, such as demographic changes or natural selection.

Copy-number changes in evolution: rates, fitness effects and adaptive significance

Gene copy-number differences due to gene duplications and deletions are rampant in natural populations and play a crucial role in the evolution of genome complexity. Per-locus analyses of gene duplication rates in the pre-genomic era revealed that gene duplication rates are much higher than the per nucleotide substitution rate. Analyses of gene duplication and deletion rates in mutation accumulation lines of model organisms have revealed that these high rates of copy-number mutations occur at a genome-wide scale. Furthermore, comparisons of the spontaneous duplication and deletion rates to copy-number polymorphism data and bioinformatic-based estimates of duplication rates from sequenced genomes suggest that the vast majority of gene duplications are detrimental and removed by natural selection. The rate at which new gene copies appear in populations greatly influences their evolutionary dynamics and standing gene copy-number variation in populations. The opportunity for mutations that result in the maintenance of duplicate copies, either through neofunctionalization or subfunctionalization, also depends on the equilibrium frequency of additional gene copies in the population, and hence on the spontaneous gene duplication (and loss) rate. The duplication rate may therefore have profound effects on the role of adaptation in the evolution of duplicated genes as well as important consequences for the evolutionary potential of organisms. We further discuss the broad ramifications of this standing gene copy-number variation on fitness and adaptive potential from a population-genetic and genome-wide perspective.

Gene conversion yields novel gene combinations in paralogs of GOT1 in the copepod Tigriopus californicus

Background

Gene conversion of duplicated genes can slow the divergence of paralogous copies over time but can also result in other interesting evolutionary patterns. Islands of genetic divergence that persist in the face of gene conversion can point to gene regions undergoing selection for new functions. Novel combinations of genetic variation that differ greatly from the original sequence can result from the transfer of genetic variation between paralogous genes by rare gene conversion events. Genetically divergent populations of the copepod Tigriopus californicus provide an excellent model to look at the patterns of divergence among paralogs across multiple independent evolutionary lineages.

Results

In this study the evolution of a set of paralogous genes encoding putative aspartate transaminase proteins (called GOT1 here) are examined in populations of the copepod T. californicus. One pair of duplicated genes, GOT1p1 and GOT1p2, has regions of high divergence between the copies in the face of apparent on-going gene conversion. The GOT1p2 gene also has unique haplotypes in two populations that appear to have resulted from a transfer of genetic variation via inter-paralog gene conversion. A second pair of duplicated genes GOT1Sr and GOT1Sd also shows evidence of gene conversion, but this gene conversion does not appear to have maintained each as a functional copy in all populations.

Conclusions

The patterns of conservation and sequence divergence across this set of paralogous genes among populations of T. californicus suggest that some interesting evolutionary patterns are occurring at these loci. The results for the GOT1p1/GOT1p2 paralogs illustrate how gene conversion can factor in the creation of a mosaic pattern of regions of high divergence and low divergence. When coupled with rare gene conversion events of divergent regions, this pattern can result in the formation of novel proteins differing substantially from either original protein. The evolutionary patterns across these paralogs show how gene conversion can both constrain and facilitate diversification of genetic sequences.

To the beat of a different drum: determinants implicated in the asymmetric sequence divergence of Caenorhabditis elegans paralogs

Background

Gene duplicates often exhibit asymmetric rates of molecular evolution in their early evolutionary existence. This asymmetry in rates is thought to signify the maintenance of the ancestral function by one copy and the removal of functional constraint on the other copy, enabling it to embark on a novel evolutionary trajectory. Here I focused on a large population of evolutionarily young gene duplicates (K_S ≤ 0.14) in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome in order to conduct the first combined analysis of four predictors (evolutionary age, chromosomal location, structural resemblance between duplicates, and duplication span) which may be implicated in the asymmetric sequence divergence of paralogs at the nucleotide and amino acid level. In addition, I investigate if either paralog is equally likely to embark on a trajectory of accelerated sequence evolution or whether the derived paralog is more likely to exhibit faster sequence evolution.

Results

Three predictors (evolutionary age of duplicates, chromosomal location and duplication span) serve as major determinants of sequence asymmetry between C. elegans paralogs. Paralogs diverge asymmetrically in sequence with increasing evolutionary age, the relocation of one copy to a different chromosome and attenuated duplication spans that likely fail to capture the entire ancestral repertoire of coding sequence and regulatory elements. Furthermore, for paralogs residing on the same chromosome, opposite transcriptional orientation and increased genomic distance do not increase sequence asymmetry between paralogs. For a subset of duplicate pairs wherein the ancestral versus derived paralog could be distinguished, the derived paralogs are more likely to evolve at accelerated rates.

Conclusions

This genome-wide study of evolutionarily young duplicates stemming primarily from DNA-mediated small-scale duplication events demonstrates that genomic relocation to a new chromosome has important consequences for asymmetric divergence of paralogs, akin to paralogs arising from RNA-mediated duplication events. Additionally, the duplication span is negatively correlated with sequence rate asymmetry among paralogs, suggesting that attenuated duplication spans stemming from incomplete duplication of the ORF and/or ancestral regulatory elements further accelerate sequence divergence between paralogs. Cumulatively, derived copies exhibit accelerated rates of sequence evolution suggesting that they are primed for a divergent evolutionary trajectory by changes in structure and genomic context at inception.

In with the old, in with the new: the promiscuity of the duplication process engenders diverse pathways for novel gene creation

The gene duplication process has exhibited far greater promiscuity in the creation of paralogs with novel exon-intron structures than anticipated even by Ohno. In this paper I explore the history of the field, from the neo-Darwinian synthesis through Ohno's formulation of the canonical model for the evolution of gene duplicates and culminating in the present genomic era. I delineate the major tenets of Ohno's model and discuss its failure to encapsulate the full complexity of the duplication process as revealed in the era of genomics. I discuss the diverse classes of paralogs originating from both DNA- and RNA-mediated duplication events and their evolutionary potential for assuming radically altered functions, as well as the degree to which they can function unconstrained from the pressure of gene conversion. Lastly, I explore theoretical population-genetic considerations of how the effective population size (N(e)) of a species may influence the probability of emergence of genes with radically altered functions.

Global population genetic structure of Caenorhabditis remanei reveals incipient speciation

Mating system transitions dramatically alter the evolutionary trajectories of genomes that can be revealed by contrasts of species with disparate modes of reproduction. For such transitions in Caenorhabditis nematodes, some major causes of genome variation in selfing species have been discerned. And yet, we have only limited understanding of species-wide population genetic processes for their outcrossing relatives, which represent the reproductive state of the progenitors of selfing species. Multilocus-multipopulation sequence polymorphism data provide a powerful means to uncover the historical demography and evolutionary processes that shape genomes. Here we survey nucleotide polymorphism across the X chromosome for three populations of the outcrossing nematode Caenorhabditis remanei and demonstrate its divergence from a fourth population describing a closely related new species from China, C. sp. 23. We find high genetic variation globally and within each local population sample. Despite geographic barriers and moderate genetic differentiation between Europe and North America, considerable gene flow connects C. remanei populations. We discovered C. sp. 23 while investigating C. remanei, observing strong genetic differentiation characteristic of reproductive isolation that was confirmed by substantial F2 hybrid breakdown in interspecific crosses. That C. sp. 23 represents a distinct biological species provides a cautionary example of how standard practice can fail for mating tests of species identity in this group. This species pair permits full application of divergence population genetic methods to obligately outcrossing species of Caenorhabditis and also presents a new focus for interrogation of the genetics and evolution of speciation with the Caenorhabditis model system.

Neutral and non-neutral evolution of duplicated genes with gene conversion

Gene conversion is one of the major mutational mechanisms involved in the DNA sequence evolution of duplicated genes. It contributes to create unique patters of DNA polymorphism within species and divergence between species. A typical pattern is so-called concerted evolution, in which the divergence between duplicates is maintained low for a long time because of frequent exchanges of DNA fragments. In addition, gene conversion affects the DNA evolution of duplicates in various ways especially when selection operates. Here, we review theoretical models to understand the evolution of duplicates in both neutral and non-neutral cases. We also explain how these theories contribute to interpreting real polymorphism and divergence data by using some intriguing examples.

Gene conversion and evolution of gene families: an overview

The importance of gene conversion for the evolution of gene families is reviewed. Four problems concerning gene conversion, i.e., concerted evolution, generation of useful variation, deleterious effects, and relation to neofunctionalization, are discussed by surveying reported examples of evolving gene families. Emphasis is given toward understanding interactive effects of gene conversion and natural selection.