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Inference of selection based on temporal genetic differentiation in the study of highly polymorphic multigene families.

ABSTRACT: The co-evolutionary arms race between host immune genes and parasite virulence genes is known as Red Queen dynamics. Temporal fluctuations in allele frequencies, or the 'turnover' of alleles at immune genes, are concordant with predictions of the Red Queen hypothesis. Such observations are often taken as evidence of host-parasite co-evolution. Here, we use computer simulations of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to study the turnover rate of alleles (temporal genetic differentiation, G'(ST)). Temporal fluctuations in MHC allele frequencies can be ??order of magnitude larger than changes observed at neutral loci. Although such large fluctuations in the MHC are consistent with Red Queen dynamics, simulations show that other demographic and population genetic processes can account for this observation, these include: (1) overdominant selection, (2) fluctuating population size within a metapopulation, and (3) the number of novel MHC alleles introduced by immigrants when there are multiple duplicated genes. Synergy between these forces combined with migration rate and the effective population size can drive the rapid turnover in MHC alleles. We posit that rapid allelic turnover is an inherent property of highly polymorphic multigene families and that it cannot be taken as evidence of Red Queen dynamics. Furthermore, combining temporal samples in spatial F(ST) outlier analysis may obscure the signal of selection.

SUBMITTER: McMullan M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3416836 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Inference of selection based on temporal genetic differentiation in the study of highly polymorphic multigene families.

McMullan Mark M van Oosterhout Cock C

PloS one 20120810 8

The co-evolutionary arms race between host immune genes and parasite virulence genes is known as Red Queen dynamics. Temporal fluctuations in allele frequencies, or the 'turnover' of alleles at immune genes, are concordant with predictions of the Red Queen hypothesis. Such observations are often taken as evidence of host-parasite co-evolution. Here, we use computer simulations of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to study the turnover rate of alleles (te ...[more]

PMID: 22900006

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Project description:BackgroundCereal storage proteins represent one of the most important sources of protein for food and feed and they are coded by multigene families. The expression of the storage protein genes exhibits a temporal fluctuation but also a response to environmental stimuli. Analysis of temporal gene expression combined with genetic variation in large multigene families with high homology among the alleles is very challenging.ResultsWe designed a rapid qRT-PCR system with the aim of characterising the variation in the expression of hordein genes families. All the known D-, C-, B-, and γ-hordein sequences coding full length open reading frames were collected from commonly available databases. Phylogenetic analysis was performed and the members of the different hordein families were classified into subfamilies. Primer sets were designed to discriminate the gene expression level of whole families, subfamilies or individual members. The specificity of the primer sets was validated before successfully applying them to a cDNA population derived from developing grains of field grown Hordeum vulgare cv. Barke. The results quantify the number of moles of transcript contributed to a particular gene family and its subgroups. More over the results indicate the genotypic specific gene expression.ConclusionsQuantitative RT-PCR with SYBR Green labelling can be a useful technique to follow gene expression levels of large gene families with highly homologues members. We showed variation in the temporal expression of genes coding for barley storage proteins. The results imply that our rapid qRT-PCR system was sensitive enough to identify the presence of alleles and their expression profiles. It can be used to check the temporal fluctuations in hordein expressions or to find differences in their response to environmental stimuli. The method could be extended for cultivar recognition as some of the sequences from the database originated from cv. Golden Promise were not expressed in the studied barley cultivar Barke although showed primer specificity with their cloned DNA sequences.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Molecular and cytogenetic markers are of great use for to fish characterization, identification, phylogenetics and evolution. Multigene families have proven to be good markers for a better understanding of the variability, organization and evolution of fish species. Three different tandemly-repeated gene families (45S rDNA, 5S rDNA and U2 snDNA) have been studied in Plectorhinchus mediterraneus (Teleostei: Haemulidae), at both molecular and cytogenetic level, to elucidate the taxonomy and evolution of these multigene families, as well as for comparative purposes with other species of the family. RESULTS: Four different types of 5S rDNA were obtained; two of them showed a high homology with that of Raja asterias, and the putative implication of a horizontal transfer event and its consequences for the organization and evolution of the 5S rDNA have been discussed. The other two types do not resemble any other species, but in one of them a putative tRNA-derived SINE was observed for the first time, which could have implications in the evolution of the 5S rDNA. The ITS-1 sequence was more related to a species of another different genus than to that of the same genus, therefore a revision of the Hamulidae family systematic has been proposed. In the analysis of the U2 snDNA, we were able to corroborate that U2 snDNA and U5 snDNA were linked in the same tandem array, and this has interest for tracing evolutionary lines. The karyotype of the species was composed of 2n = 48 acrocentric chromosomes, and each of the three multigene families were located in different chromosome pairs, thus providing three different chromosomal markers. CONCLUSIONS: Novel data can be extracted from the results: a putative event of horizontal transfer, a possible tRNA-derived SINE linked to one of the four 5S rDNA types characterized, and a linkage between U2 and U5 snDNA. In addition, a revision of the taxonomy of the Haemulidae family has been suggested, and three cytogenetic markers have been obtained. Some of these results have not been described before in any other fish species. New clues about the genome organization and evolution of the multigene families are offered in this study.

Dataset Information

Inference of selection based on temporal genetic differentiation in the study of highly polymorphic multigene families.

Publications

Inference of selection based on temporal genetic differentiation in the study of highly polymorphic multigene families.

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