Dataset Information

Genome-wide analysis of human hotspot intersected genes highlights the roles of meiotic recombination in evolution and disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Meiotic recombination events are not randomly located, but rather cluster at hotspot regions. Recently, the fine-scale mapping of genome-wide human recombination hotspots was performed. Here, we systematically analyzed the evolutionary and disease-associated features of hotspots that overlapped with protein-coding genes.

Results

In this study, we defined hotspot intersected genes as HI genes. We found that HI genes were prone to be located in the extracellular part and were functionally enriched in cell-to-cell communication. Tissue-specific genes and secreted protein encoding genes were overrepresented in HI genes, while housekeeping genes were underrepresented. Compared to slowly evolving housekeeping genes and random genes with lower recombination rates, HI genes evolved faster. The fact that brain and blood specific genes were overrepresented in HI genes indicates that they may be involved in the evolution of human intelligence and the immune system. We also found that genes related to disease were enriched in HI genes, especially genes with disease-associated chromosomal rearrangements. Hotspot sequence motifs were overrepresented in common sequences of HI genes and genes with disease-associated chromosomal rearrangements. We further listed repeat elements that were enriched both in hotspots and genes with disease-associated chromosomal rearrangements.

Conclusion

HI genes are evolving and may be involved in the generation of key features of human during evolution. Disease-associated genes may be by-products of meiotic recombination. In addition, hotspot sequence motifs and repeat elements showed the connection between meiotic recombination and genes with disease-associated chromosomal rearrangements at the sequence level. Our study will enable us to better understand the evolutionary and biological significance of human meiotic recombination.

SUBMITTER: Zhou T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3620679 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Genome-wide analysis of human hotspot intersected genes highlights the roles of meiotic recombination in evolution and disease.

Zhou Tao T Hu Zhibin Z Zhou Zuomin Z Guo Xuejiang X Sha Jiahao J

BMC genomics 20130131

<h4>Background</h4>Meiotic recombination events are not randomly located, but rather cluster at hotspot regions. Recently, the fine-scale mapping of genome-wide human recombination hotspots was performed. Here, we systematically analyzed the evolutionary and disease-associated features of hotspots that overlapped with protein-coding genes.<h4>Results</h4>In this study, we defined hotspot intersected genes as HI genes. We found that HI genes were prone to be located in the extracellular part and ...[more]

PMID: 23368819

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Project description:Deleterious mutations inevitably emerge in any evolutionary process and are speculated to decisively influence the structure of the genome. Meiosis, which is thought to play a major role in handling mutations on the population level, recombines chromosomes via non-randomly distributed hot spots for meiotic recombination. In many genomes, various types of genetic elements are distributed in patterns that are currently not well understood. In particular, important (essential) genes are arranged in clusters, which often cannot be explained by a functional relationship of the involved genes. Here we show by computer simulation that essential gene (EG) clustering provides a fitness benefit in handling deleterious mutations in sexual populations with variable levels of inbreeding and outbreeding. We find that recessive lethal mutations enforce a selective pressure towards clustered genome architectures. Our simulations correctly predict (i) the evolution of non-random distributions of meiotic crossovers, (ii) the genome-wide anti-correlation of meiotic crossovers and EG clustering, (iii) the evolution of EG enrichment in pericentromeric regions and (iv) the associated absence of meiotic crossovers (cold centromeres). Our results furthermore predict optimal crossover rates for yeast chromosomes, which match the experimentally determined rates. Using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae conditional mutator strain, we show that haploid lethal phenotypes result predominantly from mutation of single loci and generally do not impair mating, which leads to an accumulation of mutational load following meiosis and mating. We hypothesize that purging of deleterious mutations in essential genes constitutes an important factor driving meiotic crossover. Therefore, the increased robustness of populations to deleterious mutations, which arises from clustered genome architectures, may provide a significant selective force shaping crossover distribution. Our analysis reveals a new aspect of the evolution of genome architectures that complements insights about molecular constraints, such as the interference of pericentromeric crossovers with chromosome segregation.

Dataset Information

Genome-wide analysis of human hotspot intersected genes highlights the roles of meiotic recombination in evolution and disease.

Background

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Genome-wide analysis of human hotspot intersected genes highlights the roles of meiotic recombination in evolution and disease.

Similar Datasets

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