An embryonic pattern of expression of a human fetal globin gene in transgenic mice

During the evolution of the beta-globin family gene in vertebrates, different globin genes acquired different developmental patterns of expression. In mammals, specific 'embryonic' beta-like globins are synthesized in the earliest erythroid cells, which differentiate in the yolk sac of the embryo. In most mammals the embryonic globin chains are replaced by 'adult' beta-globins in fetal and adult erythrocytes, which arise in the liver and bone marrow, respectively. However, in simian primates (including humans), a distinct 'fetal' type of beta-like globin chain predominates in fetal erythroid cells. Based on the pattern of DNA sequence homologies between different mammalian species, these fetal globin genes, G gamma and A gamma, are thought to have descended from an ancestral gene, 'proto-gamma', which was embryonic in its pattern of expression. In the mouse, as well as in most other mammalian species, the descendants of the proto-gamma gene continue to function as embryonic genes. To investigate the evolutionary changes that led to the 'fetal recruitment' of the gamma-globin genes in primates, we have introduced the cloned human G gamma-globin gene into the mouse germ line. We report here that the human G gamma gene reverts to an embryonic pattern of expression in the developing mouse. This observation suggests that during evolution a shift occurred in the timing of expression of a trans-acting signal controlling the proto-gamma gene.     

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。     

Morphological evolution through multiple cis-regulatory mutations at a single gene

One central, and yet unsolved, question in evolutionary biology is the relationship between the genetic variants segregating within species and the causes of morphological differences between species. The classic neo-darwinian view postulates that species differences result from the accumulation of small-effect changes at multiple loci. However, many examples support the possible role of larger abrupt changes in the expression of developmental genes in morphological evolution. Although this evidence might be considered a challenge to a neo-darwinian micromutationist view of evolution, there are currently few examples of the actual genes causing morphological differences between species. Here we examine the genetic basis of a trichome pattern difference between Drosophila species, previously shown to result from the evolution of a single gene, shavenbaby (svb), probably through cis-regulatory changes. We first identified three distinct svb enhancers from D. melanogaster driving reporter gene expression in partly overlapping patterns that together recapitulate endogenous svb expression. All three homologous enhancers from D. sechellia drive expression in modified patterns, in a direction consistent with the evolved svb expression pattern. To test the influence of these enhancers on the actual phenotypic difference, we conducted interspecific genetic mapping at a resolution sufficient to recover multiple intragenic recombinants. This functional analysis revealed that independent genetic regions upstream of svb that overlap the three identified enhancers are collectively required to generate the D. sechellia trichome pattern. Our results demonstrate that the accumulation of multiple small-effect changes at a single locus underlies the evolution of a morphological difference between species. These data support the view that alleles of large effect that distinguish species may sometimes reflect the accumulation of multiple mutations of small effect at select genes.     

Pattern formation in the developing eye of Drosophila melanogaster is regulated by the homoeo-box gene, rough

Homoeo-box genes play a central role in the regulation of embryogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Their widespread phylogenetic distribution, and the tissue and stage specificity of their expression in other organisms, argue that they play a general and significant role in animal development. In D. melanogaster, all homoeo-box genes characterized to date are involved in major aspects of embryogenesis. We report here the molecular characterization of a Drosophila homoeo-box gene that has no apparent involvement in early embryogenesis. The gene appears to be rough, a gene implicated in pattern formation in the developing eye. It is expressed in cells within, and posterior to, the morphogenetic furrow, the site of the primary pattern forming events in the developing retina, and also in a region of the brain of the third instar larva. We have found no genetic or molecular evidence of a role for this gene in other aspects of fly development.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cis</Emphasis>-regulatory change and expression divergence between duplicate genes formed by genome duplication of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

As an index of functional divergence, expression divergence between duplicate gene copies has been observed and correlated with protein coding sequence divergence and bias in gene functional classes. However, the changes in the cis-regulatory region of the duplicate genes which is thought to have important role in expression divergence, has not been explored on the genome-wide scale. We analyzed functional genomics data for a large number of duplicated gene pairs formed by ancient polyploidy events in Arabidopsis thaliana. The divergence in cis-regulatory regions between two copies is positively correlated with the magnitude difference of expression. Moreover, we find that highly expressed duplicate gene pairs have a more diverged cis-regulatory region than weakly expressed gene pairs. We also show that the correlation between expression functional constraint and protein functional constraint is different in old and young duplicate pairs. Our results suggest that cis-regulatory sequence divergence contributes to the expression divergence of duplicate genes formed by genome-wide du-plication. Cis-regulatory region diverges faster in highly expressed duplicate pairs. The diversify selection strengths that act on cis-regulatory region and protein coding region are negatively correlated in young duplicate pairs under expression con-straint.     

The evolutionary foundation of genomic imprinting in lower vertebrates

In mammals,genomic imprinting confers developmental asymmetry and complementation on the parental genomes and makes both parental genomes essential for complete development.Genomic imprinting is,therefore,the first regulatory step of genome-wide gene expression of embryogenesis and thought to be the epigenetic foundation of bisexual reproduction.However,how the genomic imprinting is originated,established and maintained during vertebrate evolution remains unknown.Because no endogenous imprinting gene has be...     

Hox genes in brachiopods and priapulids and protostome evolution.

Understanding the early evolution of animal body plans requires knowledge both of metazoan phylogeny and of the genetic and developmental changes involved in the emergence of particular forms. Recent 18S ribosomal RNA phylogenies suggest a three-branched tree for the Bilateria comprising the deuterostomes and two great protostome clades, the lophotrochozoans and ecdysozoans. Here, we show that the complement of Hox genes in critical protostome phyla reflects these phylogenetic relationships and reveals the early evolution of developmental regulatory potential in bilaterians. We have identified Hox genes that are shared by subsets of protostome phyla. These include a diverged pair of posterior (Abdominal-B-like) genes in both a brachiopod and a polychaete annelid, which supports the lophotrochozoan assemblage, and a distinct posterior Hox gene shared by a priapulid, a nematode and the arthropods, which supports the ecdysozoan clade. The ancestors of each of these two major protostome lineages had a minimum of eight to ten Hox genes. The major period of Hox gene expansion and diversification thus occurred before the radiation of each of the three great bilaterian clades.     

Novel gene expressed during early embryogenesis of zebrafish identified by mRNA differential display

Following the revelation of the molecular mechanism of morphogenesis in fruitfly, research on the molecular mechanism of morphogenesis in vertebrate becomes the focus of developmental biology. The isolation of genes controlling the embryogenesis of zebrafish, a vertebrate model animal, is considered as an initial step toward investigating this issue. There are several approaches that can be used to isolate developmental genes, each of which is suited to a particular situation. In this note, mRNA differential display was utilized to demonstrate the mRNA differences among zebrafish embryos at 4, 5 and 6 h post fertilization (28.5℃, corresponding to oblong, dome and shield stages, respectively, called blastula, gastrula and neurula in this note). One cDNA tag that was specific to embryos at neurula stage was cloned and sequenced. After sequence comparison in Genbank, we found that this cDNA tag represents a novel gene. The expression of this gene in the developing zebrafish embryos was examined by whole mount in situ hybridization. The hybridization results confirmed that this gene was specifically expressed in zebrafish neurula embryos.     

禾本科植物β-淀粉酶基因家族分子进化及响应非生物胁迫的表达模式分析

 β-淀粉酶(beta-amylase,BAM)是一类关键的淀粉水解酶,在禾谷类作物生长发育过程中起着重要作用,与植物多种非生物胁迫响应相关.本研究通过系统发育分析,将水稻、玉米、高粱、谷子、二穗短柄草5 种禾本科植物中共54 个BAM 基因分为10 个同源基因簇,每个同源基因簇都涵盖了这5 个物种,因此推测在禾本科祖先物种中至少含有10 个BAM 基因,并且在禾本科植物分化后没有发生明显的基因丢失事件.基于对编码蛋白质序列的功能分化分析,表明同源基因簇间存在明显的进化速率的差异.对10 个同源基因簇进行了适应性进化检测,发现有3 个同源簇在禾本科植物的进化过程中经历了适应性进化.此外,对水稻β-淀粉酶的表达分析发现,一些β-淀粉酶具有组织特异性表达特征,并且至少有5 个水稻的β-淀粉酶基因具有受到非生物逆境的胁迫而表现出不同的表达模式.本研究结果为进一步探讨禾本科BAM 基因的生物学功能提供了一定的理论基础.     

Intron-dependent evolution of chicken glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase gene

The function of introns in the evolution of genes can be explained in at least two ways: either introns appeared late in evolution and therefore could not have participated in the construction of primordial genes, or RNA splicing and introns existed in the earliest organisms but were lost during the evolution of the modern prokaryotes. The latter alternative allows the possibility of intron participation in the formation of primordial genes before the divergence of modern prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Blake suggested that evidence for intron-facilitated evolution of a gene might be found by comparing the borders of functional protein domains with the placement of introns. We therefore examined glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), a glycolytic enzyme, because it is the first protein for which the following data are available: X-ray crystallographic studies demonstrating structurally independent protein 'domains' which were highly conserved during the divergence of prokaryotes and eukaryotes; and a study of genomic organization which mapped introns in the gene. Sequencing of the chicken GAPDH gene revealed 11 introns. We report here that sites of three of the introns (IV, VI and XI) correspond closely with the borders of the NAD-binding, catalytic and helical tail domains of the enzyme, supporting the hypothesis that introns did have a role in the evolution of primitive genes. In addition, other biochemical and structural data were used to construct a model of the intron-mediated assembly of the GAPDH gene that explains the existence of 10 introns.     

Yeast genome duplication was followed by asynchronous differentiation of duplicated genes

Gene redundancy has been observed in yeast, plant and human genomes, and is thought to be a consequence of whole-genome duplications. Baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, contains several hundred duplicated genes. Duplication(s) could have occurred before or after a given speciation. To understand the evolution of the yeast genome, we analysed orthologues of some of these genes in several related yeast species. On the basis of the inferred phylogeny of each set of genes, we were able to deduce whether the gene duplicated and/or specialized before or after the divergence of two yeast lineages. Here we show that the gene duplications might have occurred as a single event, and that it probably took place before the Saccharomyces and Kluyveromyces lineages diverged from each other. Further evolution of each duplicated gene pair-such as specialization or differentiation of the two copies, or deletion of a single copy--has taken place independently throughout the evolution of these species.     

Testing the neutral theory of molecular evolution with genomic data from Drosophila

Although positive selection has been detected in many genes, its overall contribution to protein evolution is debatable. If the bulk of molecular evolution is neutral, then the ratio of amino-acid (A) to synonymous (S) polymorphism should, on average, equal that of divergence. A comparison of the A/S ratio of polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster with that of divergence from Drosophila simulans shows that the A/S ratio of divergence is twice as high---a difference that is often attributed to positive selection. But an increase in selective constraint owing to an increase in effective population size could also explain this observation, and, if so, all genes should be affected similarly. Here we show that the difference between polymorphism and divergence is limited to only a fraction of the genes, which are also evolving more rapidly, and this implies that positive selection is responsible. A higher A/S ratio of divergence than of polymorphism is also observed in other species, which suggests a rate of adaptive evolution that is far higher than permitted by the neutral theory of molecular evolution.