| 1. |
- Peacock, Christopher S, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative genomic analysis of three Leishmania species that cause diverse human disease.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 39:7, s. 839-847
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Leishmania parasites cause a broad spectrum of clinical disease. Here we report the sequencing of the genomes of two species of Leishmania: Leishmania infantum and Leishmania braziliensis. The comparison of these sequences with the published genome of Leishmania major reveals marked conservation of synteny and identifies only 200 genes with a differential distribution between the three species. L. braziliensis, contrary to Leishmania species examined so far, possesses components of a putative RNA-mediated interference pathway, telomere-associated transposable elements and spliced leader–associated SLACS retrotransposons. We show that pseudogene formation and gene loss are the principal forces shaping the different genomes. Genes that are differentially distributed between the species encode proteins implicated in host-pathogen interactions and parasite survival in the macrophage.
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| 2. |
- Hoeppner, Marc P., et al.
(författare)
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Evolutionarily Stable Assiciation of Intronic snoRNAs and microRNAs with Their Host Genes
- 2009
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Ingår i: Genome Biology and Evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1759-6653. ; 1:1, s. 420-428
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) are integral to a range of processes, including ribosome biogenesis and gene regulation. Some are intron encoded, and this organization may facilitate coordinated coexpression of host gene and RNA. However, snoRNAs and miRNAs are known to be mobile, so intron-RNA associations may not be evolutionarily stable. We have used genome alignments across 11 mammals plus chicken to examine positional orthology of snoRNAs and miRNAs and report that 21% of annotated snoRNAs and 11% of miRNAs are positionally conserved across mammals. Among RNAs traceable to the bird–mammal common ancestor, 98% of snoRNAs and 76% of miRNAs are intronic. Comparison of the most evolutionarily stable mammalian intronic snoRNAs with those positionally conserved among primates reveals that the former are more overrepresented among host genes involved in translation or ribosome biogenesis and are more broadly and highly expressed. This stability is likely attributable to a requirement for overlap between host gene and intronic snoRNA expression profiles, consistent with an ancestral role in ribosome biogenesis. In contrast, whereas miRNA positional conservation is comparable to that observed for snoRNAs, intronic miRNAs show no obvious association with host genes of a particular functional category, and no statistically significant differences in host gene expression are found between those traceable to mammalian or primate ancestors. Our results indicate evolutionarily stable associations of numerous intronic snoRNAs and miRNAs and their host genes, with probable continued diversification of snoRNA function from an ancestral role in ribosome biogenesis.
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| 3. |
- Mourier, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide discovery and verification of novel structured RNAs in Plasmodium falciparum
- 2008
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Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1549-5469 .- 1088-9051. ; 18:2, s. 281-292
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We undertook a genome-wide search for novel noncoding RNAs (ncRNA) in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. We used the RNAz program to predict structures in the noncoding regions of the P. falciparum 3D7 genome that were conserved with at least one of seven other Plasmodium spp. genome sequences. By using Northern blot analysis for 76 high-scoring predictions and microarray analysis for the majority of candidates, we have verified the expression of 33 novel ncRNA transcripts including four members of a ncRNA family in the asexual blood stage. These transcripts represent novel structured ncRNAs in P. falciparum and are not represented in any RNA databases. We provide supporting evidence for purifying selection acting on the experimentally verified ncRNAs by comparing the nucleotide substitutions in the predicted ncRNA candidate structures in P. falciparum with the closely related chimp malaria parasite P. reichenowi. The high confirmation rate within a single parasite life cycle stage suggests that many more of the predictions may be expressed in other stages of the organism's life cycle.
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| 4. |
- Neumann, Nadja, et al.
(författare)
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Outsourcing the Nucleus : Nuclear Pore Complex Genes are no Longer Encoded in Nucleomorph Genomes
- 2006
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Ingår i: Evolutionary Bioinformatics. - 1176-9343. ; 2, s. 23-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The nuclear pore complex (NPC) facilitates transport between nucleus and cytoplasm. The protein constituents of the NPC, termed nucleoporins (Nups), are conserved across a wide diversity of eukaryotes. In apparent exception to this, no nucleoporin genes have been identified in nucleomorph genomes. Nucleomorphs, nuclear remnants of once free-living eukaryotes, took up residence as secondary endosymbionts in cryptomonad and chlorarachniophyte algae. As these genomes are highly reduced, Nup genes may have been lost, or relocated to the host nucleus. However, Nup genes are often poorly conserved between species, so absence may be an artifact of low sequence similarity. We therefore constructed an evolutionary bioinformatic screen to establish whether the apparent absence of Nup genes in nucleomorph genomes is due to genuine absence or the inability of current methods to detect homologues. We searched green plant (Arabidopsis and rice), green alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and red alga (Cyanidioschyzon merolae) genomes, plus two nucleomorph genomes (Bigelowiella natans and Guillardia theta) with profile hidden Markov models (HMMs) from curated alignments of known vertebrate/yeast Nups. Since the plant, algal and nucleomorph genomes all belong to the kingdom Plantae, and are evolutionarily distant from the outgroup (vertebrate/yeast) training set, we use the plant and algal genomes as internal positive controls for the sensitivity of the searches in nucleomorph genomes. We find numerous Nup homologues in all plant and free-living algal species, but none in either nucleomorph genome. BLAST searches using identified plant and algal Nups also failed to detect nucleomorph homologues. We conclude that nucleomorph Nup genes have either been lost, being replaced by host Nup genes, or, that nucleomorph Nup genes have been transferred to the host nucleus twice independently; once in the evolution of the red algal nucleomorph and once in the green algal nucleomorph.
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| 5. |
- Penny, David, et al.
(författare)
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An Overview of the Introns-First Theory
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0022-2844 .- 1432-1432. ; 69, s. 527-540
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We review the introns-first hypothesis a decade after it was first proposed. It is that exons emerged from non-coding regions interspersed between RNA genes in an early RNA world, and is a subcomponent of a more general ‘RNA-continuity’ hypothesis. The latter is that some RNA based systems, especially in RNA processing, are ‘relics’ that can be traced back either to the RNA world that preceded both DNA and encoded protein synthesis or to the later ribonucleoprotein (RNP) world (before DNA took over the main coding role). RNA-continuity is based on independent evidence—in particular, the relative inefficiency of RNA catalysis compared with protein catalysis— and leads to a wide range of predictions, ranging from the origin of the ribosome, the spliceosome, small nucleolar RNAs, RNases P and MRP, and mRNA, and it is consistent with the wide involvement of RNA-processing and regulation of RNA in modern eukaryotes. While there may still be cause to withhold judgement on intron origins, there is strong evidence against introns being uncommon in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA), and expanding only within extant eukaryotic groups—the ‘very-late’ intron invasion model. Similarly, it is clear that there are selective forces on numbers and positions of introns; their existence may not always be neutral. There is still a range of viable alternatives, including introns first, early, and ‘latish’ (i.e. well established in LECA), and regardless of which is ultimately correct, it pays to separate out various questions and to focus on testing the predictions of sub-theories.
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| 6. |
- Tusso, Sergio, et al.
(författare)
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Ancestral admixture is the main determinant of global biodiversity in fission yeast
- 2019
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Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press. - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 36:9, s. 1975-1989
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mutation and recombination are key evolutionary processes governing phenotypic variation and reproductive isolation. We here demonstrate that biodiversity within all globally known strains of Schizosaccharomyces pombe arose through admixture between two divergent ancestral lineages. Initial hybridization was inferred to have occurred similar to 20-60 sexual outcrossing generations ago consistent with recent, human-induced migration at the onset of intensified transcontinental trade. Species-wide heritable phenotypic variation was explained near-exclusively by strain-specific arrangements of alternating ancestry components with evidence for transgressive segregation. Reproductive compatibility between strains was likewise predicted by the degree of shared ancestry. To assess the genetic determinants of ancestry block distribution across the genome, we characterized the type, frequency, and position of structural genomic variation using nanopore and single-molecule real-time sequencing. Despite being associated with double-strand break initiation points, over 800 segregating structural variants exerted overall little influence on the introgression landscape or on reproductive compatibility between strains. In contrast, we found strong ancestry disequilibrium consistent with negative epistatic selection shaping genomic ancestry combinations during the course of hybridization. This study provides a detailed, experimentally tractable example that genomes of natural populations are mosaics reflecting different evolutionary histories. Exploiting genome-wide heterogeneity in the history of ancestral recombination and lineage-specific mutations sheds new light on the population history of S. pombe and highlights the importance of hybridization as a creative force in generating biodiversity.
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