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Analysis of new retrogenes provides insight into dog adaptive evolution.

ABSTRACT: The origin and subsequent evolution of new genes have been considered as an important source of genetic and phenotypic diversity in organisms. Dog breeds show great phenotypic diversity for morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits. However, the contributions of newly originated retrogenes, which provide important genetic bases for dog species differentiation and adaptive traits, are largely unknown. Here, we analyzed the dog genome to identify new RNA-based duplications and comprehensively investigated their origin, evolution, functions in adaptive traits, and gene movement processes. First, we totally identified 3,025 retrocopies including 476 intact retrogenes, 2,518 retropseudogenes, and 31 chimerical retrogenes. Second, selective pressure along with ESTs expression analysis showed that most of the intact retrogenes were significantly under stronger purifying selection and subjected to more functional constraints when compared to retropseudogenes. Furthermore, a large number of retrocopies and chimerical retrogenes that occurred approximately 22 million years ago implied a burst of retrotransposition in the dog genome after the divergence time between dog and its closely related species red fox. Interestingly, GO and pathway analyses showed that new retrogenes had expanded in glutathione biosynthetic/metabolic process which likely provided important genetic basis for dogs' adaptation to scavenge human waste dumps. Finally, consistent with the results in human and mouse, a significant excess of functional retrogenes movement on and off the X chromosome in the dog confirmed a general pattern of gene movement process in mammals which was likely driven by natural selection or sexual antagonism. Together, these results increase our understanding that new retrogenes can reshape the dog genome and provide further exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying the dogs' adaptive evolution.

SUBMITTER: Gao X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6802060 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Analysis of new retrogenes provides insight into dog adaptive evolution.

Gao Xiang X Li Yan Y Adetula Adeyinka A AA Wu Yu Y Chen Hong H

Ecology and evolution 20190906 19

The origin and subsequent evolution of new genes have been considered as an important source of genetic and phenotypic diversity in organisms. Dog breeds show great phenotypic diversity for morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits. However, the contributions of newly originated retrogenes, which provide important genetic bases for dog species differentiation and adaptive traits, are largely unknown. Here, we analyzed the dog genome to identify new RNA-based duplications and comprehens ...[more]

PMID: 31641464

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Project description:The whole genome analysis of two strains of the first intermediately pathogenic leptospiral species to be sequenced (Leptospira licerasiae strains VAR010 and MMD0835) provides insight into their pathogenic potential and deepens our understanding of leptospiral evolution. Comparative analysis of eight leptospiral genomes shows the existence of a core leptospiral genome comprising 1547 genes and 452 conserved genes restricted to infectious species (including L. licerasiae) that are likely to be pathogenicity-related. Comparisons of the functional content of the genomes suggests that L. licerasiae retains several proteins related to nitrogen, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism which might help to explain why these Leptospira grow well in artificial media compared with pathogenic species. L. licerasiae strains VAR010(T) and MMD0835 possess two prophage elements. While one element is circular and shares homology with LE1 of L. biflexa, the second is cryptic and homologous to a previously identified but unnamed region in L. interrogans serovars Copenhageni and Lai. We also report a unique O-antigen locus in L. licerasiae comprised of a 6-gene cluster that is unexpectedly short compared with L. interrogans in which analogous regions may include >90 such genes. Sequence homology searches suggest that these genes were acquired by lateral gene transfer (LGT). Furthermore, seven putative genomic islands ranging in size from 5 to 36 kb are present also suggestive of antecedent LGT. How Leptospira become naturally competent remains to be determined, but considering the phylogenetic origins of the genes comprising the O-antigen cluster and other putative laterally transferred genes, L. licerasiae must be able to exchange genetic material with non-invasive environmental bacteria. The data presented here demonstrate that L. licerasiae is genetically more closely related to pathogenic than to saprophytic Leptospira and provide insight into the genomic bases for its infectiousness and its unique antigenic characteristics.

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Analysis of new retrogenes provides insight into dog adaptive evolution.

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Analysis of new retrogenes provides insight into dog adaptive evolution.

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