scholarly journals Influence of pathway topology and functional class on the molecular evolution of human metabolic genes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovica Montanucci ◽  
Hafid Laayouni ◽  
Begoña Dobón ◽  
Kevin L. Keys ◽  
Jaume Bertranpetit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Enzymatic Reactions ◽  
Adaptive Selection ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Genome Data ◽  
Metabolic Genes ◽  
Topological Characteristics

AbstractMetabolic networks comprise thousands of enzymatic reactions functioning in a controlled manner and have been shaped by natural selection. Thanks to the genome data, the footprints of adaptive (positive) selection are detectable, and the strength of purifying selection can be measured. This has made possible to know where, in the metabolic network, adaptive selection has acted and where purifying selection is more or less strong and efficient. We have carried out a comprehensive molecular evolutionary study of all the genes involved in the human metabolism. We investigated the type and strength of the selective pressures that acted on the enzyme-coding genes belonging to metabolic pathways during the divergence of primates and rodents. Then, we related those selective pressures to the functional and topological characteristics of the pathways. We have used DNA sequences of all enzymes (956) of the metabolic pathways comprised in the HumanCyc database, using genome data for humans and five other mammalian species.We have found that the evolution of metabolic genes is primarily constrained by the layer of the metabolism in which the genes participate: while genes encoding enzymes of the inner core of metabolism are much conserved, those encoding enzymes participating in the outer layer, mediating the interaction with the environment, are evolutionarily less constrained and more plastic, having experienced faster functional evolution. Genes that have been targeted by adaptive selection are endowed by higher out-degree centralities than non-adaptive genes, while genes with high in-degree centralities are under stronger purifying selection. When the position along the pathway is considered, a funnel-like distribution of the strength of the purifying selection is found. Genes at bottom positions are highly preserved by purifying selection, whereas genes at top positions, catalyzing the first steps, are open to evolutionary changes.These results show how functional and topological characteristics of metabolic pathways contribute to shape the patterns of evolutionary pressures driven by natural selection and how pathway network structure matters in the evolutionary process that shapes the evolution of the system.

scholarly journals Functional Bias and Demographic History Obscure Patterns of Selection among Single-Copy Genes in a Fungal Species Complex

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Sánchez-Ramírez ◽  
Jean-Marc Moncalvo
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Positive Selection ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Single Copy ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Ratio Test ◽  
Ontology Term ◽  
Slightly Deleterious Mutations

AbstractMany different evolutionary processes may be responsible for explaining natural variation within genomes, some of which include natural selection at the molecular level and changes in population size. Fungi are highly adaptable organisms, and their relatively small genomes and short generation times make them pliable for evolutionary genomic studies. However, adaptation in wild populations has been relatively less documented compared to experimental or clinical studies. Here, we analyzed DNA sequences from 502 putative single-copy orthologous genes in 63 samples that represent seven recently diverged North American Amanita (jacksonii-complex) lineages. For each gene and each species, we measured the genealogical sorting index (gsi) and infinite-site-based summary statistics, such as , and DTaj in coding and intron regions. MKT-based approaches and likelihood-ratio-test Kn/Ks models were used to measure natural selection in all coding sequences. Multi-locus (Extended) Bayesian Skyline Plots (eBSP) were used to model intraspecific demographic changes through time based on unlinked, putative neutral regions (introns). Most genes show evidence of long-term purifying selection, likely reflecting a functional bias implicit in single-copy genes. We find that two species have strongly negatively skewed Tajima’s D, while three other have a positive skew, corresponding well with patterns of demographic expansion and contraction. Standard MKT analyses resulted in a high incidence of near-zero α with a tendency towards negative values. In contrast, α estimates based on the distribution of fitness effects (DFE), which accounts for demographic effects and slightly deleterious mutations, suggest a higher proportion of sites fixed by positive selection. The difference was more notorious in species with expansion signatures or with historically low population sizes, evidencing the concealing effects of specific demographic histories. Finally, we attempt to mitigate Gene Ontology term overrepresentation, highlighting the potential adaptive or ecological roles of some genes under positive selection.

The Age of Nonsynonymous and Synonymous Mutations in Animal mtDNA and Implications for the Mildly Deleterious Theory

Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 153 (1) ◽  
pp. 497-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Nielsen ◽  
Daniel M Weinreich
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Synonymous Mutations ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Mitochondrial Data ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Excess Number ◽  
Neutral Mutations

Abstract McDonald/Kreitman tests performed on animal mtDNA consistently reveal significant deviations from strict neutrality in the direction of an excess number of polymorphic nonsynonymous sites, which is consistent with purifying selection acting on nonsynonymous sites. We show that under models of recurrent neutral and deleterious mutations, the mean age of segregating neutral mutations is greater than the mean age of segregating selected mutations, even in the absence of recombination. We develop a test of the hypothesis that the mean age of segregating synonymous mutations equals the mean age of segregating nonsynonymous mutations in a sample of DNA sequences. The power of this age-of-mutation test and the power of the McDonald/Kreitman test are explored by computer simulations. We apply the new test to 25 previously published mitochondrial data sets and find weak evidence for selection against nonsynonymous mutations.

scholarly journals General Unified Microbiome Profiling Pipeline (GUMPP) for Large Scale, Streamlined and Reproducible Analysis of Bacterial 16S rRNA Data to Predicted Microbial Metagenomes, Enzymatic Reactions and Metabolic Pathways

Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 336
Author(s):  
Boštjan Murovec ◽  
Leon Deutsch ◽  
Blaž Stres
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Enzymatic Reactions ◽  
Operational Taxonomic Units ◽  
Biochemical Pathways ◽  
Meaningful Information ◽  
Novel Biomarkers ◽  
Reproducible Analysis ◽  
Microbiome Profiling

General Unified Microbiome Profiling Pipeline (GUMPP) was developed for large scale, streamlined and reproducible analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA data and prediction of microbial metagenomes, enzymatic reactions and metabolic pathways from amplicon data. GUMPP workflow introduces reproducible data analyses at each of the three levels of resolution (genus; operational taxonomic units (OTUs); amplicon sequence variants (ASVs)). The ability to support reproducible analyses enables production of datasets that ultimately identify the biochemical pathways characteristic of disease pathology. These datasets coupled to biostatistics and mathematical approaches of machine learning can play a significant role in extraction of truly significant and meaningful information from a wide set of 16S rRNA datasets. The adoption of GUMPP in the gut-microbiota related research enables focusing on the generation of novel biomarkers that can lead to the development of mechanistic hypotheses applicable to the development of novel therapies in personalized medicine.

scholarly journals Integrated Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Using an Optimised Dual Extraction Process to Study Human Brain Cancer Cells and Tissues

Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Alison Woodward ◽  
Alina Pandele ◽  
Salah Abdelrazig ◽  
Catherine A. Ortori ◽  
Iqbal Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Extraction Method ◽  
Limit Of Detection ◽  
Rna Extraction ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Extraction Methods ◽  
Serum Starvation ◽  
Extraction Techniques ◽  
Metabolic Genes ◽  
Dual Extraction

The integration of untargeted metabolomics and transcriptomics from the same population of cells or tissue enhances the confidence in the identified metabolic pathways and understanding of the enzyme–metabolite relationship. Here, we optimised a simultaneous extraction method of metabolites/lipids and RNA from ependymoma cells (BXD-1425). Relative to established RNA (mirVana kit) or metabolite (sequential solvent addition and shaking) single extraction methods, four dual-extraction techniques were evaluated and compared (methanol:water:chloroform ratios): cryomill/mirVana (1:1:2); cryomill-wash/Econospin (5:1:2); rotation/phenol-chloroform (9:10:1); Sequential/mirVana (1:1:3). All methods extracted the same metabolites, yet rotation/phenol-chloroform did not extract lipids. Cryomill/mirVana and sequential/mirVana recovered the highest amounts of RNA, at 70 and 68% of that recovered with mirVana kit alone. sequential/mirVana, involving RNA extraction from the interphase of our established sequential solvent addition and shaking metabolomics-lipidomics extraction method, was the most efficient approach overall. Sequential/mirVana was applied to study a) the biological effect caused by acute serum starvation in BXD-1425 cells and b) primary ependymoma tumour tissue. We found (a) 64 differentially abundant metabolites and 28 differentially expressed metabolic genes, discovering four gene-metabolite interactions, and (b) all metabolites and 62% lipids were above the limit of detection, and RNA yield was sufficient for transcriptomics, in just 10 mg of tissue.

scholarly journals Nuclear receptor HNF4A transrepresses CLOCK:BMAL1 and modulates tissue-specific circadian networks

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (52) ◽  
pp. E12305-E12312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Qu ◽  
Tomas Duffy ◽  
Tsuyoshi Hirota ◽  
Steve A. Kay
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Receptor ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Transcriptional Activity ◽  
Transcript Level ◽  
Colon Cells ◽  
Tissue Specific ◽  
Metabolic Genes ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Circadian Control

Either expression level or transcriptional activity of various nuclear receptors (NRs) have been demonstrated to be under circadian control. With a few exceptions, little is known about the roles of NRs as direct regulators of the circadian circuitry. Here we show that the nuclear receptor HNF4A strongly transrepresses the transcriptional activity of the CLOCK:BMAL1 heterodimer. We define a central role for HNF4A in maintaining cell-autonomous circadian oscillations in a tissue-specific manner in liver and colon cells. Not only transcript level but also genome-wide chromosome binding of HNF4A is rhythmically regulated in the mouse liver. ChIP-seq analyses revealed cooccupancy of HNF4A and CLOCK:BMAL1 at a wide array of metabolic genes involved in lipid, glucose, and amino acid homeostasis. Taken together, we establish that HNF4A defines a feedback loop in tissue-specific mammalian oscillators and demonstrate its recruitment in the circadian regulation of metabolic pathways.

scholarly journals Defining dysfunction due to loss of MECP2 in Rett Patient Brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Korsakova ◽  
A Morales ◽  
T McDaniel ◽  
A Lund ◽  
B Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rett Syndrome ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Transcriptional Profiling ◽  
Childhood Development ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Aberrant Expression ◽  
Metabolic Genes ◽  
Female Brain ◽  
Response To Stress

AbstractRett Syndrome is characterized by a postnatal loss of neurophysiological function and regression of childhood development. Because the syndrome is X-linked and males with MECP2 mutations generally do not survive birth, the study of this syndrome has been complicated by the fact that in female brain, a portion of neurons express wild type MECP2, and another portion express a non-functional allele of MECP2. Therefore, bulk-RNA-sequencing of Rett brain is confounded by the presence of chimerism of neurons for functional MECP2 in neurons. We developed an approach that allows for single-nuclei transcriptional profiling of individual neurons and a direct comparison between neurons that express functional MECP2 with those that express the disease-causing allele. We found that mutant neurons from Rett brain show patterns of aberrant expression of synaptic and metabolic genes, both of which can be detected in in vitro models of Rett Syndrome. We used these resources to identify a role for POU2F1/OCT1 transcription factor in mediating the response to stress due to loss of MECP2, highlighting a potential key molecular regulator of stress in Rett neurons. Together, our new sorting approach enables us to highlight defective molecular and metabolic pathways in Rett brain neurons and suggests that in vitro models could serve as valuable tools to further study this syndrome and potentially for development of novel therapeutics.

scholarly journals Purifying selection of CCR5-tropic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 variants in AIDS subjects that have developed syncytium-inducing, CXCR4-tropic viruses

2006 ◽  
Vol 87 (5) ◽  
pp. 1285-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guerau Fernàndez ◽  
Anuska Llano ◽  
Miriam Esgleas ◽  
Bonaventura Clotet ◽  
José A. Esté ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type ◽  
Virus Type ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Cell Counts ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Hiv 1

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is established by virus variants that use the CCR5 co-receptor for entry (CCR5-tropic or R5 variants), whereas viruses that use CXCR4 as co-receptor (CXCR4-tropic or X4 variants) emerge during disease progression in approximately 50 % of infected subjects. X4 variants may have a higher fitness ex vivo and their detection is usually accompanied by faster T-cell depletion and the onset of AIDS in HIV-1-positive individuals. Here, the relationship between the sequence variation of the HIV-1 env V3–V5 region and positive selective pressure on R5 and X4 variants from infected subjects with CD4 T cell counts below 200 cells μl−1 was studied. A correlation was found between genetic distance and CD4+ cell count at late stages of the disease. R5 variants that co-existed with X4 variants were significantly less heterogeneous than R5 variants from subjects without X4 variants (P<0·0001). Similarly, X4 variants had a significantly higher diversity than R5 variants (P<0·0001), although residues under positive selection had a similar distribution pattern in both variants. Therefore, both X4 and R5 variants were subjected to high selective pressures from the host. Furthermore, the interaction between X4 and R5 variants within the same subject resulted in a purifying selection on R5 variants, which only survived as a homogeneous virus population. These results indicate that R5 variants from X4 phenotype samples were highly homogeneous and under weakly positive selective pressures. In contrast, R5 variants from R5 phenotype samples were highly heterogeneous and subject to positive selective pressures.

scholarly journals Chemical Mutagenesis and Fluorescence-Based High-Throughput Screening for Enhanced Accumulation of Carotenoids in a Model Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Marine Drugs ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqian Yi ◽  
Yixi Su ◽  
Maonian Xu ◽  
Andreas Bergmann ◽  
Saevar Ingthorsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Phaeodactylum Tricornutum ◽  
Mass Spectrometry Data ◽  
Marine Diatom ◽  
Chemical Mutagenesis ◽  
Carotenoid Content ◽  
Enzymatic Reactions ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
A Genome

Diatoms are a major group of unicellular algae that are rich in lipids and carotenoids. However, sustained research efforts are needed to improve the strain performance for high product yields towards commercialization. In this study, we generated a number of mutants of the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a cosmopolitan species that has also been found in Nordic region, using the chemical mutagens ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) and N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG). We found that both chlorophyll a and neutral lipids had a significant correlation with carotenoid content and these correlations were better during exponential growth than in the stationary growth phase. Then, we studied P. tricornutum common metabolic pathways and analyzed correlated enzymatic reactions between fucoxanthin synthesis and pigmentation or lipid metabolism through a genome-scale metabolic model. The integration of the computational results with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry data revealed key compounds underlying the correlative metabolic pathways. Approximately 1000 strains were screened using fluorescence-based high-throughput method and five mutants selected had 33% or higher total carotenoids than the wild type, in which four strains remained stable in the long term and the top mutant exhibited an increase of 69.3% in fucoxanthin content compared to the wild type. The platform described in this study may be applied to the screening of other high performing diatom strains for industrial applications.

scholarly journals Long-term experimental evolution reveals purifying selection on piRNA-mediated control of transposable element expression

BMC Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulfar Bergthorsson ◽  
Caroline J. Sheeba ◽  
Anke Konrad ◽  
Tony Belicard ◽  
Toni Beltran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Transcriptional Activation ◽  
Small Rnas ◽  
Active Regions ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Ancestral Population ◽  
Sequence Context ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Population Sizes

Abstract Background Transposable elements (TEs) are an almost universal constituent of eukaryotic genomes. In animals, Piwi-interacting small RNAs (piRNAs) and repressive chromatin often play crucial roles in preventing TE transcription and thus restricting TE activity. Nevertheless, TE content varies widely across eukaryotes and the dynamics of TE activity and TE silencing across evolutionary time is poorly understood. Results Here, we used experimentally evolved populations of C. elegans to study the dynamics of TE expression over 409 generations. The experimental populations were evolved at population sizes of 1, 10 and 100 individuals to manipulate the efficiency of natural selection versus genetic drift. We demonstrate increased TE expression relative to the ancestral population, with the largest increases occurring in the smallest populations. We show that the transcriptional activation of TEs within active regions of the genome is associated with failure of piRNA-mediated silencing, whilst desilenced TEs in repressed chromatin domains retain small RNAs. Additionally, we find that the sequence context of the surrounding region influences the propensity of TEs to lose silencing through failure of small RNA-mediated silencing. Conclusions Our results show that natural selection in C. elegans is responsible for maintaining low levels of TE expression, and provide new insights into the epigenomic features responsible.

scholarly journals Preface

1996 ◽  
Vol 351 (1345) ◽  
pp. 1227-1231 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Comparative Morphology ◽  
Biological Science ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Evolutionary Pathways ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Diversity Of Life ◽  
Violent Conflicts

The great Darwinian truth that underlies our attempts to discover rhyme and reason in the diversity of life on Earth is that natural selection has shaped the form and behaviour of organisms. The search for the evolutionary pathways that lead to the present diversity of life, the study of phylogeny, was among the most powerful forces in the development of biological science in the latter part of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. It provided a fascinating intellectual exercise to draw out putative evolutionary sequences and gave the excuse for quite violent conflicts of interpretation. Comparative morphology was the main (and often the only) source of data for such phylogenetic speculation. It acknowledged that some features, ‘conservative characters’, were more resistant than others to evolutionary pressures and so were more reliable for tracing lineages. To establish phylogenies it became vitally important to identify these ‘conservative’ characters and to distinguish them from features that responded m ore quickly to selective pressures and therefore indicated only recent ancestry.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document