| 1. |
- Warringer, Jonas, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Trait variation in yeast is defined by population history.
- 2011
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Ingår i: PLoS genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7404. ; 7:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A fundamental goal in biology is to achieve a mechanistic understanding of how and to what extent ecological variation imposes selection for distinct traits and favors the fixation of specific genetic variants. Key to such an understanding is the detailed mapping of the natural genomic and phenomic space and a bridging of the gap that separates these worlds. Here we chart a high-resolution map of natural trait variation in one of the most important genetic model organisms, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and its closest wild relatives and trace the genetic basis and timing of major phenotype changing events in its recent history. We show that natural trait variation in S. cerevisiae exceeds that of its relatives, despite limited genetic variation, and follows the population history rather than the source environment. In particular, the West African population is phenotypically unique, with an extreme abundance of low-performance alleles, notably a premature translational termination signal in GAL3 that cause inability to utilize galactose. Our observations suggest that many S. cerevisiae traits may be the consequence of genetic drift rather than selection, in line with the assumption that natural yeast lineages are remnants of recent population bottlenecks. Disconcertingly, the universal type strain S288C was found to be highly atypical, highlighting the danger of extrapolating gene-trait connections obtained in mosaic, lab-domesticated lineages to the species as a whole. Overall, this study represents a step towards an in-depth understanding of the causal relationship between co-variation in ecology, selection pressure, natural traits, molecular mechanism, and alleles in a key model organism.
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| 2. |
- Zörgö, Enikö, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Life History Shapes Trait Heredity by Accumulation of Loss-of-Function Alleles in Yeast.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1537-1719 .- 0737-4038. ; 29:7, s. 1781-1789
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A fundamental question in biology is whether variation in organisms primarily emerges as a function of adaptation or as a function of neutral genetic drift. Trait variation in the model organism baker's yeast follows population bottlenecks rather than environmental boundaries suggesting that it primarily results from genetic drift. Based on the yeast life history, we hypothesized that population-specific loss-of-function mutations emerging in genes recently released from selection is the predominant cause of trait variation within the species. As retention of one functional copy of a gene in diploid yeasts is typically sufficient to maintain completely unperturbed performance, we also conjectured that a crossing of natural yeasts from populations with different loss-of-function mutations would provide a further efficient test bed for this hypothesis. Charting the first species-wide map of trait inheritance in a eukaryotic organism, we found trait heredity to be strongly biased toward diploid hybrid performance exactly mimicking the performance of the best of the parents, as expected given a complete dominance of functional over nonfunctional alleles. Best parent heterosis, partial dominance, and negative nonadditivity were all rare phenomena. Nonadditive inheritance was observed primarily in crosses involving at least one very poor performing parent, most frequently of the West African population, and when molecularly dissected, loss-of-function alleles were identified as the underlying cause. These findings provide support for that population-specific loss-of-function mutations do have a strong impact on genotype-phenotype maps and underscores the role of neutral genetic drift as a driver for trait variation within species.
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