| 1. |
- Amemiya, Chris T., et al.
(författare)
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The African coelacanth genome provides insights into tetrapod evolution
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 496:7445, s. 311-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The discovery of a living coelacanth specimen in 1938 was remarkable, as this lineage of lobe-finned fish was thought to have become extinct 70 million years ago. The modern coelacanth looks remarkably similar to many of its ancient relatives, and its evolutionary proximity to our own fish ancestors provides a glimpse of the fish that first walked on land. Here we report the genome sequence of the African coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae. Through a phylogenomic analysis, we conclude that the lungfish, and not the coelacanth, is the closest living relative of tetrapods. Coelacanth protein-coding genes are significantly more slowly evolving than those of tetrapods, unlike other genomic features. Analyses of changes in genes and regulatory elements during the vertebrate adaptation to land highlight genes involved in immunity, nitrogen excretion and the development of fins, tail, ear, eye, brain and olfaction. Functional assays of enhancers involved in the fin-to-limb transition and in the emergence of extra-embryonic tissues show the importance of the coelacanth genome as a blueprint for understanding tetrapod evolution.
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| 2. |
- Brawand, David, et al.
(författare)
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The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 513:7518, s. 375-381
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cichlid fishes are famous for large, diverse and replicated adaptive radiations in the Great Lakes of East Africa. To understand themolecular mechanisms underlying cichlid phenotypic diversity, we sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five lineages of African cichlids: the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), an ancestral lineage with low diversity; and four members of the East African lineage: Neolamprologus brichardi/pulcher (older radiation, Lake Tanganyika), Metriaclima zebra (recent radiation, Lake Malawi), Pundamilia nyererei (very recent radiation, Lake Victoria), and Astatotilapia burtoni (riverine species around Lake Tanganyika). We found an excess of gene duplications in the East African lineage compared to tilapia and other teleosts, an abundance of non-coding element divergence, accelerated coding sequence evolution, expression divergence associated with transposable element insertions, and regulation by novel microRNAs. In addition, we analysed sequence data from sixty individuals representing six closely related species from Lake Victoria, and show genome-wide diversifying selection on coding and regulatory variants, some of which were recruited from ancient polymorphisms. We conclude that a number of molecular mechanisms shaped East African cichlid genomes, and that amassing of standing variation during periods of relaxed purifying selection may have been important in facilitating subsequent evolutionary diversification.
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| 3. |
- Li, Cai, et al.
(författare)
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Two Antarctic penguin genomes reveal insights into their evolutionary history and molecular changes related to the Antarctic environment
- 2014
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Ingår i: GigaScience. - 2047-217X. ; 3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Penguins are flightless aquatic birds widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The distinctive morphological and physiological features of penguins allow them to live an aquatic life, and some of them have successfully adapted to the hostile environments in Antarctica. To study the phylogenetic and population history of penguins and the molecular basis of their adaptations to Antarctica, we sequenced the genomes of the two Antarctic dwelling penguin species, the Adelie penguin [Pygoscelis adeliae] and emperor penguin [Aptenodytes forsteri]. Results: Phylogenetic dating suggests that early penguins arose similar to 60 million years ago, coinciding with a period of global warming. Analysis of effective population sizes reveals that the two penguin species experienced population expansions from similar to 1 million years ago to similar to 100 thousand years ago, but responded differently to the climatic cooling of the last glacial period. Comparative genomic analyses with other available avian genomes identified molecular changes in genes related to epidermal structure, phototransduction, lipid metabolism, and forelimb morphology. Conclusions: Our sequencing and initial analyses of the first two penguin genomes provide insights into the timing of penguin origin, fluctuations in effective population sizes of the two penguin species over the past 10 million years, and the potential associations between these biological patterns and global climate change. The molecular changes compared with other avian genomes reflect both shared and diverse adaptations of the two penguin species to the Antarctic environment.
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| 4. |
- Alfoeldi, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 477:7366, s. 587-591
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments(1). Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for mammals and birds(2-4), but not for non-avian reptiles. Here we report the genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. We find that A. carolinensis microchromosomes are highly syntenic with chicken microchromosomes, yet do not exhibit the high GC and low repeat content that are characteristic of avian microchromosomes(2). Also, A. carolinensis mobile elements are very young and diverse-more so than in any other sequenced amniote genome. The GC content of this lizard genome is also unusual in its homogeneity, unlike the regionally variable GC content found in mammals and birds(5). We describe and assign sequence to the previously unknown A. carolinensis X chromosome. Comparative gene analysis shows that amniote egg proteins have evolved significantly more rapidly than other proteins. An anole phylogeny resolves basal branches to illuminate the history of their repeated adaptive radiations.
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| 5. |
- Rands, Chris M., et al.
(författare)
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Insights into the evolution of Darwin's finches from comparative analysis of the Geospiza magnirostris genome sequence
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Genomics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2164. ; 14, s. 95-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: A classical example of repeated speciation coupled with ecological diversification is the evolution of 14 closely related species of Darwin's (Galapagos) finches (Thraupidae, Passeriformes). Their adaptive radiation in the Galapagos archipelago took place in the last 2-3 million years and some of the molecular mechanisms that led to their diversification are now being elucidated. Here we report evolutionary analyses of genome of the large ground finch, Geospiza magnirostris. Results: 13,291 protein-coding genes were predicted from a 991.0 Mb G. magnirostris genome assembly. We then defined gene orthology relationships and constructed whole genome alignments between the G. magnirostris and other vertebrate genomes. We estimate that 15% of genomic sequence is functionally constrained between G. magnirostris and zebra finch. Genic evolutionary rate comparisons indicate that similar selective pressures acted along the G. magnirostris and zebra finch lineages suggesting that historical effective population size values have been similar in both lineages. 21 otherwise highly conserved genes were identified that each show evidence for positive selection on amino acid changes in the Darwin's finch lineage. Two of these genes (Igf2r and Pou1f1) have been implicated in beak morphology changes in Darwin's finches. Five of 47 genes showing evidence of positive selection in early passerine evolution have cilia related functions, and may be examples of adaptively evolving reproductive proteins. Conclusions: These results provide insights into past evolutionary processes that have shaped G. magnirostris genes and its genome, and provide the necessary foundation upon which to build population genomics resources that will shed light on more contemporaneous adaptive and non-adaptive processes that have contributed to the evolution of the Darwin's finches.
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| 6. |
- Warren, Wesley C, et al.
(författare)
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The genome of a songbird
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 464:7289, s. 757-762
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The zebra finch is an important model organism in several fields with unique relevance to human neuroscience. Like other songbirds, the zebra finch communicates through learned vocalizations, an ability otherwise documented only in humans and a few other animals and lacking in the chicken-the only bird with a sequenced genome until now. Here we present a structural, functional and comparative analysis of the genome sequence of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), which is a songbird belonging to the large avian order Passeriformes. We find that the overall structures of the genomes are similar in zebra finch and chicken, but they differ in many intrachromosomal rearrangements, lineage-specific gene family expansions, the number of long-terminal-repeat-based retrotransposons, and mechanisms of sex chromosome dosage compensation. We show that song behaviour engages gene regulatory networks in the zebra finch brain, altering the expression of long non-coding RNAs, microRNAs, transcription factors and their targets. We also show evidence for rapid molecular evolution in the songbird lineage of genes that are regulated during song experience. These results indicate an active involvement of the genome in neural processes underlying vocal communication and identify potential genetic substrates for the evolution and regulation of this behaviour.
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| 7. |
- Axelsson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Death of PRDM9 coincides with stabilization of the recombination landscape in the dog genome
- 2011
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Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1088-9051 .- 1549-5469. ; 22:1, s. 51-63
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Analysis of diverse eukaryotes has revealed that recombination events cluster in discrete genomic locations known as hotspots. In humans, a zinc-finger protein, PRDM9, is believed to initiate recombination in >40% of hotspots by binding to a specific DNA sequence motif. However, the PRDM9 coding sequence is disrupted in the dog genome assembly, raising questions regarding the nature and control of recombination in dogs. By analyzing the sequences of PRDM9 orthologs in a number of dog breeds and several carnivores, we show here that this gene was inactivated early in canid evolution. We next use patterns of linkage disequilibrium using more than 170,000 SNP markers typed in almost 500 dogs to estimate the recombination rates in the dog genome using a coalescent-based approach. Broad-scale recombination rates show good correspondence with an existing linkage-based map. Significant variation in recombination rate is observed on the fine scale, and we are able to detect over 4000 recombination hotspots with high confidence. In contrast to human hotspots, 40% of canine hotspots are characterized by a distinct peak in GC content. A comparative genomic analysis indicates that these peaks are present also as weaker peaks in the panda, suggesting that the hotspots have been continually reinforced by accelerated and strongly GC biased nucleotide substitutions, consistent with the long-term action of biased gene conversion on the dog lineage. These results are consistent with the loss of PRDM9 in canids, resulting in a greater evolutionary stability of recombination hotspots. The genetic determinants of recombination hotspots in the dog genome may thus reflect a fundamental process of relevance to diverse animal species.
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| 8. |
- Nam, Kiwoong, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular evolution of genes in avian genomes
- 2010
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Ingår i: Genome Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1474-760X .- 1465-6906. ; 11:6, s. R68-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Obtaining a draft genome sequence of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), the second bird genome to be sequenced, provides the necessary resource for whole-genome comparative analysis of gene sequence evolution in a non-mammalian vertebrate lineage. To analyze basic molecular evolutionary processes during avian evolution, and to contrast these with the situation in mammals, we aligned the protein-coding sequences of 8,384 1: 1 orthologs of chicken, zebra finch, a lizard and three mammalian species. Results: We found clear differences in the substitution rate at fourfold degenerate sites, being lowest in the ancestral bird lineage, intermediate in the chicken lineage and highest in the zebra finch lineage, possibly reflecting differences in generation time. We identified positively selected and/or rapidly evolving genes in avian lineages and found an over-representation of several functional classes, including anion transporter activity, calcium ion binding, cell adhesion and microtubule cytoskeleton. Conclusions: Focusing specifically on genes of neurological interest and genes differentially expressed in the unique vocal control nuclei of the songbird brain, we find a number of positively selected genes, including synaptic receptors. We found no evidence that selection for beneficial alleles is more efficient in regions of high recombination; in fact, there was a weak yet significant negative correlation between omega and recombination rate, which is in the direction predicted by the Hill-Robertson effect if slightly deleterious mutations contribute to protein evolution. These findings set the stage for studies of functional genetics of avian genes.
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