| 41. |
- Bolívar, Paulina
(författare)
-
Rates and patterns of molecular evolution in avian genomes
- 2019
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Evolution is the change in inherited characteristics of a population through subsequent generations. The interplay of several evolutionary mechanisms determines the rate at which this change occurs. In short, genetic variation is generated though mutation, and the fate of these mutations in a population is determined mainly by the combined effect of genetic drift, natural selection and recombination. Elucidating the relative impact of these mechanisms is complex; making it a long-standing question in evolutionary biology. In this thesis, I focus on disentangling the relative roles of these evolutionary mechanisms and genetic factors in determining rates and patterns of evolution at the molecular level, by studying variation in the DNA sequence of multiple avian species, and in particular the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). Specifically, I aim to further our understanding regarding the impact of recombination rate on genome evolution, through its interaction with the efficacy of selection and through the process of GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC), which has been poorly characterized in birds. I demonstrate that gBGC has a pervasive effect on the genome of the collared flycatcher and other avian species, as it increases the substitution rate and affects interpretations of the impact of natural selection and adaptation. Interestingly, its effect is even stronger in neutrally evolving sites compared to sites evolving under selection. After accounting for gBGC, I disentangle the true impact of natural selection versus non-adaptive processes in determining rates of molecular evolution in the collared flycatcher genome, shedding light on the process of adaptation. Finally, I demonstrate the significant role of recombination through its impact on linked selection, along with mutation rate differences, in determining relative levels of genetic diversity and their relationship to the fast-Z effect across the avian phylogeny. This thesis urges future studies to account for the effect of recombination before interpreting patterns of selection in sequence evolution.
|
|
| 42. |
- Bolívar, Paulina, et al.
(författare)
-
Recombination Rate Variation Modulates Gene Sequence Evolution Mainly via GC-Biased Gene Conversion, Not Hill-Robertson Interference, in an Avian System
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 33:1, s. 216-227
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitution rates (ω) is often used to measure the strength of natural selection. However, ω may be influenced by linkage among different targets of selection, that is, Hill-Robertson interference (HRI), which reduces the efficacy of selection. Recombination modulates the extent of HRI but may also affect ω by means of GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC), a process leading to a preferential fixation of G:C ("strong," S) over A:T ("weak," W) alleles. As HRI and gBGC can have opposing effects on ω, it is essential to understand their relative impact to make proper inferences of ω. We used a model that separately estimated S-to-S, S-to-W, W-to-S, and W-to-W substitution rates in 8,423 avian genes in the Ficedula flycatcher lineage. We found that the W-to-S substitution rate was positively, and the S-to-W rate negatively, correlated with recombination rate, in accordance with gBGC but not predicted by HRI. The W-to-S rate further showed the strongest impact on both dN and dS. However, since the effects were stronger at 4-fold than at 0-fold degenerated sites, likely because the GC content of these sites is farther away from its equilibrium, ω slightly decreases with increasing recombination rate, which could falsely be interpreted as a consequence of HRI. We corroborated this hypothesis analytically and demonstrate that under particular conditions, ω can decrease with increasing recombination rate. Analyses of the site-frequency spectrum showed that W-to-S mutations were skewed toward high, and S-to-W mutations toward low, frequencies, consistent with a prevalent gBGC-driven fixation bias.
|
|
| 43. |
|
|
| 44. |
|
|
| 45. |
- Brandström, Mikael, 1978-
(författare)
-
Bioinformatic Analysis of Mutation and Selection in the Vertebrate Non-coding Genome
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The majority of the vertebrate genome sequence is not coding for proteins. In recent years, the evolution of this noncoding fraction of the genome has gained interest. These studies have been greatly facilitated by the availability of full genome sequences. The aim of this thesis is to study evolution of the noncoding vertebrate genome through bioinformatic analysis of large-scale genomic datasets.In a first analysis we addressed the use of conservation of sequence between highly diverged genomes to infer function. We provided evidence for a turnover of the patterns of negative selection. Hence, measures of constraint based on comparisons of diverged genomes might underestimate the functional proportion of the genome.In the following analyses we focused on length variation as found in small-scale insertion and deletion (indel) polymorphisms and microsatellites. For indels in chicken, replication slippage is a likely mutation mechanism, as a large proportion of the indels are parts of tandem-duplicates. Using a set of microsatellite polymorphisms in chicken, where we avoid ascertainment bias, we showed that polymorphism is positively correlated with microsatellite length and AT-content. Furthermore, interruptions in the microsatellite sequence decrease the levels of polymorphism.We also analysed the association between microsatellite polymorphism and recombination in the human genome. Here we found increased levels of microsatellite polymorphism in human recombination hotspots and also similar increases in the frequencies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and indels. This points towards natural selection shaping the levels of variation. Alternatively, recombination is mutagenic for all three kinds of polymorphisms. Finally, I present the program ILAPlot. It is a tool for visualisation, exploration and data extraction based on BLAST.Our combined results highlight the intricate connections between evolutionary phenomena. It also emphasises the importance of length variability in genome evolution, as well as the gradual difference between indels and microsatellites.
|
|
| 46. |
- Brandström, Miakel, et al.
(författare)
-
Genome-wide analysis of microsatellite polymorphism in chicken circumventing the ascertainment bias
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1088-9051 .- 1549-5469. ; 18:6, s. 881-887
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies of microsatellites evolution based on marker data almost inherently suffer from an ascertainment bias because there is selection for the most mutable and polymorphic loci during marker development. To circumvent this bias we took advantage of whole-genome shotgun sequence data from three unrelated chicken individuals that, when aligned to the genome reference sequence, give sequence information on two chromosomes from about one-fourth (375,000) of all microsatellite loci containing di- through pentanucleotide repeat motifs in the chicken genome. Polymorphism is seen at loci with as few as five repeat units, and the proportion of dimorphic loci then increases to 50% for sequences with similar to 10 repeat units, to reach a maximum of 75%-80% for sequences with 15 or more repeat units. For any given repeat length, polymorphism increases with decreasing GC content of repeat motifs for dinucleotides, nonhairpin-forming trinucleotides, and tetranucleotides. For trinucleotide repeats which are likely to form hairpin structures, polymorphism increases with increasing GC content, indicating that the relative stability of hairpins affects the rate of replication slippage. For any given repeat length, polymorphism is significantly lower for imperfect compared to perfect repeats and repeat interruptions occur in >15% of loci. However, interruptions are not randomly distributed within repeat arrays but are preferentially located toward the ends. There is negative correlation between microsatellite abundance and single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP) density, providing large-scale genomic support for the hypothesis that equilibrium microsatellite distributions are governed by a balance between rate of replication slippage and rate of point mutation.
|
|
| 47. |
|
|
| 48. |
|
|
| 49. |
- Brandström, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
-
The genomic landscape of short insertion and deletion polymorphisms in the chicken (Gallus gallus) genome : A high frequency of deletions in tandem duplicates
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0016-6731 .- 1943-2631. ; 176:3, s. 1691-1701
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is increasingly recognized that insertions and deletions(indels) are an important source of genetic as well as phenotypicdivergence and diversity. We analyzed length polymorphisms identifiedthrough partial (0.25x) shotgun sequencing of three breeds ofdomestic chicken made by the International Chicken PolymorphismMap Consortium. A data set of 140,484 short indel polymorphismsin unique DNA was identified after filtering for microsatellitestructures. There was a significant excess of tandem duplicatesat indel sites, with deletions of a duplicate motif outnumberingthe generation of duplicates through insertion. Indel densitywas lower in microchromosomes than in macrochromosomes, in theZ chromosome than in autosomes, and in 100 bp of upstream sequence,5'-UTR, and first introns than in intergenic DNA and in otherintrons. Indel density was highly correlated with single nucleotidepolymorphism (SNP) density. The mean density of indels in pairwisesequence comparisons was 1.9 x 10–4 indel events/bp, 5%the density of SNPs segregating in the chicken genome. The greatmajority of indels involved a limited number of nucleotides(median 1 bp), with A-rich motifs being overrepresented at indelsites. The overrepresentation of deletions at tandem duplicatesindicates that replication slippage in duplicate sequences isa common mechanism behind indel mutation. The correlation betweenindel and SNP density indicates common effects of mutation and/orselection on the occurrence of indels and point mutations.
|
|
| 50. |
- Brandström, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
-
The relationship between microsatellite polymorphism and recombination hot spots in the human genome
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 25:12, s. 2579-2587
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although previous studies have failed to detect an association between microsatellite polymorphism and broadscale recombination rates in the human genome, there are several possible reasons why such a relationship could exist. For instance, there might be a direct link if recombination is mutagenic to microsatellite sequences or if polymorphic microsatellites act as recombination signals. Alternatively, recombination could exert an indirect effect by uncoupling of natural selection at linked loci, promoting polymorphism. As recombination is concentrated in narrow hotspot regions in the human genome, we investigated the relationship between microsatellite polymorphism and recombination hot spots. By using data from a common allele frequency database, we found several polymorphism estimates to be similar for hot spots and the genomic average. However, this is likely explained by an ascertainment bias because markers with high polymorphism information content are usually selected for genotyping in human populations and pedigrees. In contrast, by using an unbiased set of shotgun sequence data, we found an excess of microsatellite polymorphism in recombination hot spots of 14%. However, when other genomic variables are taken into account in a generalized model and using wavelet analysis, the effect is no longer detectable and the only firm predictor of microsatellite polymorphism is the incidence of SNPs and indels. One possible neutral explanation to these observations is that there is a common denominator affecting the local rate of mutation in unique as well as in repetitive DNA, for example, base composition.
|
|
