Cloning and sequence analysis of Sox genes in a tetraploid cyprinid fish, Tor douronensis

A PCR survey for Sox genes in a young tetraploid fish Tor douronensis （Teleostei： Cyprinidae） was performed to access the evolutionary fates of important functional genes after genome duplication caused by polyploldizatlon event. Totally 13 Soxgenes were obtained in Tordouronensis, which represent SoxB, SoxC and SoxE groups. PhylogeneUc analysis of Sox genes in Tor douronensis provided evidence for fish-specific genome duplication, and suggested that Sox19 might be a teleost specific Sox gene member. Sequence analysis revealed most of the nucleoUde substitutions between duplicated copies of Soxgenes caused by tetreploldlzatlon event or their orthologues in other species are silent substitutions. It would appear that the sequences are under purifying selective pressure, strongly suggesting that they represent functional genes and supporting selection against all null allele at either of two duplicated loci of Sox4a, Sox9a and Sox9b. Surprising variations of the intron length and similarities of two duplicated copies of Soxga and Sox9b, suggest that Tor douronensis might be an allotetreploidy.     

Genome duplication in the teleost fish Tetraodon nigroviridis reveals the early vertebrate proto-karyotype

Tetraodon nigroviridis is a freshwater puffer fish with the smallest known vertebrate genome. Here, we report a draft genome sequence with long-range linkage and substantial anchoring to the 21 Tetraodon chromosomes. Genome analysis provides a greatly improved fish gene catalogue, including identifying key genes previously thought to be absent in fish. Comparison with other vertebrates and a urochordate indicates that fish proteins have diverged markedly faster than their mammalian homologues. Comparison with the human genome suggests approximately 900 previously unannotated human genes. Analysis of the Tetraodon and human genomes shows that whole-genome duplication occurred in the teleost fish lineage, subsequent to its divergence from mammals. The analysis also makes it possible to infer the basic structure of the ancestral bony vertebrate genome, which was composed of 12 chromosomes, and to reconstruct much of the evolutionary history of ancient and recent chromosome rearrangements leading to the modern human karyotype.     

SPL家族基因复制及功能分化分析

【目的】基因复制及随后的功能分化是基因组和物种演化的重要驱动力。植物特有的转录因子家族SPL(SQUAMOSA-promoter binding protein like)广泛参与调控植物生长发育及响应逆境胁迫,为研究重复基因的起源方式和进化命运提供了良好的研究系统。本研究对葡萄(Vitis vinifera)、番木瓜(Carica papaya)、毛果杨(Populus trichocarpa)和拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)4种模式植物的SPL基因家族开展基因复制及功能分化分析,为进一步研究SPL基因功能、预测种属特异性的功能基因提供系统进化角度的参考。【方法】利用SBP特征结构域,鉴定葡萄、番木瓜、毛果杨和拟南芥4种模式植物中SPL基因家族成员,并利用最大似然法构建系统进化树。基于物种内、物种间基因组共线性,分析SPL基因家族发生基因复制的方式及差异保留情况,并计算保留的SPL直系和旁系同源基因的同义、非同义替换率,分析功能分化情况。【结果】在4种模式植物中共鉴定出SPL基因73个,其中42个是miR156的靶基因。系统进化分析显示:73个SPL基因聚类为9个主要分支,miR156靶向SPL基因成簇聚集在6个主要分支;Clade I中SPL基因编码的2个锌指结构基序为C4和C₂HC,而其余8个分支中SPL基因的锌指结构基序由C3H和C₂HC组成。大规模基因组复制事件(片段复制或全基因组复制)是SPL基因家族发生基因重复的主要方式。根据基因组复制事件推算,15个古基因位点理论上应复制出的360个位点中,83.6%的重复位点发生丢失或演化成非SPL基因。本研究鉴定出旁系同源基因17对,直系同源基因27对,且所有旁系和直系同源基因的K_a/K_s(非同义替换率和同义替换率之比)值均小于1。【结论】在不同物种中保留下来的SPL直系同源基因受到较强的纯化选择,在功能上具有保守性;同一物种中保留下来的SPL旁系同源基因在进化过程中维持部分功能冗余,但在组织表达偏好性和蛋白功能上已呈现出不同形式的分化。     

Cloning and sequence analysis of Sox genes in a tetraploid cyprinid fish,Tor douronensis

A PCR survey for Sox genes in a young tetraploid fish Tor douronensis (Teleostei:Cyprinidae) was per-formed to access the evolutionary fates of important functional genes after genome duplication caused by polyploidization event. Totally 13 Sox genes were obtained in Tor douronensis,which represent SoxB,SoxC and SoxE groups. Phylogenetic analysis of Sox genes in Tor douronensis provided evidence for fish-specific genome duplication,and suggested that Sox19 might be a teleost specific Sox gene member. Sequence analysis revealed most of the nucleotide substitutions between duplicated copies of Sox genes caused by tetraploidization event or their orthologues in other species are silent substitutions. It would appear that the sequences are under purifying selective pressure,strongly suggesting that they repre-sent functional genes and supporting selection against all null allele at either of two duplicated loci of Sox4a,Sox9a and Sox9b. Surprising variations of the intron length and similarities of two duplicated copies of Sox9a and Sox9b,suggest that Tor douronensis might be an allotetraploidy.     

原生生物基因重复研究进展

详述了原生生物的大规模和小规模基因重复2种类型，以及重复基因新功能化、亚功能化和假基因化等3种分化途径的研究现状，并简要介绍了重复基因保留偏好性和3种进化模型等方面的相关研究，揭示了基因重复对原生生物进化的重要意义．为了进一步推动原生生物基因重复的研究，建议多开展原生生物非模式生物的研究工作     

Global trends of whole-genome duplications revealed by the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia

The duplication of entire genomes has long been recognized as having great potential for evolutionary novelties, but the mechanisms underlying their resolution through gene loss are poorly understood. Here we show that in the unicellular eukaryote Paramecium tetraurelia, a ciliate, most of the nearly 40,000 genes arose through at least three successive whole-genome duplications. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the most recent duplication coincides with an explosion of speciation events that gave rise to the P. aurelia complex of 15 sibling species. We observed that gene loss occurs over a long timescale, not as an initial massive event. Genes from the same metabolic pathway or protein complex have common patterns of gene loss, and highly expressed genes are over-retained after all duplications. The conclusion of this analysis is that many genes are maintained after whole-genome duplication not because of functional innovation but because of gene dosage constraints.     

拟南芥基因倍增及基因流失分析

基因倍增指基因组中含有基因的DNA片段复制出一个或更多拷贝的过程，是进化出新物种的主要原因。采用新的数据和方法研究拟南芥基因组的基因倍增过程，通过分析串联基因倍增和大规模基因倍增的存在比例和同义置换率分布，并估计大规模倍增后基因流失的比例，揭示了拟南芥基因组一次非常明显的全基因组倍增，采用科学的方法估计这次倍增发生在约8000万年前。比较该结果与之前的研究，提出了一种解释拟南芥基因倍增过程更合理的模型。     

Ancestral polyploidy in seed plants and angiosperms

Whole-genome duplication (WGD), or polyploidy, followed by gene loss and diploidization has long been recognized as an important evolutionary force in animals, fungi and other organisms, especially plants. The success of angiosperms has been attributed, in part, to innovations associated with gene or whole-genome duplications, but evidence for proposed ancient genome duplications pre-dating the divergence of monocots and eudicots remains equivocal in analyses of conserved gene order. Here we use comprehensive phylogenomic analyses of sequenced plant genomes and more than 12.6 million new expressed-sequence-tag sequences from phylogenetically pivotal lineages to elucidate two groups of ancient gene duplications-one in the common ancestor of extant seed plants and the other in the common ancestor of extant angiosperms. Gene duplication events were intensely concentrated around 319 and 192 million years ago, implicating two WGDs in ancestral lineages shortly before the diversification of extant seed plants and extant angiosperms, respectively. Significantly, these ancestral WGDs resulted in the diversification of regulatory genes important to seed and flower development, suggesting that they were involved in major innovations that ultimately contributed to the rise and eventual dominance of seed plants and angiosperms.     

The complete mitochondrial DNA sequence and the phylogenetic position of Achalinus meiguensis (Reptilia: Squamata)

The mitochondrial genome complete sequence of Achalinus meiguensis was reported for the first time in the present study. The complete mitochondrial genome of A. meiguensis is 17239 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA, 2 rRNA, and 2 non-coding regions (Control regions). On the basis of comparison with the other complete mitochondrial sequences reported, we explored the characteristic of structure and evolution. For example, duplication control regions independently occurred in the evolutionary history of reptiles; the pseudo-tRNA of snakes occurred in the Caenophidia; snake is shorter than other vertebrates in the length of tRNA because of the truncations of TψC arm (less than 5 bp) and “DHU“ arm. The phylogenic analysis by MP and BI analysis showed that the phylogenetic position of A. meiguensis was placed in Caenophidia as a sister group to other advanced snakes with the exclusion of Acrochordus granulatus which was rooted in the Caenophidia. Therefore we suggested that the subfamily Xenodermatinae, which contains A. meiguensis, should be raised to a family rank or higher rank. At the same time, based on the phylogenic statistic test, the tree of Bayesian was used for estimating the divergence time. The results showed that the divergence time between Henophidia and Caenophidia was 109.50 Mya; 106.18 Mya for divergence between Acrochordus granulatus and the other snakes of the Caenophidia; the divergence time of A. meiguensis was 103 Mya, and Viperidae diverged from the unilateral of Elapidae and Colubridae was 96.06 Mya.     

miR-430基因簇的生物信息学分析

很多microRNA （miRNA）基因在基因组上紧密排列形成miRNA基因簇,mir-430是目前已发现的最大miR-NA基因簇,但其起源和进化方面却是未知的.为了揭示mir-430基因簇的起源及其在相关物种的进化关系,文中基于miRNA序列同源保守的特点,采用BLAST程序在NCBI基因数据库中搜索mir-430序列,在14个物种中共搜索到35个mir-430基因序列,这14个物种都为硬骨鱼类.多序列对比发现mir-430基因簇成熟序列的第2到第8位碱基以及第16到第22位碱基为保守序列.进化分析表明七鳃鳗的pma-mir-430基因可能是此基因家族最早出现的基因形式,并且pma-mir-430e可能是其他物种mir-430基因的祖先基因.祖先基因经过个别碱基的缺失及突变、串联重复和大片段重复等方式形成了mir-430基因簇.该研究通过分析不同物种中mir-430基因簇的特征,揭示mir-430基因簇的分子进化规律,为其调控网络和功能研究提供理论基础.     

Phylogenetic position of Ephedra rhytidosperma, a species endemic to China： Evidence from chloroplast and ribosomal DNA sequences

The chloroplast genes matK and rbcL, ribosomal gene 18S and ITS regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA from Ephedra rhytidosperma, a species endemic to China, were sequenced and its phylogenetic position was investigated. Independent and combined phylogenetic analyses for the DNA sequences from 16 taxa representing 15 species of the genus Ephedra were performed using the maximum parsimony （MP）, neighbor-joining （N J）, minimum evolution （ME） and maximum likelihood （ML） methods. The results indicate that E. rhytidosperma is closely related to E. equisetina. The divergence time between them is estimated to be 10.85±2.44 Ma based on the results of the relative-rate tests and the evolutionary rate of rbcL gene.     

基于基因表达谱芯片杂交分析Lamprey-PHB2转染前后Chang liver细胞的基因表达差异

选取了10个物种与本课题组前期克隆得到的东北七鳃鳗抗增殖蛋白2(Lm-PHB2)进行氨基酸序列相似性对比,检测PHB2基因进化水平,结果表明各物种的PHB2氨基酸序列在PHB结构域处高度保守,但在N-端和C-端氨基酸序列保守性较低.将重组质粒pEGFP-N1-Lm-PHB2瞬时转染入张氏肝(CHL)细胞后,利用基因表达谱芯片技术分析基因的表达差异.结果显示CHL细胞中共有270条显著差异表达基因,其中显著上调基因共141条,显著下调基因共129条,涉及细胞信号转导、细胞周期调节、细胞增殖、细胞代谢和细胞凋亡等多个方面.通过实时荧光定量聚合酶链式反应(PCR)对基因表达谱芯片分析结果进行验证,结果显示转染pEGFP-N1-Lm-PHB2质粒后,细胞周期基因CDC25C、氧化应激相关基因(CAT,SOD,GST)和抗细胞凋亡基因HAX1均有显著性差异.     

Unravelling angiosperm genome evolution by phylogenetic analysis of chromosomal duplication events

Conservation of gene order in vertebrates is evident after hundreds of millions of years of divergence, but comparisons of the Arabidopsis thaliana sequence to partial gene orders of other angiosperms (flowering plants) sharing common ancestry approximately 170-235 million years ago yield conflicting results. This difference may be largely due to the propensity of angiosperms to undergo chromosomal duplication ('polyploidization') and subsequent gene loss ('diploidization'); these evolutionary mechanisms have profound consequences for comparative biology. Here we integrate a phylogenetic approach (relating chromosomal duplications to the tree of life) with a genomic approach (mitigating information lost to diploidization) to show that a genome-wide duplication post-dates the divergence of Arabidopsis from most dicots. We also show that an inferred ancestral gene order for Arabidopsis reveals more synteny with other dicots (exemplified by cotton), and that additional, more ancient duplication events affect more distant taxonomic comparisons. By using partial sequence data for many diverse taxa to better relate the evolutionary history of completely sequenced genomes to the tree of life, we foster comparative approaches to the study of genome organization, consequences of polyploidy, and the molecular basis of quantitative traits.     

哺乳动物Gpx 基因家族进化选择和功能分歧研究 (动物科学)

研究哺乳动物谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶基因家族(Gpx)的亲缘关系和进化选择压力性质。从NCBI等网站获取哺乳动物Gpx基因编码区核酸序列和GPX蛋白氨基酸序列,并用MEGA、Clustal构建亲缘关系树,用SignalP和TargetP分析信号肽和亚细胞定位信息;用K estimator和PAML分析其Gpx基因家族进化先后顺序和选择压力;用Diverge分析GPX蛋白家族功能分歧。结果表明,GPX蛋白家族进化中形成两个亚类,其一包括GPX1和GPX2,其二包括GPX3、GPX5和GPX6;各GPX蛋白成员均有高度保守的GPX蛋白家族基序和高度保守的硒代半胱氨酸或半胱氨酸残基,氨基端信号肽分析显示,GPX1蛋白为胞浆线粒体型,其余家族成员均为胞外分泌型;哺乳动物Gpx1基因进化上受到严格的负选择作用,Gpx基因家族成员保守区也受到负选择作用,但用枝位点模型却检出了正选择作用,GPX蛋白家族内存在轻微的功能分歧。哺乳动物GPX蛋白家族的进化上的负选择作用表明其在哺乳动物清除自由基抗氧化方面的关键作用。     

水龙骨科附生蕨类Rubisco大亚基的适应性进化:正向选择位点的鉴定

 核酮糖-1,5-二磷酸羧化酶/加氧酶（Rubisco,EC 4.1.1.39）在植物光合作用中起重要作用,既负责碳同化又引发光呼吸。催化固定CO₂的活性位点位于Rubisco大亚基,由叶绿体rbc L基因编码。水龙骨科是现存蕨类中最为衍生的类群,多为附生植物。为验证蕨类植物在白垩纪适应被子植物兴起而发生分化的观点,本研究以水龙骨科附生蕨类为对象,利用位点间可变ω（非同义替换率d_N和同义替换率d_S的比值）模型对其rbc L基因的适应性进化进行分析。通过比较模型M1a/M2a 和模型M7/M8,在氨基酸水平上,共鉴定出7个正向选择位点：133L,251M,262A,265V,282Y,326I和362I。其中位点262A,265V,282Y及326I对维持Rubisco功能的重要性也得到已发表实验数据的支持。这些结果一方面显示了基于ω比值检验DNA编码序列分子适应的有效性,另一方面也提示水龙骨类可借助rbcL等功能基因的适应性进化,应对白垩纪被子植物引发的陆地生态系统改变。     

Comparison between phylogeny of introns and exons in primate

Introns and exons of 7 genes (epsilon globin, gamma-1 globin, gamma-2 globin, delta globin, beta globin, Immunoglobulin andprepro-insulin) in primates have been separated out and used to infer phylogeny respectively. For each gene, results based on these two parts have been compared and showed that: (i) the topology of introns is almost consistent with that of exons in each gene, while the branch length of them varies, because of the dierent mutation rate; (ii) there is evidence that the substitution rate of exons would decrease inhominoids, but that of introns would not; (iii) divergence time of orangutan deduced from different genes based on exons is various, while that based on introns is much similar, and consistent with fossil records; (iv) there is a relationship between the G + C content and the substitution rate. When the substitution rate of introns is higher than exons in a gene, the G + C content of introns is less. The above results suggest that introns could provide useful evolutionary information among closety related species.     

Duplication and divergent evolution of the CHS and CHS-like genes in the chalcone synthase （CHS） superfamily

CHALCONE SYNTHASE (CHS) IS A KEY ENZYME OF FLA- VONOID BIOSYNTHESIS. IT CATALYSES THE CONDENSATION OF THREE MOLECULES OF MALONYL-COA WITH ONE MOLECULE OF 4-COUMAROYL-COA TO FORM NARINGENIN CHALCONE, THE PRECURSOR FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF FLAVONOIDS WHICH ARE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED IN THE PLANT KINGDOM AND HAVE IM- PORTANT ROLES IN FLOWER PIGMENTATION, PROTECTION AGAINST UV LIGHT A…     

鲈鱼cxcr4 cDNA克隆和序列分析

趋化因子受体(cxcr4)是一类重要的免疫调节因子受体,对原始生殖细胞的迁移和存活具有十分重要的作用。在对脊椎动物cxcr4进行初步生物信息学分析基础上设计引物,采用RT-PCR和RACE相结合的方法从鲈鱼卵巢克隆了cxcr4a全长和4b部分cDNAs序列,并预测其编码的氨基酸序列。结果表明,由于鱼类基因组经历一次特有的复制,cxcr4在鱼类存在两个复制基因。鲈鱼cxcr4a cDNA全长为1432 bp,编码311个氨基酸;cxcr4b部分cDNA片段长为905 bp,编码285个氨基酸。将鲈鱼cxcr4序列与所有已克隆的硬骨鱼类进行同源性比较,结果显示硬骨鱼类保守性较高,所有已经克隆的cxcr4按照进化地位的不同成簇聚类,表现出了较高的同源性。     

Repeated morphological evolution through cis-regulatory changes in a pleiotropic gene

The independent evolution of morphological similarities is widespread. For simple traits, such as overall body colour, repeated transitions by means of mutations in the same gene may be common. However, for more complex traits, the possible genetic paths may be more numerous; the molecular mechanisms underlying their independent origins and the extent to which they are constrained to follow certain genetic paths are largely unknown. Here we show that a male wing pigmentation pattern involved in courtship display has been gained and lost multiple times in a Drosophila clade. Each of the cases we have analysed (two gains and two losses) involved regulatory changes at the pleiotropic pigmentation gene yellow. Losses involved the parallel inactivation of the same cis-regulatory element (CRE), with changes at a few nucleotides sufficient to account for the functional divergence of one element between two sibling species. Surprisingly, two independent gains of wing spots resulted from the co-option of distinct ancestral CREs. These results demonstrate how the functional diversification of the modular CREs of pleiotropic genes contributes to evolutionary novelty and the independent evolution of morphological similarities.