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Discovery of the First Germline-Restricted Gene by Subtractive Transcriptomic Analysis in the Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia guttata.


ABSTRACT: Developmentally programmed genome rearrangements are rare in vertebrates, but have been reported in scattered lineages including the bandicoot, hagfish, lamprey, and zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) [1]. In the finch, a well-studied animal model for neuroendocrinology and vocal learning [2], one such programmed genome rearrangement involves a germline-restricted chromosome, or GRC, which is found in germlines of both sexes but eliminated from mature sperm [3, 4]. Transmitted only through the oocyte, it displays uniparental female-driven inheritance, and early in embryonic development is apparently eliminated from all somatic tissue in both sexes [3, 4]. The GRC comprises the longest finch chromosome at over 120 million base pairs [3], and previously the only known GRC-derived sequence was repetitive and non-coding [5]. Because the zebra finch genome project was sourced from male muscle (somatic) tissue [6], the remaining genomic sequence and protein-coding content of the GRC remain unknown. Here we report the first protein-coding gene from the GRC: a member of the ?-soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive fusion protein (NSF) attachment protein (?-SNAP) family hitherto missing from zebra finch gene annotations. In addition to the GRC-encoded ?-SNAP, we find an additional paralogous ?-SNAP residing in the somatic genome (a somatolog)-making the zebra finch the first example in which ?-SNAP is not a single-copy gene. We show divergent, sex-biased expression for the paralogs and also that positive selection is detectable across the bird ?-SNAP lineage, including the GRC-encoded ?-SNAP. This study presents the identification and evolutionary characterization of the first protein-coding GRC gene in any organism.

SUBMITTER: Biederman MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5977399 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Discovery of the First Germline-Restricted Gene by Subtractive Transcriptomic Analysis in the Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia guttata.

Biederman Michelle K MK   Nelson Megan M MM   Asalone Kathryn C KC   Pedersen Alyssa L AL   Saldanha Colin J CJ   Bracht John R JR  

Current biology : CB 20180503 10


Developmentally programmed genome rearrangements are rare in vertebrates, but have been reported in scattered lineages including the bandicoot, hagfish, lamprey, and zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) [1]. In the finch, a well-studied animal model for neuroendocrinology and vocal learning [2], one such programmed genome rearrangement involves a germline-restricted chromosome, or GRC, which is found in germlines of both sexes but eliminated from mature sperm [3, 4]. Transmitted only through the oo  ...[more]

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