scholarly journals Ancient genomic regulatory blocks are a major source for gene deserts in vertebrates after whole genome duplications

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Touceda-Suárez ◽  
Elizabeth M. Kita ◽  
Rafael D. Acemel ◽  
Panos N. Firbas ◽  
Marta S. Magri ◽  
...  

AbstractWe investigated how the two rounds of whole genome duplication that occurred at the base of the vertebrate lineage have impacted ancient microsyntenic associations involving developmental regulators (known as genomic regulatory blocks, GRBs). We showed that the majority of GRBs present in the last common ancestor of chordates have been maintained as a single copy in humans. We found evidence that dismantling of the additional GRB copies occurred early in vertebrate evolution often through the differential retention of the regulatory gene but loss of the bystander gene’s exonic sequences. Despite the large evolutionary scale, the presence of duplicated highly conserved non-coding regions provided unambiguous proof for this scenario for dozens of ancient GRBs. Remarkably, the dismantling of ancient GRB duplicates has contributed to the creation of large gene deserts associated with regulatory genes in vertebrates, providing a widespread mechanism for the origin of these enigmatic genomic traits.

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (10) ◽  
pp. 2857-2864
Author(s):  
María Touceda-Suárez ◽  
Elizabeth M Kita ◽  
Rafael D Acemel ◽  
Panos N Firbas ◽  
Marta S Magri ◽  
...  

Abstract We investigated how the two rounds of whole-genome duplication that occurred at the base of the vertebrate lineage have impacted ancient microsyntenic associations involving developmental regulators (known as genomic regulatory blocks, GRBs). We showed that the majority of GRBs identified in the last common ancestor of chordates have been maintained as a single copy in humans. We found evidence that dismantling of the duplicated GRB copies occurred early in vertebrate evolution often through the differential retention of the regulatory gene but loss of the bystander gene’s exonic sequences. Despite the large evolutionary scale, the presence of duplicated highly conserved noncoding regions provided unambiguous proof for this scenario for multiple ancient GRBs. Remarkably, the dismantling of ancient GRB duplicates has contributed to the creation of large gene deserts associated with regulatory genes in vertebrates, providing a potentially widespread mechanism for the origin of these enigmatic genomic traits.


AoB Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjie Tao ◽  
Zhuan Hao ◽  
Chunhui Huang

Abstract Ascorbic acid (AsA) is a widespread antioxidant in living organisms, and plays essential roles in the growth and development of animals and plants as well as in the response to abiotic stress tolerance. The GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase (GGP) is a key regulatory gene in plant AsA biosynthesis that can regulate the concentration of AsA at the transcriptional and translational levels. The function and regulation mechanisms of GGP have been well understood; however, the molecular evolutionary patterns of the gene remain unclear. In this study, a total of 149 homologous sequences of GGP were sampled from 71 plant species covering the major groups of Viridiplantae, and the phylogenetic relationships, gene duplication and molecular evolution analyses of the genes were systematically investigated. Results showed that GGP genes are present throughout the plant kingdom and five shared whole-genome duplications and several lineage-specific whole-genome duplications were found, which led to the rapid expansion of GGPs in seed plants, especially in angiosperms. The structure of GGP genes was more conserved in land plants, but varied greatly in green algae, indicating that GGP may have undergone great differentiation in the early stages of plant evolution. Most GGP proteins had a conserved motif arrangement and composition, suggesting that plant GGPs have similar catalytic functions. Molecular evolutionary analyses showed that GGP genes were predominated by purifying selection, indicating that the gene is functionally conserved due to its vital importance in AsA biosynthesis. Most of the branches under positive selection identified by the branch-site model were mainly in the chlorophytes lineage, indicating episodic diversifying selection may contribute to the evolution of GGPs, especially in the chlorophyte lineage. The conserved function of GGP and its rapid expansion in angiosperms maybe one of the reasons for the increase of AsA content in angiosperms, enabling angiosperms to adapt to changing environments.


Cell Reports ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 1387-1398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Param Priya Singh ◽  
Séverine Affeldt ◽  
Ilaria Cascone ◽  
Rasim Selimoglu ◽  
Jacques Camonis ◽  
...  

Genes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Szczepaniak ◽  
Michał Książkiewicz ◽  
Jan Podkowiński ◽  
Katarzyna Czyż ◽  
Marek Figlerowicz ◽  
...  

Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase, E.C.6.4.1.2) catalyzes acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylation to malonyl coenzyme A. Plants possess two distinct ACCases differing by cellular compartment and function. Plastid ACCase contributes to de novo fatty acid synthesis, whereas cytosolic enzyme to the synthesis of very long chain fatty acids, phytoalexins, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. The narrow leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) represents legumes, a plant family which evolved by whole-genome duplications (WGDs). The study aimed on the contribution of these WGDs to the multiplication of ACCase genes and their further evolutionary patterns. The molecular approach involved bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library screening, fluorescent in situ hybridization, linkage mapping, and BAC sequencing. In silico analysis encompassed sequence annotation, comparative mapping, selection pressure calculation, phylogenetic inference, and gene expression profiling. Among sequenced legumes, the highest number of ACCase genes was identified in lupin and soybean. The most abundant plastid ACCase subunit genes were accB. ACCase genes in legumes evolved by WGDs, evidenced by shared synteny and Bayesian phylogenetic inference. Transcriptional activity of almost all copies was confirmed. Gene duplicates were conserved by strong purifying selection, however, positive selection occurred in Arachis (accB2) and Lupinus (accC) lineages, putatively predating the WGD event(s). Early duplicated accA and accB genes underwent transcriptional sub-functionalization.


2018 ◽  
Vol 221 (1) ◽  
pp. 565-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liming Cai ◽  
Zhenxiang Xi ◽  
André M. Amorim ◽  
M. Sugumaran ◽  
Joshua S. Rest ◽  
...  

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