Dataset Information

Selections that isolate recombinant mitochondrial genomes in animals.

ABSTRACT: Homologous recombination is widespread and catalyzes evolution. Nonetheless, its existence in animal mitochondrial DNA is questioned. We designed selections for recombination between co-resident mitochondrial genomes in various heteroplasmic Drosophila lines. In four experimental settings, recombinant genomes became the sole or dominant genome in the progeny. Thus, selection uncovers occurrence of homologous recombination in Drosophila mtDNA and documents its functional benefit. Double-strand breaks enhanced recombination in the germline and revealed somatic recombination. When the recombination partner was a diverged Drosophila melanogaster genome or a genome from a different species such as Drosophila yakuba, sequencing revealed long continuous stretches of exchange. In addition, the distribution of sequence polymorphisms in recombinants allowed us to map a selected trait to a particular region in the Drosophila mitochondrial genome. Thus, recombination can be harnessed to dissect function and evolution of mitochondrial genome.

SUBMITTER: Ma H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4584245 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Selections that isolate recombinant mitochondrial genomes in animals.

Ma Hansong H O'Farrell Patrick H PH

eLife 20150803

Homologous recombination is widespread and catalyzes evolution. Nonetheless, its existence in animal mitochondrial DNA is questioned. We designed selections for recombination between co-resident mitochondrial genomes in various heteroplasmic Drosophila lines. In four experimental settings, recombinant genomes became the sole or dominant genome in the progeny. Thus, selection uncovers occurrence of homologous recombination in Drosophila mtDNA and documents its functional benefit. Double-strand br ...[more]

PMID: 26237110

Similar Datasets

Project description:Many features of mitochondrial genomes of animals, such as patterns of gene arrangement, nucleotide content and substitution rate variation are extensively used in evolutionary and phylogenetic studies. Nearly 6,000 mitochondrial genomes of animals have already been sequenced, covering the majority of animal phyla. One of the groups that escaped mitogenome sequencing is phylum Kinorhyncha-an isolated taxon of microscopic worm-like ecdysozoans. The kinorhynchs are thought to be one of the early-branching lineages of Ecdysozoa, and their mitochondrial genomes may be important for resolving evolutionary relations between major animal taxa. Here we present the results of sequencing and analysis of mitochondrial genomes from two members of Kinorhyncha, Echinoderes svetlanae (Cyclorhagida) and Pycnophyes kielensis (Allomalorhagida). Their mitochondrial genomes are circular molecules approximately 15 Kbp in size. The kinorhynch mitochondrial gene sequences are highly divergent, which precludes accurate phylogenetic inference. The mitogenomes of both species encode a typical metazoan complement of 37 genes, which are all positioned on the major strand, but the gene order is distinct and unique among Ecdysozoa or animals as a whole. We predict four types of start codons for protein-coding genes in E. svetlanae and five in P. kielensis with a consensus DTD in single letter code. The mitochondrial genomes of E. svetlanae and P. kielensis encode duplicated methionine tRNA genes that display compensatory nucleotide substitutions. Two distant species of Kinorhyncha demonstrate similar patterns of gene arrangements in their mitogenomes. Both genomes have duplicated methionine tRNA genes; the duplication predates the divergence of two species. The kinorhynchs share a few features pertaining to gene order that align them with Priapulida. Gene order analysis reveals that gene arrangement specific of Priapulida may be ancestral for Scalidophora, Ecdysozoa, and even Protostomia.

Project description:The interspecific recombination of the mitochondrial (mt) genome, if not an experimental artifact, may result from interbreeding of species with broken reproductive barriers, which, in turn, is a frequent consequence of human activities including species translocations, habitat modifications, and climate change. This issue, however, has not been addressed for Protosalanx chinensis and other commercially important and, simultaneously, invasive salangid fishes that were the product of successful aquaculture in China. To assess the probability of interspecific hybridization, we analyzed the patterns of diversity and recombination in the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of these fishes using the GenBank resources. A sliding window analysis revealed a non-uniform distribution of the intraspecific differences in P. chinensis with four highly pronounced peaks of divergence centered at the COI, ND4L-ND4, and ND5 genes, and also at the control region. The corresponding divergent regions in P. chinensis show a high sequence similarity (99-100%) to the related salangid fishes, Neosalanx tangkahkeii and N. anderssoni. This observation suggests that the divergent regions of P. chinensis may represent a recombinant mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) containing mt genome fragments belonging to different salangid species. Indeed, four, highly significant (pairwise homoplasy index test, P < 0.00001) signals of recombination have been revealed at coordinates closely corresponding to the divergent regions. The recombinant fragments are, however, not fixed, and different mt genomes of P. chinensis are mosaic, containing different numbers of recombinant events. These facts, along with the high similarity or full identity of the recombinant fragments between the donor and the recipient sequences, indicate a recent interspecific hybridization between P. chinensis and two Neosalanx species. Alternative hypotheses, including taxonomical misidentifications, sequence misalignments, DNA contamination, and/or artificial PCR recombinants, are not supported by the data. The recombinant fragments revealed in our study represent diagnostic genetic markers for the identification and distinguishing of hybrids, which can be used to control the invasive dynamics of hybrid salangid fishes.

Dataset Information

Selections that isolate recombinant mitochondrial genomes in animals.

Publications

Selections that isolate recombinant mitochondrial genomes in animals.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets