Project description:The páramo ecosystem has the highest rate of diversification across plant lineages on earth, of which the genus Espeletia (Asteraceae) is a prime example. The current distribution and molecular phylogeny of Espeletia suggest the influence of Andean geography and past climatic fluctuations on the diversification of this genus. However, molecular markers have failed to reveal subtle biogeographical trends in Espeletia diversification, and metabolomic evidence for allopatric segregation in plants has never been reported. Here, we present for the first time a metabolomics approach based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for revealing subtle biogeographical trends in Espeletia diversification. We demonstrate that Espeletia lineages can be distinguished by means of different metabolic fingerprints correlated to the country of origin on a global scale and to the páramo massif on a regional scale. Distinctive patterns in the accumulation of secondary metabolites according to the main diversification centers of Espeletia are also identified and a comprehensive phytochemical characterization is reported. These findings demonstrate that a variation in the metabolic fingerprints of Espeletia lineages followed the biogeography of this genus, suggesting that our untargeted metabolomics approach can be potentially used as a model to understand the biogeographic history of additional plant groups in the páramo ecosystem.
2018-11-20 | MTBLS445 | MetaboLights
Project description:Phylogeny and demographic history of Numenius shorebirds
Project description:Using xenograft-based experimental evolution, we characterize the full life history from initiation to metastasis of a tumor at the genomic and transcriptomic levels.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Since several miRNAs are known to affect the stability or translation of developmental regulatory genes, the origin of novel miRNAs may have contributed to the evolution of developmental processes and morphology. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) is a species-rich clade with a well-established phylogeny and abundant genomic resources, thereby representing an ideal system in which to study miRNA evolution. We sequenced small RNA libraries from developmental stages of two divergent lepidopterans, Cameraria ohridella (Horse chestnut Leafminer) and Pararge aegeria (Speckled Wood butterfly), discovering 90 and 81 conserved miRNAs respectively, and many species-specific miRNA sequences. Mapping miRNAs onto the lepidopteran phylogeny reveals rapid miRNA turnover and an episode of miRNA fixation early in lepidopteran evolution, implying that miRNA acquisition accompanied the early radiation of the Lepidoptera. One lepidopteran-specific miRNA gene, miR-2768, is located within an intron of the homeobox gene invected, involved in insect segmental and wing patterning. We identified cubitus interruptus (ci) as a likely direct target of miR-2768, and validated this suppression using a luciferase assay system. We propose a model by which miR-2768 modulates expression of ci in the segmentation pathway and in patterning of lepidopteran wing primordia. Examination of the small RNA complements pooled across life cycle stages in each of Cameraria ohridella and Pararge aegeria.
Project description:We sequenced at mRNA level in adult hearts of zebrafish, pamprey and sea squirt. Combined with other 11 vertebrate heart RNA-Seq data online, we conducted comprehensive evolutionary genomic analyses to address the contribution of gene/genome duplications on heart structure evolution. We observed that number of duplicate genes expressed in heart increased gradually with the increase of heart chamber number along the vertebrate phylogeny, despite that most of them were duplicated at the time near to the origin of vertebrates or more ancient. Our research provides a clear-cut example to show the relationship among gene duplication, continuous character evolution like heart structure evolution and nature selection.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Since several miRNAs are known to affect the stability or translation of developmental regulatory genes, the origin of novel miRNAs may have contributed to the evolution of developmental processes and morphology. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) is a species-rich clade with a well-established phylogeny and abundant genomic resources, thereby representing an ideal system in which to study miRNA evolution. We sequenced small RNA libraries from developmental stages of two divergent lepidopterans, Cameraria ohridella (Horse chestnut Leafminer) and Pararge aegeria (Speckled Wood butterfly), discovering 90 and 81 conserved miRNAs respectively, and many species-specific miRNA sequences. Mapping miRNAs onto the lepidopteran phylogeny reveals rapid miRNA turnover and an episode of miRNA fixation early in lepidopteran evolution, implying that miRNA acquisition accompanied the early radiation of the Lepidoptera. One lepidopteran-specific miRNA gene, miR-2768, is located within an intron of the homeobox gene invected, involved in insect segmental and wing patterning. We identified cubitus interruptus (ci) as a likely direct target of miR-2768, and validated this suppression using a luciferase assay system. We propose a model by which miR-2768 modulates expression of ci in the segmentation pathway and in patterning of lepidopteran wing primordia.
Project description:We performed untargeted, high-resolution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to generate lipidomic and proteomic profiles of eggs and larvae from three sea urchin species: the lecithotroph Heliocidaris erythrogramma, the closely-related planktotroph Heliocidaris tuberculata, and the more distantly-related planktotroph Lytechinus variegatus. We identify numerous molecular changes involving several previously undescribed physiological adaptations possibly associated with the evolution of lecithotrophic development including upregulated carbohydrate metabolism during embryonic development and long-term storage of maternally-derived diacylglycerol ether lipids for post-metamorphic survivorship. These findings demonstrate how mass spectrometry can enrich our understanding of life history evolution by identifying specific molecules associated with distinct life history strategies.
Project description:Cancer is a disease of the genome. Many genomic abnormalities have been found in a variety of cancer types, which are believed to be attributable to tumorigenesis as well as resistance to treatment and recurrence. Genomic heterogeneity in the same type of cancer or within a tumor reveals the complexity of cancer biology so that intratumor heterogeneity has become an inherent feature of cancer. In this study, we use whole-exome sequencing and array comparative genomic hybridization technology to examine the mutational profiling and copy number changes from multi-region samples within an esophageal cancer in order to understand the genomic phylogeny in the evolution of intratumor heterogeneity in esophageal cancer.