scholarly journals Pathways to polar adaptation in fishes revealed by long-read sequencing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Hotaling ◽  
Thomas Desvignes ◽  
John S. Sproul ◽  
Luana S.F. Lins ◽  
Joanna L Kelley

Long-read sequencing is driving a new reality for genome science where highly contiguous assemblies can be produced efficiently with modest resources. Genome assemblies from long-read sequencing are particularly exciting for understanding the evolution of complex genomic regions that are often difficult to assemble. In this study, we leveraged long-read sequencing to generate a high-quality genome assembly for an Antarctic eelpout, Opthalmolycus amberensis, the first for the globally distributed family Zoarcidae. We used this assembly to understand how O. amberensis has adapted to the harsh Southern Ocean and compared it to another group of Antarctic fishes: the notothenioids. We showed that from a genome-wide perspective, selection has largely acted on different targets in eelpouts relative to notothenioids. However, we did find some overlap; in both groups, selection has acted on genes involved in membrane structure and DNA repair. We found evidence for historical shifts of transposable element activity in O. amberensis and other polar fishes, perhaps reflecting a response to environmental change. We were specifically interested in the evolution of two complex genomic regions known to underlie key adaptations to polar seas: hemoglobin and antifreeze proteins (AFPs). We observed unique evolution of the hemoglobin MN cluster in eelpouts and related fishes in the suborder Zoarcoidei relative to other teleosts. For AFPs, we identified the first species in the suborder with no evidence of afpIII sequences (Cebidichthys violaceus), potentially reflecting a lineage-specific loss of this gene cluster. Beyond polar fishes, our results highlight the power of long-read sequencing to understand genome evolution.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manu Kumar Gundappa ◽  
Thu-Hien To ◽  
Lars Grønvold ◽  
Samuel A M Martin ◽  
Sigbjørn Lien ◽  
...  

The long-term evolutionary impacts of whole genome duplication (WGD) are strongly influenced by the ensuing rediploidization process. Following autopolyploidization, rediploidization involves a transition from tetraploid to diploid meiotic pairing, allowing duplicated genes (ohnologues) to diverge genetically and functionally. Our understanding of autopolyploid rediploidization has been informed by a WGD event ancestral to salmonid fishes, where large genomic regions are characterized by temporally delayed rediploidization, allowing lineage-specific ohnologue sequence divergence in the major salmonid clades. Here, we investigate the long-term outcomes of autopolyploid rediploidization at genome-wide resolution, exploiting a recent 'explosion' of salmonid genome assemblies, including a new genome sequence for the huchen (Hucho hucho). We developed a genome alignment approach to capture duplicated regions across multiple species, allowing us to create 121,864 phylogenetic trees describing ohnologue divergence across salmonid evolution. Using molecular clock analysis, we show that 61% of the ancestral salmonid genome experienced an initial 'wave' of rediploidization in the late Cretaceous (85-106 Mya). This was followed by a period of relative genomic stasis lasting 17-39 My, where much of the genome remained in a tetraploid state. A second rediploidization wave began in the early Eocene and proceeded alongside species diversification, generating predictable patterns of lineage-specific ohnologue divergence, scaling in complexity with the number of speciation events. Finally, using gene set enrichment, gene expression, and codon-based selection analyses, we provide insights into potential functional outcomes of delayed rediploidization. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of delayed autopolyploid rediploidization and has broad implications for future studies of WGD events.


Author(s):  
Alexandrina Bodrug-Schepers ◽  
Nancy Stralis-Pavese ◽  
Hermann Buerstmayr ◽  
Juliane C. Dohm ◽  
Heinz Himmelbauer

Abstract Key message We propose to use the natural variation between individuals of a population for genome assembly scaffolding. In today’s genome projects, multiple accessions get sequenced, leading to variant catalogs. Using such information to improve genome assemblies is attractive both cost-wise as well as scientifically, because the value of an assembly increases with its contiguity. We conclude that haplotype information is a valuable resource to group and order contigs toward the generation of pseudomolecules. Abstract Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has been under cultivation in Latin America for more than 7500 years. Recently, quinoa has gained increasing attention due to its stress resistance and its nutritional value. We generated a novel quinoa genome assembly for the Bolivian accession CHEN125 using PacBio long-read sequencing data (assembly size 1.32 Gbp, initial N50 size 608 kbp). Next, we re-sequenced 50 quinoa accessions from Peru and Bolivia. This set of accessions differed at 4.4 million single-nucleotide variant (SNV) positions compared to CHEN125 (1.4 million SNV positions on average per accession). We show how to exploit variation in accessions that are distantly related to establish a genome-wide ordered set of contigs for guided scaffolding of a reference assembly. The method is based on detecting shared haplotypes and their expected continuity throughout the genome (i.e., the effect of linkage disequilibrium), as an extension of what is expected in mapping populations where only a few haplotypes are present. We test the approach using Arabidopsis thaliana data from different populations. After applying the method on our CHEN125 quinoa assembly we validated the results with mate-pairs, genetic markers, and another quinoa assembly originating from a Chilean cultivar. We show consistency between these information sources and the haplotype-based relations as determined by us and obtain an improved assembly with an N50 size of 1079 kbp and ordered contig groups of up to 39.7 Mbp. We conclude that haplotype information in distantly related individuals of the same species is a valuable resource to group and order contigs according to their adjacency in the genome toward the generation of pseudomolecules.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1984
Author(s):  
Majid Nikpay ◽  
Sepehr Ravati ◽  
Robert Dent ◽  
Ruth McPherson

Here, we performed a genome-wide search for methylation sites that contribute to the risk of obesity. We integrated methylation quantitative trait locus (mQTL) data with BMI GWAS information through a SNP-based multiomics approach to identify genomic regions where mQTLs for a methylation site co-localize with obesity risk SNPs. We then tested whether the identified site contributed to BMI through Mendelian randomization. We identified multiple methylation sites causally contributing to the risk of obesity. We validated these findings through a replication stage. By integrating expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) data, we noted that lower methylation at cg21178254 site upstream of CCNL1 contributes to obesity by increasing the expression of this gene. Higher methylation at cg02814054 increases the risk of obesity by lowering the expression of MAST3, whereas lower methylation at cg06028605 contributes to obesity by decreasing the expression of SLC5A11. Finally, we noted that rare variants within 2p23.3 impact obesity by making the cg01884057 site more susceptible to methylation, which consequently lowers the expression of POMC, ADCY3 and DNAJC27. In this study, we identify methylation sites associated with the risk of obesity and reveal the mechanism whereby a number of these sites exert their effects. This study provides a framework to perform an omics-wide association study for a phenotype and to understand the mechanism whereby a rare variant causes a disease.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 164 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinghong Li ◽  
Willis X Li

Abstract Overactivation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) has been linked to tumorigenesis. To understand how a hyperactivated RTK functions differently from wild-type RTK, we conducted a genome-wide systematic survey for genes that are required for signaling by a gain-of-function mutant Drosophila RTK Torso (Tor). We screened chromosomal deficiencies for suppression of a gain-of-function mutation tor (torGOF), which led to the identification of 26 genomic regions that, when in half dosage, suppressed the defects caused by torGOF. Testing of candidate genes in these regions revealed many genes known to be involved in Tor signaling (such as those encoding the Ras-MAPK cassette, adaptor and structural molecules of RTK signaling, and downstream target genes of Tor), confirming the specificity of this genetic screen. Importantly, this screen also identified components of the TGFβ (Dpp) and JAK/STAT pathways as being required for TorGOF signaling. Specifically, we found that reducing the dosage of thickveins (tkv), Mothers against dpp (Mad), or STAT92E (aka marelle), respectively, suppressed torGOF phenotypes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in torGOF embryos, dpp is ectopically expressed and thus may contribute to the patterning defects. These results demonstrate an essential requirement of noncanonical signaling pathways for a persistently activated RTK to cause pathological defects in an organism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soo Bin Kwon ◽  
Jason Ernst

AbstractIdentifying genomic regions with functional genomic properties that are conserved between human and mouse is an important challenge in the context of mouse model studies. To address this, we develop a method to learn a score of evidence of conservation at the functional genomics level by integrating information from a compendium of epigenomic, transcription factor binding, and transcriptomic data from human and mouse. The method, Learning Evidence of Conservation from Integrated Functional genomic annotations (LECIF), trains neural networks to generate this score for the human and mouse genomes. The resulting LECIF score highlights human and mouse regions with shared functional genomic properties and captures correspondence of biologically similar human and mouse annotations. Analysis with independent datasets shows the score also highlights loci associated with similar phenotypes in both species. LECIF will be a resource for mouse model studies by identifying loci whose functional genomic properties are likely conserved.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Salvatore Mastrangelo ◽  
Filippo Cendron ◽  
Gianluca Sottile ◽  
Giovanni Niero ◽  
Baldassare Portolano ◽  
...  

Through the development of the high-throughput genotyping arrays, molecular markers and genes related to phenotypic traits have been identified in livestock species. In poultry, plumage color is an important qualitative trait that can be used as phenotypic marker for breed identification. In order to assess sources of genetic variation related to the Polverara chicken breed plumage colour (black vs. white), we carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a genome-wide fixation index (FST) scan to uncover the genomic regions involved. A total of 37 animals (17 white and 20 black) were genotyped with the Affymetrix 600 K Chicken single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) Array. The combination of results from GWAS and FST revealed a total of 40 significant markers distributed on GGA 01, 03, 08, 12 and 21, and located within or near known genes. In addition to the well-known TYR, other candidate genes have been identified in this study, such as GRM5, RAB38 and NOTCH2. All these genes could explain the difference between the two Polverara breeds. Therefore, this study provides the basis for further investigation of the genetic mechanisms involved in plumage color in chicken.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Rybin ◽  
Melina Ramic ◽  
Natalie R. Ricciardi ◽  
Philipp Kapranov ◽  
Claes Wahlestedt ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard F Oppong ◽  
Pau Navarro ◽  
Chris S Haley ◽  
Sara Knott

We describe a genome-wide analytical approach, SNP and Haplotype Regional Heritability Mapping (SNHap-RHM), that provides regional estimates of the heritability across locally defined regions in the genome. This approach utilises relationship matrices that are based on sharing of SNP and haplotype alleles at local haplotype blocks delimited by recombination boundaries in the genome. We implemented the approach on simulated data and show that the haplotype-based regional GRMs capture variation that is complementary to that captured by SNP-based regional GRMs, and thus justifying the fitting of the two GRMs jointly in a single analysis (SNHap-RHM). SNHap-RHM captures regions in the genome contributing to the phenotypic variation that existing genome-wide analysis methods may fail to capture. We further demonstrate that there are real benefits to be gained from this approach by applying it to real data from about 20,000 individuals from the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study. We analysed height and major depressive disorder (MDD). We identified seven genomic regions that are genome-wide significant for height, and three regions significant at a suggestive threshold (p-value <1x10^(-5) ) for MDD. These significant regions have genes mapped to within 400kb of them. The genes mapped for height have been reported to be associated with height in humans, whiles those mapped for MDD have been reported to be associated with major depressive disorder and other psychiatry phenotypes. The results show that SNHap-RHM presents an exciting new opportunity to analyse complex traits by allowing the joint mapping of novel genomic regions tagged by either SNPs or haplotypes, potentially leading to the recovery of some of the "missing" heritability.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1786
Author(s):  
Soumeya Rida ◽  
Oula Maafi ◽  
Ana López-Malvar ◽  
Pedro Revilla ◽  
Meriem Riache ◽  
...  

Drought is one of the most detrimental abiotic stresses hampering seed germination, development, and productivity. Maize is more sensitive to drought than other cereals, especially at seedling stage. Our objective was to study genetic regulation of drought tolerance at germination and during seedling growth in maize. We evaluated 420 RIL with their parents from a multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population with PEG-induced drought at germination and seedling establishment. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was carried out to identify genomic regions associated with drought tolerance. GWAS identified 28 and 16 SNPs significantly associated with germination and seedling traits under stress and well-watered conditions, respectively. Among the SNPs detected, two SNPs had significant associations with several traits with high positive correlations, suggesting a pleiotropic genetic control. Other SNPs were located in regions that harbored major QTLs in previous studies, and co-located with QTLs for cold tolerance previously published for this MAGIC population. The genomic regions comprised several candidate genes related to stresses and plant development. These included numerous drought-responsive genes and transcription factors implicated in germination, seedling traits, and drought tolerance. The current analyses provide information and tools for subsequent studies and breeding programs for improving drought tolerance.


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