scholarly journals Population genomics of parallel phenotypic evolution in stickleback across stream–lake ecological transitions

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1732) ◽  
pp. 1277-1286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce E. Deagle ◽  
Felicity C. Jones ◽  
Yingguang F. Chan ◽  
Devin M. Absher ◽  
David M. Kingsley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Population Genomics ◽  
Haida Gwaii ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Genome Scans ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Outlier Loci ◽  
Genomic Regions

Understanding the genetics of adaptation is a central focus in evolutionary biology. Here, we use a population genomics approach to examine striking parallel morphological divergences of parapatric stream–lake ecotypes of threespine stickleback fish in three watersheds on the Haida Gwaii archipelago, western Canada. Genome-wide variation at greater than 1000 single nucleotide polymorphism loci indicate separate origin of giant lake and small-bodied stream fish within each watershed (mean F ST between watersheds = 0.244 and within = 0.114). Genome scans within watersheds identified a total of 21 genomic regions that are highly differentiated between ecotypes and are probably subject to directional selection. Most outliers were watershed-specific, but genomic regions undergoing parallel genetic changes in multiple watersheds were also identified. Interestingly, several of the stream–lake outlier regions match those previously identified in marine–freshwater and benthic–limnetic genome scans, indicating reuse of the same genetic loci in different adaptive scenarios. We also identified multiple new outlier loci, which may contribute to unique aspects of differentiation in stream–lake environments. Overall, our data emphasize the important role of ecological boundaries in driving both local and broadly occurring parallel genetic changes during adaptation.

scholarly journals Population Differentiation at the HLA Genes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Débora Y. C. Brandt ◽  
Jônatas César ◽  
Jérôme Goudet ◽  
Diogo Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Population Differentiation ◽  
Balancing Selection ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Hla Genes ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Genomic Regions

ABSTRACTBalancing selection is defined as a class of selective regimes that maintain polymorphism above what is expected under neutrality. Theory predicts that balancing selection reduces population differentiation, as measured by FST. However, balancing selection regimes in which different sets of alleles are maintained in different populations could increase population differentiation. To tackle this issue, we investigated population differentiation at the HLA genes, which constitute the most striking example of balancing selection in humans. We found that population differentiation of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the HLA genes is on average lower than that of SNPs in other genomic regions. However, this result depends on accounting for the differences in allele frequency between selected and putatively neutral sites. Our finding of reduced differentiation at SNPs within HLA genes suggests a predominant role of shared selective pressures among populations at a global scale. However, in pairs of closely related populations, where genome-wide differentiation is low, differentiation at HLA is higher than in other genomic regions. This pattern was reproduced in simulations of overdominant selection. We conclude that population differentiation at the HLA genes is generally lower than genome-wide, but it may be higher for recently diverged population pairs, and that this pattern can be explained by a simple overdominance regime.

scholarly journals Allele frequency divergence reveals ubiquitous influence of positive selection in Drosophila

PLoS Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. e1009833
Author(s):  
Jason Bertram
Keyword(s):  
Allele Frequency ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Polymorphic Locus ◽  
Allele Frequencies ◽  
Intermediate Allele ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Signature Of Selection ◽  
Basic Objective ◽  
Genomic Regions

Resolving the role of natural selection is a basic objective of evolutionary biology. It is generally difficult to detect the influence of selection because ubiquitous non-selective stochastic change in allele frequencies (genetic drift) degrades evidence of selection. As a result, selection scans typically only identify genomic regions that have undergone episodes of intense selection. Yet it seems likely such episodes are the exception; the norm is more likely to involve subtle, concurrent selective changes at a large number of loci. We develop a new theoretical approach that uncovers a previously undocumented genome-wide signature of selection in the collective divergence of allele frequencies over time. Applying our approach to temporally resolved allele frequency measurements from laboratory and wild Drosophila populations, we quantify the selective contribution to allele frequency divergence and find that selection has substantial effects on much of the genome. We further quantify the magnitude of the total selection coefficient (a measure of the combined effects of direct and linked selection) at a typical polymorphic locus, and find this to be large (of order 1%) even though most mutations are not directly under selection. We find that selective allele frequency divergence is substantially elevated at intermediate allele frequencies, which we argue is most parsimoniously explained by positive—not negative—selection. Thus, in these populations most mutations are far from evolving neutrally in the short term (tens of generations), including mutations with neutral fitness effects, and the result cannot be explained simply as an ongoing purging of deleterious mutations.

scholarly journals As it happens: current directions in experimental evolution

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20120945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Bataillon ◽  
Paul Joyce ◽  
Paul Sniegowski
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Significant Rise ◽  
Measurement Precision ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Genome Wide

Recent decades have seen a significant rise in studies in which evolution is observed and analysed directly—as it happens—under replicated, controlled conditions. Such ‘experimental evolution’ approaches offer a degree of resolution of evolutionary processes and their underlying genetics that is difficult or even impossible to achieve in more traditional comparative and retrospective analyses. In principle, experimental populations can be monitored for phenotypic and genetic changes with any desired level of replication and measurement precision, facilitating progress on fundamental and previously unresolved questions in evolutionary biology. Here, we summarize 10 invited papers in which experimental evolution is making significant progress on a variety of fundamental questions. We conclude by briefly considering future directions in this very active field of research, emphasizing the importance of quantitative tests of theories and the emerging role of genome-wide re-sequencing.

scholarly journals Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) Associated Polymorphisms Regulate Expression of Adjacent Transcripts in Transformed Lymphocytes, Adipose, and Muscle from Caucasian and African-American Subjects

2011 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. E394-E403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj K. Sharma ◽  
Kurt A. Langberg ◽  
Ashis K. Mondal ◽  
Steven C. Elbein ◽  
Swapan K. Das
Keyword(s):  
Genome Wide Association ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Allelic Expression Imbalance ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Metabolic Traits ◽  
Genome Wide

abstract Context: Genome-wide association scans (GWAS) have identified novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that increase T2D susceptibility and indicated the role of nearby genes in T2D pathogenesis. Objective: We hypothesized that T2D-associated SNPs act as cis-regulators of nearby genes in human tissues and that expression of these transcripts may correlate with metabolic traits, including insulin sensitivity (SI). Design, Settings, and Patients: Association of SNPs with the expression of their nearest transcripts was tested in adipose and muscle from 168 healthy individuals who spanned a broad range of SI and body mass index (BMI) and in transformed lymphocytes (TLs). We tested correlations between the expression of these transcripts in adipose and muscle with metabolic traits. Utilizing allelic expression imbalance (AEI) analysis we examined the presence of other cis-regulators for those transcripts in TLs. Results: SNP rs9472138 was significantly (P = 0.037) associated with the expression of VEGFA in TLs while rs6698181 was detected as a cis-regulator for the PKN2 in muscle (P = 0.00027) and adipose (P = 0.018). Significant association was also observed for rs17036101 (P = 0.001) with expression of SYN2 in adipose of Caucasians. Among 19 GWAS-implicated transcripts, expression of VEGFA in adipose was correlated with BMI (r = −0.305) and SI (r = 0.230). Although only a minority of the T2D-associated SNPs were validated as cis-eQTLs for nearby transcripts, AEI analysis indicated presence of other cis-regulatory polymorphisms in 54% of these transcripts. Conclusions: Our study suggests that a small subset of GWAS-identified SNPs may increase T2D susceptibility by modulating expression of nearby transcripts in adipose or muscle.

scholarly journals The Cardamine hirsuta genome offers insight into the evolution of morphological diversity

Nature Plants ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangchao Gan ◽  
Angela Hay ◽  
Michiel Kwantes ◽  
Georg Haberer ◽  
Asis Hallab ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Close Relative ◽  
Gene Duplications ◽  
Tandem Gene Duplication ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Differential Gene

Abstract Finding causal relationships between genotypic and phenotypic variation is a key focus of evolutionary biology, human genetics and plant breeding. To identify genome-wide patterns underlying trait diversity, we assembled a high-quality reference genome of Cardamine hirsuta, a close relative of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We combined comparative genome and transcriptome analyses with the experimental tools available in C. hirsuta to investigate gene function and phenotypic diversification. Our findings highlight the prevalent role of transcription factors and tandem gene duplications in morphological evolution. We identified a specific role for the transcriptional regulators PLETHORA5/7 in shaping leaf diversity and link tandem gene duplication with differential gene expression in the explosive seed pod of C. hirsuta. Our work highlights the value of comparative approaches in genetically tractable species to understand the genetic basis for evolutionary change.

scholarly journals Allele frequency divergence reveals ubiquitous influence of positive selection in Drosophila

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Bertram
Keyword(s):  
Allele Frequency ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Polymorphic Locus ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Allele Frequencies ◽  
Intermediate Allele ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Signature Of Selection ◽  
Basic Objective ◽  
Genomic Regions

Resolving the role of natural selection is a basic objective of evolutionary biology. It is generally difficult to detect the influence of selection because ubiquitous non-selective stochastic change in allele frequencies (genetic drift) degrades evidence of selection. As a result, selection scans typically only identify genomic regions that have undergone episodes of intense selection. Yet it seems likely such episodes are the exception; the norm is more likely to involve subtle, concurrent selective changes at a large number of loci. We develop a new theoretical approach that uncovers a previously undocumented genome-wide signature of selection in the collective divergence of allele frequencies over time. Applying our approach to temporally-resolved allele frequency measurements from laboratory and wild Drosophila populations, we quantify the selective contribution to allele frequency divergence and find that selection has substantial effects on much of the genome. We further quantify the magnitude of the total selection coefficient (a measure of the combined effects of direct and linked selection) at a typical polymorphic locus, and find this to be large (of order 1%) even though most mutations are not directly under selection. We find that selective allele frequency divergence is substantial at intermediate allele frequencies, which we argue is most parsimoniously explained by positive --- not purifying --- selection. Thus, in these populations most mutations are far from evolving neutrally in the short term (tens of generations), including mutations with neutral fitness effects, and the result cannot be explained simply as a purging of deleterious mutations.

scholarly journals Emerging Technologies for Genome-Wide Profiling of DNA Breakage

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Rybin ◽  
Melina Ramic ◽  
Natalie R. Ricciardi ◽  
Philipp Kapranov ◽  
Claes Wahlestedt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Instability ◽  
Dna Double Strand Breaks ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Strand Breaks ◽  
Single Strand Breaks ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Nucleotide Resolution ◽  
Genomic Regions

Genome instability is associated with myriad human diseases and is a well-known feature of both cancer and neurodegenerative disease. Until recently, the ability to assess DNA damage—the principal driver of genome instability—was limited to relatively imprecise methods or restricted to studying predefined genomic regions. Recently, new techniques for detecting DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and single strand breaks (SSBs) with next-generation sequencing on a genome-wide scale with single nucleotide resolution have emerged. With these new tools, efforts are underway to define the “breakome” in normal aging and disease. Here, we compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of these technologies and their potential application to studying neurodegenerative diseases.

scholarly journals Multi-locus interactions and the build-up of reproductive isolation

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1806) ◽  
pp. 20190543 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Satokangas ◽  
S. H. Martin ◽  
H. Helanterä ◽  
J. Saramäki ◽  
J. Kulmuni
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Hybrid Fitness ◽  
Epistatic Interactions ◽  
Genome Scans ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Polymorphism Data

All genes interact with other genes, and their additive effects and epistatic interactions affect an organism's phenotype and fitness. Recent theoretical and empirical work has advanced our understanding of the role of multi-locus interactions in speciation. However, relating different models to one another and to empirical observations is challenging. This review focuses on multi-locus interactions that lead to reproductive isolation (RI) through reduced hybrid fitness. We first review theoretical approaches and show how recent work incorporating a mechanistic understanding of multi-locus interactions recapitulates earlier models, but also makes novel predictions concerning the build-up of RI. These include high variance in the build-up rate of RI among taxa, the emergence of strong incompatibilities producing localized barriers to introgression, and an effect of population size on the build-up of RI. We then review recent experimental approaches to detect multi-locus interactions underlying RI using genomic data. We argue that future studies would benefit from overlapping methods like ancestry disequilibrium scans, genome scans of differentiation and analyses of hybrid gene expression. Finally, we highlight a need for further overlap between theoretical and empirical work, and approaches that predict what kind of patterns multi-locus interactions resulting in incompatibilities will leave in genome-wide polymorphism data. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards the completion of speciation: the evolution of reproductive isolation beyond the first barriers’.

scholarly journals A Whole Genome Re-Sequencing Based GWA Analysis Reveals Candidate Genes Associated with Ivermectin Resistance in Haemonchus contortus

Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sawar Khan ◽  
Ayesha Nisar ◽  
Jianqi Yuan ◽  
Xiaoping Luo ◽  
Xueqin Dou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Candidate Genes ◽  
Haemonchus Contortus ◽  
Population Genomics ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Signatures Of Selection ◽  
Parasitic Worms ◽  
Important Parasite

The most important and broad-spectrum drug used to control the parasitic worms to date is ivermectin (IVM). Resistance against IVM has emerged in parasites, and preserving its efficacy is now becoming a serious issue. The parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus (Rudolphi, 1803) is economically an important parasite of small ruminants across the globe, which has a successful track record in IVM resistance. There are growing evidences regarding the multigenic nature of IVM resistance, and although some genes have been proposed as candidates of IVM resistance using lower magnification of genome, the genetic basis of IVM resistance still remains poorly resolved. Using the full magnification of genome, we herein applied a population genomics approach to characterize genome-wide signatures of selection among pooled worms from two susceptible and six ivermectin-resistant isolates of H. contortus, and revealed candidate genes under selection in relation to IVM resistance. These candidates also included a previously known IVM-resistance-associated candidate gene HCON_00148840, glc-3. Finally, an RNA-interference-based functional validation assay revealed the HCON_00143950 as IVM-tolerance-associated gene in H. contortus. The possible role of this gene in IVM resistance could be detoxification of xenobiotic in phase I of xenobiotic metabolism. The results of this study further enhance our understanding on the IVM resistance and continue to provide further evidence in favor of multigenic nature of IVM resistance.

scholarly journals Genome-Wide Association Study of Body Weight Traits in Chinese Fine-Wool Sheep

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zengkui Lu ◽  
Yaojing Yue ◽  
Chao Yuan ◽  
Jianbin Liu ◽  
Zhiqiang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Muscle Development ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Economic Trait ◽  
Significance Levels ◽  
Genomic Regions ◽  
Selection Of

Body weight is an important economic trait for sheep and it is vital for their successful production and breeding. Therefore, identifying the genomic regions and biological pathways that contribute to understanding variability in body weight traits is significant for selection purposes. In this study, the genome-wide associations of birth, weaning, yearling, and adult weights of 460 fine-wool sheep were determined using resequencing technology. The results showed that 113 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reached the genome-wide significance levels for the four body weight traits and 30 genes were annotated effectively, including AADACL3, VGF, NPC1, and SERPINA12. The genes annotated by these SNPs significantly enriched 78 gene ontology terms and 25 signaling pathways, and were found to mainly participate in skeletal muscle development and lipid metabolism. These genes can be used as candidate genes for body weight in sheep, and provide useful information for the production and genomic selection of Chinese fine-wool sheep.

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