1
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Aharonoff A, Kim J, Washington A, Ercan S. SMC-mediated dosage compensation in C. elegans evolved in the presence of an ancestral nematode mechanism. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.21.595224. [PMID: 38826443 PMCID: PMC11142195 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.21.595224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Mechanisms of X chromosome dosage compensation have been studied extensively in a few model species representing clades of shared sex chromosome ancestry. However, the diversity within each clade as a function of sex chromosome evolution is largely unknown. Here, we anchor ourselves to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for which a well-studied mechanism of dosage compensation occurs through a specialized structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complex, and explore the diversity of dosage compensation in the surrounding phylogeny of nematodes. Through phylogenetic analysis of the C. elegans dosage compensation complex and a survey of its epigenetic signatures, including X-specific topologically associating domains (TADs) and X-enrichment of H4K20me1, we found that the condensin-mediated mechanism evolved recently in the lineage leading to Caenorhabditis through an SMC-4 duplication. Intriguingly, an independent duplication of SMC-4 and the presence of X-specific TADs in Pristionchus pacificus suggest that condensin-mediated dosage compensation arose more than once. mRNA-seq analyses of gene expression in several nematode species indicate that dosage compensation itself is ancestral, as expected from the ancient XO sex determination system. Indicative of the ancestral mechanism, H4K20me1 is enriched on the X chromosomes in Oscheius tipulae, which does not contain X-specific TADs or SMC-4 paralogs. Together, our results indicate that the dosage compensation system in C. elegans is surprisingly new, and condensin may have been co-opted repeatedly in nematodes, suggesting that the process of evolving a chromosome-wide gene regulatory mechanism for dosage compensation is constrained. Significance statement X chromosome dosage compensation mechanisms evolved in response to Y chromosome degeneration during sex chromosome evolution. However, establishment of dosage compensation is not an endpoint. As sex chromosomes change, dosage compensation strategies may have also changed. In this study, we performed phylogenetic and epigenomic analyses surrounding Caenorhabditis elegans and found that the condensin-mediated dosage compensation mechanism in C. elegans is surprisingly new, and has evolved in the presence of an ancestral mechanism. Intriguingly, condensin-based dosage compensation may have evolved more than once in the nematode lineage, the other time in Pristionchus. Together, our work highlights a previously unappreciated diversity of dosage compensation mechanisms within a clade, and suggests constraints in evolving new mechanisms in the presence of an existing one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avrami Aharonoff
- Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
| | - Jun Kim
- Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
| | - Aaliyah Washington
- Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
| | - Sevinç Ercan
- Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003
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2
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Bredeson JV, Mudd AB, Medina-Ruiz S, Mitros T, Smith OK, Miller KE, Lyons JB, Batra SS, Park J, Berkoff KC, Plott C, Grimwood J, Schmutz J, Aguirre-Figueroa G, Khokha MK, Lane M, Philipp I, Laslo M, Hanken J, Kerdivel G, Buisine N, Sachs LM, Buchholz DR, Kwon T, Smith-Parker H, Gridi-Papp M, Ryan MJ, Denton RD, Malone JH, Wallingford JB, Straight AF, Heald R, Hockemeyer D, Harland RM, Rokhsar DS. Conserved chromatin and repetitive patterns reveal slow genome evolution in frogs. Nat Commun 2024; 15:579. [PMID: 38233380 PMCID: PMC10794172 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43012-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Frogs are an ecologically diverse and phylogenetically ancient group of anuran amphibians that include important vertebrate cell and developmental model systems, notably the genus Xenopus. Here we report a high-quality reference genome sequence for the western clawed frog, Xenopus tropicalis, along with draft chromosome-scale sequences of three distantly related emerging model frog species, Eleutherodactylus coqui, Engystomops pustulosus, and Hymenochirus boettgeri. Frog chromosomes have remained remarkably stable since the Mesozoic Era, with limited Robertsonian (i.e., arm-preserving) translocations and end-to-end fusions found among the smaller chromosomes. Conservation of synteny includes conservation of centromere locations, marked by centromeric tandem repeats associated with Cenp-a binding surrounded by pericentromeric LINE/L1 elements. This work explores the structure of chromosomes across frogs, using a dense meiotic linkage map for X. tropicalis and chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) data for all species. Abundant satellite repeats occupy the unusually long (~20 megabase) terminal regions of each chromosome that coincide with high rates of recombination. Both embryonic and differentiated cells show reproducible associations of centromeric chromatin and of telomeres, reflecting a Rabl-like configuration. Our comparative analyses reveal 13 conserved ancestral anuran chromosomes from which contemporary frog genomes were constructed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessen V Bredeson
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- DOE-Joint Genome Institute, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Austin B Mudd
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Sofia Medina-Ruiz
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Therese Mitros
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Owen Kabnick Smith
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Beckman Center 409, Stanford, CA, 94305-5307, USA
| | - Kelly E Miller
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jessica B Lyons
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Sanjit S Batra
- Computer Science Division, University of California Berkeley, 2626 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Joseph Park
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Kodiak C Berkoff
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Christopher Plott
- HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Jane Grimwood
- HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Jeremy Schmutz
- HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL, 35806, USA
| | - Guadalupe Aguirre-Figueroa
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Beckman Center 409, Stanford, CA, 94305-5307, USA
| | - Mustafa K Khokha
- Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | - Maura Lane
- Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | - Isabelle Philipp
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Mara Laslo
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - James Hanken
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Gwenneg Kerdivel
- Département Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7221 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Buisine
- Département Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7221 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Laurent M Sachs
- Département Adaptation du Vivant, UMR 7221 CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Daniel R Buchholz
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Taejoon Kwon
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
- Center for Genomic Integrity, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
| | - Heidi Smith-Parker
- Department of Integrative Biology, Patterson Labs, 2401 Speedway, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Marcos Gridi-Papp
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA, 95211, USA
| | - Michael J Ryan
- Department of Integrative Biology, Patterson Labs, 2401 Speedway, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Robert D Denton
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute of Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, 181 Auditorium Road, Unit 3197, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
| | - John H Malone
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Institute of Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, 181 Auditorium Road, Unit 3197, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
| | - John B Wallingford
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Patterson Labs, 2401 Speedway, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Aaron F Straight
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Beckman Center 409, Stanford, CA, 94305-5307, USA
| | - Rebecca Heald
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Dirk Hockemeyer
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Chan-Zuckerberg BioHub, 499 Illinois Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Richard M Harland
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Daniel S Rokhsar
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Weill Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- DOE-Joint Genome Institute, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- Chan-Zuckerberg BioHub, 499 Illinois Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa, 9040495, Japan.
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3
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Davalos-Dehullu E, Baty SM, Fisher RN, Scott PA, Dolby GA, Munguia-Vega A, Cortez D. Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly of the Blacktail Brush Lizard, Urosaurus nigricaudus, Reveals Dosage Compensation in an Endemic Lizard. Genome Biol Evol 2023; 15:evad210. [PMID: 38056449 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Urosaurus nigricaudus is a phrynosomatid lizard endemic to the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. This work presents a chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation from a male individual. We used PacBio long reads and HiRise scaffolding to generate a high-quality genomic assembly of 1.87 Gb distributed in 327 scaffolds, with an N50 of 279 Mb and an L50 of 3. Approximately 98.4% of the genome is contained in 14 scaffolds, with 6 large scaffolds (334-127 Mb) representing macrochromosomes and 8 small scaffolds (63-22 Mb) representing microchromosomes. Using standard gene modeling and transcriptomic data, we predicted 17,902 protein-coding genes on the genome. The repeat content is characterized by a large proportion of long interspersed nuclear elements that are relatively old. Synteny analysis revealed some microchromosomes with high repeat content are more prone to rearrangements but that both macro- and microchromosomes are well conserved across reptiles. We identified scaffold 14 as the X chromosome. This microchromosome presents perfect dosage compensation where the single X of males has the same expression levels as two X chromosomes in females. Finally, we estimated the effective population size for U. nigricaudus was extremely low, which may reflect a reduction in polymorphism related to it becoming a peninsular endemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Davalos-Dehullu
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Programa de Biología de Sistemas, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
- Baja GeoGenomics Consortium
| | - Sarah M Baty
- Baja GeoGenomics Consortium
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Robert N Fisher
- Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Peter A Scott
- Natural Sciences Collegium, Eckerd College, St Petersburg, Florida, USA
| | - Greer A Dolby
- Baja GeoGenomics Consortium
- Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama USA
| | - Adrian Munguia-Vega
- Baja GeoGenomics Consortium
- Conservation Genetics Laboratory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
- Applied Genomics Lab, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
| | - Diego Cortez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Programa de Biología de Sistemas, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
- Baja GeoGenomics Consortium
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4
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Metzger DCH, Porter I, Mobley B, Sandkam BA, Fong LJM, Anderson AP, Mank JE. Transposon wave remodeled the epigenomic landscape in the rapid evolution of X-Chromosome dosage compensation. Genome Res 2023; 33:gr.278127.123. [PMID: 37989601 PMCID: PMC10760456 DOI: 10.1101/gr.278127.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023]
Abstract
Sex chromosome dosage compensation is a model to understand the coordinated evolution of transcription; however, the advanced age of the sex chromosomes in model systems makes it difficult to study how the complex regulatory mechanisms underlying chromosome-wide dosage compensation can evolve. The sex chromosomes of Poecilia picta have undergone recent and rapid divergence, resulting in widespread gene loss on the male Y, coupled with complete X Chromosome dosage compensation, the first case reported in a fish. The recent de novo origin of dosage compensation presents a unique opportunity to understand the genetic and evolutionary basis of coordinated chromosomal gene regulation. By combining a new chromosome-level assembly of P. picta with whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and RNA-seq data, we determine that the YY1 transcription factor (YY1) DNA binding motif is associated with male-specific hypomethylated regions on the X, but not the autosomes. These YY1 motifs are the result of a recent and rapid repetitive element expansion on the P. picta X Chromosome, which is absent in closely related species that lack dosage compensation. Taken together, our results present compelling support that a disruptive wave of repetitive element insertions carrying YY1 motifs resulted in the remodeling of the X Chromosome epigenomic landscape and the rapid de novo origin of a dosage compensation system.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C H Metzger
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada;
| | - Imogen Porter
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Brendan Mobley
- Biology Department, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA
| | - Benjamin A Sandkam
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
| | - Lydia J M Fong
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | | | - Judith E Mank
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada
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5
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Trost N, Mbengue N, Kaessmann H. The molecular evolution of mammalian spermatogenesis. Cells Dev 2023; 175:203865. [PMID: 37336426 PMCID: PMC10363733 DOI: 10.1016/j.cdev.2023.203865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
The testis is a key male reproductive organ that produces gametes through the process of spermatogenesis. Testis morphologies, sperm phenotypes, and the process of spermatogenesis evolve rapidly in mammals, presumably due to the evolutionary pressure on males to give rise to their own offspring. Here, we review studies illuminating the molecular evolution of the testis, in particular large-scale transcriptomic studies, which were based on bulk tissue samples and, more recently, individual cells. Together with various genomic and epigenomic data, these studies have unveiled the cellular source, molecular mechanisms, and evolutionary forces that underlie the rapid phenotypic evolution of the testis. They also revealed shared (ancestral) and species-specific spermatogenic gene expression programs. The insights and available data that have accumulated also provide a valuable resource for the investigation and treatment of male fertility disorders - a dramatically increasing problem in modern industrial societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nils Trost
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Noe Mbengue
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Henrik Kaessmann
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
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6
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Pinto BJ, Gamble T, Smith CH, Wilson MA. A lizard is never late: Squamate genomics as a recent catalyst for understanding sex chromosome and microchromosome evolution. J Hered 2023; 114:445-458. [PMID: 37018459 PMCID: PMC10445521 DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esad023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023] Open
Abstract
In 2011, the first high-quality genome assembly of a squamate reptile (lizard or snake) was published for the green anole. Dozens of genome assemblies were subsequently published over the next decade, yet these assemblies were largely inadequate for answering fundamental questions regarding genome evolution in squamates due to their lack of contiguity or annotation. As the "genomics age" was beginning to hit its stride in many organismal study systems, progress in squamates was largely stagnant following the publication of the green anole genome. In fact, zero high-quality (chromosome-level) squamate genomes were published between the years 2012 and 2017. However, since 2018, an exponential increase in high-quality genome assemblies has materialized with 24 additional high-quality genomes published for species across the squamate tree of life. As the field of squamate genomics is rapidly evolving, we provide a systematic review from an evolutionary genomics perspective. We collated a near-complete list of publicly available squamate genome assemblies from more than half-a-dozen international and third-party repositories and systematically evaluated them with regard to their overall quality, phylogenetic breadth, and usefulness for continuing to provide accurate and efficient insights into genome evolution across squamate reptiles. This review both highlights and catalogs the currently available genomic resources in squamates and their ability to address broader questions in vertebrates, specifically sex chromosome and microchromosome evolution, while addressing why squamates may have received less historical focus and has caused their progress in genomics to lag behind peer taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan J Pinto
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
- Department of Zoology, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Tony Gamble
- Department of Zoology, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, United States
| | - Chase H Smith
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Melissa A Wilson
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
- Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, United States
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7
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Tenorio M, Serwatowska J, Fernandez-Valverde SL, Oktaba K, Cortez D. Genome-wide analysis of RNA-chromatin interactions in lizards as a mean for functional lncRNA identification. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:444. [PMID: 37550606 PMCID: PMC10405410 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09545-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are defined as transcribed molecules longer than 200 nucleotides with little to no protein-coding potential. LncRNAs can regulate gene expression of nearby genes (cis-acting) or genes located on other chromosomes (trans-acting). Several methodologies have been developed to capture lncRNAs associated with chromatin at a genome-wide level. Analysis of RNA-DNA contacts can be combined with epigenetic and RNA-seq data to define potential lncRNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression. RESULTS We performed Chromatin Associated RNA sequencing (ChAR-seq) in Anolis carolinensis to obtain the genome-wide map of the associations that RNA molecules have with chromatin. We analyzed the frequency of DNA contacts for different classes of RNAs and were able to define cis- and trans-acting lncRNAs. We integrated the ChAR-seq map of RNA-DNA contacts with epigenetic data for the acetylation of lysine 16 on histone H4 (H4K16ac), a mark connected to actively transcribed chromatin in lizards. We successfully identified three trans-acting lncRNAs significantly associated with the H4K16ac signal, which are likely involved in the regulation of gene expression in A. carolinensis. CONCLUSIONS We show that the ChAR-seq method is a powerful tool to explore the RNA-DNA map of interactions. Moreover, in combination with epigenetic data, ChAR-seq can be applied in non-model species to establish potential roles for predicted lncRNAs that lack functional annotations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariela Tenorio
- Center for Genome Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | | | - Selene L Fernandez-Valverde
- Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), Irapuato, Mexico
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences and the RNA Institute, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Katarzyna Oktaba
- Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), Irapuato, Mexico
| | - Diego Cortez
- Center for Genome Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Mexico.
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8
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Pinto BJ, Gamble T, Smith CH, Wilson MA. A lizard is never late: squamate genomics as a recent catalyst for understanding sex chromosome and microchromosome evolution. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.20.524006. [PMID: 37034614 PMCID: PMC10081179 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.20.524006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
In 2011, the first high-quality genome assembly of a squamate reptile (lizard or snake) was published for the green anole. Dozens of genome assemblies were subsequently published over the next decade, yet these assemblies were largely inadequate for answering fundamental questions regarding genome evolution in squamates due to their lack of contiguity or annotation. As the "genomics age" was beginning to hit its stride in many organismal study systems, progress in squamates was largely stagnant following the publication of the green anole genome. In fact, zero high-quality (chromosome-level) squamate genomes were published between the years 2012-2017. However, since 2018, an exponential increase in high-quality genome assemblies has materialized with 24 additional high-quality genomes published for species across the squamate tree of life. As the field of squamate genomics is rapidly evolving, we provide a systematic review from an evolutionary genomics perspective. We collated a near-complete list of publicly available squamate genome assemblies from more than half-a-dozen international and third-party repositories and systematically evaluated them with regard to their overall quality, phylogenetic breadth, and usefulness for continuing to provide accurate and efficient insights into genome evolution across squamate reptiles. This review both highlights and catalogs the currently available genomic resources in squamates and their ability to address broader questions in vertebrates, specifically sex chromosome and microchromosome evolution, while addressing why squamates may have received less historical focus and has caused their progress in genomics to lag behind peer taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan J Pinto
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ USA
- Department of Zoology, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI USA
| | - Tony Gamble
- Department of Zoology, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee WI USA
- Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN USA
| | - Chase H Smith
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Melissa A Wilson
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ USA
- Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ USA
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9
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Murat F, Mbengue N, Winge SB, Trefzer T, Leushkin E, Sepp M, Cardoso-Moreira M, Schmidt J, Schneider C, Mößinger K, Brüning T, Lamanna F, Belles MR, Conrad C, Kondova I, Bontrop R, Behr R, Khaitovich P, Pääbo S, Marques-Bonet T, Grützner F, Almstrup K, Schierup MH, Kaessmann H. The molecular evolution of spermatogenesis across mammals. Nature 2023; 613:308-316. [PMID: 36544022 PMCID: PMC9834047 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05547-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The testis produces gametes through spermatogenesis and evolves rapidly at both the morphological and molecular level in mammals1-6, probably owing to the evolutionary pressure on males to be reproductively successful7. However, the molecular evolution of individual spermatogenic cell types across mammals remains largely uncharacterized. Here we report evolutionary analyses of single-nucleus transcriptome data for testes from 11 species that cover the three main mammalian lineages (eutherians, marsupials and monotremes) and birds (the evolutionary outgroup), and include seven primates. We find that the rapid evolution of the testis was driven by accelerated fixation rates of gene expression changes, amino acid substitutions and new genes in late spermatogenic stages, probably facilitated by reduced pleiotropic constraints, haploid selection and transcriptionally permissive chromatin. We identify temporal expression changes of individual genes across species and conserved expression programs controlling ancestral spermatogenic processes. Genes predominantly expressed in spermatogonia (germ cells fuelling spermatogenesis) and Sertoli (somatic support) cells accumulated on X chromosomes during evolution, presumably owing to male-beneficial selective forces. Further work identified transcriptomal differences between X- and Y-bearing spermatids and uncovered that meiotic sex-chromosome inactivation (MSCI) also occurs in monotremes and hence is common to mammalian sex-chromosome systems. Thus, the mechanism of meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin, which underlies MSCI, is an ancestral mammalian feature. Our study illuminates the molecular evolution of spermatogenesis and associated selective forces, and provides a resource for investigating the biology of the testis across mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Murat
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. .,INRAE, LPGP, Rennes, France.
| | - Noe Mbengue
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Sofia Boeg Winge
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.,International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Timo Trefzer
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, University of Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of the Free University of Berlin, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Evgeny Leushkin
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Mari Sepp
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Julia Schmidt
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Celine Schneider
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katharina Mößinger
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Thoomke Brüning
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Francesco Lamanna
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Christian Conrad
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, University of Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of the Free University of Berlin, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ivanela Kondova
- Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC), Rijswijk, the Netherlands
| | - Ronald Bontrop
- Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC), Rijswijk, the Netherlands
| | - Rüdiger Behr
- German Primate Center (DPZ), Platform Degenerative Diseases, Göttingen, Germany.,German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Philipp Khaitovich
- Center for Neurobiology and Brain Restoration, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia
| | - Svante Pääbo
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tomas Marques-Bonet
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain.,Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.,CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.,Miquel Crusafont Catalan Institute of Paleontology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Frank Grützner
- The Robinson Research Institute, School of Biological Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Kristian Almstrup
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.,International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Henrik Kaessmann
- Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
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10
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Chromosome-scale genome assembly of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei), an emerging model species. Commun Biol 2022; 5:1126. [PMID: 36284162 PMCID: PMC9596491 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04074-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid technological improvements are democratizing access to high quality, chromosome-scale genome assemblies. No longer the domain of only the most highly studied model organisms, now non-traditional and emerging model species can be genome-enabled using a combination of sequencing technologies and assembly software. Consequently, old ideas built on sparse sampling across the tree of life have recently been amended in the face of genomic data drawn from a growing number of high-quality reference genomes. Arguably the most valuable are those long-studied species for which much is already known about their biology; what many term emerging model species. Here, we report a highly complete chromosome-scale genome assembly for the brown anole, Anolis sagrei – a lizard species widely studied across a variety of disciplines and for which a high-quality reference genome was long overdue. This assembly exceeds the vast majority of existing reptile and snake genomes in contiguity (N50 = 253.6 Mb) and annotation completeness. Through the analysis of this genome and population resequence data, we examine the history of repetitive element accumulation, identify the X chromosome, and propose a hypothesis for the evolutionary history of fusions between autosomes and the X that led to the sex chromosomes of A. sagrei. A highly-complete chromosome-scale genome assembly of the brown anole, Anolis sagrei, provides insight into the evolution of sex chromosomes and is a crucial resource for this model lizard species.
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11
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Beucher A, Miguel-Escalada I, Balboa D, De Vas MG, Maestro MA, Garcia-Hurtado J, Bernal A, Gonzalez-Franco R, Vargiu P, Heyn H, Ravassard P, Ortega S, Ferrer J. The HASTER lncRNA promoter is a cis-acting transcriptional stabilizer of HNF1A. Nat Cell Biol 2022; 24:1528-1540. [PMID: 36202974 PMCID: PMC9586874 DOI: 10.1038/s41556-022-00996-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The biological purpose of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is poorly understood. Haploinsufficient mutations in HNF1A homeobox A (HNF1A), encoding a homeodomain transcription factor, cause diabetes mellitus. Here, we examine HASTER, the promoter of an lncRNA antisense to HNF1A. Using mouse and human models, we show that HASTER maintains cell-specific physiological HNF1A concentrations through positive and negative feedback loops. Pancreatic β cells from Haster mutant mice consequently showed variegated HNF1A silencing or overexpression, resulting in hyperglycaemia. HASTER-dependent negative feedback was essential to prevent HNF1A binding to inappropriate genomic regions. We demonstrate that the HASTER promoter DNA, rather than the lncRNA, modulates HNF1A promoter-enhancer interactions in cis and thereby regulates HNF1A transcription. Our studies expose a cis-regulatory element that is unlike classic enhancers or silencers, it stabilizes the transcription of its target gene and ensures the fidelity of a cell-specific transcription factor program. They also show that disruption of a mammalian lncRNA promoter can cause diabetes mellitus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Beucher
- Section of Genetics and Genomics, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Irene Miguel-Escalada
- Section of Genetics and Genomics, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Diego Balboa
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Matías G De Vas
- Section of Genetics and Genomics, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Miguel Angel Maestro
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier Garcia-Hurtado
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Aina Bernal
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Roser Gonzalez-Franco
- Section of Genetics and Genomics, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | | | - Holger Heyn
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Philippe Ravassard
- Biotechnology and Biotherapy Team, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle, CNRS UMR7225, INSERM U975, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
| | - Sagrario Ortega
- Transgenics Unit, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jorge Ferrer
- Section of Genetics and Genomics, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas, Madrid, Spain.
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12
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Kitao K, Miyazawa T, Nakagawa S. Monotreme-Specific Conserved Putative Proteins Derived from Retroviral Reverse Transcriptase. Virus Evol 2022; 8:veac084. [PMID: 36176487 PMCID: PMC9514029 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veac084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) have played an essential role in the evolution of mammals. ERV-derived genes are reported in the therians, many of which are involved in placental development; however, the contribution of the ERV-derived genes in monotremes, which are oviparous mammals, remains to be uncovered. Here, we conducted a comprehensive search for possible ERV-derived genes in platypus and echidna genomes and identified three reverse transcriptase-like genes named RTOM1, RTOM2, and RTOM3 clustered in the GRIP2 intron. Comparative genomic analyses revealed that RTOM1, RTOM2, and RTOM3 are strongly conserved and are under purifying selection between these species. These could be generated by tandem duplications before the divergence of platypus and echidna. All RTOM transcripts were specifically expressed in the testis, possibly suggesting their physiological importance. This is the first study reporting monotreme-specific de novo gene candidates derived from ERVs, which provides new insights into the unique evolution of monotremes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koichi Kitao
- Laboratory of Virus-Host Coevolution, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University , Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
| | - Takayuki Miyazawa
- Laboratory of Virus-Host Coevolution, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University , Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
| | - So Nakagawa
- Department of Molecular Life Science, Tokai University School of Medicine , Isehara, Kanagawa 259-1193, Japan
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13
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Suárez-Varón G, Mendoza-Cruz E, Acosta A, Villagrán-Santa Cruz M, Cortez D, Hernández-Gallegos O. Genetic determination and JARID2 over-expression in a thermal incubation experiment in Casque-Headed Lizard. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0263804. [PMID: 35797377 PMCID: PMC9262179 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-avian reptiles, unlike mammals and birds, have undergone numerous sex determination changes. Casque-Headed Lizards have replaced the ancestral XY system shared across pleurodonts with a new pair of XY chromosomes. However, the evolutionary forces that triggered this transition have remained unclear. An interesting hypothesis suggests that species with intermediate states, with sex chromosomes but also thermal-induced sex reversal at specific incubation temperatures, could be more susceptible to sex determination turnovers. We contrasted genotypic data (presence/absence of the Y chromosome) against the histology of gonads of embryos from stages 35–37 incubated at various temperatures, including typical male-producing (26°C) and female-producing (32°C) temperatures. Our work apparently reports for the first time the histology of gonads, including morphological changes, from stages 35–37 of development in the family Corytophanidae. We also observed that all embryos developed hemipenes, suggesting sex-linked developmental heterochrony. We observed perfect concordance between genotype and phenotype at all temperatures. However, analysis of transcriptomic data from embryos incubated at 26°C and 32°C identified transcript variants of the chromatin modifiers JARID2 and KDM6B that have been linked to temperature-dependent sex determination in other reptiles. Our work tested the validity of a mixed sex determination system in the family Corytophanidae. We found that XY chromosomes are dominant; however, our work supports the hypothesis of a conserved transcriptional response to incubation temperatures across non-avian reptiles that could be a reminiscence of an ancestral sex determination system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Suárez-Varón
- Laboratorio de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Instituto Literario # 100 Centro, Toluca, Estado de México, México
| | - Eva Mendoza-Cruz
- Laboratorio de Biología Tisular y Reproductora, Departamento de Biología Comparada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | | | - Maricela Villagrán-Santa Cruz
- Laboratorio de Biología Tisular y Reproductora, Departamento de Biología Comparada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Diego Cortez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, UNAM, Cuernavaca, México
- * E-mail:
| | - Oswaldo Hernández-Gallegos
- Laboratorio de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Instituto Literario # 100 Centro, Toluca, Estado de México, México
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14
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Ishihara T, Hickford D, Fenelon JC, Griffith OW, Suzuki S, Renfree MB. Evolution of the short form of DNMT3A, DNMT3A2, occurred in the common ancestor of mammals. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 14:6615359. [PMID: 35749276 PMCID: PMC9254654 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Genomic imprinting is found in marsupial and eutherian mammals, but not in monotremes. While the primary regulator of genomic imprinting in eutherians is differential DNA methylation between parental alleles, conserved imprinted genes in marsupials tend to lack DNA methylation at their promoters. DNA methylation at eutherian imprinted genes is mainly catalysed by a DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) enzyme, DNMT3A. There are two isoforms of eutherian DNMT3A: DNMT3A and DNMT3A2. DNMT3A2 is the primary isoform for establishing DNA methylation at eutherian imprinted genes and is essential for eutherian genomic imprinting. In this study, we investigated whether DNMT3A2 is also present in the two other mammalian lineages, marsupials and monotremes. We identified DNMT3A2 in both marsupials and monotremes, although imprinting has not been identified in monotremes. By analysing genomic sequences and transcriptome data across vertebrates, we concluded that the evolution of DNMT3A2 occurred in the common ancestor of mammals. In addition, DNMT3A/3A2 gene and protein expression during gametogenesis showed distinct sexual dimorphisms in a marsupial, the tammar wallaby, and this pattern coincided with the sex-specific DNA methylation reprogramming in this species as it does in mice. Our results show that DNMT3A2 is present in all mammalian groups and suggests that the basic DNMT3A/3A2-based DNA methylation mechanism is conserved at least in therian mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teruhito Ishihara
- School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Danielle Hickford
- School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Jane C Fenelon
- School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Oliver W Griffith
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Shunsuke Suzuki
- Department of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan
| | - Marilyn B Renfree
- School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
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15
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Muyle A, Marais GAB, Bačovský V, Hobza R, Lenormand T. Dosage compensation evolution in plants: theories, controversies and mechanisms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210222. [PMID: 35306896 PMCID: PMC8935305 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
In a minority of flowering plants, separate sexes are genetically determined by sex chromosomes. The Y chromosome has a non-recombining region that degenerates, causing a reduced expression of Y genes. In some species, the lower Y expression is accompanied by dosage compensation (DC), a mechanism that re-equalizes male and female expression and/or brings XY male expression back to its ancestral level. Here, we review work on DC in plants, which started as early as the late 1960s with cytological approaches. The use of transcriptomics fired a controversy as to whether DC existed in plants. Further work revealed that various plants exhibit partial DC, including a few species with young and homomorphic sex chromosomes. We are starting to understand the mechanisms responsible for DC in some plants, but in most species, we lack the data to differentiate between global and gene-by-gene DC. Also, it is unknown why some species evolve many dosage compensated genes while others do not. Finally, the forces that drive DC evolution remain mysterious, both in plants and animals. We review the multiple evolutionary theories that have been proposed to explain DC patterns in eukaryotes with XY or ZW sex chromosomes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sex determination and sex chromosome evolution in land plants'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Muyle
- Laboratoire 'Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive', CNRS/Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Gabriel A B Marais
- Laboratoire 'Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive', CNRS/Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France.,CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.,Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal.,BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Václav Bačovský
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Roman Hobza
- Department of Plant Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Kralovopolska 135, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Thomas Lenormand
- CEFE, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
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16
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Trujillo N, Martínez-Pacheco M, Soldatini C, Ancona S, Young RC, Albores-Barajas YV, Orta AH, Rodríguez C, Székely T, Drummond H, Urrutia AO, Cortez D. Lack of age-related mosaic loss of W chromosome in long-lived birds. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20210553. [PMID: 35193370 PMCID: PMC8864339 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Females and males often exhibit different survival in nature, and it has been hypothesized that sex chromosomes may play a role in driving differential survival rates. For instance, the Y chromosome in mammals and the W chromosome in birds are often degenerated, with reduced numbers of genes, and loss of the Y chromosome in old men is associated with shorter life expectancy. However, mosaic loss of sex chromosomes has not been investigated in any non-human species. Here, we tested whether mosaic loss of the W chromosome (LOW) occurs with ageing in wild birds as a natural consequence of cellular senescence. Using loci-specific PCR and a target sequencing approach we estimated LOW in both young and adult individuals of two long-lived bird species and showed that the copy number of W chromosomes remains constant across age groups. Our results suggest that LOW is not a consequence of cellular ageing in birds. We concluded that the inheritance of the W chromosome in birds, unlike the Y chromosome in mammals, is more stable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy Trujillo
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, UNAM, CP62210, Cuernavaca, México
| | - Mónica Martínez-Pacheco
- Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, CP76010, Querétaro, México
| | - Cecilia Soldatini
- Centro de Investigación Científica y Educación Superior de Ensenada - Unidad La Paz, Calle Miraflores 334, CP23050, La Paz, Baja California Sur, México
| | - Sergio Ancona
- Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, CP04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Rebecca C Young
- Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, CP04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Yuri V Albores-Barajas
- CONACYT. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Av. Insurgentes Sur 1582, Col. Crédito Constructor. Alcaldía Benito Juárez, CP03940, Ciudad de México, México.,Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur., Km. 5.5 Carr. 1. La Paz, Baja California Sur, México
| | - Alberto H Orta
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, UNAM, CP62210, Cuernavaca, México
| | - Cristina Rodríguez
- Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, CP04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Tamas Székely
- Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.,Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen H-4032, Hungary
| | - Hugh Drummond
- Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, CP04510, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Araxi O Urrutia
- Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, CP04510, Ciudad de México, México.,Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Diego Cortez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, UNAM, CP62210, Cuernavaca, México
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17
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Lee J, Wacholder A, Carvunis AR. Evolutionary Characterization of the Short Protein SPAAR. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12121864. [PMID: 34946813 PMCID: PMC8702040 DOI: 10.3390/genes12121864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2021] [Revised: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Microproteins (<100 amino acids) are receiving increasing recognition as important participants in numerous biological processes, but their evolutionary dynamics are poorly understood. SPAAR is a recently discovered microprotein that regulates muscle regeneration and angiogenesis through interactions with conserved signaling pathways. Interestingly, SPAAR does not belong to any known protein family and has known homologs exclusively among placental mammals. This lack of distant homology could be caused by challenges in homology detection of short sequences, or it could indicate a recent de novo emergence from a noncoding sequence. By integrating syntenic alignments and homology searches, we identify SPAAR orthologs in marsupials and monotremes, establishing that SPAAR has existed at least since the emergence of mammals. SPAAR shows substantial primary sequence divergence but retains a conserved protein structure. In primates, we infer two independent evolutionary events leading to the de novo origination of 5' elongated isoforms of SPAAR from a noncoding sequence and find evidence of adaptive evolution in this extended region. Thus, SPAAR may be of ancient origin, but it appears to be experiencing continual evolutionary innovation in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiwon Lee
- Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (J.L.); (A.W.)
- Pittsburgh Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Joint CMU-Pitt Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Aaron Wacholder
- Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (J.L.); (A.W.)
- Pittsburgh Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis
- Department of Computational and Systems Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (J.L.); (A.W.)
- Pittsburgh Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-412-648-3335
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18
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Sex Chromosomes and Master Sex-Determining Genes in Turtles and Other Reptiles. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12111822. [PMID: 34828428 PMCID: PMC8622242 DOI: 10.3390/genes12111822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2021] [Revised: 11/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Among tetrapods, the well differentiated heteromorphic sex chromosomes of birds and mammals have been highly investigated and their master sex-determining (MSD) gene, Dmrt1 and SRY, respectively, have been identified. The homomorphic sex chromosomes of reptiles have been the least studied, but the gap with birds and mammals has begun to fill. This review describes our current knowledge of reptilian sex chromosomes at the cytogenetic and molecular level. Most of it arose recently from various studies comparing male to female gene content. This includes restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) experiments in several male and female samples, RNA sequencing and identification of Z- or X-linked genes by male/female comparative transcriptome coverage, and male/female transcriptomic or transcriptome/genome substraction approaches allowing the identification of Y- or W-linked transcripts. A few putative master sex-determining (MSD) genes have been proposed, but none has been demonstrated yet. Lastly, future directions in the field of reptilian sex chromosomes and their MSD gene studies are considered.
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19
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Stöck M, Kratochvíl L, Kuhl H, Rovatsos M, Evans BJ, Suh A, Valenzuela N, Veyrunes F, Zhou Q, Gamble T, Capel B, Schartl M, Guiguen Y. A brief review of vertebrate sex evolution with a pledge for integrative research: towards ' sexomics'. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200426. [PMID: 34247497 PMCID: PMC8293304 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Triggers and biological processes controlling male or female gonadal differentiation vary in vertebrates, with sex determination (SD) governed by environmental factors or simple to complex genetic mechanisms that evolved repeatedly and independently in various groups. Here, we review sex evolution across major clades of vertebrates with information on SD, sexual development and reproductive modes. We offer an up-to-date review of divergence times, species diversity, genomic resources, genome size, occurrence and nature of polyploids, SD systems, sex chromosomes, SD genes, dosage compensation and sex-biased gene expression. Advances in sequencing technologies now enable us to study the evolution of SD at broader evolutionary scales, and we now hope to pursue a sexomics integrative research initiative across vertebrates. The vertebrate sexome comprises interdisciplinary and integrated information on sexual differentiation, development and reproduction at all biological levels, from genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes, to the organs involved in sexual and sex-specific processes, including gonads, secondary sex organs and those with transcriptional sex-bias. The sexome also includes ontogenetic and behavioural aspects of sexual differentiation, including malfunction and impairment of SD, sexual differentiation and fertility. Starting from data generated by high-throughput approaches, we encourage others to contribute expertise to building understanding of the sexomes of many key vertebrate species. This article is part of the theme issue 'Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part I)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Stöck
- Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries—IGB (Forschungsverbund Berlin), Müggelseedamm 301, 12587 Berlin, Germany
- Amphibian Research Center, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
| | - Lukáš Kratochvíl
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 12844 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Heiner Kuhl
- Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries—IGB (Forschungsverbund Berlin), Müggelseedamm 301, 12587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Michail Rovatsos
- Amphibian Research Center, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
| | - Ben J. Evans
- Department of Biology, McMaster University, Life Sciences Building Room 328, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1
| | - Alexander Suh
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TU, UK
- Department of Organismal Biology—Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Nicole Valenzuela
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Frédéric Veyrunes
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, ISEM UMR 5554 (CNRS/Université de Montpellier/IRD/EPHE), Montpellier, France
| | - Qi Zhou
- MOE Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis and Protection and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Cancer Molecular Cell Biology, Life Sciences Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, People's Republic of China
- Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Tony Gamble
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA
| | - Blanche Capel
- Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Manfred Schartl
- Developmental Biochemistry, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
- The Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
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20
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Bista B, Wu Z, Literman R, Valenzuela N. Thermosensitive sex chromosome dosage compensation in ZZ/ZW softshell turtles, Apalone spinifera. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200101. [PMID: 34304598 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Sex chromosome dosage compensation (SCDC) overcomes gene-dose imbalances that disturb transcriptional networks, as when ZW females or XY males are hemizygous for Z/X genes. Mounting data from non-model organisms reveal diverse SCDC mechanisms, yet their evolution remains obscure, because most informative lineages with variable sex chromosomes are unstudied. Here, we discovered SCDC in turtles and an unprecedented thermosensitive SCDC in eukaryotes. We contrasted RNA-seq expression of Z-genes, their autosomal orthologues, and control autosomal genes in Apalone spinifera (ZZ/ZW) and Chrysemys picta turtles with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) (proxy for ancestral expression). This approach disentangled chromosomal context effects on Z-linked and autosomal expression, from lineage effects owing to selection or drift. Embryonic Apalone SCDC is tissue- and age-dependent, regulated gene-by-gene, complete in females via Z-upregulation in both sexes (Type IV) but partial and environmentally plastic via Z-downregulation in males (accentuated at colder temperature), present in female hatchlings and a weakly suggestive in adult liver (Type I). Results indicate that embryonic SCDC evolved with/after sex chromosomes in Apalone's family Tryonichidae, while co-opting Z-gene upregulation present in the TSD ancestor. Notably, Apalone's SCDC resembles pygmy snake's, and differs from the full-SCDC of Anolis lizards who share homologous sex chromosomes (XY), advancing our understanding of how XX/XY and ZZ/ZW systems compensate gene-dose imbalance. This article is part of the theme issue 'Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part II)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Basanta Bista
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Zhiqiang Wu
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.,Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, People's Republic of China
| | - Robert Literman
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Nicole Valenzuela
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
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21
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Lisachov AP, Tishakova KV, Romanenko SA, Molodtseva AS, Prokopov DY, Pereira JC, Ferguson-Smith MA, Borodin PM, Trifonov VA. Whole-chromosome fusions in the karyotype evolution of Sceloporus (Iguania, Reptilia) are more frequent in sex chromosomes than autosomes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200099. [PMID: 34304596 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Whole-chromosome fusions play a major role in the karyotypic evolution of reptiles. It has been suggested that certain chromosomes tend to fuse with sex chromosomes more frequently than others. However, the comparative genomic synteny data are too scarce to draw strong conclusions. We obtained and sequenced chromosome-specific DNA pools of Sceloporus malachiticus, an iguanian species which has experienced many chromosome fusions. We found that four of seven lineage-specific fusions involved sex chromosomes, and that certain syntenic blocks which constitute the sex chromosomes, such as the homologues of the Anolis carolinensis chromosomes 11 and 16, are repeatedly involved in sex chromosome formation in different squamate species. To test the hypothesis that the karyotypic shift could be associated with changes in recombination patterns, we performed a synaptonemal complex analysis in this species and in Sceloporus variabilis (2n = 34). It revealed that the sex chromosomes in S. malachiticus had two distal pseudoautosomal regions and a medial differentiated region. We found that multiple fusions little affected the recombination rate in S. malachiticus. Our data confirm more frequent involvement of certain chromosomes in sex chromosome formation, but do not reveal a connection between the gonosome-autosome fusions and the evolution of recombination rate. This article is part of the theme issue 'Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part II)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artem P Lisachov
- Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Biology (X-BIO), Tyumen State University, Tyumen 625003, Russia.,Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Katerina V Tishakova
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.,Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Svetlana A Romanenko
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.,Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Anna S Molodtseva
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Dmitry Yu Prokopov
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Jorge C Pereira
- Cambridge Resource Centre for Comparative Genomics, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Malcolm A Ferguson-Smith
- Cambridge Resource Centre for Comparative Genomics, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Pavel M Borodin
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.,Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Vladimir A Trifonov
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia.,Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
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22
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Keller Valsecchi CI, Marois E, Basilicata MF, Georgiev P, Akhtar A. Distinct mechanisms mediate X chromosome dosage compensation in Anopheles and Drosophila. Life Sci Alliance 2021; 4:4/9/e202000996. [PMID: 34266874 PMCID: PMC8321682 DOI: 10.26508/lsa.202000996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Revised: 06/27/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
CRISPR knockout of msl-2 and epigenome analyses in Anopheles reveal that X chromosome dosage compensation in mosquitos and Drosophila is achieved by two different molecular mechanisms. Sex chromosomes induce potentially deleterious gene expression imbalances that are frequently corrected by dosage compensation (DC). Three distinct molecular strategies to achieve DC have been previously described in nematodes, fruit flies, and mammals. Is this a consequence of distinct genomes, functional or ecological constraints, or random initial commitment to an evolutionary trajectory? Here, we study DC in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. The Anopheles and Drosophila X chromosomes evolved independently but share a high degree of homology. We find that Anopheles achieves DC by a mechanism distinct from the Drosophila MSL complex–histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation pathway. CRISPR knockout of Anopheles msl-2 leads to embryonic lethality in both sexes. Transcriptome analyses indicate that this phenotype is not a consequence of defective X chromosome DC. By immunofluorescence and ChIP, H4K16ac does not preferentially enrich on the male X. Instead, the mosquito MSL pathway regulates conserved developmental genes. We conclude that a novel mechanism confers X chromosome up-regulation in Anopheles. Our findings highlight the pluralism of gene-dosage buffering mechanisms even under similar genomic and functional constraints.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eric Marois
- Université de Strasbourg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UPR9022, Inserm U1257, Strasbourg, France
| | - M Felicia Basilicata
- Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany.,Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Mainz, Germany
| | - Plamen Georgiev
- Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Asifa Akhtar
- Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany
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23
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Cornejo-Páramo P, Dissanayake DSB, Lira-Noriega A, Martínez-Pacheco ML, Acosta A, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Méndez-de-la-Cruz FR, Székely T, Urrutia AO, Georges A, Cortez D. Viviparous Reptile Regarded to Have Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination Has Old XY Chromosomes. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 12:924-930. [PMID: 32433751 PMCID: PMC7313667 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The water skinks Eulamprus tympanum and Eulamprus heatwolei show thermally induced sex determination where elevated temperatures give rise to male offspring. Paradoxically, Eulamprus species reproduce in temperatures of 12–15 °C making them outliers when compared with reptiles that use temperature as a cue for sex determination. Moreover, these two species are among the very few viviparous reptiles reported to have thermally induced sex determination. Thus, we tested whether these skinks possess undetected sex chromosomes with thermal override. We produced transcriptome and genome data for E. heatwolei. We found that E. heatwolei presents XY chromosomes that include 14 gametologs with regulatory functions. The Y chromosomal region is 79–116 Myr old and shared between water and spotted skinks. Our work provides clear evidence that climate could be useful to predict the type of sex determination systems in reptiles and it also indicates that viviparity is strictly associated with sex chromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Cornejo-Páramo
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, México.,Department of Biology and Biochemistry, Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Duminda S B Dissanayake
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Australia.,CSIRO, Australian National Wildlife Collection, Canberra, Australia
| | - Andrés Lira-Noriega
- CONACYT Research Fellow, Red de Estudios Moleculares Avanzados, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, Xalapa, Veracruz, México
| | | | | | - Ciro Ramírez-Suástegui
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, México.,Department of Biology and Biochemistry, Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, United Kingdom
| | | | - Tamás Székely
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, United Kingdom.,Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Araxi O Urrutia
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, United Kingdom.,Institute of Ecology, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Arthur Georges
- Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Australia
| | - Diego Cortez
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, México
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24
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Metzger DCH, Sandkam BA, Darolti I, Mank JE. Rapid Evolution of Complete Dosage Compensation in Poecilia. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 13:6317675. [PMID: 34240180 PMCID: PMC8325565 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evab155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Dosage compensation balances gene expression between the sexes in systems with diverged heterogametic sex chromosomes. Theory predicts that dosage compensation should rapidly evolve in tandem with the divergence of sex chromosomes to prevent the deleterious effects of dosage imbalances that occur as a result of sex chromosome divergence. Examples of complete dosage compensation, where gene expression of the entire sex chromosome is compensated, are rare, and have only been found in relatively ancient sex chromosome systems. Consequently, very little is known about the evolutionary dynamics of complete dosage compensation systems. Within the family Poeciliidae the subgenus Lebistes share the same sex chromosome system which originated 18.48–26.08 Ma. In Poecilia reticulata and P. wingei, the Y chromosome has been largely maintained, whereas the Y in the closely related species P. picta and P. parae has rapidly degraded. We recently found P. picta to be the first example of complete dosage compensation in a fish. Here, we show that P. parae also has complete dosage compensation, thus complete dosage compensation likely evolved in the short (∼3.7 Myr) interval after the split of the ancestor of these two species from P. reticulata, but before they diverged from each other. These data suggest that novel dosage compensation mechanisms can evolve rapidly, thus supporting the longstanding theoretical prediction that such mechanisms arise in tandem with rapidly diverging sex chromosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C H Metzger
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Benjamin A Sandkam
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Iulia Darolti
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Judith E Mank
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Canada.,Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall, United Kingdom
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25
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Lisachov A, Andreyushkova D, Davletshina G, Prokopov D, Romanenko S, Galkina S, Saifitdinova A, Simonov E, Borodin P, Trifonov V. Amplified Fragments of an Autosome-Borne Gene Constitute a Significant Component of the W Sex Chromosome of Eremias velox (Reptilia, Lacertidae). Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:779. [PMID: 34065205 PMCID: PMC8160951 DOI: 10.3390/genes12050779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Revised: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Heteromorphic W and Y sex chromosomes often experience gene loss and heterochromatinization, which is frequently viewed as their "degeneration". However, the evolutionary trajectories of the heterochromosomes are in fact more complex since they may not only lose but also acquire new sequences. Previously, we found that the heterochromatic W chromosome of a lizard Eremias velox (Lacertidae) is decondensed and thus transcriptionally active during the lampbrush stage. To determine possible sources of this transcription, we sequenced DNA from a microdissected W chromosome sample and a total female DNA sample and analyzed the results of reference-based and de novo assembly. We found a new repetitive sequence, consisting of fragments of an autosomal protein-coding gene ATF7IP2, several SINE elements, and sequences of unknown origin. This repetitive element is distributed across the whole length of the W chromosome, except the centromeric region. Since it retained only 3 out of 10 original ATF7IP2 exons, it remains unclear whether it is able to produce a protein product. Subsequent studies are required to test the presence of this element in other species of Lacertidae and possible functionality. Our results provide further evidence for the view of W and Y chromosomes as not just "degraded" copies of Z and X chromosomes but independent genomic segments in which novel genetic elements may arise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artem Lisachov
- Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Biology (X-BIO), University of Tyumen, Lenina str. 23, 625003 Tyumen, Russia;
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 10, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (G.D.); (P.B.)
| | - Daria Andreyushkova
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 8/2, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (D.A.); (D.P.); (S.R.); (V.T.)
| | - Guzel Davletshina
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 10, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (G.D.); (P.B.)
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 8/2, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (D.A.); (D.P.); (S.R.); (V.T.)
| | - Dmitry Prokopov
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 8/2, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (D.A.); (D.P.); (S.R.); (V.T.)
| | - Svetlana Romanenko
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 8/2, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (D.A.); (D.P.); (S.R.); (V.T.)
| | - Svetlana Galkina
- Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya Emb. 7–9, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia;
| | - Alsu Saifitdinova
- Department of Human and Animal Anatomy and Physiology, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Moyka Emb. 48, 191186 Saint Petersburg, Russia;
| | - Evgeniy Simonov
- Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Biology (X-BIO), University of Tyumen, Lenina str. 23, 625003 Tyumen, Russia;
| | - Pavel Borodin
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 10, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (G.D.); (P.B.)
- Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str. 3, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Vladimir Trifonov
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentiev Ave. 8/2, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (D.A.); (D.P.); (S.R.); (V.T.)
- Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str. 3, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
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26
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Muyle A, Bachtrog D, Marais GAB, Turner JMA. Epigenetics drive the evolution of sex chromosomes in animals and plants. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200124. [PMID: 33866802 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We review how epigenetics affect sex chromosome evolution in animals and plants. In a few species, sex is determined epigenetically through the action of Y-encoded small RNAs. Epigenetics is also responsible for changing the sex of individuals through time, even in species that carry sex chromosomes, and could favour species adaptation through breeding system plasticity. The Y chromosome accumulates repeats that become epigenetically silenced which leads to an epigenetic conflict with the expression of Y genes and could accelerate Y degeneration. Y heterochromatin can be lost through ageing, which activates transposable elements and lowers male longevity. Y chromosome degeneration has led to the evolution of meiotic sex chromosome inactivation in eutherians (placentals) and marsupials, and dosage compensation mechanisms in animals and plants. X-inactivation convergently evolved in eutherians and marsupials via two independently evolved non-coding RNAs. In Drosophila, male X upregulation by the male specific lethal (MSL) complex can spread to neo-X chromosomes through the transposition of transposable elements that carry an MSL-binding motif. We discuss similarities and possible differences between plants and animals and suggest future directions for this dynamic field of research. This article is part of the theme issue 'How does epigenetics influence the course of evolution?'
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Muyle
- University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Doris Bachtrog
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Gabriel A B Marais
- Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive UMR 5558, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.,LEAF- Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
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27
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Abstract
Although oral venom systems are ecologically important characters, how they originated is still unclear. In this study, we show that oral venom systems likely originated from a gene regulatory network conserved across amniotes. This network, which we term the “metavenom network,” comprises over 3,000 housekeeping genes coexpressed with venom and play a role in protein folding and modification. Comparative transcriptomics revealed that the network is conserved between venom glands of snakes and salivary glands of mammals. This suggests that while these tissues have evolved different functions, they share a common regulatory core, that persisted since their common ancestor. We propose several evolutionary mechanisms that can utilize this common regulatory core to give rise to venomous animals from their nonvenomous ancestors. Oral venom systems evolved multiple times in numerous vertebrates enabling the exploitation of unique predatory niches. Yet how and when they evolved remains poorly understood. Up to now, most research on venom evolution has focused strictly on the toxins. However, using toxins present in modern day animals to trace the origin of the venom system is difficult, since they tend to evolve rapidly, show complex patterns of expression, and were incorporated into the venom arsenal relatively recently. Here we focus on gene regulatory networks associated with the production of toxins in snakes, rather than the toxins themselves. We found that overall venom gland gene expression was surprisingly well conserved when compared to salivary glands of other amniotes. We characterized the “metavenom network,” a network of ∼3,000 nonsecreted housekeeping genes that are strongly coexpressed with the toxins, and are primarily involved in protein folding and modification. Conserved across amniotes, this network was coopted for venom evolution by exaptation of existing members and the recruitment of new toxin genes. For instance, starting from this common molecular foundation, Heloderma lizards, shrews, and solenodon, evolved venoms in parallel by overexpression of kallikreins, which were common in ancestral saliva and induce vasodilation when injected, causing circulatory shock. Derived venoms, such as those of snakes, incorporated novel toxins, though still rely on hypotension for prey immobilization. These similarities suggest repeated cooption of shared molecular machinery for the evolution of oral venom in mammals and reptiles, blurring the line between truly venomous animals and their ancestors.
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28
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Rovatsos M, Kratochvíl L. Evolution of dosage compensation does not depend on genomic background. Mol Ecol 2021; 30:1836-1845. [PMID: 33606326 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2020] [Revised: 02/14/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Organisms have evolved various mechanisms to cope with the differences in the gene copy numbers between sexes caused by degeneration of Y and W sex chromosomes. Complete dosage compensation or at least expression balance between sexes has been reported predominantly in XX/XY systems, but rarely in ZZ/ZW systems. However, this often-reported pattern is based on comparisons of lineages where sex chromosomes evolved from nonhomologous genomic regions, potentially differing in sensitivity to differences in gene copy numbers. Here we document that two reptilian lineages (XX/XY iguanas and ZZ/ZW softshell turtles), which independently co-opted the same ancestral genomic region for the function of sex chromosomes, evolved different gene dose regulatory mechanisms. The independent co-option of the same genomic region for the role of sex chromosomes as in the iguanas and the softshell turtles offers great opportunity for testing evolutionary scenarios on sex chromosome evolution under the explicit control of the genomic background and gene identity. We show that the parallel loss of functional genes from the Y chromosome of the green anole and the W chromosome of the Florida softshell turtle led to different dosage compensation mechanisms. Our approach controlling for genetic background thus does not support that the variability in the regulation of gene dose differences is a consequence of ancestral autosomal gene content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michail Rovatsos
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Lukáš Kratochvíl
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
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29
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Kostmann A, Kratochvíl L, Rovatsos M. Poorly differentiated XX/XY sex chromosomes are widely shared across skink radiation. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202139. [PMID: 33468012 PMCID: PMC7893288 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2020] [Accepted: 12/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Differentiated sex chromosomes are believed to be evolutionarily stable, while poorly differentiated sex chromosomes are considered to be prone to turnovers. With around 1700 currently known species forming ca 15% of reptile species diversity, skinks (family Scincidae) are a very diverse group of squamates known for their large ecological and morphological variability. Skinks generally have poorly differentiated and cytogenetically indistinguishable sex chromosomes, and their sex determination was suggested to be highly variable. Here, we determined X-linked genes in the common sandfish (Scincus scincus) and demonstrate that skinks have shared the same homologous XX/XY sex chromosomes across their wide phylogenetic spectrum for at least 85 million years, approaching the age of the highly differentiated ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes of birds and advanced snakes. Skinks thus demonstrate that even poorly differentiated sex chromosomes can be evolutionarily stable. The conservation of sex chromosomes across skinks allows us to introduce the first molecular sexing method widely applicable in this group.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Michail Rovatsos
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
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30
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Li Z, Zhang Y, Bush SJ, Tang C, Chen L, Zhang D, Urrutia AO, Lin JW, Chen L. MeDAS: a Metazoan Developmental Alternative Splicing database. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:D144-D150. [PMID: 33084905 PMCID: PMC7779033 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Alternative splicing is widespread throughout eukaryotic genomes and greatly increases transcriptomic diversity. Many alternative isoforms have functional roles in developmental processes and are precisely temporally regulated. To facilitate the study of alternative splicing in a developmental context, we created MeDAS, a Metazoan Developmental Alternative Splicing database. MeDAS is an added-value resource that re-analyses publicly archived RNA-seq libraries to provide quantitative data on alternative splicing events as they vary across the time course of development. It has broad temporal and taxonomic scope and is intended to assist the user in identifying trends in alternative splicing throughout development. To create MeDAS, we re-analysed a curated set of 2232 Illumina polyA+ RNA-seq libraries that chart detailed time courses of embryonic and post-natal development across 18 species with a taxonomic range spanning the major metazoan lineages from Caenorhabditis elegans to human. MeDAS is freely available at https://das.chenlulab.com both as raw data tables and as an interactive browser allowing searches by species, tissue, or genomic feature (gene, transcript or exon ID and sequence). Results will provide details on alternative splicing events identified for the queried feature and can be visualised at the gene-, transcript- and exon-level as time courses of expression and inclusion levels, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhidan Li
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Yiming Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Stephen J Bush
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Chao Tang
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Li Chen
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Dan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Araxi O Urrutia
- Instituto de Ecologia, UNAM, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico.,Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Jing-Wen Lin
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Lu Chen
- Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children of MOE, Department of Laboratory Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
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31
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Dong N, Bandura J, Zhang Z, Wang Y, Labadie K, Noel B, Davison A, Koene JM, Sun HS, Coutellec MA, Feng ZP. Ion channel profiling of the Lymnaea stagnalis ganglia via transcriptome analysis. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:18. [PMID: 33407100 PMCID: PMC7789530 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-020-07287-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2020] [Accepted: 11/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis (L. stagnalis) has been widely used as a model organism in neurobiology, ecotoxicology, and parasitology due to the relative simplicity of its central nervous system (CNS). However, its usefulness is restricted by a limited availability of transcriptome data. While sequence information for the L. stagnalis CNS transcripts has been obtained from EST libraries and a de novo RNA-seq assembly, the quality of these assemblies is limited by a combination of low coverage of EST libraries, the fragmented nature of de novo assemblies, and lack of reference genome. RESULTS In this study, taking advantage of the recent availability of a preliminary L. stagnalis genome, we generated an RNA-seq library from the adult L. stagnalis CNS, using a combination of genome-guided and de novo assembly programs to identify 17,832 protein-coding L. stagnalis transcripts. We combined our library with existing resources to produce a transcript set with greater sequence length, completeness, and diversity than previously available ones. Using our assembly and functional domain analysis, we profiled L. stagnalis CNS transcripts encoding ion channels and ionotropic receptors, which are key proteins for CNS function, and compared their sequences to other vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms. Interestingly, L. stagnalis transcripts encoding numerous putative Ca2+ channels showed the most sequence similarity to those of Mus musculus, Danio rerio, Xenopus tropicalis, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhabditis elegans, suggesting that many calcium channel-related signaling pathways may be evolutionarily conserved. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides the most thorough characterization to date of the L. stagnalis transcriptome and provides insights into differences between vertebrates and invertebrates in CNS transcript diversity, according to function and protein class. Furthermore, this study provides a complete characterization of the ion channels of Lymnaea stagnalis, opening new avenues for future research on fundamental neurobiological processes in this model system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy Dong
- Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, 3308 MSB, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada
| | - Julia Bandura
- Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, 3308 MSB, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada
| | - Zhaolei Zhang
- Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E1, Canada
| | - Yan Wang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B2, Canada
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Karine Labadie
- Genoscope, Institut de biologie François Jacob, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Université Paris-Saclay, BP5706, 91057, Evry, France
| | - Benjamin Noel
- Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, University of Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, 91057, Evry, France
| | - Angus Davison
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Joris M Koene
- Department of Ecological Science, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Hong-Shuo Sun
- Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, 3308 MSB, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada
- Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A8, Canada
| | | | - Zhong-Ping Feng
- Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, 3308 MSB, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada.
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32
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Laureau R, Dyatel A, Dursuk G, Brown S, Adeoye H, Yue JX, De Chiara M, Harris A, Ünal E, Liti G, Adams IR, Berchowitz LE. Meiotic Cells Counteract Programmed Retrotransposon Activation via RNA-Binding Translational Repressor Assemblies. Dev Cell 2020; 56:22-35.e7. [PMID: 33278343 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2020] [Revised: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Retrotransposon proliferation poses a threat to germline integrity. While retrotransposons must be activated in developing germ cells in order to survive and propagate, how they are selectively activated in the context of meiosis is unclear. We demonstrate that the transcriptional activation of Ty3/Gypsy retrotransposons and host defense are controlled by master meiotic regulators. We show that budding yeast Ty3/Gypsy co-opts binding sites of the essential meiotic transcription factor Ndt80 upstream of the integration site, thereby tightly linking its transcriptional activation to meiotic progression. We also elucidate how yeast cells thwart Ty3/Gypsy proliferation by blocking translation of the retrotransposon mRNA using amyloid-like assemblies of the RNA-binding protein Rim4. In mammals, several inactive Ty3/Gypsy elements are undergoing domestication. We show that mammals utilize equivalent master meiotic regulators (Stra8, Mybl1, Dazl) to regulate Ty3/Gypsy-derived genes in developing gametes. Our findings inform how genes that are evolving from retrotransposons can build upon existing regulatory networks during domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphaelle Laureau
- Department of Genetics and Development, Hammer Health Sciences Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Annie Dyatel
- Department of Genetics and Development, Hammer Health Sciences Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Gizem Dursuk
- Department of Genetics and Development, Hammer Health Sciences Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Samantha Brown
- Department of Genetics and Development, Hammer Health Sciences Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Hannah Adeoye
- Department of Genetics and Development, Hammer Health Sciences Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Jia-Xing Yue
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Nice 06107, France
| | | | - Anthony Harris
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Elçin Ünal
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Gianni Liti
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INSERM, IRCAN, Nice 06107, France
| | - Ian R Adams
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Luke E Berchowitz
- Department of Genetics and Development, Hammer Health Sciences Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.
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33
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The evolution of sex chromosome dosage compensation in animals. J Genet Genomics 2020; 47:681-693. [PMID: 33579636 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2020.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2020] [Revised: 10/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/04/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The evolution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes shall lead to gene expression dosage problems, as in at least one of the sexes, the sex-linked gene dose has been reduced by half. It has been proposed that the transcriptional output of the whole X or Z chromosome should be doubled for complete dosage compensation in heterogametic sex. However, owing to the variability of the existing methods to determine the transcriptional differences between sex chromosomes and autosomes (S:A ratios) in different studies, we collected more than 500 public RNA-Seq data set from multiple tissues and species in major clades and proposed a unified computational framework for unbiased and comparable measurement of the S:A ratios of multiple species. We also tested the evolution of dosage compensation more directly by assessing changes in the expression levels of the current sex-linked genes relative to those of the ancestral sex-linked genes. We found that in mammals and birds, the S:A ratio is approximately 0.5, whereas in insects, fishes, and flatworms, the S:A ratio is approximately 1.0. Further analysis showed that the fraction of dosage-sensitive housekeeping genes on the X/Z chromosome is significantly correlated with the S:A ratio. In addition, the degree of degeneration of the Y chromosome may be responsible for the change in the S:A ratio in mammals without a dosage compensation mechanism. Our observations offer unequivocal support for the sex chromosome insensitivity hypothesis in animals and suggest that dosage sensitivity states of sex chromosomes are a major factor underlying different evolutionary strategies of dosage compensation.
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34
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Abstract
Gene expression programs define shared and species-specific phenotypes, but their evolution remains largely uncharacterized beyond the transcriptome layer1. Here we report an analysis of the co-evolution of translatomes and transcriptomes using ribosome-profling and matched RNA-sequencing data for three organs (brain, liver and testis) in fve mammals (human, macaque, mouse, opossum and platypus) and a bird (chicken). Our within-species analyses reveal that translational regulation is widespread in the diferent organs, in particular across the spermatogenic cell types of the testis. The between-species divergence in gene expression is around 20% lower at the translatome layer than at the transcriptome layer owing to extensive buffering between the expression layers, which especially preserved old, essential and housekeeping genes. Translational upregulation specifcally counterbalanced global dosage reductions during the evolution of sex chromosomes and the efects of meiotic sex-chromosome inactivation during spermatogenesis. Despite the overall prevalence of bufering, some genes evolved faster at the translatome layer—potentially indicating adaptive changes in expression; testis tissue shows the highest fraction of such genes. Further analyses incorporating mass spectrometry proteomics data establish that the co-evolution of transcriptomes and translatomes is refected at the proteome layer. Together, our work uncovers co-evolutionary patterns and associated selective forces across the expression layers, and provides a resource for understanding their interplay in mammalian organs.
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35
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Martínez-Pacheco M, Tenorio M, Almonte L, Fajardo V, Godínez A, Fernández D, Cornejo-Páramo P, Díaz-Barba K, Halbert J, Liechti A, Székely T, Urrutia AO, Cortez D. Expression Evolution of Ancestral XY Gametologs across All Major Groups of Placental Mammals. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 12:2015-2028. [PMID: 32790864 PMCID: PMC7674692 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Placental mammals present 180 million-year-old Y chromosomes that have retained a handful of dosage-sensitive genes. However, the expression evolution of Y-linked genes across placental groups has remained largely unexplored. Here, we expanded the number of Y gametolog sequences by analyzing ten additional species from previously unexplored groups. We detected seven remarkably conserved genes across 25 placental species with known Y repertoires. We then used RNA-seq data from 17 placental mammals to unveil the expression evolution of XY gametologs. We found that Y gametologs followed, on average, a 3-fold expression loss and that X gametologs also experienced some expression reduction, particularly in primates. Y gametologs gained testis specificity through an accelerated expression decay in somatic tissues. Moreover, despite the substantial expression decay of Y genes, the combined expression of XY gametologs in males is higher than that of both X gametologs in females. Finally, our work describes several features of the Y chromosome in the last common mammalian ancestor.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Laura Almonte
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | | | - Alan Godínez
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | | | | | | | - Jean Halbert
- Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Angelica Liechti
- Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Tamas Székely
- Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Araxi O Urrutia
- Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, United Kingdom.,Ecology Institute, UNAM, Mexico
| | - Diego Cortez
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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36
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Zhang X, Pavlicev M, Jones HN, Muglia LJ. Eutherian-Specific Gene TRIML2 Attenuates Inflammation in the Evolution of Placentation. Mol Biol Evol 2020; 37:507-523. [PMID: 31633784 PMCID: PMC6993854 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Evolution of highly invasive placentation in the stem lineage of eutherians and subsequent extension of pregnancy set eutherians apart from other mammals, that is, marsupials with short-lived placentas, and oviparous monotremes. Recent studies suggest that eutherian implantation evolved from marsupial attachment reaction, an inflammatory process induced by the direct contact of fetal placenta with maternal endometrium after the breakdown of the shell coat, and shortly before the onset of parturition. Unique to eutherians, a dramatic downregulation of inflammation after implantation prevents the onset of premature parturition, and is critical for the maintenance of gestation. This downregulation likely involved evolutionary changes on maternal as well as fetal/placental side. Tripartite-motif family-like2 (TRIML2) only exists in eutherian genomes and shows preferential expression in preimplantation embryos, and trophoblast-derived structures, such as chorion and placental disc. Comparative genomic evidence supports that TRIML2 originated from a gene duplication event in the stem lineage of Eutheria that also gave rise to eutherian TRIML1. Compared with TRIML1, TRIML2 lost the catalytic RING domain of E3 ligase. However, only TRIML2 is induced in human choriocarcinoma cell line JEG3 with poly(I:C) treatment to simulate inflammation during viral infection. Its knockdown increases the production of proinflammatory cytokines and reduces trophoblast survival during poly(I:C) stimulation, while its overexpression reduces proinflammatory cytokine production, supporting TRIML2’s role as a regulatory inhibitor of the inflammatory pathways in trophoblasts. TRIML2’s potential virus-interacting PRY/SPRY domain shows significant signature of selection, suggesting its contribution to the evolution of eutherian-specific inflammation regulation during placentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuzhe Zhang
- Division of Human Genetics, Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH.,March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center Ohio Collaborative, Cincinnati, OH
| | - Mihaela Pavlicev
- Division of Human Genetics, Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH.,March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center Ohio Collaborative, Cincinnati, OH
| | - Helen N Jones
- Division of Pediatric Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.,Department of Surgery, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH
| | - Louis J Muglia
- Division of Human Genetics, Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth, Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH.,March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center Ohio Collaborative, Cincinnati, OH
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37
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Naqvi S, Godfrey AK, Hughes JF, Goodheart ML, Mitchell RN, Page DC. Conservation, acquisition, and functional impact of sex-biased gene expression in mammals. Science 2020; 365:365/6450/eaaw7317. [PMID: 31320509 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw7317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Sex differences abound in human health and disease, as they do in other mammals used as models. The extent to which sex differences are conserved at the molecular level across species and tissues is unknown. We surveyed sex differences in gene expression in human, macaque, mouse, rat, and dog, across 12 tissues. In each tissue, we identified hundreds of genes with conserved sex-biased expression-findings that, combined with genomic analyses of human height, explain ~12% of the difference in height between females and males. We surmise that conserved sex biases in expression of genes otherwise operating equivalently in females and males contribute to sex differences in traits. However, most sex-biased expression arose during the mammalian radiation, which suggests that careful attention to interspecies divergence is needed when modeling human sex differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahin Naqvi
- Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.,Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Alexander K Godfrey
- Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.,Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Mary L Goodheart
- Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Richard N Mitchell
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - David C Page
- Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. .,Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
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38
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Acosta A, Martínez-Pacheco ML, Díaz-Barba K, Porras N, Gutiérrez-Mariscal M, Cortez D. Deciphering Ancestral Sex Chromosome Turnovers Based on Analysis of Male Mutation Bias. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 11:3054-3067. [PMID: 31605487 PMCID: PMC6823514 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The age of sex chromosomes is commonly obtained by comparing the substitution rates of XY gametologs. Coupled with phylogenetic reconstructions, one can refine the origin of a sex chromosome system relative to specific speciation events. However, these approaches are insufficient to determine the presence and duration of ancestral sex chromosome systems that were lost in some species. In this study, we worked with genomic and transcriptomic data from mammals and squamates and analyzed the effect of male mutation bias on X-linked sequences in these groups. We searched for signatures indicating whether monotremes shared the same sex chromosomes with placental mammals or whether pleurodonts and acrodonts had a common ancestral sex chromosome system. Our analyses indicate that platypus did not share the XY chromosomes with placental mammals, in agreement with previous work. In contrast, analyses of agamids showed that this lineage maintained the pleurodont XY chromosomes for several million years. We performed multiple simulations using different strengths of male mutation bias to confirm the results. Overall, our work shows that variations in substitution rates due to male mutation bias could be applied to uncover signatures of ancestral sex chromosome systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Diego Cortez
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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39
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Acosta A, Suárez-Varón G, Rodríguez-Miranda LA, Lira-Noriega A, Aguilar-Gómez D, Gutiérrez-Mariscal M, Hernández-Gallegos O, Méndez-de-la-Cruz F, Cortez D. Corytophanids Replaced the Pleurodont XY System with a New Pair of XY Chromosomes. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 11:2666-2677. [PMID: 31557287 PMCID: PMC6761961 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Almost all lizard families in the pleurodont clade share the same XY system. This system was meticulously studied in Anolis carolinensis, where it shows a highly degenerated Y chromosome and a male-specific X chromosome dosage compensation mechanism. Corytophanids (casque-headed lizards) have been proposed as the only family in the pleurodont clade to lack the XY system. In this study, we worked with extensive genomic and transcriptomic data from Basiliscus vittatus, a member of the Corytophanidae family that inhabits the tropical rainforests of Mexico. We confirmed that B. vittatus underwent a sex chromosome system turnover, which consisted in the loss of the pleurodont XY system and the gain of a new pair of XY chromosomes that are orthologous to chicken chromosome 17. We estimated the origin of the sex chromosome system to have occurred ∼63 Ma in the ancestor of corytophanids. Moreover, we identified 12 XY gametologues with particular attributes, such as functions related to the membrane and intracellular trafficking, very low expression levels, blood specificity, and incomplete dosage compensation in males.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gabriel Suárez-Varón
- Laboratorio de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Toluca, Mexico
| | | | - Andrés Lira-Noriega
- CONACYT Research Fellow, Red de Estudios Moleculares Avanzados, Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, México
| | | | | | - Oswaldo Hernández-Gallegos
- Laboratorio de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Toluca, Mexico
| | | | - Diego Cortez
- Center for Genome Sciences, UNAM, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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40
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Kinsella CM, Ruiz-Ruano FJ, Dion-Côté AM, Charles AJ, Gossmann TI, Cabrero J, Kappei D, Hemmings N, Simons MJP, Camacho JPM, Forstmeier W, Suh A. Programmed DNA elimination of germline development genes in songbirds. Nat Commun 2019; 10:5468. [PMID: 31784533 PMCID: PMC6884545 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13427-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 11/08/2019] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In some eukaryotes, germline and somatic genomes differ dramatically in their composition. Here we characterise a major germline–soma dissimilarity caused by a germline-restricted chromosome (GRC) in songbirds. We show that the zebra finch GRC contains >115 genes paralogous to single-copy genes on 18 autosomes and the Z chromosome, and is enriched in genes involved in female gonad development. Many genes are likely functional, evidenced by expression in testes and ovaries at the RNA and protein level. Using comparative genomics, we show that genes have been added to the GRC over millions of years of evolution, with embryonic development genes bicc1 and trim71 dating to the ancestor of songbirds and dozens of other genes added very recently. The somatic elimination of this evolutionarily dynamic chromosome in songbirds implies a unique mechanism to minimise genetic conflict between germline and soma, relevant to antagonistic pleiotropy, an evolutionary process underlying ageing and sexual traits. Songbirds have extensive germline–soma genome differences due to developmental elimination of a germline-specific chromosome (GRC). Here, the authors show that the GRC contains dozens of expressed developmental genes, some of which have been on the GRC since the ancestor of all songbirds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cormac M Kinsella
- Department of Ecology and Genetics - Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.,Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Francisco J Ruiz-Ruano
- Department of Ecology and Genetics - Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden. .,Department of Genetics, University of Granada, E-18071, Granada, Spain. .,Department of Organismal Biology - Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Anne-Marie Dion-Côté
- Department of Ecology and Genetics - Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.,Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.,Département de Biologie, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A 3E9, Canada
| | - Alexander J Charles
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK
| | - Toni I Gossmann
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK.,Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, D-33501, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Josefa Cabrero
- Department of Genetics, University of Granada, E-18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Dennis Kappei
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, 117599, Singapore, Singapore.,Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 117596, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Nicola Hemmings
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK
| | - Mirre J P Simons
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK
| | | | | | - Alexander Suh
- Department of Ecology and Genetics - Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden. .,Department of Organismal Biology - Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.
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41
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Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1008502. [PMID: 31738748 PMCID: PMC6897423 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 12/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Male Drosophila typically have achiasmatic meiosis, and fusions between autosomes and the Y chromosome have repeatedly created non-recombining neo-Y chromosomes that degenerate. Intriguingly, Drosophila nasuta males recombine, but their close relative D. albomicans reverted back to achiasmy after evolving neo-sex chromosomes. Here we use genome-wide polymorphism data to reconstruct the complex evolutionary history of neo-sex chromosomes in D. albomicans and examine the effect of recombination and its cessation on the initiation of neo-Y decay. Population and phylogenomic analyses reveal three distinct neo-Y types that are geographically restricted. Due to ancestral recombination with the neo-X, overall nucleotide diversity on the neo-Y is similar to the neo-X but severely reduced within neo-Y types. Consistently, the neo-Y chromosomes fail to form a monophyletic clade in sliding window trees outside of the region proximal to the fusion. Based on tree topology changes, we inferred the recombination breakpoints that produced haplotypes specific to each neo-Y type. We show that recombination became suppressed at different time points for the different neo-Y haplotypes. Haplotype age correlates with onset of neo-Y decay, and older neo-Y haplotypes show more fixed gene disruption via frameshift indels and down-regulation of neo-Y alleles. Genes are downregulated independently on the different neo-Ys, but are depleted of testes-expressed genes across all haplotypes. This indicates that genes important for male function are initially shielded from degeneration. Our results offer a time course of the early progression of Y chromosome evolution, showing how the suppression of recombination, through the reversal to achiasmy in D. albomicans males, initiates the process of degeneration.
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42
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Gu L, Reilly PF, Lewis JJ, Reed RD, Andolfatto P, Walters JR. Dichotomy of Dosage Compensation along the Neo Z Chromosome of the Monarch Butterfly. Curr Biol 2019; 29:4071-4077.e3. [PMID: 31735674 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2019] [Revised: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 09/20/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Mechanisms of sex chromosome dosage compensation (SCDC) differ strikingly among animals. In Drosophila flies, chromosome-wide transcription is doubled from the single X chromosome in hemizygous (XY) males, whereas in Caenorhabditis nematodes, expression is halved for both X copies in homozygous (XX) females [1, 2]. Unlike other female-heterogametic (WZ female and ZZ male) animals, moths and butterflies exhibit sex chromosome dosage compensation patterns typically seen only in male-heterogametic species [3]. The monarch butterfly carries a newly derived Z chromosome segment that arose from an autosomal fusion with the ancestral Z [4]. Using a highly contiguous genome assembly, we show that gene expression is balanced between sexes along the entire Z chromosome but with distinct modes of compensation on the two segments. On the ancestral Z segment, depletion of H4K16ac corresponds to nearly halving of biallelic transcription in males, a pattern convergent to nematodes. Conversely, the newly derived Z segment shows a Drosophila-like mode of compensation, with enriched H4K16ac levels corresponding to doubled monoallelic transcription in females. Our work reveals that, contrary to the expectation of co-opting regulatory mechanisms readily in place, the evolution of plural modes of dosage compensation is also possible along a single sex chromosome within a species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liuqi Gu
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
| | - Patrick F Reilly
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - James J Lewis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
| | - Robert D Reed
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
| | - Peter Andolfatto
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - James R Walters
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
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43
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Nielsen SV, Guzmán-Méndez IA, Gamble T, Blumer M, Pinto BJ, Kratochvíl L, Rovatsos M. Escaping the evolutionary trap? Sex chromosome turnover in basilisks and related lizards (Corytophanidae: Squamata). Biol Lett 2019; 15:20190498. [PMID: 31594492 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Most pleurodont lizard families (anoles, iguanas and their relatives), with the exception of the basilisks and casquehead lizards (family Corytophanidae), share homologous XX/XY sex chromosomes, syntenic with chicken chromosome 15. Here, we used a suite of methods (i.e. RADseq, RNAseq and qPCR) to identify corytophanid sex chromosomes for the first time. We reveal that all examined corytophanid species have partially degenerated XX/XY sex chromosomes, syntenic with chicken chromosome 17. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the expression of X-linked genes in the corytophanid, Basiliscus vittatus, is not balanced between the sexes, which is rather exceptional under male heterogamety, and unlike the dosage-balanced sex chromosomes in other well-studied XX/XY systems, including the green anole, Anolis carolinensis. Corytophanid sex chromosomes may represent a rare example of a turnover away from stable, differentiated sex chromosomes. However, because of poor phylogenetic resolution among pleurodont families, we cannot reject the alternative hypothesis that corytophanid sex chromosomes evolved independently from an unknown ancestral system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart V Nielsen
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA
| | | | - Tony Gamble
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA.,Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA.,Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA
| | - Madison Blumer
- Keck Science Department, Scripps College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA
| | - Brendan J Pinto
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA.,Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA
| | - Lukáš Kratochvíl
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic
| | - Michail Rovatsos
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic
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44
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Genomic Data Reveal Conserved Female Heterogamety in Giant Salamanders with Gigantic Nuclear Genomes. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2019; 9:3467-3476. [PMID: 31439718 PMCID: PMC6778777 DOI: 10.1534/g3.119.400556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Systems of genetic sex determination and the homology of sex chromosomes in different taxa vary greatly across vertebrates. Much progress remains to be made in understanding systems of genetic sex determination in non-model organisms, especially those with homomorphic sex chromosomes and/or large genomes. We used reduced representation genome sequencing to investigate genetic sex determination systems in the salamander family Cryptobranchidae (genera Cryptobranchus and Andrias), which typifies both of these inherent difficulties. We tested hypotheses of male- or female-heterogamety by sequencing hundreds of thousands of anonymous genomic regions in a panel of known-sex cryptobranchids and characterized patterns of presence/absence, inferred zygosity, and depth of coverage to identify sex-linked regions of these 56 gigabase genomes. Our results strongly support the hypothesis that all cryptobranchid species possess homologous systems of female heterogamety, despite maintenance of homomorphic sex chromosomes over nearly 60 million years. Additionally, we report a robust, non-invasive genetic assay for sex diagnosis in Cryptobranchus and Andrias which may have great utility for conservation efforts with these endangered salamanders. Co-amplification of these W-linked markers in both cryptobranchid genera provides evidence for long-term sex chromosome stasis in one of the most divergent salamander lineages. These findings inform hypotheses about the ancestral mode of sex determination in salamanders, but suggest that comparative data from other salamander families are needed. Our results further demonstrate that massive genomes are not necessarily a barrier to effective genome-wide sequencing and that the resulting data can be highly informative about sex determination systems in taxa with homomorphic sex chromosomes.
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45
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Sun D, Maney DL, Layman TS, Chatterjee P, Yi SV. Regional epigenetic differentiation of the Z Chromosome between sexes in a female heterogametic system. Genome Res 2019; 29:1673-1684. [PMID: 31548356 PMCID: PMC6771406 DOI: 10.1101/gr.248641.119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2019] [Accepted: 08/07/2019] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
In male heterogametic systems, the X Chromosome is epigenetically differentiated between males and females, to facilitate dosage compensation. For example, the X Chromosome in female mammals is largely inactivated. Relative to well-studied male heterogametic systems, the extent of epigenetic differentiation between male and female Z Chromosomes in female heterogametic species, which often lack complete dosage compensation, is poorly understood. Here, we examined the chromosomal DNA methylation landscapes of male and female Z Chromosomes in two distantly related avian species, namely chicken and white-throated sparrow. We show that, in contrast to the pattern in mammals, male and female Z Chromosomes in these species exhibit highly similar patterns of DNA methylation, which is consistent with weak or absent dosage compensation. We further demonstrate that the epigenetic differences between male and female chicken Z Chromosomes are localized to a few regions, including a previously identified male hypermethylated region 1 (MHM1; CGNC: 80601). We discovered a novel region with elevated male-to-female methylation ratios on the chicken Z Chromosome (male hypermethylated region 2 [MHM2]; CGNC: 80602). The MHM1 and MHM2, despite little sequence similarity between them, bear similar molecular features that are likely associated with their functions. We present evidence consistent with female hypomethylation of MHMs and up-regulation of nearby genes. Therefore, despite little methylation differentiation between sexes, extremely localized DNA methylation differences between male and female chicken Z Chromosomes have evolved and affect expression of nearby regions. Our findings offer new insights into epigenetic regulation of gene expression between sexes in female heterogametic systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Sun
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | - Donna L Maney
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA
| | - Thomas S Layman
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | - Paramita Chatterjee
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | - Soojin V Yi
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
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46
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Abstract
The evolution of gene expression in mammalian organ development remains largely uncharacterized. Here we report the transcriptomes of seven organs (cerebrum, cerebellum, heart, kidney, liver, ovary and testis) across developmental time points from early organogenesis to adulthood for human, macaque, mouse, rat, rabbit, opossum and chicken. Comparisons of gene expression patterns identified developmental stage correspondences across species, and differences in the timing of key events during the development of the gonads. We found that the breadth of gene expression and the extent of purifying selection gradually decrease during development, whereas the amount of positive selection and expression of new genes increase. We identified differences in the temporal trajectories of expression of individual genes across species, with brain tissues showing the smallest percentage of trajectory changes, and the liver and testis showing the largest. Our work provides a resource of developmental transcriptomes of seven organs across seven species, and comparative analyses that characterize the development and evolution of mammalian organs.
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47
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Balaton BP, Dixon-McDougall T, Peeters SB, Brown CJ. The eXceptional nature of the X chromosome. Hum Mol Genet 2019; 27:R242-R249. [PMID: 29701779 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddy148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The X chromosome is unique in the genome. In this review we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the genetics and epigenetics of the X chromosome. The X chromosome shares limited conservation with its ancestral homologue the Y chromosome and the resulting difference in X-chromosome dosage between males and females is largely compensated for by X-chromosome inactivation. The process of inactivation is initiated by the long non-coding RNA X-inactive specific transcript (XIST) and achieved through interaction with multiple synergistic silencing pathways. Identification of Xist-interacting proteins has given insight into these processes yet the cascade of events from initiation to maintenance have still to be resolved. In particular, the initiation of inactivation in humans has been challenging to study as: it occurs very early in development; most human embryonic stem cell lines already have an inactive X; and the process seems to differ from mouse. Another difference between human and mouse X inactivation is the larger number of human genes that escape silencing. In humans over 20% of X-linked genes continue to be expressed from the otherwise inactive X chromosome. We are only beginning to understand how such escape occurs but there is growing recognition that escapees contribute to sexually dimorphic traits. The unique biology and epigenetics of the X chromosome have often led to its exclusion from disease studies, yet the X constitutes 5% of the genome and is an important contributor to disease, often in a sex-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bradley P Balaton
- Molecular Epigenetics Group, Department of Medical Genetics, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Thomas Dixon-McDougall
- Molecular Epigenetics Group, Department of Medical Genetics, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Samantha B Peeters
- Molecular Epigenetics Group, Department of Medical Genetics, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada
| | - Carolyn J Brown
- Molecular Epigenetics Group, Department of Medical Genetics, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada
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48
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Schield DR, Card DC, Hales NR, Perry BW, Pasquesi GM, Blackmon H, Adams RH, Corbin AB, Smith CF, Ramesh B, Demuth JP, Betrán E, Tollis M, Meik JM, Mackessy SP, Castoe TA. The origins and evolution of chromosomes, dosage compensation, and mechanisms underlying venom regulation in snakes. Genome Res 2019; 29:590-601. [PMID: 30898880 PMCID: PMC6442385 DOI: 10.1101/gr.240952.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Here we use a chromosome-level genome assembly of a prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis), together with Hi-C, RNA-seq, and whole-genome resequencing data, to study key features of genome biology and evolution in reptiles. We identify the rattlesnake Z Chromosome, including the recombining pseudoautosomal region, and find evidence for partial dosage compensation driven by an evolutionary accumulation of a female-biased up-regulation mechanism. Comparative analyses with other amniotes provide new insight into the origins, structure, and function of reptile microchromosomes, which we demonstrate have markedly different structure and function compared to macrochromosomes. Snake microchromosomes are also enriched for venom genes, which we show have evolved through multiple tandem duplication events in multiple gene families. By overlaying chromatin structure information and gene expression data, we find evidence for venom gene-specific chromatin contact domains and identify how chromatin structure guides precise expression of multiple venom gene families. Further, we find evidence for venom gland-specific transcription factor activity and characterize a complement of mechanisms underlying venom production and regulation. Our findings reveal novel and fundamental features of reptile genome biology, provide insight into the regulation of snake venom, and broadly highlight the biological insight enabled by chromosome-level genome assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Drew R Schield
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Daren C Card
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Nicole R Hales
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Blair W Perry
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Giulia M Pasquesi
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Heath Blackmon
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
| | - Richard H Adams
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Andrew B Corbin
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Cara F Smith
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado 80639, USA
| | - Balan Ramesh
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Jeffery P Demuth
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Esther Betrán
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
| | - Marc Tollis
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
| | - Jesse M Meik
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas 76402, USA
| | - Stephen P Mackessy
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado 80639, USA
| | - Todd A Castoe
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76010, USA
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49
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Qi Y, Wu Y, Saunders R, Chen XG, Mao C, Biedler JK, Tu ZJ. Guy1, a Y-linked embryonic signal, regulates dosage compensation in Anopheles stephensi by increasing X gene expression. eLife 2019; 8:43570. [PMID: 30888319 PMCID: PMC6440743 DOI: 10.7554/elife.43570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We previously showed that Guy1, a primary signal expressed from the Y chromosome, is a strong candidate for a male-determining factor that confers female-specific lethality in Anopheles stephensi (Criscione et al., 2016). Here, we present evidence that Guy1 increases X gene expression in Guy1-transgenic females from two independent lines, providing a mechanism underlying the Guy1-conferred female lethality. The median level gene expression (MGE) of X-linked genes is significantly higher than autosomal genes in Guy1-transgenic females while there is no significant difference in MGE between X and autosomal genes in wild-type females. Furthermore, Guy1 significantly upregulates at least 40% of the 996 genes across the X chromosome in transgenic females. Guy1-conferred female-specific lethality is remarkably stable and completely penetrant. These findings indicate that Guy1 regulates dosage compensation in An. stephensi and components of dosage compensation may be explored to develop novel strategies to control mosquito-borne diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yumin Qi
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.,Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
| | - Yang Wu
- Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China
| | - Randy Saunders
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.,Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
| | - Xiao-Guang Chen
- Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
| | - Chunhong Mao
- Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
| | - James Kite Biedler
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.,Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
| | - Zhijian Jake Tu
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.,Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
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50
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Rovatsos M, Rehák I, Velenský P, Kratochvíl L. Shared Ancient Sex Chromosomes in Varanids, Beaded Lizards, and Alligator Lizards. Mol Biol Evol 2019; 36:1113-1120. [DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Michail Rovatsos
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Ivan Rehák
- Prague Zoological Garden, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - Lukáš Kratochvíl
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
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