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Sample records for domain duplication divergence

  1. Domain duplication, divergence, and loss events in vertebrate Msx paralogs reveal phylogenomically informed disease markers.

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    Finnerty, John R; Mazza, Maureen E; Jezewski, Peter A

    2009-01-20

    Msx originated early in animal evolution and is implicated in human genetic disorders. To reconstruct the functional evolution of Msx and inform the study of human mutations, we analyzed the phylogeny and synteny of 46 metazoan Msx proteins and tracked the duplication, diversification and loss of conserved motifs. Vertebrate Msx sequences sort into distinct Msx1, Msx2 and Msx3 clades. The sister-group relationship between MSX1 and MSX2 reflects their derivation from the 4p/5q chromosomal paralogon, a derivative of the original "MetaHox" cluster. We demonstrate physical linkage between Msx and other MetaHox genes (Hmx, NK1, Emx) in a cnidarian. Seven conserved domains, including two Groucho repression domains (N- and C-terminal), were present in the ancestral Msx. In cnidarians, the Groucho domains are highly similar. In vertebrate Msx1, the N-terminal Groucho domain is conserved, while the C-terminal domain diverged substantially, implying a novel function. In vertebrate Msx2 and Msx3, the C-terminal domain was lost. MSX1 mutations associated with ectodermal dysplasia or orofacial clefting disorders map to conserved domains in a non-random fashion. Msx originated from a MetaHox ancestor that also gave rise to Tlx, Demox, NK, and possibly EHGbox, Hox and ParaHox genes. Duplication, divergence or loss of domains played a central role in the functional evolution of Msx. Duplicated domains allow pleiotropically expressed proteins to evolve new functions without disrupting existing interaction networks. Human missense sequence variants reside within evolutionarily conserved domains, likely disrupting protein function. This phylogenomic evaluation of candidate disease markers will inform clinical and functional studies.

  2. Domain duplication, divergence, and loss events in vertebrate Msx paralogs reveal phylogenomically informed disease markers

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    Finnerty John R

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Msx originated early in animal evolution and is implicated in human genetic disorders. To reconstruct the functional evolution of Msx and inform the study of human mutations, we analyzed the phylogeny and synteny of 46 metazoan Msx proteins and tracked the duplication, diversification and loss of conserved motifs. Results Vertebrate Msx sequences sort into distinct Msx1, Msx2 and Msx3 clades. The sister-group relationship between MSX1 and MSX2 reflects their derivation from the 4p/5q chromosomal paralogon, a derivative of the original "MetaHox" cluster. We demonstrate physical linkage between Msx and other MetaHox genes (Hmx, NK1, Emx in a cnidarian. Seven conserved domains, including two Groucho repression domains (N- and C-terminal, were present in the ancestral Msx. In cnidarians, the Groucho domains are highly similar. In vertebrate Msx1, the N-terminal Groucho domain is conserved, while the C-terminal domain diverged substantially, implying a novel function. In vertebrate Msx2 and Msx3, the C-terminal domain was lost. MSX1 mutations associated with ectodermal dysplasia or orofacial clefting disorders map to conserved domains in a non-random fashion. Conclusion Msx originated from a MetaHox ancestor that also gave rise to Tlx, Demox, NK, and possibly EHGbox, Hox and ParaHox genes. Duplication, divergence or loss of domains played a central role in the functional evolution of Msx. Duplicated domains allow pleiotropically expressed proteins to evolve new functions without disrupting existing interaction networks. Human missense sequence variants reside within evolutionarily conserved domains, likely disrupting protein function. This phylogenomic evaluation of candidate disease markers will inform clinical and functional studies.

  3. Divergence of gene body DNA methylation and evolution of plant duplicate genes.

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    Jun Wang

    Full Text Available It has been shown that gene body DNA methylation is associated with gene expression. However, whether and how deviation of gene body DNA methylation between duplicate genes can influence their divergence remains largely unexplored. Here, we aim to elucidate the potential role of gene body DNA methylation in the fate of duplicate genes. We identified paralogous gene pairs from Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonica genomes and reprocessed their single-base resolution methylome data. We show that methylation in paralogous genes nonlinearly correlates with several gene properties including exon number/gene length, expression level and mutation rate. Further, we demonstrated that divergence of methylation level and pattern in paralogs indeed positively correlate with their sequence and expression divergences. This result held even after controlling for other confounding factors known to influence the divergence of paralogs. We observed that methylation level divergence might be more relevant to the expression divergence of paralogs than methylation pattern divergence. Finally, we explored the mechanisms that might give rise to the divergence of gene body methylation in paralogs. We found that exonic methylation divergence more closely correlates with expression divergence than intronic methylation divergence. We show that genomic environments (e.g., flanked by transposable elements and repetitive sequences of paralogs generated by various duplication mechanisms are associated with the methylation divergence of paralogs. Overall, our results suggest that the changes in gene body DNA methylation could provide another avenue for duplicate genes to develop differential expression patterns and undergo different evolutionary fates in plant genomes.

  4. Rapid sequence divergence rates in the 5 prime regulatory regions of young Drosophila melanogaster duplicate gene pairs

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    Michael H. Kohn

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available While it remains a matter of some debate, rapid sequence evolution of the coding sequences of duplicate genes is characteristic for early phases past duplication, but long established duplicates generally evolve under constraint, much like the rest of the coding genome. As for coding sequences, it may be possible to infer evolutionary rate, selection, and constraint via contrasts between duplicate gene divergence in the 5 prime regions and in the corresponding synonymous site divergence in the coding regions. Finding elevated rates for the 5 prime regions of duplicated genes, in addition to the coding regions, would enable statements regarding the early processes of duplicate gene evolution. Here, 1 kb of each of the 5 prime regulatory regions of Drosophila melanogaster duplicate gene pairs were mapped onto one another to isolate shared sequence blocks. Genetic distances within shared sequence blocks (d5’ were found to increase as a function of synonymous (dS, and to a lesser extend, amino-acid (dA site divergence between duplicates. The rate d5’/dS was found to rapidly decay from values > 1 in young duplicate pairs (dS 0.8. Such rapid rates of 5 prime evolution exceeding 1 (~neutral predominantly were found to occur in duplicate pairs with low amino-acid site divergence and that tended to be co-regulated when assayed on microarrays. Conceivably, functional redundancy and relaxation of selective constraint facilitates subsequent positive selection on the 5 prime regions of young duplicate genes. This might promote the evolution of new functions (neofunctionalization or division of labor among duplicate genes (subfunctionalization. In contrast, similar to the vast portion of the non-coding genome, the 5 prime regions of long-established gene duplicates appear to evolve under selective constraint, indicating that these long-established gene duplicates have assumed critical functions.

  5. Artificial domain duplication replicates evolutionary history of ketol-acid reductoisomerases.

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    Cahn, Jackson K B; Brinkmann-Chen, Sabine; Buller, Andrew R; Arnold, Frances H

    2016-07-01

    The duplication of protein structural domains has been proposed as a common mechanism for the generation of new protein folds. A particularly interesting case is the class II ketol-acid reductoisomerase (KARI), which putatively arose from an ancestral class I KARI by duplication of the C-terminal domain and corresponding loss of obligate dimerization. As a result, the class II enzymes acquired a deeply embedded figure-of-eight knot. To test this evolutionary hypothesis we constructed a novel class II KARI by duplicating the C-terminal domain of a hyperthermostable class I KARI. The new protein is monomeric, as confirmed by gel filtration and X-ray crystallography, and has the deeply knotted class II KARI fold. Surprisingly, its catalytic activity is nearly unchanged from the parent KARI. This provides strong evidence in support of domain duplication as the mechanism for the evolution of the class II KARI fold and demonstrates the ability of domain duplication to generate topological novelty in a function-neutral manner. © 2015 The Protein Society.

  6. Divergence of recently duplicated M{gamma}-type MADS-box genes in Petunia.

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    Bemer, Marian; Gordon, Jonathan; Weterings, Koen; Angenent, Gerco C

    2010-02-01

    The MADS-box transcription factor family has expanded considerably in plants via gene and genome duplications and can be subdivided into type I and MIKC-type genes. The two gene classes show a different evolutionary history. Whereas the MIKC-type genes originated during ancient genome duplications, as well as during more recent events, the type I loci appear to experience high turnover with many recent duplications. This different mode of origin also suggests a different fate for the type I duplicates, which are thought to have a higher chance to become silenced or lost from the genome. To get more insight into the evolution of the type I MADS-box genes, we isolated nine type I genes from Petunia, which belong to the Mgamma subclass, and investigated the divergence of their coding and regulatory regions. The isolated genes could be subdivided into two categories: two genes were highly similar to Arabidopsis Mgamma-type genes, whereas the other seven genes showed less similarity to Arabidopsis genes and originated more recently. Two of the recently duplicated genes were found to contain deleterious mutations in their coding regions, and expression analysis revealed that a third paralog was silenced by mutations in its regulatory region. However, in addition to the three genes that were subjected to nonfunctionalization, we also found evidence for neofunctionalization of one of the Petunia Mgamma-type genes. Our study shows a rapid divergence of recently duplicated Mgamma-type MADS-box genes and suggests that redundancy among type I paralogs may be less common than expected.

  7. Processes of fungal proteome evolution and gain of function: gene duplication and domain rearrangement

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    Cohen-Gihon, Inbar; Nussinov, Ruth; Sharan, Roded

    2011-01-01

    During evolution, organisms have gained functional complexity mainly by modifying and improving existing functioning systems rather than creating new ones ab initio. Here we explore the interplay between two processes which during evolution have had major roles in the acquisition of new functions: gene duplication and protein domain rearrangements. We consider four possible evolutionary scenarios: gene families that have undergone none of these event types; only gene duplication; only domain rearrangement, or both events. We characterize each of the four evolutionary scenarios by functional attributes. Our analysis of ten fungal genomes indicates that at least for the fungi clade, species significantly appear to gain complexity by gene duplication accompanied by the expansion of existing domain architectures via rearrangements. We show that paralogs gaining new domain architectures via duplication tend to adopt new functions compared to paralogs that preserve their domain architectures. We conclude that evolution of protein families through gene duplication and domain rearrangement is correlated with their functional properties. We suggest that in general, new functions are acquired via the integration of gene duplication and domain rearrangements rather than each process acting independently

  8. Functional diversification upon leader protease domain duplication in the Citrus tristeza virus genome: Role of RNA sequences and the encoded proteins.

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    Kang, Sung-Hwan; Atallah, Osama O; Sun, Yong-Duo; Folimonova, Svetlana Y

    2018-01-15

    Viruses from the family Closteroviridae show an example of intra-genome duplications of more than one gene. In addition to the hallmark coat protein gene duplication, several members possess a tandem duplication of papain-like leader proteases. In this study, we demonstrate that domains encoding the L1 and L2 proteases in the Citrus tristeza virus genome underwent a significant functional divergence at the RNA and protein levels. We show that the L1 protease is crucial for viral accumulation and establishment of initial infection, whereas its coding region is vital for virus transport. On the other hand, the second protease is indispensable for virus infection of its natural citrus host, suggesting that L2 has evolved an important adaptive function that mediates virus interaction with the woody host. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Local synteny and codon usage contribute to asymmetric sequence divergence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene duplicates

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    Bergthorsson Ulfar

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Duplicated genes frequently experience asymmetric rates of sequence evolution. Relaxed selective constraints and positive selection have both been invoked to explain the observation that one paralog within a gene-duplicate pair exhibits an accelerated rate of sequence evolution. In the majority of studies where asymmetric divergence has been established, there is no indication as to which gene copy, ancestral or derived, is evolving more rapidly. In this study we investigated the effect of local synteny (gene-neighborhood conservation and codon usage on the sequence evolution of gene duplicates in the S. cerevisiae genome. We further distinguish the gene duplicates into those that originated from a whole-genome duplication (WGD event (ohnologs versus small-scale duplications (SSD to determine if there exist any differences in their patterns of sequence evolution. Results For SSD pairs, the derived copy evolves faster than the ancestral copy. However, there is no relationship between rate asymmetry and synteny conservation (ancestral-like versus derived-like in ohnologs. mRNA abundance and optimal codon usage as measured by the CAI is lower in the derived SSD copies relative to ancestral paralogs. Moreover, in the case of ohnologs, the faster-evolving copy has lower CAI and lowered expression. Conclusions Together, these results suggest that relaxation of selection for codon usage and gene expression contribute to rate asymmetry in the evolution of duplicated genes and that in SSD pairs, the relaxation of selection stems from the loss of ancestral regulatory information in the derived copy.

  10. The large soybean (Glycine max) WRKY TF family expanded by segmental duplication events and subsequent divergent selection among subgroups.

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    Yin, Guangjun; Xu, Hongliang; Xiao, Shuyang; Qin, Yajuan; Li, Yaxuan; Yan, Yueming; Hu, Yingkao

    2013-10-03

    WRKY genes encode one of the most abundant groups of transcription factors in higher plants, and its members regulate important biological process such as growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Although the soybean genome sequence has been published, functional studies on soybean genes still lag behind those of other species. We identified a total of 133 WRKY members in the soybean genome. According to structural features of their encoded proteins and to the phylogenetic tree, the soybean WRKY family could be classified into three groups (groups I, II, and III). A majority of WRKY genes (76.7%; 102 of 133) were segmentally duplicated and 13.5% (18 of 133) of the genes were tandemly duplicated. This pattern was not apparent in Arabidopsis or rice. The transcriptome atlas revealed notable differential expression in either transcript abundance or in expression patterns under normal growth conditions, which indicated wide functional divergence in this family. Furthermore, some critical amino acids were detected using DIVERGE v2.0 in specific comparisons, suggesting that these sites have contributed to functional divergence among groups or subgroups. In addition, site model and branch-site model analyses of positive Darwinian selection (PDS) showed that different selection regimes could have affected the evolution of these groups. Sites with high probabilities of having been under PDS were found in groups I, II c, II e, and III. Together, these results contribute to a detailed understanding of the molecular evolution of the WRKY gene family in soybean. In this work, all the WRKY genes, which were generated mainly through segmental duplication, were identified in the soybean genome. Moreover, differential expression and functional divergence of the duplicated WRKY genes were two major features of this family throughout their evolutionary history. Positive selection analysis revealed that the different groups have different evolutionary rates

  11. Gene duplication and divergence affecting drug content in Cannabis sativa.

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    Weiblen, George D; Wenger, Jonathan P; Craft, Kathleen J; ElSohly, Mahmoud A; Mehmedic, Zlatko; Treiber, Erin L; Marks, M David

    2015-12-01

    Cannabis sativa is an economically important source of durable fibers, nutritious seeds, and psychoactive drugs but few economic plants are so poorly understood genetically. Marijuana and hemp were crossed to evaluate competing models of cannabinoid inheritance and to explain the predominance of tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) in marijuana compared with cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) in hemp. Individuals in the resulting F2 population were assessed for differential expression of cannabinoid synthase genes and were used in linkage mapping. Genetic markers associated with divergent cannabinoid phenotypes were identified. Although phenotypic segregation and a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for the THCA/CBDA ratio were consistent with a simple model of codominant alleles at a single locus, the diversity of THCA and CBDA synthase sequences observed in the mapping population, the position of enzyme coding loci on the map, and patterns of expression suggest multiple linked loci. Phylogenetic analysis further suggests a history of duplication and divergence affecting drug content. Marijuana is distinguished from hemp by a nonfunctional CBDA synthase that appears to have been positively selected to enhance psychoactivity. An unlinked QTL for cannabinoid quantity may also have played a role in the recent escalation of drug potency. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

  12. Divergent Evolutionary Patterns of NAC Transcription Factors Are Associated with Diversification and Gene Duplications in Angiosperm

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    Xiaoli Jin

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available NAC (NAM/ATAF/CUC proteins constitute one of the biggest plant-specific transcription factor (TF families and have crucial roles in diverse developmental programs during plant growth. Phylogenetic analyses have revealed both conserved and lineage-specific NAC subfamilies, among which various origins and distinct features were observed. It is reasonable to hypothesize that there should be divergent evolutionary patterns of NAC TFs both between dicots and monocots, and among NAC subfamilies. In this study, we compared the gene duplication and loss, evolutionary rate, and selective pattern among non-lineage specific NAC subfamilies, as well as those between dicots and monocots, through genome-wide analyses of sequence and functional data in six dicot and five grass lineages. The number of genes gained in the dicot lineages was much larger than that in the grass lineages, while fewer gene losses were observed in the grass than that in the dicots. We revealed (1 uneven constitution of Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs and contrasting birth/death rates among subfamilies, and (2 two distinct evolutionary scenarios of NAC TFs between dicots and grasses. Our results demonstrated that relaxed selection, resulting from concerted gene duplications, may have permitted substitutions responsible for functional divergence of NAC genes into new lineages. The underlying mechanism of distinct evolutionary fates of NAC TFs shed lights on how evolutionary divergence contributes to differences in establishing NAC gene subfamilies and thus impacts the distinct features between dicots and grasses.

  13. The fate of the duplicated androgen receptor in fishes: a late neofunctionalization event?

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    Haendler Bernard

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Based on the observation of an increased number of paralogous genes in teleost fishes compared with other vertebrates and on the conserved synteny between duplicated copies, it has been shown that a whole genome duplication (WGD occurred during the evolution of Actinopterygian fish. Comparative phylogenetic dating of this duplication event suggests that it occurred early on, specifically in teleosts. It has been proposed that this event might have facilitated the evolutionary radiation and the phenotypic diversification of the teleost fish, notably by allowing the sub- or neo-functionalization of many duplicated genes. Results In this paper, we studied in a wide range of Actinopterygians the duplication and fate of the androgen receptor (AR, NR3C4, a nuclear receptor known to play a key role in sex-determination in vertebrates. The pattern of AR gene duplication is consistent with an early WGD event: it has been duplicated into two genes AR-A and AR-B after the split of the Acipenseriformes from the lineage leading to teleost fish but before the divergence of Osteoglossiformes. Genomic and syntenic analyses in addition to lack of PCR amplification show that one of the duplicated copies, AR-B, was lost in several basal Clupeocephala such as Cypriniformes (including the model species zebrafish, Siluriformes, Characiformes and Salmoniformes. Interestingly, we also found that, in basal teleost fish (Osteoglossiformes and Anguilliformes, the two copies remain very similar, whereas, specifically in Percomorphs, one of the copies, AR-B, has accumulated substitutions in both the ligand binding domain (LBD and the DNA binding domain (DBD. Conclusion The comparison of the mutations present in these divergent AR-B with those known in human to be implicated in complete, partial or mild androgen insensitivity syndrome suggests that the existence of two distinct AR duplicates may be correlated to specific functional differences that may be

  14. Recent Duplication and Functional Divergence in Parasitic Nematode Levamisole-Sensitive Acetylcholine Receptors.

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    Thomas B Duguet

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Helminth parasites rely on fast-synaptic transmission in their neuromusculature to experience the outside world and respond to it. Acetylcholine plays a pivotal role in this and its receptors are targeted by a wide variety of both natural and synthetic compounds used in human health and for the control of parasitic disease. The model, Caenorhabditis elegans is characterized by a large number of acetylcholine receptor subunit genes, a feature shared across the nematodes. This dynamic family is characterized by both gene duplication and loss between species. The pentameric levamisole-sensitive acetylcholine receptor has been characterized from C. elegans, comprised of five different subunits. More recently, cognate receptors have been reconstituted from multiple parasitic nematodes that are found to vary in subunit composition. In order to understand the implications of receptor composition change and the origins of potentially novel drug targets, we investigated a specific example of subunit duplication based on analysis of genome data for 25 species from the 50 helminth genome initiative. We found multiple independent duplications of the unc-29, acetylcholine receptor subunit, where codon substitution rate analysis identified positive, directional selection acting on amino acid positions associated with subunit assembly. Characterization of four gene copies from a model parasitic nematode, Haemonchus contortus, demonstrated that each copy has acquired unique functional characteristics based on phenotype rescue of transgenic C. elegans and electrophysiology of receptors reconstituted in Xenopus oocytes. We found evidence that a specific incompatibility has evolved for two subunits co-expressed in muscle. We demonstrated that functional divergence of acetylcholine receptors, driven by directional selection, can occur more rapidly than previously thought and may be mediated by alteration of receptor assembly. This phenomenon is common among the

  15. Co-expression network analysis of duplicate genes in maize (Zea mays L.) reveals no subgenome bias.

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    Li, Lin; Briskine, Roman; Schaefer, Robert; Schnable, Patrick S; Myers, Chad L; Flagel, Lex E; Springer, Nathan M; Muehlbauer, Gary J

    2016-11-04

    Gene duplication is prevalent in many species and can result in coding and regulatory divergence. Gene duplications can be classified as whole genome duplication (WGD), tandem and inserted (non-syntenic). In maize, WGD resulted in the subgenomes maize1 and maize2, of which maize1 is considered the dominant subgenome. However, the landscape of co-expression network divergence of duplicate genes in maize is still largely uncharacterized. To address the consequence of gene duplication on co-expression network divergence, we developed a gene co-expression network from RNA-seq data derived from 64 different tissues/stages of the maize reference inbred-B73. WGD, tandem and inserted gene duplications exhibited distinct regulatory divergence. Inserted duplicate genes were more likely to be singletons in the co-expression networks, while WGD duplicate genes were likely to be co-expressed with other genes. Tandem duplicate genes were enriched in the co-expression pattern where co-expressed genes were nearly identical for the duplicates in the network. Older gene duplications exhibit more extensive co-expression variation than younger duplications. Overall, non-syntenic genes primarily from inserted duplications show more co-expression divergence. Also, such enlarged co-expression divergence is significantly related to duplication age. Moreover, subgenome dominance was not observed in the co-expression networks - maize1 and maize2 exhibit similar levels of intra subgenome correlations. Intriguingly, the level of inter subgenome co-expression was similar to the level of intra subgenome correlations, and genes from specific subgenomes were not likely to be the enriched in co-expression network modules and the hub genes were not predominantly from any specific subgenomes in maize. Our work provides a comprehensive analysis of maize co-expression network divergence for three different types of gene duplications and identifies potential relationships between duplication types

  16. The genomic distribution of intraspecific and interspecific sequence divergence of human segmental duplications relative to human/chimpanzee chromosomal rearrangements

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    Eichler Evan E

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background It has been suggested that chromosomal rearrangements harbor the molecular footprint of the biological phenomena which they induce, in the form, for instance, of changes in the sequence divergence rates of linked genes. So far, all the studies of these potential associations have focused on the relationship between structural changes and the rates of evolution of single-copy DNA and have tried to exclude segmental duplications (SDs. This is paradoxical, since SDs are one of the primary forces driving the evolution of structure and function in our genomes and have been linked not only with novel genes acquiring new functions, but also with overall higher DNA sequence divergence and major chromosomal rearrangements. Results Here we take the opposite view and focus on SDs. We analyze several of the features of SDs, including the rates of intraspecific divergence between paralogous copies of human SDs and of interspecific divergence between human SDs and chimpanzee DNA. We study how divergence measures relate to chromosomal rearrangements, while considering other factors that affect evolutionary rates in single copy DNA. Conclusion We find that interspecific SD divergence behaves similarly to divergence of single-copy DNA. In contrast, old and recent paralogous copies of SDs do present different patterns of intraspecific divergence. Also, we show that some relatively recent SDs accumulate in regions that carry inversions in sister lineages.

  17. Neutral and Non-Neutral Evolution of Duplicated Genes with Gene Conversion

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    Jeffrey A. Fawcett

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Gene conversion is one of the major mutational mechanisms involved in the DNA sequence evolution of duplicated genes. It contributes to create unique patters of DNA polymorphism within species and divergence between species. A typical pattern is so-called concerted evolution, in which the divergence between duplicates is maintained low for a long time because of frequent exchanges of DNA fragments. In addition, gene conversion affects the DNA evolution of duplicates in various ways especially when selection operates. Here, we review theoretical models to understand the evolution of duplicates in both neutral and non-neutral cases. We also explain how these theories contribute to interpreting real polymorphism and divergence data by using some intriguing examples.

  18. Duplication of Dio3 genes in teleost fish and their divergent expression in skin during flatfish metamorphosis.

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    Alves, R N; Cardoso, J C R; Harboe, T; Martins, R S T; Manchado, M; Norberg, B; Power, D M

    2017-05-15

    Deiodinase 3 (Dio3) plays an essential role during early development in vertebrates by controlling tissue thyroid hormone (TH) availability. The Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) possesses duplicate dio3 genes (dio3a and dio3b). Expression analysis indicates that dio3b levels change in abocular skin during metamorphosis and this suggests that this enzyme is associated with the divergent development of larval skin to the juvenile phenotype. In larvae exposed to MMI, a chemical that inhibits TH production, expression of dio3b in ocular skin is significantly up-regulated suggesting that THs normally modulate this genes expression during this developmental event. The molecular basis for divergent dio3a and dio3b expression and responsiveness to MMI treatment is explained by the multiple conserved TREs in the proximal promoter region of teleost dio3b and their absence from the promoter of dio3a. We propose that the divergent expression of dio3 in ocular and abocular skin during halibut metamorphosis contributes to the asymmetric pigment development in response to THs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Phylogenetic detection of numerous gene duplications shared by animals, fungi and plants

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    Zhou, Xiaofan; Lin, Zhenguo; Ma, Hong

    2010-01-01

    Background Gene duplication is considered a major driving force for evolution of genetic novelty, thereby facilitating functional divergence and organismal diversity, including the process of speciation. Animals, fungi and plants are major eukaryotic kingdoms and the divergences between them are some of the most significant evolutionary events. Although gene duplications in each lineage have been studied extensively in various contexts, the extent of gene duplication prior to the split of pla...

  20. Double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase PKR of fishes and amphibians: Varying the number of double-stranded RNA binding domains and lineage-specific duplications

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    Dever Thomas E

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Double-stranded (ds RNA, generated during viral infection, binds and activates the mammalian anti-viral protein kinase PKR, which phosphorylates the translation initiation factor eIF2α leading to the general inhibition of protein synthesis. Although PKR-like activity has been described in fish cells, the responsible enzymes eluded molecular characterization until the recent discovery of goldfish and zebrafish PKZ, which contain Z-DNA-binding domains instead of dsRNA-binding domains (dsRBDs. Fish and amphibian PKR genes have not been described so far. Results Here we report the cloning and identification of 13 PKR genes from 8 teleost fish and amphibian species, including zebrafish, demonstrating the coexistence of PKR and PKZ in this latter species. Analyses of their genomic organization revealed up to three tandemly arrayed PKR genes, which are arranged in head-to-tail orientation. At least five duplications occurred independently in fish and amphibian lineages. Phylogenetic analyses reveal that the kinase domains of fish PKR genes are more closely related to those of fish PKZ than to the PKR kinase domains of other vertebrate species. The duplication leading to fish PKR and PKZ genes occurred early during teleost fish evolution after the divergence of the tetrapod lineage. While two dsRBDs are found in mammalian and amphibian PKR, one, two or three dsRBDs are present in fish PKR. In zebrafish, both PKR and PKZ were strongly upregulated after immunostimulation with some tissue-specific expression differences. Using genetic and biochemical assays we demonstrate that both zebrafish PKR and PKZ can phosphorylate eIF2α in yeast. Conclusion Considering the important role for PKR in host defense against viruses, the independent duplication and fixation of PKR genes in different lineages probably provided selective advantages by leading to the recognition of an extended spectrum of viral nucleic acid structures, including both ds

  1. Divergence of the bZIP Gene Family in Strawberry, Peach, and Apple Suggests Multiple Modes of Gene Evolution after Duplication

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    Xiao-Long Wang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The basic leucine zipper (bZIP transcription factors are the most diverse members of dimerizing transcription factors. In the present study, 50, 116, and 47 bZIP genes were identified in Malus domestica (apple, Prunus persica (peach, and Fragaria vesca (strawberry, respectively. Species-specific duplication was the main contributor to the large number of bZIPs observed in apple. After WGD in apple genome, orthologous bZIP genes corresponding to strawberry on duplicated regions in apple genome were retained. However, in peach ancestor, these syntenic regions were quickly lost or deleted. Maybe the positive selection contributed to the expansion of clade S to adapt to the development and environment stresses. In addition, purifying selection was mainly responsible for bZIP sequence-specific DNA binding. The analysis of orthologous pairs between chromosomes indicates that these orthologs derived from one gene duplication located on one of the nine ancient chromosomes in the Rosaceae. The comparative analysis of bZIP genes in three species provides information on the evolutionary fate of bZIP genes in apple and peach after they diverged from strawberry.

  2. Evolution based on domain combinations: the case of glutaredoxins

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    Herrero Enrique

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein domains represent the basic units in the evolution of proteins. Domain duplication and shuffling by recombination and fusion, followed by divergence are the most common mechanisms in this process. Such domain fusion and recombination events are predicted to occur only once for a given multidomain architecture. However, other scenarios may be relevant in the evolution of specific proteins, such as convergent evolution of multidomain architectures. With this in mind, we study glutaredoxin (GRX domains, because these domains of approximately one hundred amino acids are widespread in archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes and participate in fusion proteins. GRXs are responsible for the reduction of protein disulfides or glutathione-protein mixed disulfides and are involved in cellular redox regulation, although their specific roles and targets are often unclear. Results In this work we analyze the distribution and evolution of GRX proteins in archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes. We study over one thousand GRX proteins, each containing at least one GRX domain, from hundreds of different organisms and trace the origin and evolution of the GRX domain within the tree of life. Conclusion Our results suggest that single domain GRX proteins of the CGFS and CPYC classes have, each, evolved through duplication and divergence from one initial gene that was present in the last common ancestor of all organisms. Remarkably, we identify a case of convergent evolution in domain architecture that involves the GRX domain. Two independent recombination events of a TRX domain to a GRX domain are likely to have occurred, which is an exception to the dominant mechanism of domain architecture evolution.

  3. Profiling of gene duplication patterns of sequenced teleost genomes: evidence for rapid lineage-specific genome expansion mediated by recent tandem duplications.

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    Lu, Jianguo; Peatman, Eric; Tang, Haibao; Lewis, Joshua; Liu, Zhanjiang

    2012-06-15

    Gene duplication has had a major impact on genome evolution. Localized (or tandem) duplication resulting from unequal crossing over and whole genome duplication are believed to be the two dominant mechanisms contributing to vertebrate genome evolution. While much scrutiny has been directed toward discerning patterns indicative of whole-genome duplication events in teleost species, less attention has been paid to the continuous nature of gene duplications and their impact on the size, gene content, functional diversity, and overall architecture of teleost genomes. Here, using a Markov clustering algorithm directed approach we catalogue and analyze patterns of gene duplication in the four model teleost species with chromosomal coordinates: zebrafish, medaka, stickleback, and Tetraodon. Our analyses based on set size, duplication type, synonymous substitution rate (Ks), and gene ontology emphasize shared and lineage-specific patterns of genome evolution via gene duplication. Most strikingly, our analyses highlight the extraordinary duplication and retention rate of recent duplicates in zebrafish and their likely role in the structural and functional expansion of the zebrafish genome. We find that the zebrafish genome is remarkable in its large number of duplicated genes, small duplicate set size, biased Ks distribution toward minimal mutational divergence, and proportion of tandem and intra-chromosomal duplicates when compared with the other teleost model genomes. The observed gene duplication patterns have played significant roles in shaping the architecture of teleost genomes and appear to have contributed to the recent functional diversification and divergence of important physiological processes in zebrafish. We have analyzed gene duplication patterns and duplication types among the available teleost genomes and found that a large number of genes were tandemly and intrachromosomally duplicated, suggesting their origin of independent and continuous duplication

  4. The duplicated genes database: identification and functional annotation of co-localised duplicated genes across genomes.

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    Marion Ouedraogo

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: There has been a surge in studies linking genome structure and gene expression, with special focus on duplicated genes. Although initially duplicated from the same sequence, duplicated genes can diverge strongly over evolution and take on different functions or regulated expression. However, information on the function and expression of duplicated genes remains sparse. Identifying groups of duplicated genes in different genomes and characterizing their expression and function would therefore be of great interest to the research community. The 'Duplicated Genes Database' (DGD was developed for this purpose. METHODOLOGY: Nine species were included in the DGD. For each species, BLAST analyses were conducted on peptide sequences corresponding to the genes mapped on a same chromosome. Groups of duplicated genes were defined based on these pairwise BLAST comparisons and the genomic location of the genes. For each group, Pearson correlations between gene expression data and semantic similarities between functional GO annotations were also computed when the relevant information was available. CONCLUSIONS: The Duplicated Gene Database provides a list of co-localised and duplicated genes for several species with the available gene co-expression level and semantic similarity value of functional annotation. Adding these data to the groups of duplicated genes provides biological information that can prove useful to gene expression analyses. The Duplicated Gene Database can be freely accessed through the DGD website at http://dgd.genouest.org.

  5. A survey of innovation through duplication in the reduced genomes of twelve parasites.

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    Jeremy D DeBarry

    Full Text Available We characterize the prevalence, distribution, divergence, and putative functions of detectable two-copy paralogs and segmental duplications in the Apicomplexa, a phylum of parasitic protists. Apicomplexans are mostly obligate intracellular parasites responsible for human and animal diseases (e.g. malaria and toxoplasmosis. Gene loss is a major force in the phylum. Genomes are small and protein-encoding gene repertoires are reduced. Despite this genomic streamlining, duplications and gene family amplifications are present. The potential for innovation introduced by duplications is of particular interest. We compared genomes of twelve apicomplexans across four lineages and used orthology and genome cartography to map distributions of duplications against genome architectures. Segmental duplications appear limited to five species. Where present, they correspond to regions enriched for multi-copy and species-specific genes, pointing toward roles in adaptation and innovation. We found a phylum-wide association of duplications with dynamic chromosome regions and syntenic breakpoints. Trends in the distribution of duplicated genes indicate that recent, species-specific duplicates are often tandem while most others have been dispersed by genome rearrangements. These trends show a relationship between genome architecture and gene duplication. Functional analysis reveals: proteases, which are vital to a parasitic lifecycle, to be prominent in putative recent duplications; a pair of paralogous genes in Toxoplasma gondii previously shown to produce the rate-limiting step in dopamine synthesis in mammalian cells, a possible link to the modification of host behavior; and phylum-wide differences in expression and subcellular localization, indicative of modes of divergence. We have uncovered trends in multiple modes of duplicate divergence including sequence, intron content, expression, subcellular localization, and functions of putative recent duplicates that

  6. Multiple independent origins of mitochondrial control region duplications in the order Psittaciformes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schirtzinger, Erin E.; Tavares, Erika S.; Gonzales, Lauren A.; Eberhard, Jessica R.; Miyaki, Cristina Y.; Sanchez, Juan J.; Hernandez, Alexis; Müeller, Heinrich; Graves, Gary R.; Fleischer, Robert C.; Wright, Timothy F.

    2012-01-01

    Mitochondrial genomes are generally thought to be under selection for compactness, due to their small size, consistent gene content, and a lack of introns or intergenic spacers. As more animal mitochondrial genomes are fully sequenced, rearrangements and partial duplications are being identified with increasing frequency, particularly in birds (Class Aves). In this study, we investigate the evolutionary history of mitochondrial control region states within the avian order Psittaciformes (parrots and cockatoos). To this aim, we reconstructed a comprehensive multi-locus phylogeny of parrots, used PCR of three diagnostic fragments to classify the mitochondrial control region state as single or duplicated, and mapped these states onto the phylogeny. We further sequenced 44 selected species to validate these inferences of control region state. Ancestral state reconstruction using a range of weighting schemes identified six independent origins of mitochondrial control region duplications within Psittaciformes. Analysis of sequence data showed that varying levels of mitochondrial gene and tRNA homology and degradation were present within a given clade exhibiting duplications. Levels of divergence between control regions within an individual varied from 0–10.9% with the differences occurring mainly between 51 and 225 nucleotides 3′ of the goose hairpin in domain I. Further investigations into the fates of duplicated mitochondrial genes, the potential costs and benefits of having a second control region, and the complex relationship between evolutionary rates, selection, and time since duplication are needed to fully explain these patterns in the mitochondrial genome. PMID:22543055

  7. Evolution of Cis-Regulatory Elements and Regulatory Networks in Duplicated Genes of Arabidopsis.

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    Arsovski, Andrej A; Pradinuk, Julian; Guo, Xu Qiu; Wang, Sishuo; Adams, Keith L

    2015-12-01

    Plant genomes contain large numbers of duplicated genes that contribute to the evolution of new functions. Following duplication, genes can exhibit divergence in their coding sequence and their expression patterns. Changes in the cis-regulatory element landscape can result in changes in gene expression patterns. High-throughput methods developed recently can identify potential cis-regulatory elements on a genome-wide scale. Here, we use a recent comprehensive data set of DNase I sequencing-identified cis-regulatory binding sites (footprints) at single-base-pair resolution to compare binding sites and network connectivity in duplicated gene pairs in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We found that duplicated gene pairs vary greatly in their cis-regulatory element architecture, resulting in changes in regulatory network connectivity. Whole-genome duplicates (WGDs) have approximately twice as many footprints in their promoters left by potential regulatory proteins than do tandem duplicates (TDs). The WGDs have a greater average number of footprint differences between paralogs than TDs. The footprints, in turn, result in more regulatory network connections between WGDs and other genes, forming denser, more complex regulatory networks than shown by TDs. When comparing regulatory connections between duplicates, WGDs had more pairs in which the two genes are either partially or fully diverged in their network connections, but fewer genes with no network connections than the TDs. There is evidence of younger TDs and WGDs having fewer unique connections compared with older duplicates. This study provides insights into cis-regulatory element evolution and network divergence in duplicated genes. © 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

  8. The secondary structure of large-subunit rRNA divergent domains, a marker for protist evolution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lenaers, G; Nielsen, Henrik; Engberg, J

    1988-01-01

    The secondary structure of the large-subunit ribosomal RNA (24-26S rRNA) has been studied with emphasis on comparative analysis of the folding patterns of the divergent domains in the available protist sequences, that is Prorocentrum micans (dinoflagellate), Saccharomyces carlsbergensis (yeast......), Tetrahymena thermophila (ciliate), Physarum polycephalum and Dictyostelium discoideum (slime moulds), Crithidia fasciculata and Giardia lamblia (parasitic flagellates). The folding for the D3, D7a and D10 divergent domains has been refined and a consensus model for the protist 24-26S rRNA structure...

  9. Annelid Distal-less/Dlx duplications reveal varied post-duplication fates

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    Korchagina Natalia

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Dlx (Distal-less genes have various developmental roles and are widespread throughout the animal kingdom, usually occurring as single copy genes in non-chordates and as multiple copies in most chordate genomes. While the genomic arrangement and function of these genes is well known in vertebrates and arthropods, information about Dlx genes in other organisms is scarce. We investigate the presence of Dlx genes in several annelid species and examine Dlx gene expression in the polychaete Pomatoceros lamarckii. Results Two Dlx genes are present in P. lamarckii, Capitella teleta and Helobdella robusta. The C. teleta Dlx genes are closely linked in an inverted tail-to-tail orientation, reminiscent of the arrangement of vertebrate Dlx pairs, and gene conversion appears to have had a role in their evolution. The H. robusta Dlx genes, however, are not on the same genomic scaffold and display divergent sequences, while, if the P. lamarckii genes are linked in a tail-to-tail orientation they are a minimum of 41 kilobases apart and show no sign of gene conversion. No expression in P. lamarckii appendage development has been observed, which conflicts with the supposed conserved role of these genes in animal appendage development. These Dlx duplications do not appear to be annelid-wide, as the polychaete Platynereis dumerilii likely possesses only one Dlx gene. Conclusions On the basis of the currently accepted annelid phylogeny, we hypothesise that one Dlx duplication occurred in the annelid lineage after the divergence of P. dumerilii from the other lineages and these duplicates then had varied evolutionary fates in different species. We also propose that the ancestral role of Dlx genes is not related to appendage development.

  10. Duplication and Diversification of the Hypoxia-Inducible IGFBP-1 Gene in Zebrafish

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kamei, Hiroyasu; Lu, Ling; Jiao, Shuang

    2008-01-01

    Background: Gene duplication is the primary force of new gene evolution. Deciphering whether a pair of duplicated genes has evolved divergent functions is often challenging. The zebrafish is uniquely positioned to provide insight into the process of functional gene evolution due to its amenabilit...

  11. Spider Transcriptomes Identify Ancient Large-Scale Gene Duplication Event Potentially Important in Silk Gland Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Thomas H; Garb, Jessica E; Hayashi, Cheryl Y; Arensburger, Peter; Ayoub, Nadia A

    2015-06-08

    The evolution of specialized tissues with novel functions, such as the silk synthesizing glands in spiders, is likely an influential driver of adaptive success. Large-scale gene duplication events and subsequent paralog divergence are thought to be required for generating evolutionary novelty. Such an event has been proposed for spiders, but not tested. We de novo assembled transcriptomes from three cobweb weaving spider species. Based on phylogenetic analyses of gene families with representatives from each of the three species, we found numerous duplication events indicative of a whole genome or segmental duplication. We estimated the age of the gene duplications relative to several speciation events within spiders and arachnids and found that the duplications likely occurred after the divergence of scorpions (order Scorpionida) and spiders (order Araneae), but before the divergence of the spider suborders Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae, near the evolutionary origin of spider silk glands. Transcripts that are expressed exclusively or primarily within black widow silk glands are more likely to have a paralog descended from the ancient duplication event and have elevated amino acid replacement rates compared with other transcripts. Thus, an ancient large-scale gene duplication event within the spider lineage was likely an important source of molecular novelty during the evolution of silk gland-specific expression. This duplication event may have provided genetic material for subsequent silk gland diversification in the true spiders (Araneomorphae). © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  12. Detection and correction of false segmental duplications caused by genome mis-assembly

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Diploid genomes with divergent chromosomes present special problems for assembly software as two copies of especially polymorphic regions may be mistakenly constructed, creating the appearance of a recent segmental duplication. We developed a method for identifying such false duplications and applied it to four vertebrate genomes. For each genome, we corrected mis-assemblies, improved estimates of the amount of duplicated sequence, and recovered polymorphisms between the sequenced chromosomes. PMID:20219098

  13. Domain architecture conservation in orthologs

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background As orthologous proteins are expected to retain function more often than other homologs, they are often used for functional annotation transfer between species. However, ortholog identification methods do not take into account changes in domain architecture, which are likely to modify a protein's function. By domain architecture we refer to the sequential arrangement of domains along a protein sequence. To assess the level of domain architecture conservation among orthologs, we carried out a large-scale study of such events between human and 40 other species spanning the entire evolutionary range. We designed a score to measure domain architecture similarity and used it to analyze differences in domain architecture conservation between orthologs and paralogs relative to the conservation of primary sequence. We also statistically characterized the extents of different types of domain swapping events across pairs of orthologs and paralogs. Results The analysis shows that orthologs exhibit greater domain architecture conservation than paralogous homologs, even when differences in average sequence divergence are compensated for, for homologs that have diverged beyond a certain threshold. We interpret this as an indication of a stronger selective pressure on orthologs than paralogs to retain the domain architecture required for the proteins to perform a specific function. In general, orthologs as well as the closest paralogous homologs have very similar domain architectures, even at large evolutionary separation. The most common domain architecture changes observed in both ortholog and paralog pairs involved insertion/deletion of new domains, while domain shuffling and segment duplication/deletion were very infrequent. Conclusions On the whole, our results support the hypothesis that function conservation between orthologs demands higher domain architecture conservation than other types of homologs, relative to primary sequence conservation. This supports the

  14. Expansion of protein domain repeats.

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    Asa K Björklund

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Many proteins, especially in eukaryotes, contain tandem repeats of several domains from the same family. These repeats have a variety of binding properties and are involved in protein-protein interactions as well as binding to other ligands such as DNA and RNA. The rapid expansion of protein domain repeats is assumed to have evolved through internal tandem duplications. However, the exact mechanisms behind these tandem duplications are not well-understood. Here, we have studied the evolution, function, protein structure, gene structure, and phylogenetic distribution of domain repeats. For this purpose we have assigned Pfam-A domain families to 24 proteomes with more sensitive domain assignments in the repeat regions. These assignments confirmed previous findings that eukaryotes, and in particular vertebrates, contain a much higher fraction of proteins with repeats compared with prokaryotes. The internal sequence similarity in each protein revealed that the domain repeats are often expanded through duplications of several domains at a time, while the duplication of one domain is less common. Many of the repeats appear to have been duplicated in the middle of the repeat region. This is in strong contrast to the evolution of other proteins that mainly works through additions of single domains at either terminus. Further, we found that some domain families show distinct duplication patterns, e.g., nebulin domains have mainly been expanded with a unit of seven domains at a time, while duplications of other domain families involve varying numbers of domains. Finally, no common mechanism for the expansion of all repeats could be detected. We found that the duplication patterns show no dependence on the size of the domains. Further, repeat expansion in some families can possibly be explained by shuffling of exons. However, exon shuffling could not have created all repeats.

  15. Developmental and environmental regulation of Aquaporin gene expression across Populus species: divergence or redundancy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, David; Bogeat-Triboulot, Marie-Béatrice; Vialet-Chabrand, Silvère; Merret, Rémy; Courty, Pierre-Emmanuel; Moretti, Sébastien; Bizet, François; Guilliot, Agnès; Hummel, Irène

    2013-01-01

    Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane channels belonging to the major intrinsic proteins family and are known for their ability to facilitate water movement. While in Populus trichocarpa, AQP proteins form a large family encompassing fifty-five genes, most of the experimental work focused on a few genes or subfamilies. The current work was undertaken to develop a comprehensive picture of the whole AQP gene family in Populus species by delineating gene expression domain and distinguishing responsiveness to developmental and environmental cues. Since duplication events amplified the poplar AQP family, we addressed the question of expression redundancy between gene duplicates. On these purposes, we carried a meta-analysis of all publicly available Affymetrix experiments. Our in-silico strategy controlled for previously identified biases in cross-species transcriptomics, a necessary step for any comparative transcriptomics based on multispecies design chips. Three poplar AQPs were not supported by any expression data, even in a large collection of situations (abiotic and biotic constraints, temporal oscillations and mutants). The expression of 11 AQPs was never or poorly regulated whatever the wideness of their expression domain and their expression level. Our work highlighted that PtTIP1;4 was the most responsive gene of the AQP family. A high functional divergence between gene duplicates was detected across species and in response to tested cues, except for the root-expressed PtTIP2;3/PtTIP2;4 pair exhibiting 80% convergent responses. Our meta-analysis assessed key features of aquaporin expression which had remained hidden in single experiments, such as expression wideness, response specificity and genotype and environment interactions. By consolidating expression profiles using independent experimental series, we showed that the large expansion of AQP family in poplar was accompanied with a strong divergence of gene expression, even if some cases of functional redundancy

  16. Developmental and environmental regulation of Aquaporin gene expression across Populus species: divergence or redundancy?

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    David Cohen

    Full Text Available Aquaporins (AQPs are membrane channels belonging to the major intrinsic proteins family and are known for their ability to facilitate water movement. While in Populus trichocarpa, AQP proteins form a large family encompassing fifty-five genes, most of the experimental work focused on a few genes or subfamilies. The current work was undertaken to develop a comprehensive picture of the whole AQP gene family in Populus species by delineating gene expression domain and distinguishing responsiveness to developmental and environmental cues. Since duplication events amplified the poplar AQP family, we addressed the question of expression redundancy between gene duplicates. On these purposes, we carried a meta-analysis of all publicly available Affymetrix experiments. Our in-silico strategy controlled for previously identified biases in cross-species transcriptomics, a necessary step for any comparative transcriptomics based on multispecies design chips. Three poplar AQPs were not supported by any expression data, even in a large collection of situations (abiotic and biotic constraints, temporal oscillations and mutants. The expression of 11 AQPs was never or poorly regulated whatever the wideness of their expression domain and their expression level. Our work highlighted that PtTIP1;4 was the most responsive gene of the AQP family. A high functional divergence between gene duplicates was detected across species and in response to tested cues, except for the root-expressed PtTIP2;3/PtTIP2;4 pair exhibiting 80% convergent responses. Our meta-analysis assessed key features of aquaporin expression which had remained hidden in single experiments, such as expression wideness, response specificity and genotype and environment interactions. By consolidating expression profiles using independent experimental series, we showed that the large expansion of AQP family in poplar was accompanied with a strong divergence of gene expression, even if some cases of

  17. Whole genome duplication of intra- and inter-chromosomes in the tomato genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Chi; Guo, Juan; Sun, Wei; Wang, Ying

    2012-07-20

    Whole genome duplication (WGD) events have been proven to occur in the evolutionary history of most angiosperms. Tomato is considered a model species of the Solanaceae family. In this study, we describe the details of the evolutionary process of the tomato genome by detecting collinearity blocks and dating the WGD events on the tree of life by combining two different methods: synonymous substitution rates (Ks) and phylogenetic trees. In total, 593 collinearity blocks were discovered out of 12 pseudo-chromosomes constructed. It was evident that chromosome 2 had experienced an intra-chromosomal duplication event. Major inter-chromosomal duplication occurred among all the pseudo-chromosome. We calculated the Ks value of these collinearity blocks. Two peaks of Ks distribution were found, corresponding to two WGD events occurring approximately 36-82 million years ago (MYA) and 148-205 MYA. Additionally, the results of phylogenetic trees suggested that the more recent WGD event may have occurred after the divergence of the rosid-asterid clade, but before the major diversification in Solanaceae. The older WGD event was shown to have occurred before the divergence of the rosid-asterid clade and after the divergence of rice-Arabidopsis (monocot-dicot). Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  18. Duplication and diversification of the hypoxia-inducible IGFBP-1 gene in zebrafish.

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    Hiroyasu Kamei

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Gene duplication is the primary force of new gene evolution. Deciphering whether a pair of duplicated genes has evolved divergent functions is often challenging. The zebrafish is uniquely positioned to provide insight into the process of functional gene evolution due to its amenability to genetic and experimental manipulation and because it possess a large number of duplicated genes.We report the identification and characterization of two hypoxia-inducible genes in zebrafish that are co-ortholgs of human IGF binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1. IGFBP-1 is a secreted protein that binds to IGF and modulates IGF actions in somatic growth, development, and aging. Like their human and mouse counterparts, in adult zebrafish igfbp-1a and igfbp-1b are exclusively expressed in the liver. During embryogenesis, the two genes are expressed in overlapping spatial domains but with distinct temporal patterns. While zebrafish IGFBP-1a mRNA was easily detected throughout embryogenesis, IGFBP-1b mRNA was detectable only in advanced stages. Hypoxia induces igfbp-1a expression in early embryogenesis, but induces the igfbp-1b expression later in embryogenesis. Both IGFBP-1a and -b are capable of IGF binding, but IGFBP-1b has much lower affinities for IGF-I and -II because of greater dissociation rates. Overexpression of IGFBP-1a and -1b in zebrafish embryos caused significant decreases in growth and developmental rates. When tested in cultured zebrafish embryonic cells, IGFBP-1a and -1b both inhibited IGF-1-induced cell proliferation but the activity of IGFBP-1b was significantly weaker.These results indicate subfunction partitioning of the duplicated IGFBP-1 genes at the levels of gene expression, physiological regulation, protein structure, and biological actions. The duplicated IGFBP-1 may provide additional flexibility in fine-tuning IGF signaling activities under hypoxia and other catabolic conditions.

  19. A role for gene duplication and natural variation of gene expression in the evolution of metabolism.

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    Daniel J Kliebenstein

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Most eukaryotic genomes have undergone whole genome duplications during their evolutionary history. Recent studies have shown that the function of these duplicated genes can diverge from the ancestral gene via neo- or sub-functionalization within single genotypes. An additional possibility is that gene duplicates may also undergo partitioning of function among different genotypes of a species leading to genetic differentiation. Finally, the ability of gene duplicates to diverge may be limited by their biological function. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test these hypotheses, I estimated the impact of gene duplication and metabolic function upon intraspecific gene expression variation of segmental and tandem duplicated genes within Arabidopsis thaliana. In all instances, the younger tandem duplicated genes showed higher intraspecific gene expression variation than the average Arabidopsis gene. Surprisingly, the older segmental duplicates also showed evidence of elevated intraspecific gene expression variation albeit typically lower than for the tandem duplicates. The specific biological function of the gene as defined by metabolic pathway also modulated the level of intraspecific gene expression variation. The major energy metabolism and biosynthetic pathways showed decreased variation, suggesting that they are constrained in their ability to accumulate gene expression variation. In contrast, a major herbivory defense pathway showed significantly elevated intraspecific variation suggesting that it may be under pressure to maintain and/or generate diversity in response to fluctuating insect herbivory pressures. CONCLUSION: These data show that intraspecific variation in gene expression is facilitated by an interaction of gene duplication and biological activity. Further, this plays a role in controlling diversity of plant metabolism.

  20. Vector tomography for reconstructing electric fields with non-zero divergence in bounded domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koulouri, Alexandra; Brookes, Mike; Rimpiläinen, Ville

    2017-01-01

    In vector tomography (VT), the aim is to reconstruct an unknown multi-dimensional vector field using line integral data. In the case of a 2-dimensional VT, two types of line integral data are usually required. These data correspond to integration of the parallel and perpendicular projection of the vector field along the integration lines and are called the longitudinal and transverse measurements, respectively. In most cases, however, the transverse measurements cannot be physically acquired. Therefore, the VT methods are typically used to reconstruct divergence-free (or source-free) velocity and flow fields that can be reconstructed solely from the longitudinal measurements. In this paper, we show how vector fields with non-zero divergence in a bounded domain can also be reconstructed from the longitudinal measurements without the need of explicitly evaluating the transverse measurements. To the best of our knowledge, VT has not previously been used for this purpose. In particular, we study low-frequency, time-harmonic electric fields generated by dipole sources in convex bounded domains which arise, for example, in electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging. We explain in detail the theoretical background, the derivation of the electric field inverse problem and the numerical approximation of the line integrals. We show that fields with non-zero divergence can be reconstructed from the longitudinal measurements with the help of two sparsity constraints that are constructed from the transverse measurements and the vector Laplace operator. As a comparison to EEG source imaging, we note that VT does not require mathematical modeling of the sources. By numerical simulations, we show that the pattern of the electric field can be correctly estimated using VT and the location of the source activity can be determined accurately from the reconstructed magnitudes of the field.

  1. Genome-wide identification and comparative expression analysis reveal a rapid expansion and functional divergence of duplicated genes in the WRKY gene family of cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Qiu-Yang; Xia, En-Hua; Liu, Fei-Hu; Gao, Li-Zhi

    2015-02-15

    WRKY transcription factors (TFs), one of the ten largest TF families in higher plants, play important roles in regulating plant development and resistance. To date, little is known about the WRKY TF family in Brassica oleracea. Recently, the completed genome sequence of cabbage (B. oleracea var. capitata) allows us to systematically analyze WRKY genes in this species. A total of 148 WRKY genes were characterized and classified into seven subgroups that belong to three major groups. Phylogenetic and synteny analyses revealed that the repertoire of cabbage WRKY genes was derived from a common ancestor shared with Arabidopsis thaliana. The B. oleracea WRKY genes were found to be preferentially retained after the whole-genome triplication (WGT) event in its recent ancestor, suggesting that the WGT event had largely contributed to a rapid expansion of the WRKY gene family in B. oleracea. The analysis of RNA-Seq data from various tissues (i.e., roots, stems, leaves, buds, flowers and siliques) revealed that most of the identified WRKY genes were positively expressed in cabbage, and a large portion of them exhibited patterns of differential and tissue-specific expression, demonstrating that these gene members might play essential roles in plant developmental processes. Comparative analysis of the expression level among duplicated genes showed that gene expression divergence was evidently presented among cabbage WRKY paralogs, indicating functional divergence of these duplicated WRKY genes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Genome Mutational and Transcriptional Hotspots Are Traps for Duplicated Genes and Sources of Adaptations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fares, Mario A; Sabater-Muñoz, Beatriz; Toft, Christina

    2017-05-01

    Gene duplication generates new genetic material, which has been shown to lead to major innovations in unicellular and multicellular organisms. A whole-genome duplication occurred in the ancestor of Saccharomyces yeast species but 92% of duplicates returned to single-copy genes shortly after duplication. The persisting duplicated genes in Saccharomyces led to the origin of major metabolic innovations, which have been the source of the unique biotechnological capabilities in the Baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. What factors have determined the fate of duplicated genes remains unknown. Here, we report the first demonstration that the local genome mutation and transcription rates determine the fate of duplicates. We show, for the first time, a preferential location of duplicated genes in the mutational and transcriptional hotspots of S. cerevisiae genome. The mechanism of duplication matters, with whole-genome duplicates exhibiting different preservation trends compared to small-scale duplicates. Genome mutational and transcriptional hotspots are rich in duplicates with large repetitive promoter elements. Saccharomyces cerevisiae shows more tolerance to deleterious mutations in duplicates with repetitive promoter elements, which in turn exhibit higher transcriptional plasticity against environmental perturbations. Our data demonstrate that the genome traps duplicates through the accelerated regulatory and functional divergence of their gene copies providing a source of novel adaptations in yeast. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  3. Divergence in function and expression of the NOD26-like intrinsic proteins in plants

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    Feng Ying

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs that belong to the aquaporin superfamily are plant-specific and exhibit a similar three-dimensional structure. Experimental evidences however revealed that functional divergence should have extensively occurred among NIP genes. It is therefore intriguing to further investigate the evolutionary mechanisms being responsible for the functional diversification of the NIP genes. To better understand this process, a comprehensive analysis including the phylogenetic, positive selection, functional divergence, and transcriptional analysis was carried out. Results The origination of NIPs could be dated back to the primitive land plants, and their diversification would be no younger than the emergence time of the moss P. patens. The rapid proliferation of NIPs in plants may be primarily attributed to the segmental chromosome duplication produced by polyploidy and tandem duplications. The maximum likelihood analysis revealed that NIPs should have experienced strong selective pressure for adaptive evolution after gene duplication and/or speciation, prompting the formation of distinct NIP groups. Functional divergence analysis at the amino acid level has provided strong statistical evidence for shifted evolutionary rate and/or radical change of the physiochemical properties of amino acids after gene duplication, and DIVERGE2 has identified the critical amino acid sites that are thought to be responsible for the divergence for further investigation. The expression of plant NIPs displays a distinct tissue-, cell-type-, and developmental specific pattern, and their responses to various stress treatments are quite different also. The differences in organization of cis-acting regulatory elements in the promoter regions may partially explain their distinction in expression. Conclusion A number of analyses both at the DNA and amino acid sequence levels have provided strong evidences that plant NIPs have

  4. Zebrafish IGF genes: gene duplication, conservation and divergence, and novel roles in midline and notochord development.

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    Shuming Zou

    Full Text Available Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs are key regulators of development, growth, and longevity. In most vertebrate species including humans, there is one IGF-1 gene and one IGF-2 gene. Here we report the identification and functional characterization of 4 distinct IGF genes (termed as igf-1a, -1b, -2a, and -2b in zebrafish. These genes encode 4 structurally distinct and functional IGF peptides. IGF-1a and IGF-2a mRNAs were detected in multiple tissues in adult fish. IGF-1b mRNA was detected only in the gonad and IGF-2b mRNA only in the liver. Functional analysis showed that all 4 IGFs caused similar developmental defects but with different potencies. Many of these embryos had fully or partially duplicated notochords, suggesting that an excess of IGF signaling causes defects in the midline formation and an expansion of the notochord. IGF-2a, the most potent IGF, was analyzed in depth. IGF-2a expression caused defects in the midline formation and expansion of the notochord but it did not alter the anterior neural patterning. These results not only provide new insights into the functional conservation and divergence of the multiple igf genes but also reveal a novel role of IGF signaling in midline formation and notochord development in a vertebrate model.

  5. Maintenance and Loss of Duplicated Genes by Dosage Subfunctionalization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gout, Jean-Francois; Lynch, Michael

    2015-08-01

    Whole-genome duplications (WGDs) have contributed to gene-repertoire enrichment in many eukaryotic lineages. However, most duplicated genes are eventually lost and it is still unclear why some duplicated genes are evolutionary successful whereas others quickly turn to pseudogenes. Here, we show that dosage constraints are major factors opposing post-WGD gene loss in several Paramecium species that share a common ancestral WGD. We propose a model where a majority of WGD-derived duplicates preserve their ancestral function and are retained to produce enough of the proteins performing this same ancestral function. Under this model, the expression level of individual duplicated genes can evolve neutrally as long as they maintain a roughly constant summed expression, and this allows random genetic drift toward uneven contributions of the two copies to total expression. Our analysis suggests that once a high level of imbalance is reached, which can require substantial lengths of time, the copy with the lowest expression level contributes a small enough fraction of the total expression that selection no longer opposes its loss. Extension of our analysis to yeast species sharing a common ancestral WGD yields similar results, suggesting that duplicated-gene retention for dosage constraints followed by divergence in expression level and eventual deterministic gene loss might be a universal feature of post-WGD evolution. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  6. Genome-wide analysis of the Dof transcription factor gene family reveals soybean-specific duplicable and functional characteristics.

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    Yong Guo

    Full Text Available The Dof domain protein family is a classic plant-specific zinc-finger transcription factor family involved in a variety of biological processes. There is great diversity in the number of Dof genes in different plants. However, there are only very limited reports on the characterization of Dof transcription factors in soybean (Glycine max. In the present study, 78 putative Dof genes were identified from the whole-genome sequence of soybean. The predicted GmDof genes were non-randomly distributed within and across 19 out of 20 chromosomes and 97.4% (38 pairs were preferentially retained duplicate paralogous genes located in duplicated regions of the genome. Soybean-specific segmental duplications contributed significantly to the expansion of the soybean Dof gene family. These Dof proteins were phylogenetically clustered into nine distinct subgroups among which the gene structure and motif compositions were considerably conserved. Comparative phylogenetic analysis of these Dof proteins revealed four major groups, similar to those reported for Arabidopsis and rice. Most of the GmDofs showed specific expression patterns based on RNA-seq data analyses. The expression patterns of some duplicate genes were partially redundant while others showed functional diversity, suggesting the occurrence of sub-functionalization during subsequent evolution. Comprehensive expression profile analysis also provided insights into the soybean-specific functional divergence among members of the Dof gene family. Cis-regulatory element analysis of these GmDof genes suggested diverse functions associated with different processes. Taken together, our results provide useful information for the functional characterization of soybean Dof genes by combining phylogenetic analysis with global gene-expression profiling.

  7. Divergent evolution of multiple virus-resistance genes from a progenitor in Capsicum spp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Saet-Byul; Kang, Won-Hee; Huy, Hoang Ngoc; Yeom, Seon-In; An, Jeong-Tak; Kim, Seungill; Kang, Min-Young; Kim, Hyun Jung; Jo, Yeong Deuk; Ha, Yeaseong; Choi, Doil; Kang, Byoung-Cheorl

    2017-01-01

    Plants have evolved hundreds of nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich domain proteins (NLRs) as potential intracellular immune receptors, but the evolutionary mechanism leading to the ability to recognize specific pathogen effectors is elusive. Here, we cloned Pvr4 (a Potyvirus resistance gene in Capsicum annuum) and Tsw (a Tomato spotted wilt virus resistance gene in Capsicum chinense) via a genome-based approach using independent segregating populations. The genes both encode typical NLRs and are located at the same locus on pepper chromosome 10. Despite the fact that these two genes recognize completely different viral effectors, the genomic structures and coding sequences of the two genes are strikingly similar. Phylogenetic studies revealed that these two immune receptors diverged from a progenitor gene of a common ancestor. Our results suggest that sequence variations caused by gene duplication and neofunctionalization may underlie the evolution of the ability to specifically recognize different effectors. These findings thereby provide insight into the divergent evolution of plant immune receptors. © 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust.

  8. The sea lamprey meiotic map improves resolution of ancient vertebrate genome duplications.

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    Smith, Jeramiah J; Keinath, Melissa C

    2015-08-01

    It is generally accepted that many genes present in vertebrate genomes owe their origin to two whole-genome duplications that occurred deep in the ancestry of the vertebrate lineage. However, details regarding the timing and outcome of these duplications are not well resolved. We present high-density meiotic and comparative genomic maps for the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), a representative of an ancient lineage that diverged from all other vertebrates ∼550 million years ago. Linkage analyses yielded a total of 95 linkage groups, similar to the estimated number of germline chromosomes (1n ∼ 99), spanning a total of 5570.25 cM. Comparative mapping data yield strong support for the hypothesis that a single whole-genome duplication occurred in the basal vertebrate lineage, but do not strongly support a hypothetical second event. Rather, these comparative maps reveal several evolutionarily independent segmental duplications occurring over the last 600+ million years of chordate evolution. This refined history of vertebrate genome duplication should permit more precise investigations of vertebrate evolution. © 2015 Smith and Keinath; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  9. A conserved segmental duplication within ELA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brinkmeyer-Langford, C L; Murphy, W J; Childers, C P; Skow, L C

    2010-12-01

    The assembled genomic sequence of the horse major histocompatibility complex (MHC) (equine lymphocyte antigen, ELA) is very similar to the homologous human HLA, with the notable exception of a large segmental duplication at the boundary of ELA class I and class III that is absent in HLA. The segmental duplication consists of a ∼ 710 kb region of at least 11 repeated blocks: 10 blocks each contain an MHC class I-like sequence and the helicase domain portion of a BAT1-like sequence, and the remaining unit contains the full-length BAT1 gene. Similar genomic features were found in other Perissodactyls, indicating an ancient origin, which is consistent with phylogenetic analyses. Reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) of mRNA from peripheral white blood cells of healthy and chronically or acutely infected horses detected transcription from predicted open reading frames in several of the duplicated blocks. This duplication is not present in the sequenced MHCs of most other mammals, although a similar feature at the same relative position is present in the feline MHC (FLA). Striking sequence conservation throughout Perissodactyl evolution is consistent with a functional role for at least some of the genes included within this segmental duplication. © 2010 The Authors, Journal compilation © 2010 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.

  10. Phylogenetic Analysis, Lineage-Specific Expansion and Functional Divergence of seed dormancy 4-Like Genes in Plants.

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    Saminathan Subburaj

    Full Text Available The rice gene seed dormancy 4 (OsSdr4 functions in seed dormancy and is a major factor associated with pre-harvest sprouting (PHS. Although previous studies of this protein family were reported for rice and other species, knowledge of the evolution of genes homologous to OsSdr4 in plants remains inadequate. Fifty four Sdr4-like (hereafter designated Sdr4L genes were identified in nine plant lineages including 36 species. Phylogenetic analysis placed these genes in eight subfamilies (I-VIII. Genes from the same lineage clustered together, supported by analysis of conserved motifs and exon-intron patterns. Segmental duplications were present in both dicot and monocot clusters, while tandemly duplicated genes occurred only in monocot clusters indicating that both tandem and segmental duplications contributed to expansion of the grass I and II subfamilies. Estimation of the approximate ages of the duplication events indicated that ancestral Sdr4 genes evolved from a common angiosperm ancestor, about 160 million years ago (MYA. Moreover, diversification of Sdr4L genes in mono and dicot plants was mainly associated with genome-wide duplication and speciation events. Functional divergence was observed in all subfamily pairs, except IV/VIIIa. Further analysis indicated that functional constraints between subfamily pairs I/II, I/VIIIb, II/VI, II/VIIIb, II/IV, and VI/VIIIb were statistically significant. Site and branch-site model analyses of positive selection suggested that these genes were under strong adaptive selection pressure. Critical amino acids detected for both functional divergence and positive selection were mostly located in the loops, pointing to functional importance of these regions in this protein family. In addition, differential expression studies by transcriptome atlas of 11 Sdr4L genes showed that the duplicated genes may have undergone divergence in expression between plant species. Our findings showed that Sdr4L genes are

  11. Divergence and Conservative Evolution of XTNX Genes in Land Plants

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    Yan-Mei Zhang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The Toll-interleukin-1 receptor (TIR and Nucleotide-binding site (NBS domains are two major components of the TIR-NBS-leucine-rich repeat family plant disease resistance genes. Extensive functional and evolutionary studies have been performed on these genes; however, the characterization of a small group of genes that are composed of atypical TIR and NBS domains, namely XTNX genes, is limited. The present study investigated this specific gene family by conducting genome-wide analyses of 59 green plant genomes. A total of 143 XTNX genes were identified in 51 of the 52 land plant genomes, whereas no XTNX gene was detected in any green algae genomes, which indicated that XTNX genes originated upon emergence of land plants. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ancestral XTNX gene underwent two rounds of ancient duplications in land plants, which resulted in the formation of clades I/II and clades IIa/IIb successively. Although clades I and IIb have evolved conservatively in angiosperms, the motif composition difference and sequence divergence at the amino acid level suggest that functional divergence may have occurred since the separation of the two clades. In contrast, several features of the clade IIa genes, including the absence in the majority of dicots, the long branches in the tree, the frequent loss of ancestral motifs, and the loss of expression in all detected tissues of Zea mays, all suggest that the genes in this lineage might have undergone pseudogenization. This study highlights that XTNX genes are a gene family originated anciently in land plants and underwent specific conservative pattern in evolution.

  12. Vector tomography for reconstructing electric fields with non-zero divergence in bounded domains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koulouri, Alexandra, E-mail: koulouri@uni-muenster.de [Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of Münster, Einsteinstrasse 62, D-48149 Münster (Germany); Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BT (United Kingdom); Brookes, Mike [Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BT (United Kingdom); Rimpiläinen, Ville [Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Münster, Malmedyweg 15, D-48149 Münster (Germany); Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland, Private bag 92019, Auckland 1142 (New Zealand)

    2017-01-15

    In vector tomography (VT), the aim is to reconstruct an unknown multi-dimensional vector field using line integral data. In the case of a 2-dimensional VT, two types of line integral data are usually required. These data correspond to integration of the parallel and perpendicular projection of the vector field along the integration lines and are called the longitudinal and transverse measurements, respectively. In most cases, however, the transverse measurements cannot be physically acquired. Therefore, the VT methods are typically used to reconstruct divergence-free (or source-free) velocity and flow fields that can be reconstructed solely from the longitudinal measurements. In this paper, we show how vector fields with non-zero divergence in a bounded domain can also be reconstructed from the longitudinal measurements without the need of explicitly evaluating the transverse measurements. To the best of our knowledge, VT has not previously been used for this purpose. In particular, we study low-frequency, time-harmonic electric fields generated by dipole sources in convex bounded domains which arise, for example, in electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging. We explain in detail the theoretical background, the derivation of the electric field inverse problem and the numerical approximation of the line integrals. We show that fields with non-zero divergence can be reconstructed from the longitudinal measurements with the help of two sparsity constraints that are constructed from the transverse measurements and the vector Laplace operator. As a comparison to EEG source imaging, we note that VT does not require mathematical modeling of the sources. By numerical simulations, we show that the pattern of the electric field can be correctly estimated using VT and the location of the source activity can be determined accurately from the reconstructed magnitudes of the field. - Highlights: • Vector tomography is used to reconstruct electric fields generated by dipole

  13. The enrichment of TATA box and the scarcity of depleted proximal nucleosome in the promoters of duplicated yeast genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yuseob; Lee, Jang H; Babbitt, Gregory A

    2010-01-01

    Population genetic theory of gene duplication suggests that the preservation of duplicate copies requires functional divergence upon duplication. Genes that can be readily modified to produce new gene expression patterns may thus be duplicated often. In yeast, genes exhibit dichotomous expression patterns based on their promoter architectures. The expression of genes that contain TATA box or occupied proximal nucleosome (OPN) tends to be variable and respond to external signals. On the other hand, genes without TATA box or with depleted proximal nucleosome (DPN) are expressed constitutively. We find that recent duplicates in the yeast genome are heavily biased to be TATA box containing genes and not to be DPN genes. This suggests that variably expressed genes, due to the functional organization in their promoters, have higher duplicability than constitutively expressed genes.

  14. Operative correction and follow-up of craniofacial duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotrikova, Bibiana; Hassfeld, Stefan; Steiner, Hans H; Hähnel, Stefan; Krempien, Robert; Mühling, Joachim

    2007-03-01

    Anterior craniofacial duplication (diprosopus) is an extremely rare form of conjoined twins. The children share a single trunk with normal extremities and varying degrees of facial malformation. Duplication of specific structures, such as the nose (diprosopus dirrhinus), eyes (diprosopus tetraophthalmus), and ears, is possible. The authors present a case of partial facial duplication (diprosopus dirrhinus) in a male infant. The clinical and radiographic findings and the surgical correction and follow-up are described. In a single surgical session, the authors were able to achieve not only a functionally but also an aesthetically acceptable result. In the postoperative course, the child showed nearly normal growth and satisfactory psychosocial and motor development. However, 40 months postoperatively, we noticed a tendency of the orbitae to diverge (i.e., toward hypertelorism). The surgical management of complex craniofacial malformations such as diprosopus needs a precise morphologic analysis of the patient's deformity followed by a clear treatment plan. A staged reconstructive approach is carried out to coincide with facial growth patterns and brain and eye function. If the interorbital distance in our patient increases progressively, a second operation for reduction of the interorbital distance may be necessary.

  15. The evolution of the tape measure protein: units, duplications and losses

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    Poisson Guylaine

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A large family of viruses that infect bacteria, called phages, is characterized by long tails used to inject DNA into their victims' cells. The tape measure protein got its name because the length of the corresponding gene is proportional to the length of the phage's tail: a fact shown by actually copying or splicing out parts of DNA in exemplar species. A natural question is whether there exist units for these tape measures, and if different tape measures have different units and lengths. Such units would allow us to retrace the evolution of tape measure proteins using their duplication/loss history. The vast number of sequenced phages genomes allows us to attack this problem with a comparative genomics approach. Results Here we describe a subset of phages whose tape measure proteins contain variable numbers of an 11 amino acids sequence repeat, aligned with sequence similarity, structural properties, and simple arithmetics. This subset provides a unique opportunity for the combinatorial study of phage evolution, without the added uncertainties of multiple alignments, which are trivial in this case, or of protein functions, that are well established. We give a heuristic that reconstructs the duplication history of these sequences, using divergent strains to discriminate between mutations that occurred before and after speciation, or lineage divergence. The heuristic is based on an efficient algorithm that gives an exhaustive enumeration of all possible parsimonious reconstructions of the duplication/speciation history of a single nucleotide. Finally, we present a method that allows, when possible, to discriminate between duplication and loss events. Conclusions Establishing the evolutionary history of viruses is difficult, in part due to extensive recombinations and gene transfers, and high mutation rates that often erase detectable similarity between homologous genes. In this paper, we introduce new tools to address this

  16. Classification and Lineage Tracing of SH2 Domains Throughout Eukaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bernard A

    2017-01-01

    Today there exists a rapidly expanding number of sequenced genomes. Cataloging protein interaction domains such as the Src Homology 2 (SH2) domain across these various genomes can be accomplished with ease due to existing algorithms and predictions models. An evolutionary analysis of SH2 domains provides a step towards understanding how SH2 proteins integrated with existing signaling networks to position phosphotyrosine signaling as a crucial driver of robust cellular communication networks in metazoans. However organizing and tracing SH2 domain across organisms and understanding their evolutionary trajectory remains a challenge. This chapter describes several methodologies towards analyzing the evolutionary trajectory of SH2 domains including a global SH2 domain classification system, which facilitates annotation of new SH2 sequences essential for tracing the lineage of SH2 domains throughout eukaryote evolution. This classification utilizes a combination of sequence homology, protein domain architecture and the boundary positions between introns and exons within the SH2 domain or genes encoding these domains. Discrete SH2 families can then be traced across various genomes to provide insight into its origins. Furthermore, additional methods for examining potential mechanisms for divergence of SH2 domains from structural changes to alterations in the protein domain content and genome duplication will be discussed. Therefore a better understanding of SH2 domain evolution may enhance our insight into the emergence of phosphotyrosine signaling and the expansion of protein interaction domains.

  17. The evolution of pepsinogen C genes in vertebrates: duplication, loss and functional diversification.

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    Luís Filipe Costa Castro

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Aspartic proteases comprise a large group of enzymes involved in peptide proteolysis. This collection includes prominent enzymes globally categorized as pepsins, which are derived from pepsinogen precursors. Pepsins are involved in gastric digestion, a hallmark of vertebrate physiology. An important member among the pepsinogens is pepsinogen C (Pgc. A particular aspect of Pgc is its apparent single copy status, which contrasts with the numerous gene copies found for example in pepsinogen A (Pga. Although gene sequences with similarity to Pgc have been described in some vertebrate groups, no exhaustive evolutionary framework has been considered so far. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: By combining phylogenetics and genomic analysis, we find an unexpected Pgc diversity in the vertebrate sub-phylum. We were able to reconstruct gene duplication timings relative to the divergence of major vertebrate clades. Before tetrapod divergence, a single Pgc gene tandemly expanded to produce two gene lineages (Pgbc and Pgc2. These have been differentially retained in various classes. Accordingly, we find Pgc2 in sauropsids, amphibians and marsupials, but not in eutherian mammals. Pgbc was retained in amphibians, but duplicated in the ancestor of amniotes giving rise to Pgb and Pgc1. The latter was retained in mammals and probably in reptiles and marsupials but not in birds. Pgb was kept in all of the amniote clade with independent episodes of loss in some mammalian species. Lineage specific expansions of Pgc2 and Pgbc have also occurred in marsupials and amphibians respectively. We find that teleost and tetrapod Pgc genes reside in distinct genomic regions hinting at a possible translocation. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the repertoire of Pgc genes is larger than previously reported, and that tandem duplications have modelled the history of Pgc genes. We hypothesize that gene expansion lead to functional divergence in tetrapods, coincident with the

  18. Enteric and rectal duplications and duplication cysts in the adult.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simsek, Abdurrahman; Zeybek, Nazif; Yagci, Gokhan; Kaymakcioglu, Nihat; Tas, Huseyin; Saglam, Mutlu; Cetiner, Sadettin

    2005-03-01

    Alimentary tract duplication and duplication cysts are rare congenital malformations. The ileum is the most frequently affected site. However, alimentary tract duplication and duplication cysts can occur at any point along the gastrointestinal tract. Early diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment is the best way to prevent associated morbidity. This article presents the cases of three patients admitted to Gulhane Military Medical Academy with signs of acute abdomen, intra-abdominal mass and chronic abdominal pain. These patients were found to have enteric duplication, duplication cyst and/or retro-rectal cyst. The literature on alimentary tract duplications is reviewed.

  19. Gene Duplication Leads to Altered Membrane Topology of a Cytochrome P450 Enzyme in Seed Plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renault, Hugues; De Marothy, Minttu; Jonasson, Gabriella; Lara, Patricia; Nelson, David R; Nilsson, IngMarie; André, François; von Heijne, Gunnar; Werck-Reichhart, Danièle

    2017-08-01

    Evolution of the phenolic metabolism was critical for the transition of plants from water to land. A cytochrome P450, CYP73, with cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H) activity, catalyzes the first plant-specific and rate-limiting step in this pathway. The CYP73 gene is absent from green algae, and first detected in bryophytes. A CYP73 duplication occurred in the ancestor of seed plants and was retained in Taxaceae and most angiosperms. In spite of a clear divergence in primary sequence, both paralogs can fulfill comparable cinnamate hydroxylase roles both in vitro and in vivo. One of them seems dedicated to the biosynthesis of lignin precursors. Its N-terminus forms a single membrane spanning helix and its properties and length are highly constrained. The second is characterized by an elongated and variable N-terminus, reminiscent of ancestral CYP73s. Using as proxies the Brachypodium distachyon proteins, we show that the elongation of the N-terminus does not result in an altered subcellular localization, but in a distinct membrane topology. Insertion in the membrane of endoplasmic reticulum via a double-spanning open hairpin structure allows reorientation to the lumen of the catalytic domain of the protein. In agreement with participation to a different functional unit and supramolecular organization, the protein displays modified heme proximal surface. These data suggest the evolution of divergent C4H enzymes feeding different branches of the phenolic network in seed plants. It shows that specialization required for retention of gene duplicates may result from altered protein topology rather than change in enzyme activity. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  20. Slipins: ancient origin, duplication and diversification of the stomatin protein family

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    Young J Peter W

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Stomatin is a membrane protein that was first isolated from human red blood cells. Since then, a number of stomatin-like proteins have been identified in all three domains of life. The conservation among these proteins is remarkable, with bacterial and human homologs sharing 50 % identity. Despite being associated with a variety of diseases such as cancer, kidney failure and anaemia, precise functions of these proteins remain unclear. Results We have constructed a comprehensive phylogeny of all 'stomatin-like' sequences that share a 150 amino acid domain. We show these proteins comprise an ancient family that arose early in prokaryotic evolution, and we propose a new nomenclature that reflects their phylogeny, based on the name "slipin" (stomatin-like protein. Within prokaryotes there are two distinct subfamilies that account for the two different origins of the eight eukaryotic stomatin subfamilies, one of which gave rise to eukaryotic SLP-2, renamed here "paraslipin". This was apparently acquired through the mitochondrial endosymbiosis and is widely distributed amongst the major kingdoms. The other prokaryotic subfamily gave rise to the ancestor of the remaining seven eukaryotic subfamilies. The highly diverged "alloslipin" subfamily is represented only by fungal, viral and ciliate sequences. The remaining six subfamilies, collectively termed "slipins", are confined to metazoa. Protostome stomatin, as well as a newly reported arthropod subfamily slipin-4, are restricted to invertebrate groups, whilst slipin-1 (previously SLP-1 is present in nematodes and higher metazoa. In vertebrates, the stomatin family expanded considerably, with at least two duplication events giving rise to podocin and slipin-3 subfamilies (previously SLP-3, with the retained ancestral sequence giving rise to vertebrate stomatin. Conclusion Stomatin-like proteins have their origin in an ancient duplication event that occurred early on in the evolution

  1. External cystic rectal duplication: an unusual presentation of rectal duplication cyst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karaman, I; Karaman, A; Arda, N; Cakmak, O

    2007-11-01

    Duplications of gastrointestinal tract are rare anomalies, and rectal duplications account for five percent of the alimentary tract duplications. We present an unusual case of rectal duplication, which was located externally in a newborn female, and discuss the types of distal hindgut duplications.

  2. Genetic divergence in sesame based on morphological and agronomic traits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nair Helena Castro Arriel

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The evaluation of diversity in germplasm collections is important for both plant breeders and germplasmcurators to optimize the use of the variability available. Diversity can be estimated by different genetic markers. The purposeof this study was to estimate the genetic divergence of 30 morphological and agronomic traits in 108 sesame genotypes bymultivariate analysis. The Cole-Rodgers index was used to establish the dissimilarity matrices. The principal componentanalysis identified the traits that contributed most to the divergence and the genotypes were clustered by Tocher’s optimization.Despite the narrow genetic basis, the markers were efficient to characterize the genotypes and identify the most similar groupsor duplicate and divergent genotypes. Greatest variation was found for the traits number of capsules per plant and grain yield.

  3. Enteric Duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeziorczak, Paul M; Warner, Brad W

    2018-03-01

    Enteric duplications have been described throughout the entire gastrointestinal tract. The usual perinatal presentation is an abdominal mass. Duplications associated with the foregut have associated respiratory symptoms, whereas duplications in the midgut and hindgut can present with obstructive symptoms, perforation, nausea, emesis, hemorrhage, or be asymptomatic, and identified as an incidental finding. These are differentiated from other cystic lesions by the presence of a normal gastrointestinal mucosal epithelium. Enteric duplications are located on the mesenteric side of the native structures and are often singular with tubular or cystic characteristics. Management of enteric duplications often requires operative intervention with preservation of the native blood supply and intestine. These procedures are usually very well tolerated with low morbidity.

  4. GENE-dosage effects on fitness in recent adaptive duplications: ace-1 in the mosquito Culex pipiens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labbé, Pierrick; Milesi, Pascal; Yébakima, André; Pasteur, Nicole; Weill, Mylène; Lenormand, Thomas

    2014-07-01

    Gene duplications have long been advocated to contribute to the evolution of new functions. The role of selection in their early spread is more controversial. Unless duplications are favored for a direct benefit of increased expression, they are likely detrimental. In this article, we investigated the case of duplications favored because they combine already functionally divergent alleles. Their gene-dosage/fitness relations are poorly known because selection may operate on both overall expression and duplicates relative dosage. Using the well-documented case of Culex pipiens resistance to insecticides, we compared strains with various ace-1 allele combinations, including two duplicated alleles carrying both susceptible and resistant copies. The overall protein activity was nearly additive, but, surprisingly, fitness correlated better with the relative proportion of susceptible and resistant copies rather than any absolute measure of activity. Gene dosage is thus crucial, duplications stabilizing a "heterozygote" phenotype. It corroborates the view that these were favored because they fix a permanent heterosis, thereby solving the irreducible trade-off between resistance and synaptic transmission. Moreover, we showed that the contrasted successes of the two duplicated alleles in natural populations depend on genetic changes unrelated to ace-1, confirming the probable implication of recessive sublethal mutations linked to structural rearrangements in some duplications. © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution © 2014 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  5. Gene Conversion in Angiosperm Genomes with an Emphasis on Genes Duplicated by Polyploidization

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    Xi-Yin Wang

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Angiosperm genomes differ from those of mammals by extensive and recursive polyploidizations. The resulting gene duplication provides opportunities both for genetic innovation, and for concerted evolution. Though most genes may escape conversion by their homologs, concerted evolution of duplicated genes can last for millions of years or longer after their origin. Indeed, paralogous genes on two rice chromosomes duplicated an estimated 60–70 million years ago have experienced gene conversion in the past 400,000 years. Gene conversion preserves similarity of paralogous genes, but appears to accelerate their divergence from orthologous genes in other species. The mutagenic nature of recombination coupled with the buffering effect provided by gene redundancy, may facilitate the evolution of novel alleles that confer functional innovations while insulating biological fitness of affected plants. A mixed evolutionary model, characterized by a primary birth-and-death process and occasional homoeologous recombination and gene conversion, may best explain the evolution of multigene families.

  6. MOCASSIN-prot: A multi-objective clustering approach for protein similarity networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motivation: Proteins often include multiple conserved domains. Various evolutionary events including duplication and loss of domains, domain shuffling, as well as sequence divergence contribute to generating complexities in protein structures, and consequently, in their functions. The evolutionary h...

  7. A specific type of cyclin-like F-box domain gene is involved in the cryogenic autolysis of Volvariella volvacea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Ming; Chen, Mingjie; Wang, Hong; Zhu, Qiuming; Tan, Qi

    2015-01-01

    Cryogenic autolysis is a typical phenomenon of abnormal metabolism in Volvariella volvacea. Recent studies have identified 20 significantly up-regulated genes via high-throughput sequencing of the mRNAs expressed in the mycelia of V. volvacea after cold exposure. Among these significantly up-regulated genes, 15 annotated genes were used for functional annotation cluster analysis. Our results showed that the cyclin-like F-box domain (FBDC) formed the functional cluster with the lowest P-value. We also observed a significant expansion of FBDC families in V. volvacea. Among these, the FBDC3 family displayed the maximal gene expansion in V. volvacea. Gene expression profiling analysis revealed only one FBDC gene in V. volvacea (FBDV1) that was significantly up-regulated, which is located in the FBDC3 family. Comparative genomics analysis revealed the homologous sequences of FBDV1 with high similarity were clustered on the same scaffold. However, FBDV1 was located far from these clusters, indicating the divergence of duplicated genes. Relative time estimation and rate test provided evidence for the divergence of FBDV1 after recent duplications. Real-time RT-PCR analysis confirmed that the expression of the FBDV1 was significantly up-regulated (P autolysis of V. volvacea. © 2015 by The Mycological Society of America.

  8. Radiological findings of male urethral duplication associated with bladder duplication: case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyoung Jung; Lim, Joo Won; Lee, Dong Ho; Ko, Young Tae

    2004-01-01

    Urethral duplication or accessory urethra is a rare congenital anomaly. Even rarer, is its association with bladder duplication. We report a case of urethral duplication associated with bladder duplication in a seven-year-old boy who underwent retrograde urethrography, sonography and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. WhiIe retrograde urethrography can demonstrate the extent of the duplicated urethra, MR imaging and sonography can provide detailed information on the anatomy of the adjacent tissues as well as urethral duplication

  9. Birth and death of protein domains: A simple model of evolution explains power law behavior

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    Berezovskaya Faina S

    2002-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Power distributions appear in numerous biological, physical and other contexts, which appear to be fundamentally different. In biology, power laws have been claimed to describe the distributions of the connections of enzymes and metabolites in metabolic networks, the number of interactions partners of a given protein, the number of members in paralogous families, and other quantities. In network analysis, power laws imply evolution of the network with preferential attachment, i.e. a greater likelihood of nodes being added to pre-existing hubs. Exploration of different types of evolutionary models in an attempt to determine which of them lead to power law distributions has the potential of revealing non-trivial aspects of genome evolution. Results A simple model of evolution of the domain composition of proteomes was developed, with the following elementary processes: i domain birth (duplication with divergence, ii death (inactivation and/or deletion, and iii innovation (emergence from non-coding or non-globular sequences or acquisition via horizontal gene transfer. This formalism can be described as a birth, death and innovation model (BDIM. The formulas for equilibrium frequencies of domain families of different size and the total number of families at equilibrium are derived for a general BDIM. All asymptotics of equilibrium frequencies of domain families possible for the given type of models are found and their appearance depending on model parameters is investigated. It is proved that the power law asymptotics appears if, and only if, the model is balanced, i.e. domain duplication and deletion rates are asymptotically equal up to the second order. It is further proved that any power asymptotic with the degree not equal to -1 can appear only if the hypothesis of independence of the duplication/deletion rates on the size of a domain family is rejected. Specific cases of BDIMs, namely simple, linear, polynomial and rational

  10. Duplication and independent selection of cell-wall invertase genes GIF1 and OsCIN1 during rice evolution and domestication

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    Ge Song

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Various evolutionary models have been proposed to interpret the fate of paralogous duplicates, which provides substrates on which evolution selection could act. In particular, domestication, as a special selection, has played important role in crop cultivation with divergence of many genes controlling important agronomic traits. Recent studies have indicated that a pair of duplicate genes was often sub-functionalized from their ancestral functions held by the parental genes. We previously demonstrated that the rice cell-wall invertase (CWI gene GIF1 that plays an important role in the grain-filling process was most likely subjected to domestication selection in the promoter region. Here, we report that GIF1 and another CWI gene OsCIN1 constitute a pair of duplicate genes with differentiated expression and function through independent selection. Results Through synteny analysis, we show that GIF1 and another cell-wall invertase gene OsCIN1 were paralogues derived from a segmental duplication originated during genome duplication of grasses. Results based on analyses of population genetics and gene phylogenetic tree of 25 cultivars and 25 wild rice sequences demonstrated that OsCIN1 was also artificially selected during rice domestication with a fixed mutation in the coding region, in contrast to GIF1 that was selected in the promoter region. GIF1 and OsCIN1 have evolved into different expression patterns and probable different kinetics parameters of enzymatic activity with the latter displaying less enzymatic activity. Overexpression of GIF1 and OsCIN1 also resulted in different phenotypes, suggesting that OsCIN1 might regulate other unrecognized biological process. Conclusion How gene duplication and divergence contribute to genetic novelty and morphological adaptation has been an interesting issue to geneticists and biologists. Our discovery that the duplicated pair of GIF1 and OsCIN1 has experienced sub

  11. A synergism between adaptive effects and evolvability drives whole genome duplication to fixation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuypers, Thomas D; Hogeweg, Paulien

    2014-04-01

    Whole genome duplication has shaped eukaryotic evolutionary history and has been associated with drastic environmental change and species radiation. While the most common fate of WGD duplicates is a return to single copy, retained duplicates have been found enriched for highly interacting genes. This pattern has been explained by a neutral process of subfunctionalization and more recently, dosage balance selection. However, much about the relationship between environmental change, WGD and adaptation remains unknown. Here, we study the duplicate retention pattern postWGD, by letting virtual cells adapt to environmental changes. The virtual cells have structured genomes that encode a regulatory network and simple metabolism. Populations are under selection for homeostasis and evolve by point mutations, small indels and WGD. After populations had initially adapted fully to fluctuating resource conditions re-adaptation to a broad range of novel environments was studied by tracking mutations in the line of descent. WGD was established in a minority (≈30%) of lineages, yet, these were significantly more successful at re-adaptation. Unexpectedly, WGD lineages conserved more seemingly redundant genes, yet had higher per gene mutation rates. While WGD duplicates of all functional classes were significantly over-retained compared to a model of neutral losses, duplicate retention was clearly biased towards highly connected TFs. Importantly, no subfunctionalization occurred in conserved pairs, strongly suggesting that dosage balance shaped retention. Meanwhile, singles diverged significantly. WGD, therefore, is a powerful mechanism to cope with environmental change, allowing conservation of a core machinery, while adapting the peripheral network to accommodate change.

  12. A synergism between adaptive effects and evolvability drives whole genome duplication to fixation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas D Cuypers

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Whole genome duplication has shaped eukaryotic evolutionary history and has been associated with drastic environmental change and species radiation. While the most common fate of WGD duplicates is a return to single copy, retained duplicates have been found enriched for highly interacting genes. This pattern has been explained by a neutral process of subfunctionalization and more recently, dosage balance selection. However, much about the relationship between environmental change, WGD and adaptation remains unknown. Here, we study the duplicate retention pattern postWGD, by letting virtual cells adapt to environmental changes. The virtual cells have structured genomes that encode a regulatory network and simple metabolism. Populations are under selection for homeostasis and evolve by point mutations, small indels and WGD. After populations had initially adapted fully to fluctuating resource conditions re-adaptation to a broad range of novel environments was studied by tracking mutations in the line of descent. WGD was established in a minority (≈30% of lineages, yet, these were significantly more successful at re-adaptation. Unexpectedly, WGD lineages conserved more seemingly redundant genes, yet had higher per gene mutation rates. While WGD duplicates of all functional classes were significantly over-retained compared to a model of neutral losses, duplicate retention was clearly biased towards highly connected TFs. Importantly, no subfunctionalization occurred in conserved pairs, strongly suggesting that dosage balance shaped retention. Meanwhile, singles diverged significantly. WGD, therefore, is a powerful mechanism to cope with environmental change, allowing conservation of a core machinery, while adapting the peripheral network to accommodate change.

  13. Redundancy and divergence in the amyloid precursor protein family.

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    Shariati, S Ali M; De Strooper, Bart

    2013-06-27

    Gene duplication provides genetic material required for functional diversification. An interesting example is the amyloid precursor protein (APP) protein family. The APP gene family has experienced both expansion and contraction during evolution. The three mammalian members have been studied quite extensively in combined knock out models. The underlying assumption is that APP, amyloid precursor like protein 1 and 2 (APLP1, APLP2) are functionally redundant. This assumption is primarily supported by the similarities in biochemical processing of APP and APLPs and on the fact that the different APP genes appear to genetically interact at the level of the phenotype in combined knockout mice. However, unique features in each member of the APP family possibly contribute to specification of their function. In the current review, we discuss the evolution and the biology of the APP protein family with special attention to the distinct properties of each homologue. We propose that the functions of APP, APLP1 and APLP2 have diverged after duplication to contribute distinctly to different neuronal events. Our analysis reveals that APLP2 is significantly diverged from APP and APLP1. Copyright © 2013 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Assessing duplication and loss of APETALA1/FRUITFULL homologs in Ranunculales

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pabón-Mora, Natalia; Hidalgo, Oriane; Gleissberg, Stefan; Litt, Amy

    2013-01-01

    Gene duplication and loss provide raw material for evolutionary change within organismal lineages as functional diversification of gene copies provide a mechanism for phenotypic variation. Here we focus on the APETALA1/FRUITFULL MADS-box gene lineage evolution. AP1/FUL genes are angiosperm-specific and have undergone several duplications. By far the most significant one is the core-eudicot duplication resulting in the euAP1 and euFUL clades. Functional characterization of several euAP1 and euFUL genes has shown that both function in proper floral meristem identity, and axillary meristem repression. Independently, euAP1 genes function in floral meristem and sepal identity, whereas euFUL genes control phase transition, cauline leaf growth, compound leaf morphogenesis and fruit development. Significant functional variation has been detected in the function of pre-duplication basal-eudicot FUL-like genes, but the underlying mechanisms for change have not been identified. FUL-like genes in the Papaveraceae encode all functions reported for euAP1 and euFUL genes, whereas FUL-like genes in Aquilegia (Ranunculaceae) function in inflorescence development and leaf complexity, but not in flower or fruit development. Here we isolated FUL-like genes across the Ranunculales and used phylogenetic approaches to analyze their evolutionary history. We identified an early duplication resulting in the RanFL1 and RanFL2 clades. RanFL1 genes were present in all the families sampled and are mostly under strong negative selection in the MADS, I and K domains. RanFL2 genes were only identified from Eupteleaceae, Papaveraceae s.l., Menispermaceae and Ranunculaceae and show relaxed purifying selection at the I and K domains. We discuss how asymmetric sequence diversification, new motifs, differences in codon substitutions and likely protein-protein interactions resulting from this Ranunculiid-specific duplication can help explain the functional differences among basal-eudicot FUL-like genes

  15. The house spider genome reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication during arachnid evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwager, Evelyn E; Sharma, Prashant P; Clarke, Thomas; Leite, Daniel J; Wierschin, Torsten; Pechmann, Matthias; Akiyama-Oda, Yasuko; Esposito, Lauren; Bechsgaard, Jesper; Bilde, Trine; Buffry, Alexandra D; Chao, Hsu; Dinh, Huyen; Doddapaneni, HarshaVardhan; Dugan, Shannon; Eibner, Cornelius; Extavour, Cassandra G; Funch, Peter; Garb, Jessica; Gonzalez, Luis B; Gonzalez, Vanessa L; Griffiths-Jones, Sam; Han, Yi; Hayashi, Cheryl; Hilbrant, Maarten; Hughes, Daniel S T; Janssen, Ralf; Lee, Sandra L; Maeso, Ignacio; Murali, Shwetha C; Muzny, Donna M; Nunes da Fonseca, Rodrigo; Paese, Christian L B; Qu, Jiaxin; Ronshaugen, Matthew; Schomburg, Christoph; Schönauer, Anna; Stollewerk, Angelika; Torres-Oliva, Montserrat; Turetzek, Natascha; Vanthournout, Bram; Werren, John H; Wolff, Carsten; Worley, Kim C; Bucher, Gregor; Gibbs, Richard A; Coddington, Jonathan; Oda, Hiroki; Stanke, Mario; Ayoub, Nadia A; Prpic, Nikola-Michael; Flot, Jean-François; Posnien, Nico; Richards, Stephen; McGregor, Alistair P

    2017-07-31

    The duplication of genes can occur through various mechanisms and is thought to make a major contribution to the evolutionary diversification of organisms. There is increasing evidence for a large-scale duplication of genes in some chelicerate lineages including two rounds of whole genome duplication (WGD) in horseshoe crabs. To investigate this further, we sequenced and analyzed the genome of the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. We found pervasive duplication of both coding and non-coding genes in this spider, including two clusters of Hox genes. Analysis of synteny conservation across the P. tepidariorum genome suggests that there has been an ancient WGD in spiders. Comparison with the genomes of other chelicerates, including that of the newly sequenced bark scorpion Centruroides sculpturatus, suggests that this event occurred in the common ancestor of spiders and scorpions, and is probably independent of the WGDs in horseshoe crabs. Furthermore, characterization of the sequence and expression of the Hox paralogs in P. tepidariorum suggests that many have been subject to neo-functionalization and/or sub-functionalization since their duplication. Our results reveal that spiders and scorpions are likely the descendants of a polyploid ancestor that lived more than 450 MYA. Given the extensive morphological diversity and ecological adaptations found among these animals, rivaling those of vertebrates, our study of the ancient WGD event in Arachnopulmonata provides a new comparative platform to explore common and divergent evolutionary outcomes of polyploidization events across eukaryotes.

  16. Plk4-dependent phosphorylation of STIL is required for centriole duplication

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    Anne-Sophie Kratz

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Duplication of centrioles, namely the formation of a procentriole next to the parental centriole, is regulated by the polo-like kinase Plk4. Only a few other proteins, including STIL (SCL/TAL1 interrupting locus, SIL and Sas-6, are required for the early step of centriole biogenesis. Following Plk4 activation, STIL and Sas-6 accumulate at the cartwheel structure at the initial stage of the centriole assembly process. Here, we show that STIL interacts with Plk4 in vivo. A STIL fragment harboring both the coiled-coil domain and the STAN motif shows the strongest binding affinity to Plk4. Furthermore, we find that STIL is phosphorylated by Plk4. We identified Plk4-specific phosphorylation sites within the C-terminal domain of STIL and show that phosphorylation of STIL by Plk4 is required to trigger centriole duplication.

  17. Small homologous blocks in phytophthora genomes do not point to an ancient whole-genome duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Hooff, Jolien J E; Snel, Berend; Seidl, Michael F

    2014-05-01

    Genomes of the plant-pathogenic genus Phytophthora are characterized by small duplicated blocks consisting of two consecutive genes (2HOM blocks) and by an elevated abundance of similarly aged gene duplicates. Both properties, in particular the presence of 2HOM blocks, have been attributed to a whole-genome duplication (WGD) at the last common ancestor of Phytophthora. However, large intraspecies synteny-compelling evidence for a WGD-has not been detected. Here, we revisited the WGD hypothesis by deducing the age of 2HOM blocks. Two independent timing methods reveal that the majority of 2HOM blocks arose after divergence of the Phytophthora lineages. In addition, a large proportion of the 2HOM block copies colocalize on the same scaffold. Therefore, the presence of 2HOM blocks does not support a WGD at the last common ancestor of Phytophthora. Thus, genome evolution of Phytophthora is likely driven by alternative mechanisms, such as bursts of transposon activity.

  18. Sox genes in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella with their implications for genome duplication and evolution

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    Tong Jingou

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Sox gene family is found in a broad range of animal taxa and encodes important gene regulatory proteins involved in a variety of developmental processes. We have obtained clones representing the HMG boxes of twelve Sox genes from grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella, one of the four major domestic carps in China. The cloned Sox genes belong to group B1, B2 and C. Our analyses show that whereas the human genome contains a single copy of Sox4, Sox11 and Sox14, each of these genes has two co-orthologs in grass carp, and the duplication of Sox4 and Sox11 occurred before the divergence of grass carp and zebrafish, which support the "fish-specific whole-genome duplication" theory. An estimation for the origin of grass carp based on the molecular clock using Sox1, Sox3 and Sox11 genes as markers indicates that grass carp (subfamily Leuciscinae and zebrafish (subfamily Danioninae diverged approximately 60 million years ago. The potential uses of Sox genes as markers in revealing the evolutionary history of grass carp are discussed.

  19. Evolutionary history and functional divergence of the cytochrome P450 gene superfamily between Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica species uncover effects of whole genome and tandem duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Jingyin; Tehrim, Sadia; Wang, Linhai; Dossa, Komivi; Zhang, Xiurong; Ke, Tao; Liao, Boshou

    2017-09-18

    The cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) superfamily is involved in the biosynthesis of various primary and secondary metabolites. However, little is known about the effects of whole genome duplication (WGD) and tandem duplication (TD) events on the evolutionary history and functional divergence of P450s in Brassica after splitting from a common ancestor with Arabidopsis thaliana. Using Hidden Markov Model search and manual curation, we detected that Brassica species have nearly 1.4-fold as many P450 members as A. thaliana. Most P450s in A. thaliana and Brassica species were located on pseudo-chromosomes. The inferred phylogeny indicated that all P450s were clustered into two different subgroups. Analysis of WGD event revealed that different P450 gene families had appeared after evolutionary events of species. For the TD event analyses, the P450s from TD events in Brassica species can be divided into ancient and recent parts. Our comparison of influence of WGD and TD events on the P450 gene superfamily between A. thaliana and Brassica species indicated that the family-specific evolution in the Brassica lineage can be attributed to both WGD and TD, whereas WGD was recognized as the major mechanism for the recent evolution of the P450 super gene family. Expression analysis of P450s from A. thaliana and Brassica species indicated that WGD-type P450s showed the same expression pattern but completely different expression with TD-type P450s across different tissues in Brassica species. Selection force analysis suggested that P450 orthologous gene pairs between A. thaliana and Brassica species underwent negative selection, but no significant differences were found between P450 orthologous gene pairs in A. thaliana-B. rapa and A. thaliana-B. oleracea lineages, as well as in different subgenomes in B. rapa or B. oleracea compared with A. thaliana. This study is the first to investigate the effects of WGD and TD on the evolutionary history and functional divergence of P450

  20. Evolutionary divergence in the catalytic activity of the CAM-1, ROR1 and ROR2 kinase domains.

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    Travis W Bainbridge

    Full Text Available Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptors (ROR 1 and 2 are atypical members of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK family and have been associated with several human diseases. The vertebrate RORs contain an ATP binding domain that deviates from the consensus amino acid sequence, although the impact of this deviation on catalytic activity is not known and the kinase function of these receptors remains controversial. Recently, ROR2 was shown to signal through a Wnt responsive, β-catenin independent pathway and suppress a canonical Wnt/β-catenin signal. In this work we demonstrate that both ROR1 and ROR2 kinase domains are catalytically deficient while CAM-1, the C. elegans homolog of ROR, has an active tyrosine kinase domain, suggesting a divergence in the signaling processes of the ROR family during evolution. In addition, we show that substitution of the non-consensus residues from ROR1 or ROR2 into CAM-1 and MuSK markedly reduce kinase activity, while restoration of the consensus residues in ROR does not restore robust kinase function. We further demonstrate that the membrane-bound extracellular domain alone of either ROR1 or ROR2 is sufficient for suppression of canonical Wnt3a signaling, and that this domain can also enhance Wnt5a suppression of Wnt3a signaling. Based on these data, we conclude that human ROR1 and ROR2 are RTK-like pseudokinases.

  1. Yeast Interspecies Comparative Proteomics Reveals Divergence in Expression Profiles and Provides Insights into Proteome Resource Allocation and Evolutionary Roles of Gene Duplication*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kito, Keiji; Ito, Haruka; Nohara, Takehiro; Ohnishi, Mihoko; Ishibashi, Yuko; Takeda, Daisuke

    2016-01-01

    Omics analysis is a versatile approach for understanding the conservation and diversity of molecular systems across multiple taxa. In this study, we compared the proteome expression profiles of four yeast species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces mikatae, Kluyveromyces waltii, and Kluyveromyces lactis) grown on glucose- or glycerol-containing media. Conserved expression changes across all species were observed only for a small proportion of all proteins differentially expressed between the two growth conditions. Two Kluyveromyces species, both of which exhibited a high growth rate on glycerol, a nonfermentative carbon source, showed distinct species-specific expression profiles. In K. waltii grown on glycerol, proteins involved in the glyoxylate cycle and gluconeogenesis were expressed in high abundance. In K. lactis grown on glycerol, the expression of glycolytic and ethanol metabolic enzymes was unexpectedly low, whereas proteins involved in cytoplasmic translation, including ribosomal proteins and elongation factors, were highly expressed. These marked differences in the types of predominantly expressed proteins suggest that K. lactis optimizes the balance of proteome resource allocation between metabolism and protein synthesis giving priority to cellular growth. In S. cerevisiae, about 450 duplicate gene pairs were retained after whole-genome duplication. Intriguingly, we found that in the case of duplicates with conserved sequences, the total abundance of proteins encoded by a duplicate pair in S. cerevisiae was similar to that of protein encoded by nonduplicated ortholog in Kluyveromyces yeast. Given the frequency of haploinsufficiency, this observation suggests that conserved duplicate genes, even though minor cases of retained duplicates, do not exhibit a dosage effect in yeast, except for ribosomal proteins. Thus, comparative proteomic analyses across multiple species may reveal not only species-specific characteristics of metabolic processes under

  2. Convergent evolution of gene networks by single-gene duplications in higher eukaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amoutzias, Gregory D; Robertson, David L; Oliver, Stephen G; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich

    2004-03-01

    By combining phylogenetic, proteomic and structural information, we have elucidated the evolutionary driving forces for the gene-regulatory interaction networks of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. We infer that recurrent events of single-gene duplication and domain rearrangement repeatedly gave rise to distinct networks with almost identical hub-based topologies, and multiple activators and repressors. We thus provide the first empirical evidence for scale-free protein networks emerging through single-gene duplications, the dominant importance of molecular modularity in the bottom-up construction of complex biological entities, and the convergent evolution of networks.

  3. Duplication and diversification of the LEAFY HULL STERILE1 and Oryza sativa MADS5 SEPALLATA lineages in graminoid Poales

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    Christensen Ashley R

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene duplication and the subsequent divergence in function of the resulting paralogs via subfunctionalization and/or neofunctionalization is hypothesized to have played a major role in the evolution of plant form. The LEAFY HULL STERILE1 (LHS1 SEPALLATA (SEP genes have been linked with the origin and diversification of the grass spikelet, but it is uncertain 1 when the duplication event that produced the LHS1 clade and its paralogous lineage Oryza sativa MADS5 (OSM5 occurred, and 2 how changes in gene structure and/or expression might have contributed to subfunctionalization and/or neofunctionalization in the two lineages. Methods Phylogenetic relationships among 84 SEP genes were estimated using Bayesian methods. RNA expression patterns were inferred using in situ hybridization. The patterns of protein sequence and RNA expression evolution were reconstructed using maximum parsimony (MP and maximum likelihood (ML methods, respectively. Results Phylogenetic analyses mapped the LHS1/OSM5 duplication event to the base of the grass family. MP character reconstructions estimated a change from cytosine to thymine in the first codon position of the first amino acid after the Zea mays MADS3 (ZMM3 domain converted a glutamine to a stop codon in the OSM5 ancestor following the LHS1/OSM5 duplication event. RNA expression analyses of OSM5 co-orthologs in Avena sativa, Chasmanthium latifolium, Hordeum vulgare, Pennisetum glaucum, and Sorghum bicolor followed by ML reconstructions of these data and previously published analyses estimated a complex pattern of gain and loss of LHS1 and OSM5 expression in different floral organs and different flowers within the spikelet or inflorescence. Conclusions Previous authors have reported that rice OSM5 and LHS1 proteins have different interaction partners indicating that the truncation of OSM5 following the LHS1/OSM5 duplication event has resulted in both partitioned and potentially novel gene

  4. FGFR1 tyrosine kinase domain duplication in pilocytic astrocytoma with anaplasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballester, Leomar Y; Penas-Prado, Marta; Leeds, Norman E; Huse, Jason T; Fuller, Gregory N

    2018-04-01

    We report the case of a 27-yr-old male with visual field loss who had a 4.9-cm complex cystic mass in the right occipital lobe. Histologic examination showed pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) with anaplasia, and molecular characterization revealed FGFR1 duplication with additional variants of unknown significance in several genes ( ARID1A, ARID1B, CHEK2, EPHA5, and MLL2 ). This is one of only a very few reported cases of anaplastic PA with characterization of molecular alterations. © 2018 Ballester et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  5. Mitochondrial Genomes of Kinorhyncha: trnM Duplication and New Gene Orders within Animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popova, Olga V; Mikhailov, Kirill V; Nikitin, Mikhail A; Logacheva, Maria D; Penin, Aleksey A; Muntyan, Maria S; Kedrova, Olga S; Petrov, Nikolai B; Panchin, Yuri V; Aleoshin, Vladimir V

    2016-01-01

    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.

  6. Mitochondrial Genomes of Kinorhyncha: trnM Duplication and New Gene Orders within Animals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga V Popova

    Full Text Available 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

  7. The direct Flow parametric Proof of Gauss' Divergence Theorem revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Markvorsen, Steen

    The standard proof of the divergence theorem in undergraduate calculus courses covers the theorem for static domains between two graph surfaces. We show that within first year undergraduate curriculum, the flow proof of the dynamic version of the divergence theorem - which is usually considered...... we apply the key instrumental concepts and verify the various steps towards this alternative proof of the divergence theorem....

  8. Genetic diversity and population structure inferred from the partially duplicated genome of domesticated carp, Cyprinus carpio L.

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    Feldman Marcus W

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Genetic relationships among eight populations of domesticated carp (Cyprinus carpio L., a species with a partially duplicated genome, were studied using 12 microsatellites and 505 AFLP bands. The populations included three aquacultured carp strains and five ornamental carp (koi variants. Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella was used as an outgroup. AFLP-based gene diversity varied from 5% (grass carp to 32% (koi and reflected the reasonably well understood histories and breeding practices of the populations. A large fraction of the molecular variance was due to differences between aquacultured and ornamental carps. Further analyses based on microsatellite data, including cluster analysis and neighbor-joining trees, supported the genetic distinctiveness of aquacultured and ornamental carps, despite the recent divergence of the two groups. In contrast to what was observed for AFLP-based diversity, the frequency of heterozygotes based on microsatellites was comparable among all populations. This discrepancy can potentially be explained by duplication of some loci in Cyprinus carpio L., and a model that shows how duplication can increase heterozygosity estimates for microsatellites but not for AFLP loci is discussed. Our analyses in carp can help in understanding the consequences of genotyping duplicated loci and in interpreting discrepancies between dominant and co-dominant markers in species with recent genome duplication.

  9. Duplicate editorial on duplicate publication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corson, Stephen L; Decherney, Alan H

    2005-04-01

    The authors define and discuss the various forms taken by duplicate publications, and provide suggested remedies to help authors, editors, reviewers, and readers avoid this form of internal plagiarism.

  10. Universal features in the genome-level evolution of protein domains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cosentino Lagomarsino, Marco; Sellerio, Alessandro L; Heijning, Philip D; Bassetti, Bruno

    2009-01-01

    Protein domains can be used to study proteome evolution at a coarse scale. In particular, they are found on genomes with notable statistical distributions. It is known that the distribution of domains with a given topology follows a power law. We focus on a further aspect: these distributions, and the number of distinct topologies, follow collective trends, or scaling laws, depending on the total number of domains only, and not on genome-specific features. We present a stochastic duplication/innovation model, in the class of the so-called 'Chinese restaurant processes', that explains this observation with two universal parameters, representing a minimal number of domains and the relative weight of innovation to duplication. Furthermore, we study a model variant where new topologies are related to occurrence in genomic data, accounting for fold specificity. Both models have general quantitative agreement with data from hundreds of genomes, which indicates that the domains of a genome are built with a combination of specificity and robust self-organizing phenomena. The latter are related to the basic evolutionary 'moves' of duplication and innovation, and give rise to the observed scaling laws, a priori of the specific evolutionary history of a genome. We interpret this as the concurrent effect of neutral and selective drives, which increase duplication and decrease innovation in larger and more complex genomes. The validity of our model would imply that the empirical observation of a small number of folds in nature may be a consequence of their evolution.

  11. Differential evolution of members of the rhomboid gene family with conservative and divergent patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qi; Zhang, Ning; Zhang, Liangsheng; Ma, Hong

    2015-04-01

    Rhomboid proteins are intramembrane serine proteases that are involved in a plethora of biological functions, but the evolutionary history of the rhomboid gene family is not clear. We performed a comprehensive molecular evolutionary analysis of the rhomboid gene family and also investigated the organization and sequence features of plant rhomboids in different subfamilies. Our results showed that eukaryotic rhomboids could be divided into five subfamilies (RhoA-RhoD and PARL). Most orthology groups appeared to be conserved only as single or low-copy genes in all lineages in RhoB-RhoD and PARL, whereas RhoA genes underwent several duplication events, resulting in multiple gene copies. These duplication events were due to whole genome duplications in plants and animals and the duplicates might have experienced functional divergence. We also identified a novel group of plant rhomboid (RhoB1) that might have lost their enzymatic activity; their existence suggests that they might have evolved new mechanisms. Plant and animal rhomboids have similar evolutionary patterns. In addition, there are mutations affecting key active sites in RBL8, RBL9 and one of the Brassicaceae PARL duplicates. This study delineates a possible evolutionary scheme for intramembrane proteins and illustrates distinct fates and a mechanism of evolution of gene duplicates. © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

  12. Duplication in DNA Sequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Masami; Kari, Lila; Kincaid, Zachary; Seki, Shinnosuke

    The duplication and repeat-deletion operations are the basis of a formal language theoretic model of errors that can occur during DNA replication. During DNA replication, subsequences of a strand of DNA may be copied several times (resulting in duplications) or skipped (resulting in repeat-deletions). As formal language operations, iterated duplication and repeat-deletion of words and languages have been well studied in the literature. However, little is known about single-step duplications and repeat-deletions. In this paper, we investigate several properties of these operations, including closure properties of language families in the Chomsky hierarchy and equations involving these operations. We also make progress toward a characterization of regular languages that are generated by duplicating a regular language.

  13. Improvement in Protein Domain Identification Is Reached by Breaking Consensus, with the Agreement of Many Profiles and Domain Co-occurrence.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Bernardes

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Traditional protein annotation methods describe known domains with probabilistic models representing consensus among homologous domain sequences. However, when relevant signals become too weak to be identified by a global consensus, attempts for annotation fail. Here we address the fundamental question of domain identification for highly divergent proteins. By using high performance computing, we demonstrate that the limits of state-of-the-art annotation methods can be bypassed. We design a new strategy based on the observation that many structural and functional protein constraints are not globally conserved through all species but might be locally conserved in separate clades. We propose a novel exploitation of the large amount of data available: 1. for each known protein domain, several probabilistic clade-centered models are constructed from a large and differentiated panel of homologous sequences, 2. a decision-making protocol combines outcomes obtained from multiple models, 3. a multi-criteria optimization algorithm finds the most likely protein architecture. The method is evaluated for domain and architecture prediction over several datasets and statistical testing hypotheses. Its performance is compared against HMMScan and HHblits, two widely used search methods based on sequence-profile and profile-profile comparison. Due to their closeness to actual protein sequences, clade-centered models are shown to be more specific and functionally predictive than the broadly used consensus models. Based on them, we improved annotation of Plasmodium falciparum protein sequences on a scale not previously possible. We successfully predict at least one domain for 72% of P. falciparum proteins against 63% achieved previously, corresponding to 30% of improvement over the total number of Pfam domain predictions on the whole genome. The method is applicable to any genome and opens new avenues to tackle evolutionary questions such as the reconstruction of

  14. Transcriptome analysis reveals the time of the fourth round of genome duplication in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is thought to have undergone one extra round of genome duplication compared to zebrafish. Transcriptome analysis has been used to study the existence and timing of genome duplication in species for which genome sequences are incomplete. Large-scale transcriptome data for the common carp genome should help reveal the timing of the additional duplication event. Results We have sequenced the transcriptome of common carp using 454 pyrosequencing. After assembling the 454 contigs and the published common carp sequences together, we obtained 49,669 contigs and identified genes using homology searches and an ab initio method. We identified 4,651 orthologous pairs between common carp and zebrafish and found 129,984 paralogous pairs within the common carp. An estimation of the synonymous substitution rate in the orthologous pairs indicated that common carp and zebrafish diverged 120 million years ago (MYA). We identified one round of genome duplication in common carp and estimated that it had occurred 5.6 to 11.3 MYA. In zebrafish, no genome duplication event after speciation was observed, suggesting that, compared to zebrafish, common carp had undergone an additional genome duplication event. We annotated the common carp contigs with Gene Ontology terms and KEGG pathways. Compared with zebrafish gene annotations, we found that a set of biological processes and pathways were enriched in common carp. Conclusions The assembled contigs helped us to estimate the time of the fourth-round of genome duplication in common carp. The resource that we have built as part of this study will help advance functional genomics and genome annotation studies in the future. PMID:22424280

  15. Functional Conservation and Divergence of daf-22 Paralogs in Pristionchus pacificus Dauer Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markov, Gabriel V; Meyer, Jan M; Panda, Oishika; Artyukhin, Alexander B; Claaßen, Marc; Witte, Hanh; Schroeder, Frank C; Sommer, Ralf J

    2016-10-01

    Small-molecule signaling in nematode dauer formation has emerged as a major model to study chemical communication in development and evolution. Developmental arrest as nonfeeding and stress-resistant dauer larvae represents the major survival and dispersal strategy. Detailed studies in Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus revealed that small-molecule communication changes rapidly in evolution resulting in extreme structural diversity of small-molecule compounds. In C. elegans, a blend of ascarosides constitutes the dauer pheromone, whereas the P. pacificus dauer pheromone includes additional paratosides and integrates building blocks from diverse primary metabolic pathways. Despite this complexity of small-molecule structures and functions, little is known about the biosynthesis of small molecules in nematodes outside C. elegans Here, we show that the genes encoding enzymes of the peroxisomal β-oxidation pathway involved in small-molecule biosynthesis evolve rapidly, including gene duplications and domain switching. The thiolase daf-22, the most downstream factor in C. elegans peroxisomal β-oxidation, has duplicated in P. pacificus, resulting in Ppa-daf-22.1, which still contains the sterol-carrier-protein (SCP) domain that was lost in C. elegans daf-22, and Ppa-daf-22.2. Using the CRISPR/Cas9 system, we induced mutations in both P. pacificus daf-22 genes and identified an unexpected complexity of functional conservation and divergence. Under well-fed conditions, ascaroside biosynthesis proceeds exclusively via Ppa-daf-22.1 In contrast, starvation conditions induce Ppa-daf-22.2 activity, resulting in the production of a specific subset of ascarosides. Gene expression studies indicate a reciprocal up-regulation of both Ppa-daf-22 genes, which is, however, independent of starvation. Thus, our study reveals an unexpected functional complexity of dauer development and evolution. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the

  16. Duplicability of self-interacting human genes.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Pérez-Bercoff, Asa

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in the evolution of protein-protein interactions because this should ultimately be informative of the patterns of evolution of new protein functions within the cell. One model proposes that the evolution of new protein-protein interactions and protein complexes proceeds through the duplication of self-interacting genes. This model is supported by data from yeast. We examined the relationship between gene duplication and self-interaction in the human genome. RESULTS: We investigated the patterns of self-interaction and duplication among 34808 interactions encoded by 8881 human genes, and show that self-interacting proteins are encoded by genes with higher duplicability than genes whose proteins lack this type of interaction. We show that this result is robust against the system used to define duplicate genes. Finally we compared the presence of self-interactions amongst proteins whose genes have duplicated either through whole-genome duplication (WGD) or small-scale duplication (SSD), and show that the former tend to have more interactions in general. After controlling for age differences between the two sets of duplicates this result can be explained by the time since the gene duplication. CONCLUSIONS: Genes encoding self-interacting proteins tend to have higher duplicability than proteins lacking self-interactions. Moreover these duplicate genes have more often arisen through whole-genome rather than small-scale duplication. Finally, self-interacting WGD genes tend to have more interaction partners in general in the PIN, which can be explained by their overall greater age. This work adds to our growing knowledge of the importance of contextual factors in gene duplicability.

  17. Enhancing Divergent Search through Extinction Events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lehman, Joel; Miikkulainen, Risto

    2015-01-01

    for the capacity to evolve. This hypothesis is tested through experiments in two evolutionary robotics domains. The results show that combining extinction events with divergent search increases evolvability, while combining them with convergent search offers no similar benefit. The conclusion is that extinction...

  18. Facial duplication: case, review, and embryogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, M

    1982-04-01

    The craniofacial anatomy of an infant with facial duplication is described. There were four eyes, two noses, two maxillae, and one mandible. Anterior to the single pituitary the brain was duplicated and there was bilateral arhinencephaly. Portions of the brain were extruded into a large frontal encephalocele. Cases of symmetrical facial duplication reported in the literature range from two complete faces on a single head (diprosopus) to simple nasal duplication. The variety of patterns of duplication suggests that the doubling of facial components arises in several different ways: Forking of the notochord, duplication of the prosencephalon, duplication of the olfactory placodes, and duplication of maxillary and/or mandibular growth centers around the margins of the stomatodeal plate. Among reported cases, the female:male ratio is 2:1.

  19. Divergent evolution in the cytoplasmic domains of PRLR and GHR genes in Artiodactyla

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Meng-Hua

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Prolactin receptor (PRLR and growth hormone receptor (GHR belong to the large superfamily of class 1 cytokine receptors. Both of them have been identified as candidate genes affecting key quantitative traits, like growth and reproduction in livestock. We have previously studied the molecular anatomy of the cytoplasmic domain of GHR in different cattle breeds and artiodactyl species. In this study we have analysed the corresponding cytoplasmic signalling region of PRLR. Results We sequenced PRLR gene exon 10, coding for the major part of the cytoplasmic domain, from cattle, American bison, European bison, yak, sheep, pig and wild boar individuals. We found different patterns of variation in the two receptors within and between ruminants and pigs. Pigs and bison species have no variation within GHR exon 10, but show high haplotype diversity for the PRLR exon 10. In cattle, PRLR shows lower diversity than GHR. The Bovinae PRLR haplotype network fits better the known phylogenetic relationships between the species than that of the GHR, where differences within cattle breeds are larger than between the different species in the subfamily. By comparison with the wild boar haplotypes, a high number of subsequent nonsynonymous substitutions seem to have accumulated in the pig PRLR exon 10 after domestication. Conclusion Both genes affect a multitude of traits that have been targets of selection after domestication. The genes seem to have responded differently to different selection pressures imposed by human artificial selection. The results suggest possible effects of selective sweeps in GHR before domestication in the pig lineage or species divergence in the Bison lineage. The PRLR results may be explained by strong directional selection in pigs or functional switching.

  20. Untangling spider silk evolution with spidroin terminal domains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Garb Jessica E

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Spidroins are a unique family of large, structural proteins that make up the bulk of spider silk fibers. Due to the highly variable nature of their repetitive sequences, spidroin evolutionary relationships have principally been determined from their non-repetitive carboxy (C-terminal domains, though they offer limited character data. The few known spidroin amino (N-terminal domains have been difficult to obtain, but potentially contain critical phylogenetic information for reconstructing the diversification of spider silks. Here we used silk gland expression data (ESTs from highly divergent species to evaluate the functional significance and phylogenetic utility of spidroin N-terminal domains. Results We report 11 additional spidroin N-termini found by sequencing ~1,900 silk gland cDNAs from nine spider species that shared a common ancestor > 240 million years ago. In contrast to their hyper-variable repetitive regions, spidroin N-terminal domains have retained striking similarities in sequence identity, predicted secondary structure, and hydrophobicity. Through separate and combined phylogenetic analyses of N-terminal domains and their corresponding C-termini, we find that combined analysis produces the most resolved trees and that N-termini contribute more support and less conflict than the C-termini. These analyses show that paralogs largely group by silk gland type, except for the major ampullate spidroins. Moreover, spidroin structural motifs associated with superior tensile strength arose early in the history of this gene family, whereas a motif conferring greater extensibility convergently evolved in two distantly related paralogs. Conclusions A non-repetitive N-terminal domain appears to be a universal attribute of spidroin proteins, likely retained from the origin of spider silk production. Since this time, spidroin N-termini have maintained several features, consistent with this domain playing a key role in silk

  1. Evolutionary history of glucose-6-phosphatase encoding genes in vertebrate lineages: towards a better understanding of the functions of multiple duplicates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marandel, Lucie; Panserat, Stéphane; Plagnes-Juan, Elisabeth; Arbenoits, Eva; Soengas, José Luis; Bobe, Julien

    2017-05-02

    Glucose-6-phosphate (G6pc) is a key enzyme involved in the regulation of the glucose homeostasis. The present study aims at revisiting and clarifying the evolutionary history of g6pc genes in vertebrates. g6pc duplications happened by successive rounds of whole genome duplication that occurred during vertebrate evolution. g6pc duplicated before or around Osteichthyes/Chondrichthyes radiation, giving rise to g6pca and g6pcb as a consequence of the second vertebrate whole genome duplication. g6pca was lost after this duplication in Sarcopterygii whereas both g6pca and g6pcb then duplicated as a consequence of the teleost-specific whole genome duplication. One g6pca duplicate was lost after this duplication in teleosts. Similarly one g6pcb2 duplicate was lost at least in the ancestor of percomorpha. The analysis of the evolution of spatial expression patterns of g6pc genes in vertebrates showed that all g6pc were mainly expressed in intestine and liver whereas teleost-specific g6pcb2 genes were mainly and surprisingly expressed in brain and heart. g6pcb2b, one gene previously hypothesised to be involved in the glucose intolerant phenotype in trout, was unexpectedly up-regulated (as it was in liver) by carbohydrates in trout telencephalon without showing significant changes in other brain regions. This up-regulation is in striking contrast with expected glucosensing mechanisms suggesting that its positive response to glucose relates to specific unknown processes in this brain area. Our results suggested that the fixation and the divergence of g6pc duplicated genes during vertebrates' evolution may lead to adaptive novelty and probably to the emergence of novel phenotypes related to glucose homeostasis.

  2. Rectal duplication with sciatic hernia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nosek, Marzena; Golonka, Anna; Kalińska-Lipert, Anita; Nachulewicz, Paweł

    2015-07-01

    Rectal duplications represent 5% of all duplications in the alimentary tract, and they are very rarely diagnosed during the neonatal period. The authors present the method of investigation and the results of surgical treatment of a full-term neonate with a sciatic hernia containing a rectal duplication. The procedure started with three-port laparoscopy, but excision of the tubular duplication of the rectum was possible only by a transanal endorectal pull-through approach. The sciatic hernia was closed, and plastic sutures on the buttock finished the procedure. The coincidence of sciatic hernia with rectal duplication is extremely rare, and the method of treatment depends exclusively on the anatomical conditions.

  3. Craniofacial duplication: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suryawanshi, Pradeep; Deshpande, Mandar; Verma, Nitin; Mahendrakar, Vivek; Mahendrakar, Sandhya

    2013-09-01

    A craniofacial duplication or diprosopus is an unusual variant of conjoined twinning. The reported incidence is one in 180,000-15 million births and 35 cases have been reported till date. The phenotype is wide, with the partial duplication of a few facial structures to complete dicephalus. A complete duplication is associated with a high incidence of anomalies in the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system and the respiratory system, whereas no major anomalies are found in the infants with a partial duplication. A term baby with the features of a craniofacial duplication has been described, with the proposed theories on embryogenesis and a brief review of the literature.

  4. Evaluation of contrast in duplicated radiographs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thunthy, K.H.; Weinberg, R.

    1982-01-01

    This investigation evaluated changes in the contrast of duplicated radiographs made at different ultraviolet light exposures. Increasing ultraviolet light exposure had different effects on the duplicates of originals of different background densities. When correctly exposed, a duplicate radiograph enhanced contrast. When originals had the same contrast but different background densities, their duplicates did not have the same contrast. It was not possible to duplicate accurately all the different contrasts measured on an original. It was possible, however, to produce duplicates with all contrasts greater than those of the original

  5. Plk2 regulated centriole duplication is dependent on its localization to the centrioles and a functional polo-box domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cizmecioglu, Onur; Warnke, Silke; Arnold, Marc; Duensing, Stefan; Hoffmann, Ingrid

    2008-11-15

    In mammalian cells, the centrosome consists of a pair of centrioles and amorphous pericentriolar material. The centrosome duplicates once per cell cycle. Polo like kinases (Plks) perform crucial functions in cell cycle progression and during mitosis. The polo-like kinase-2, Plk2, is activated near the G(1)/S phase transition, and plays an important role in the reproduction of centrosomes. In this study, we show that the polo-box of Plk2 is required both for association to the centrosome and centriole duplication. Mutation of critical sites in the Plk2 polo-box prevents centrosomal localization and impairs centriole duplication. Plk2 is localized to centrosomes during early G(1) phase where it only associates to the mother centriole and then distributes equally to both mother and daughter centrioles at the onset of S phase. Furthermore, our results imply that Plk2 mediated centriole duplication is dependent on Plk4 function. In addition, we find that siRNA-mediated downregulation of Plk2 leads to the formation of abnormal mitotic spindles confirming that Plk2 may have a function in the reproduction of centrioles.

  6. Rescue of HIV-1 release by targeting widely divergent NEDD4-type ubiquitin ligases and isolated catalytic HECT domains to Gag.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric R Weiss

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Retroviruses engage the ESCRT pathway through late assembly (L domains in Gag to promote virus release. HIV-1 uses a PTAP motif as its primary L domain, which interacts with the ESCRT-I component Tsg101. In contrast, certain other retroviruses primarily use PPxY-type L domains, which constitute ligands for NEDD4-type ubiquitin ligases. Surprisingly, although HIV-1 Gag lacks PPxY motifs, the release of HIV-1 L domain mutants is potently enhanced by ectopic NEDD4-2s, a native isoform with a naturally truncated C2 domain that appears to account for the residual titer of L domain-defective HIV-1. The reason for the unique potency of the NEDD4-2s isoform has remained unclear. We now show that the naturally truncated C2 domain of NEDD4-2s functions as an autonomous Gag-targeting module that can be functionally replaced by the unrelated Gag-binding protein cyclophilin A (CypA. The residual C2 domain of NEDD4-2s was sufficient to transfer the ability to stimulate HIV-1 budding to other NEDD4 family members, including the yeast homologue Rsp5, and even to isolated catalytic HECT domains. The isolated catalytic domain of NEDD4-2s also efficiently promoted HIV-1 budding when targeted to Gag via CypA. We conclude that the regions typically required for substrate recognition by HECT ubiquitin ligases are all dispensable to stimulate HIV-1 release, implying that the relevant target for ubiquitination is Gag itself or can be recognized by divergent isolated HECT domains. However, the mere ability to ubiquitinate Gag was not sufficient to stimulate HIV-1 budding. Rather, our results indicate that the synthesis of K63-linked ubiquitin chains is critical for ubiquitin ligase-mediated virus release.

  7. Tubulin evolution in insects: gene duplication and subfunctionalization provide specialized isoforms in a functionally constrained gene family

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gadagkar Sudhindra R

    2010-04-01

    with microtubule-associated proteins. CTT residues overwhelming comprise the co-evolving residues between Drosophila alpha 2 and beta 3 tubulin proteins, indicating CTT specializations can be mediated at the level of the tubulin dimer. Gene duplications post-dating separation of the insect orders are unevenly distributed, most often appearing in major alpha 1 and minor beta 2 clades. More than 40 introns are found in tubulins. Their distribution among tubulins reveals that insertion and deletion events are common, surprising given their potential for disrupting tubulin coding sequence. Compensatory evolution is found in Drosophila beta 2 tubulin cis-regulation, and reveals selective pressures acting to maintain testis expression without the use of previously identified testis cis-regulatory elements. Conclusion Tubulins have stringent structure/function relationships, indicated by strong purifying selection, the loss of many gene duplication products, alpha-beta co-evolution in the tubulin dimer, and compensatory evolution in beta 2 tubulin cis-regulation. They evolve through gene duplication, subfunctionalization in expression domain and divergence of duplication products, largely in CTT residues that mediate interactions with other proteins. This has resulted in the tissue-specific minor insect isoforms, and in particular the highly diverse α3, α4, and β2 reproductive tissue-specific tubulin isoforms, illustrating that even a highly conserved protein family can participate in the adaptive process and respond to sexual selection.

  8. Positive selection and ancient duplications in the evolution of class B floral homeotic genes of orchids and grasses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koch Marcus A

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Positive selection is recognized as the prevalence of nonsynonymous over synonymous substitutions in a gene. Models of the functional evolution of duplicated genes consider neofunctionalization as key to the retention of paralogues. For instance, duplicate transcription factors are specifically retained in plant and animal genomes and both positive selection and transcriptional divergence appear to have played a role in their diversification. However, the relative impact of these two factors has not been systematically evaluated. Class B MADS-box genes, comprising DEF-like and GLO-like genes, encode developmental transcription factors essential for establishment of perianth and male organ identity in the flowers of angiosperms. Here, we contrast the role of positive selection and the known divergence in expression patterns of genes encoding class B-like MADS-box transcription factors from monocots, with emphasis on the family Orchidaceae and the order Poales. Although in the monocots these two groups are highly diverse and have a strongly canalized floral morphology, there is no information on the role of positive selection in the evolution of their distinctive flower morphologies. Published research shows that in Poales, class B-like genes are expressed in stamens and in lodicules, the perianth organs whose identity might also be specified by class B-like genes, like the identity of the inner tepals of their lily-like relatives. In orchids, however, the number and pattern of expression of class B-like genes have greatly diverged. Results The DEF-like genes from Orchidaceae form four well-supported, ancient clades of orthologues. In contrast, orchid GLO-like genes form a single clade of ancient orthologues and recent paralogues. DEF-like genes from orchid clade 2 (OMADS3-like genes are under less stringent purifying selection than the other orchid DEF-like and GLO-like genes. In comparison with orchids, purifying selection

  9. Complete colonic duplication in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khaleghnejad Tabari, Ahmad; Mirshemirani, Alireza; Khaleghnejad Tabari, Nasibeh

    2012-01-01

    Complete colonic duplication is a very rare congenital anomaly that may have different presentations according to its location and size. Complete colonic duplication can occur in 15% of gastrointestinal duplication. We report two cases of complete colonic duplications, and their characteristics. We present two patients with complete colonic duplication with different types and presentations. Case 1: A 2- year old boy presented to the clinic with abdominal protrusion, difficulty to defecate, chronic constipation and mucosal prolaps covered bulging (rectocele) since he was 6 months old. The patient had palpable pelvic mass with doughy consistency. Rectal exam confirmed perirectal mass with soft consistency. The patient underwent a surgical operation that had total tubular colorectal duplication with one blind end and was treated with simple fenestration of distal end, and was discharged without complication. After two years follow up, he had normal defecation and good weight gain. Case 2: A 2 -day old infant was referred with imperforate anus and complete duplication of recto-sigmoid colon, diphallus, double bladder, and hypospadiasis. After clinical and paraclinical investigations, he underwent operations in several stages in different periods, and was discharged without complications. After four years follow up, he led a normal life. The patients with complete duplication have to be examined carefully because of the high incidence of other systemic anomalies. Treatment includes simple resection of distal common wall, fenestration, and repair other associated anomalies.

  10. Implications of duplicated cis-regulatory elements in the evolution of metazoans: the DDI model or how simplicity begets novelty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez-Delgado, Senda; Pascual-Anaya, Juan; Garcia-Fernàndez, Jordi

    2009-07-01

    The discovery that most regulatory genes were conserved among animals from distant phyla challenged the ideas that gene duplication and divergence of homologous coding sequences were the basis for major morphological changes in metazoan evolution. In recent years, however, the interest for the roles, conservation and changes of non-coding sequences grew-up in parallel with genome sequencing projects. Presently, many independent studies are highlighting the importance that subtle changes in cis-regulatory regions had in the evolution of morphology trough the Animal Kingdom. Here we will show and discuss some of these studies, and underscore the future of cis-Evo-Devo research. Nevertheless, we would also explore how gene duplication, which includes duplication of regulatory regions, may have been critical for spatial or temporal co-option of new regulatory networks, causing the deployment of new transcriptome scenarios, and how these induced morphological changes were critical for the evolution of new forms. Forty years after Susumu Ohno famous sentence 'natural selection merely modifies, while redundancy creates', we suggest the alternative: 'natural selection modifies, while redundancy of cis-regulatory elements innovates', and propose the Duplication-Degeneration-Innovation model to explain the increased evolvability of duplicated cis-regulatory regions. Paradoxically, making regulation simpler by subfunctionalization paved the path for future complexity or, in other words, 'to make it simple to make it complex'.

  11. Genome-wide analysis of the AP2/ERF family in Musa species reveals divergence and neofunctionalisation during evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lakhwani, Deepika; Pandey, Ashutosh; Dhar, Yogeshwar Vikram; Bag, Sumit Kumar; Trivedi, Prabodh Kumar; Asif, Mehar Hasan

    2016-01-06

    AP2/ERF domain containing transcription factor super family is one of the important regulators in the plant kingdom. The involvement of AP2/ERF family members has been elucidated in various processes associated with plant growth, development as well as in response to hormones, biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we carried out genome-wide analysis to identify members of AP2/ERF family in Musa acuminata (A genome) and Musa balbisiana (B genome) and changes leading to neofunctionalisation of genes. Analysis identified 265 and 318 AP2/ERF encoding genes in M. acuminata and M. balbisiana respectively which were further classified into ERF, DREB, AP2, RAV and Soloist groups. Comparative analysis indicated that AP2/ERF family has undergone duplication, loss and divergence during evolution and speciation of the Musa A and B genomes. We identified nine genes which are up-regulated during fruit ripening and might be components of the regulatory machinery operating during ethylene-dependent ripening in banana. Tissue-specific expression analysis of the genes suggests that different regulatory mechanisms might be involved in peel and pulp ripening process through recruiting specific ERFs in these tissues. Analysis also suggests that MaRAV-6 and MaERF026 have structurally diverged from their M. balbisiana counterparts and have attained new functions during ripening.

  12. Insights into three whole-genome duplications gleaned from the Paramecium caudatum genome sequence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGrath, Casey L; Gout, Jean-Francois; Doak, Thomas G; Yanagi, Akira; Lynch, Michael

    2014-08-01

    Paramecium has long been a model eukaryote. The sequence of the Paramecium tetraurelia genome reveals a history of three successive whole-genome duplications (WGDs), and the sequences of P. biaurelia and P. sexaurelia suggest that these WGDs are shared by all members of the aurelia species complex. Here, we present the genome sequence of P. caudatum, a species closely related to the P. aurelia species group. P. caudatum shares only the most ancient of the three WGDs with the aurelia complex. We found that P. caudatum maintains twice as many paralogs from this early event as the P. aurelia species, suggesting that post-WGD gene retention is influenced by subsequent WGDs and supporting the importance of selection for dosage in gene retention. The availability of P. caudatum as an outgroup allows an expanded analysis of the aurelia intermediate and recent WGD events. Both the Guanine+Cytosine (GC) content and the expression level of preduplication genes are significant predictors of duplicate retention. We find widespread asymmetrical evolution among aurelia paralogs, which is likely caused by gradual pseudogenization rather than by neofunctionalization. Finally, cases of divergent resolution of intermediate WGD duplicates between aurelia species implicate this process acts as an ongoing reinforcement mechanism of reproductive isolation long after a WGD event. Copyright © 2014 by the Genetics Society of America.

  13. Neofunctionalization of duplicated Tic40 genes caused a gain-of-function variation related to male fertility in Brassica oleracea lineages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dun, Xiaoling; Shen, Wenhao; Hu, Kaining; Zhou, Zhengfu; Xia, Shengqian; Wen, Jing; Yi, Bin; Shen, Jinxiong; Ma, Chaozhi; Tu, Jinxing; Fu, Tingdong; Lagercrantz, Ulf

    2014-11-01

    Gene duplication followed by functional divergence in the event of polyploidization is a major contributor to evolutionary novelties. The Brassica genus evolved from a common ancestor after whole-genome triplication. Here, we studied the evolutionary and functional features of Brassica spp. homologs to Tic40 (for translocon at the inner membrane of chloroplasts with 40 kDa). Four Tic40 loci were identified in allotetraploid Brassica napus and two loci in each of three basic diploid Brassica spp. Although these Tic40 homologs share high sequence identities and similar expression patterns, they exhibit altered functional features. Complementation assays conducted on Arabidopsis thaliana tic40 and the B. napus male-sterile line 7365A suggested that all Brassica spp. Tic40 homologs retain an ancestral function similar to that of AtTic40, whereas BolC9.Tic40 in Brassica oleracea and its ortholog in B. napus, BnaC9.Tic40, in addition, evolved a novel function that can rescue the fertility of 7365A. A homologous chromosomal rearrangement placed bnac9.tic40 originating from the A genome (BraA10.Tic40) as an allele of BnaC9.Tic40 in the C genome, resulting in phenotypic variation for male sterility in the B. napus near-isogenic two-type line 7365AB. Assessment of the complementation activity of chimeric B. napus Tic40 domain-swapping constructs in 7365A suggested that amino acid replacements in the carboxyl terminus of BnaC9.Tic40 cause this functional divergence. The distribution of these amino acid replacements in 59 diverse Brassica spp. accessions demonstrated that the neofunctionalization of Tic40 is restricted to B. oleracea and its derivatives and thus occurred after the divergence of the Brassica spp. A, B, and C genomes. © 2014 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

  14. A Case of Duplicated Right Vertebral Artery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motomura, Mayuko; Watanabe, Koichi; Tabira, Yoko; Iwanaga, Joe; Matsuuchi, Wakako; Yoshida, Daichi; Saga, Tsuyoshi; Yamaki, Koh-Ichi

    2018-04-27

    We encountered a case of duplicated right vertebral artery during an anatomical dissection course for medical students in 2015. Two vertebral arteries were found in the right neck of a 91-year-old female cadaver. The proximal leg of the arteries arose from the area between the right subclavian artery and the right common carotid artery that diverged from the brachiocephalic artery. The distal leg arose from the right subclavian artery as expected. The proximal leg entered the transverse foramen of the fourth cervical vertebra and the distal leg entered the transverse foramen of the sixth cervical vertebra. The two right vertebral arteries joined to form one artery just after the origin of the right vertebral artery of the brachiocephalic artery entered the transverse foramen of the fourth cervical vertebra. This artery then traveled up in the transverse foramina and became the basilar artery, joining with the left vertebral artery. We discuss the embryological origin of this case and review previously reported cases.

  15. Quantifying the mechanisms of domain gain in animal proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buljan, Marija; Frankish, Adam; Bateman, Alex

    2010-01-01

    Protein domains are protein regions that are shared among different proteins and are frequently functionally and structurally independent from the rest of the protein. Novel domain combinations have a major role in evolutionary innovation. However, the relative contributions of the different molecular mechanisms that underlie domain gains in animals are still unknown. By using animal gene phylogenies we were able to identify a set of high confidence domain gain events and by looking at their coding DNA investigate the causative mechanisms. Here we show that the major mechanism for gains of new domains in metazoan proteins is likely to be gene fusion through joining of exons from adjacent genes, possibly mediated by non-allelic homologous recombination. Retroposition and insertion of exons into ancestral introns through intronic recombination are, in contrast to previous expectations, only minor contributors to domain gains and have accounted for less than 1% and 10% of high confidence domain gain events, respectively. Additionally, exonization of previously non-coding regions appears to be an important mechanism for addition of disordered segments to proteins. We observe that gene duplication has preceded domain gain in at least 80% of the gain events. The interplay of gene duplication and domain gain demonstrates an important mechanism for fast neofunctionalization of genes.

  16. Rectal duplication: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Didden, K; Masereel, B; Geyskens, P

    2013-01-01

    Gastrointestinal tract duplications are uncommon congenital abnormalities, that may occur anywhere along the alimentary tract. Most frequently they occur at the level of the small bowel tract and are symptomatic before the age of two. In our case we report the history of a 68-years old women with a colon duplication, especially a rectal duplication. This is very exceptional.

  17. Molecular Evolution of the Oxygen-Binding Hemerythrin Domain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Alvarez-Carreño

    Full Text Available The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis during Precambrian times entailed the diversification of strategies minimizing reactive oxygen species-associated damage. Four families of oxygen-carrier proteins (hemoglobin, hemerythrin and the two non-homologous families of arthropodan and molluscan hemocyanins are known to have evolved independently the capacity to bind oxygen reversibly, providing cells with strategies to cope with the evolutionary pressure of oxygen accumulation. Oxygen-binding hemerythrin was first studied in marine invertebrates but further research has made it clear that it is present in the three domains of life, strongly suggesting that its origin predated the emergence of eukaryotes.Oxygen-binding hemerythrins are a monophyletic sub-group of the hemerythrin/HHE (histidine, histidine, glutamic acid cation-binding domain. Oxygen-binding hemerythrin homologs were unambiguously identified in 367/2236 bacterial, 21/150 archaeal and 4/135 eukaryotic genomes. Overall, oxygen-binding hemerythrin homologues were found in the same proportion as single-domain and as long protein sequences. The associated functions of protein domains in long hemerythrin sequences can be classified in three major groups: signal transduction, phosphorelay response regulation, and protein binding. This suggests that in many organisms the reversible oxygen-binding capacity was incorporated in signaling pathways. A maximum-likelihood tree of oxygen-binding hemerythrin homologues revealed a complex evolutionary history in which lateral gene transfer, duplications and gene losses appear to have played an important role.Hemerythrin is an ancient protein domain with a complex evolutionary history. The distinctive iron-binding coordination site of oxygen-binding hemerythrins evolved first in prokaryotes, very likely prior to the divergence of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, and spread into many bacterial, archaeal and eukaryotic species. The later evolution of the

  18. Rectal duplication.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kulkarni B

    1995-04-01

    Full Text Available Duplications of the alimentary tract are of a great rarity, particularly so in the rectum. Because of its rarity, the difficulty of making a correct diagnosis and of selection of proper approach for treatment, this entity bears a special significance. The present case report deals with a female newborn who presented with imperforate anus and a rectovestibular fistula and a mass prolapsing at the introitus. Complete excision of the mass was carried out through the perineal approach and the child then underwent, a PSARP for the correction of the rectal anomaly. Histology confirmed the mass to be a rectal duplication.

  19. Duplication of the oesophagus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lingg, G; Nebel, G

    1981-08-01

    The article reports on the authors' own observation of a patient with duplication of the oesophagus. Basing on this case, the possibilities of the evolutionary origin are discussed briefly. The significance and decisive importance of X-ray film diagnosis in gastro-intestinal duplications is underlined.

  20. Duplication of the oesophagus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lingg, G.; Nebel, G.

    1981-01-01

    The article reports on the authors' own observation of a patient with duplication of the oesophagus. Basing on this case, the possibilities of the evolutionary origin are discussed briefly. The significance and decisive importance of X-ray film diagnosis in gastro-intestinal duplications is underlined. (orig.) [de

  1. Restriction and Recruitment—Gene Duplication and the Origin and Evolution of Snake Venom Toxins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hargreaves, Adam D.; Swain, Martin T.; Hegarty, Matthew J.; Logan, Darren W.; Mulley, John F.

    2014-01-01

    Snake venom has been hypothesized to have originated and diversified through a process that involves duplication of genes encoding body proteins with subsequent recruitment of the copy to the venom gland, where natural selection acts to develop or increase toxicity. However, gene duplication is known to be a rare event in vertebrate genomes, and the recruitment of duplicated genes to a novel expression domain (neofunctionalization) is an even rarer process that requires the evolution of novel combinations of transcription factor binding sites in upstream regulatory regions. Therefore, although this hypothesis concerning the evolution of snake venom is very unlikely and should be regarded with caution, it is nonetheless often assumed to be established fact, hindering research into the true origins of snake venom toxins. To critically evaluate this hypothesis, we have generated transcriptomic data for body tissues and salivary and venom glands from five species of venomous and nonvenomous reptiles. Our comparative transcriptomic analysis of these data reveals that snake venom does not evolve through the hypothesized process of duplication and recruitment of genes encoding body proteins. Indeed, our results show that many proposed venom toxins are in fact expressed in a wide variety of body tissues, including the salivary gland of nonvenomous reptiles and that these genes have therefore been restricted to the venom gland following duplication, not recruited. Thus, snake venom evolves through the duplication and subfunctionalization of genes encoding existing salivary proteins. These results highlight the danger of the elegant and intuitive “just-so story” in evolutionary biology. PMID:25079342

  2. Anterior colorectal duplication presenting as rectal prolapse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramirez-Resendiz, Amador; Asz, Jose; Medina-Vega, F Antonio; Ortega-Salgado, J Arturo

    2007-09-01

    Duplications of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are rare. Only 5% of them are rectal and there are very few reports of rectal prolapse (RP) caused by a duplication. An 11 month-old female presented with a RP caused by a blind-ended anterior tubular colorectal duplication. The duplication was successfully opened and connected to the normal rectum without complications. Although infrequent, a rectal duplication should be considered in the differential diagnosis of RP.

  3. The natural history of class I primate alcohol dehydrogenases includes gene duplication, gene loss, and gene conversion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew A Carrigan

    Full Text Available Gene duplication is a source of molecular innovation throughout evolution. However, even with massive amounts of genome sequence data, correlating gene duplication with speciation and other events in natural history can be difficult. This is especially true in its most interesting cases, where rapid and multiple duplications are likely to reflect adaptation to rapidly changing environments and life styles. This may be so for Class I of alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH1s, where multiple duplications occurred in primate lineages in Old and New World monkeys (OWMs and NWMs and hominoids.To build a preferred model for the natural history of ADH1s, we determined the sequences of nine new ADH1 genes, finding for the first time multiple paralogs in various prosimians (lemurs, strepsirhines. Database mining then identified novel ADH1 paralogs in both macaque (an OWM and marmoset (a NWM. These were used with the previously identified human paralogs to resolve controversies relating to dates of duplication and gene conversion in the ADH1 family. Central to these controversies are differences in the topologies of trees generated from exonic (coding sequences and intronic sequences.We provide evidence that gene conversions are the primary source of difference, using molecular clock dating of duplications and analyses of microinsertions and deletions (micro-indels. The tree topology inferred from intron sequences appear to more correctly represent the natural history of ADH1s, with the ADH1 paralogs in platyrrhines (NWMs and catarrhines (OWMs and hominoids having arisen by duplications shortly predating the divergence of OWMs and NWMs. We also conclude that paralogs in lemurs arose independently. Finally, we identify errors in database interpretation as the source of controversies concerning gene conversion. These analyses provide a model for the natural history of ADH1s that posits four ADH1 paralogs in the ancestor of Catarrhine and Platyrrhine primates

  4. Cis-acting mutation and duplication: History of molecular evolution in a P450 haplotype responsible for insecticide resistance in Culex quinquefasciatus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itokawa, Kentaro; Komagata, Osamu; Kasai, Shinji; Masada, Masahiro; Tomita, Takashi

    2011-07-01

    A cytochrome P450 gene, Cyp9m10, is more than 200-fold overexpressed in a pyrethroid resistant strain of Culex quinquefasciatus, JPal-per. The haplotype of this strain contains two copies of Cyp9m10 resulted from recent tandem duplication. In this study, we discovered and isolated a Cyp9m10 haplotype closely related to this duplicated Cyp9m10 haplotype from JHB, a strain used for the recent genome project for this mosquito species. The isolated haplotype (JHB-NIID-B haplotype) shared the same insertion of a transposable element upstream of the coding region with JPal-per strain but not duplicated. The JHB-NIID-B haplotype was considered to have diverged from the JPal-per lineage just before the duplication event. Cyp9m10 was moderately overexpressed in larvae with the JHB-NIID-B haplotype. The overexpressions in JHB-NIID-B and JPal-per haplotypes were developmentally regulated in similar pattern indicating both haplotypes share a common cis-acting mutation responsible for the overexpressions. The isolated moderately overexpressed haplotype conferred resistance, however, its efficacy was relatively small. We hypothesized that the first cis-acting mutation modified the consequence of the subsequent duplication in JPal-per lineage to confer stronger phenotypic effect than that if it occurred before the first cis-acting mutation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Genomic, RNAseq, and Molecular Modeling Evidence Suggests That the Major Allergen Domain in Insects Evolved from a Homodimeric Origin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randall, Thomas A.; Perera, Lalith; London, Robert E.; Mueller, Geoffrey A.

    2013-01-01

    The major allergen domain (MA) is widely distributed in insects. The crystal structure of a single Bla g 1 MA revealed a novel protein fold in which the fundamental structure was a duplex of two subsequences (monomers), which had diverged over time. This suggested that the evolutionary origin of the MA structure may have been a homodimer of this smaller subsequence. Using publicly available genomic data, the distribution of the basic unit of this class of proteins was determined to better understand its evolutionary history. The duplication and divergence is examined at three distinct levels of resolution: 1) within the orders Diptera and Hymenoptera, 2) within one genus Drosophila, and 3) within one species Aedes aegypti. Within the family Culicidae, we have found two separate occurrences of monomers as independent genes. The organization of the gene family in A. aegypti shows a common evolutionary origin for its monomer and several closely related MAs. Molecular modeling of the A. aegypti monomer with the unique Bla g 1 fold confirms the distant evolutionary relationship and supports the feasibility of homodimer formation from a single monomer. RNAseq data for A. aegypti confirms that the monomer is expressed in the mosquito similar to other A. aegypti MAs after a blood meal. Together, these data support the contention that the detected monomer shares similar functional characteristics to related MAs in other insects. An extensive search for this domain outside of Insecta confirms that the MAs are restricted to insects. PMID:24253356

  6. Evolutionary dynamics of protein domain architecture in plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Xue-Cheng

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein domains are the structural, functional and evolutionary units of the protein. Protein domain architectures are the linear arrangements of domain(s in individual proteins. Although the evolutionary history of protein domain architecture has been extensively studied in microorganisms, the evolutionary dynamics of domain architecture in the plant kingdom remains largely undefined. To address this question, we analyzed the lineage-based protein domain architecture content in 14 completed green plant genomes. Results Our analyses show that all 14 plant genomes maintain similar distributions of species-specific, single-domain, and multi-domain architectures. Approximately 65% of plant domain architectures are universally present in all plant lineages, while the remaining architectures are lineage-specific. Clear examples are seen of both the loss and gain of specific protein architectures in higher plants. There has been a dynamic, lineage-wise expansion of domain architectures during plant evolution. The data suggest that this expansion can be largely explained by changes in nuclear ploidy resulting from rounds of whole genome duplications. Indeed, there has been a decrease in the number of unique domain architectures when the genomes were normalized into a presumed ancestral genome that has not undergone whole genome duplications. Conclusions Our data show the conservation of universal domain architectures in all available plant genomes, indicating the presence of an evolutionarily conserved, core set of protein components. However, the occurrence of lineage-specific domain architectures indicates that domain architecture diversity has been maintained beyond these core components in plant genomes. Although several features of genome-wide domain architecture content are conserved in plants, the data clearly demonstrate lineage-wise, progressive changes and expansions of individual protein domain architectures, reinforcing

  7. Convergent evolution of gene networks by single-gene duplications in higher eukaryotes

    OpenAIRE

    Amoutzias, Gregory D; Robertson, David L; Oliver, Stephen G; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich

    2004-01-01

    By combining phylogenetic, proteomic and structural information, we have elucidated the evolutionary driving forces for the gene-regulatory interaction networks of basic helix–loop–helix transcription factors. We infer that recurrent events of single-gene duplication and domain rearrangement repeatedly gave rise to distinct networks with almost identical hub-based topologies, and multiple activators and repressors. We thus provide the first empirical evidence for scale-free protein networks e...

  8. Using Common Spatial Distributions of Atoms to Relate Functionally Divergent Influenza Virus N10 and N11 Protein Structures to Functionally Characterized Neuraminidase Structures, Toxin Cell Entry Domains, and Non-Influenza Virus Cell Entry Domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weininger, Arthur; Weininger, Susan

    2015-01-01

    The ability to identify the functional correlates of structural and sequence variation in proteins is a critical capability. We related structures of influenza A N10 and N11 proteins that have no established function to structures of proteins with known function by identifying spatially conserved atoms. We identified atoms with common distributed spatial occupancy in PDB structures of N10 protein, N11 protein, an influenza A neuraminidase, an influenza B neuraminidase, and a bacterial neuraminidase. By superposing these spatially conserved atoms, we aligned the structures and associated molecules. We report spatially and sequence invariant residues in the aligned structures. Spatially invariant residues in the N6 and influenza B neuraminidase active sites were found in previously unidentified spatially equivalent sites in the N10 and N11 proteins. We found the corresponding secondary and tertiary structures of the aligned proteins to be largely identical despite significant sequence divergence. We found structural precedent in known non-neuraminidase structures for residues exhibiting structural and sequence divergence in the aligned structures. In N10 protein, we identified staphylococcal enterotoxin I-like domains. In N11 protein, we identified hepatitis E E2S-like domains, SARS spike protein-like domains, and toxin components shared by alpha-bungarotoxin, staphylococcal enterotoxin I, anthrax lethal factor, clostridium botulinum neurotoxin, and clostridium tetanus toxin. The presence of active site components common to the N6, influenza B, and S. pneumoniae neuraminidases in the N10 and N11 proteins, combined with the absence of apparent neuraminidase function, suggests that the role of neuraminidases in H17N10 and H18N11 emerging influenza A viruses may have changed. The presentation of E2S-like, SARS spike protein-like, or toxin-like domains by the N10 and N11 proteins in these emerging viruses may indicate that H17N10 and H18N11 sialidase-facilitated cell

  9. The vertebrate ancestral repertoire of visual opsins, transducin alpha subunits and oxytocin/vasopressin receptors was established by duplication of their shared genomic region in the two rounds of early vertebrate genome duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagman, David; Ocampo Daza, Daniel; Widmark, Jenny; Abalo, Xesús M; Sundström, Görel; Larhammar, Dan

    2013-11-02

    Vertebrate color vision is dependent on four major color opsin subtypes: RH2 (green opsin), SWS1 (ultraviolet opsin), SWS2 (blue opsin), and LWS (red opsin). Together with the dim-light receptor rhodopsin (RH1), these form the family of vertebrate visual opsins. Vertebrate genomes contain many multi-membered gene families that can largely be explained by the two rounds of whole genome duplication (WGD) in the vertebrate ancestor (2R) followed by a third round in the teleost ancestor (3R). Related chromosome regions resulting from WGD or block duplications are said to form a paralogon. We describe here a paralogon containing the genes for visual opsins, the G-protein alpha subunit families for transducin (GNAT) and adenylyl cyclase inhibition (GNAI), the oxytocin and vasopressin receptors (OT/VP-R), and the L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (CACNA1-L). Sequence-based phylogenies and analyses of conserved synteny show that the above-mentioned gene families, and many neighboring gene families, expanded in the early vertebrate WGDs. This allows us to deduce the following evolutionary scenario: The vertebrate ancestor had a chromosome containing the genes for two visual opsins, one GNAT, one GNAI, two OT/VP-Rs and one CACNA1-L gene. This chromosome was quadrupled in 2R. Subsequent gene losses resulted in a set of five visual opsin genes, three GNAT and GNAI genes, six OT/VP-R genes and four CACNA1-L genes. These regions were duplicated again in 3R resulting in additional teleost genes for some of the families. Major chromosomal rearrangements have taken place in the teleost genomes. By comparison with the corresponding chromosomal regions in the spotted gar, which diverged prior to 3R, we could time these rearrangements to post-3R. We present an extensive analysis of the paralogon housing the visual opsin, GNAT and GNAI, OT/VP-R, and CACNA1-L gene families. The combined data imply that the early vertebrate WGD events contributed to the evolution of vision and the

  10. Extreme MHC class I diversity in the sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus); selection patterns and allelic divergence suggest that different genes have different functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biedrzycka, Aleksandra; O'Connor, Emily; Sebastian, Alvaro; Migalska, Magdalena; Radwan, Jacek; Zając, Tadeusz; Bielański, Wojciech; Solarz, Wojciech; Ćmiel, Adam; Westerdahl, Helena

    2017-07-05

    Recent work suggests that gene duplications may play an important role in the evolution of immunity genes. Passerine birds, and in particular Sylvioidea warblers, have highly duplicated major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which are key in immunity, compared to other vertebrates. However, reasons for this high MHC gene copy number are yet unclear. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) allows MHC genotyping even in individuals with extremely duplicated genes. This HTS data can reveal evidence of selection, which may help to unravel the putative functions of different gene copies, i.e. neofunctionalization. We performed exhaustive genotyping of MHC class I in a Sylvioidea warbler, the sedge warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, using the Illumina MiSeq technique on individuals from a wild study population. The MHC diversity in 863 genotyped individuals by far exceeds that of any other bird species described to date. A single individual could carry up to 65 different alleles, a large proportion of which are expressed (transcribed). The MHC alleles were of three different lengths differing in evidence of selection, diversity and divergence within our study population. Alleles without any deletions and alleles containing a 6 bp deletion showed characteristics of classical MHC genes, with evidence of multiple sites subject to positive selection and high sequence divergence. In contrast, alleles containing a 3 bp deletion had no sites subject to positive selection and had low divergence. Our results suggest that sedge warbler MHC alleles that either have no deletion, or contain a 6 bp deletion, encode classical antigen presenting MHC molecules. In contrast, MHC alleles containing a 3 bp deletion may encode molecules with a different function. This study demonstrates that highly duplicated MHC genes can be characterised with HTS and that selection patterns can be useful for revealing neofunctionalization. Importantly, our results highlight the need to consider the

  11. Increments and duplication events of enzymes and transcription factors influence metabolic and regulatory diversity in prokaryotes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Alberto Martínez-Núñez

    Full Text Available In this work, the content of enzymes and DNA-binding transcription factors (TFs in 794 non-redundant prokaryotic genomes was evaluated. The identification of enzymes was based on annotations deposited in the KEGG database as well as in databases of functional domains (COG and PFAM and structural domains (Superfamily. For identifications of the TFs, hidden Markov profiles were constructed based on well-known transcriptional regulatory families. From these analyses, we obtained diverse and interesting results, such as the negative rate of incremental changes in the number of detected enzymes with respect to the genome size. On the contrary, for TFs the rate incremented as the complexity of genome increased. This inverse related performance shapes the diversity of metabolic and regulatory networks and impacts the availability of enzymes and TFs. Furthermore, the intersection of the derivatives between enzymes and TFs was identified at 9,659 genes, after this point, the regulatory complexity grows faster than metabolic complexity. In addition, TFs have a low number of duplications, in contrast to the apparent high number of duplications associated with enzymes. Despite the greater number of duplicated enzymes versus TFs, the increment by which duplicates appear is higher in TFs. A lower proportion of enzymes among archaeal genomes (22% than in the bacterial ones (27% was also found. This low proportion might be compensated by the interconnection between the metabolic pathways in Archaea. A similar proportion was also found for the archaeal TFs, for which the formation of regulatory complexes has been proposed. Finally, an enrichment of multifunctional enzymes in Bacteria, as a mechanism of ecological adaptation, was detected.

  12. Neofunctionalization of Duplicated Tic40 Genes Caused a Gain-of-Function Variation Related to Male Fertility in Brassica oleracea Lineages1[W][OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dun, Xiaoling; Shen, Wenhao; Hu, Kaining; Zhou, Zhengfu; Xia, Shengqian; Wen, Jing; Yi, Bin; Shen, Jinxiong; Ma, Chaozhi; Tu, Jinxing; Fu, Tingdong; Lagercrantz, Ulf

    2014-01-01

    Gene duplication followed by functional divergence in the event of polyploidization is a major contributor to evolutionary novelties. The Brassica genus evolved from a common ancestor after whole-genome triplication. Here, we studied the evolutionary and functional features of Brassica spp. homologs to Tic40 (for translocon at the inner membrane of chloroplasts with 40 kDa). Four Tic40 loci were identified in allotetraploid Brassica napus and two loci in each of three basic diploid Brassica spp. Although these Tic40 homologs share high sequence identities and similar expression patterns, they exhibit altered functional features. Complementation assays conducted on Arabidopsis thaliana tic40 and the B. napus male-sterile line 7365A suggested that all Brassica spp. Tic40 homologs retain an ancestral function similar to that of AtTic40, whereas BolC9.Tic40 in Brassica oleracea and its ortholog in B. napus, BnaC9.Tic40, in addition, evolved a novel function that can rescue the fertility of 7365A. A homologous chromosomal rearrangement placed bnac9.tic40 originating from the A genome (BraA10.Tic40) as an allele of BnaC9.Tic40 in the C genome, resulting in phenotypic variation for male sterility in the B. napus near-isogenic two-type line 7365AB. Assessment of the complementation activity of chimeric B. napus Tic40 domain-swapping constructs in 7365A suggested that amino acid replacements in the carboxyl terminus of BnaC9.Tic40 cause this functional divergence. The distribution of these amino acid replacements in 59 diverse Brassica spp. accessions demonstrated that the neofunctionalization of Tic40 is restricted to B. oleracea and its derivatives and thus occurred after the divergence of the Brassica spp. A, B, and C genomes. PMID:25185122

  13. The direct Flow parametric Proof of Gauss' Divergence Theorem revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Markvorsen, Steen

    2006-01-01

    The standard proof of the divergence theorem in undergraduate calculus courses covers the theorem for static domains between two graph surfaces. We show that within first year undergraduate curriculum, the flow proof of the dynamic version of the divergence theorem - which is usually considered only much later in more advanced math courses - is comprehensible with only a little extension of the first year curriculum. Moreover, it is more intuitive than the static proof. We support this intuit...

  14. Divergence operator and related inequalities

    CERN Document Server

    Acosta, Gabriel

    2017-01-01

    This Brief is mainly devoted to two classical and related results: the existence of a right inverse of the divergence operator and the so-called Korn Inequalities. It is well known that both results are fundamental tools in the analysis of some classic differential equations, particularly in those arising in fluid dynamics and elasticity. Several connections between these two topics and improved Poincaré inequalities are extensively treated. From simple key ideas the book is growing smoothly in complexity. Beginning with the study of these problems on star-shaped domains the arguments are extended first to John domains and then to Hölder α domains where the need of weighted spaces arises naturally. In this fashion, the authors succeed in presenting in an unified and concise way several classic and recent developments in the field. These features certainly makes this Brief useful for students, post-graduate students, and researchers as well.

  15. Biliary tract duplication cyst with gastric heterotopia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grumbach, K.; Baker, D.H.; Weigert, J.; Altman, R.P.

    1988-05-01

    Cystic duplications of the biliary tract are rare anomalies, easily mistaken for choledochal cysts. Surgical drainage is the preferred therapy for choledochal cyst, but cystic duplication necessitates surgical excision as duplications may contain heterotopic gastric mucosa leading to peptic ulceration of the biliary tract. We report a case of biliary tract duplication cyst containing heterotopic alimentary mucosa which had initially been diagnosed and surgically treated as a choledochal cyst.

  16. Biliary tract duplication cyst with gastric heterotopia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grumbach, K.; Baker, D.H.; Weigert, J.; Altman, R.P.

    1988-01-01

    Cystic duplications of the biliary tract are rare anomalies, easily mistaken for choledochal cysts. Surgical drainage is the preferred therapy for choledochal cyst, but cystic duplication necessitates surgical excision as duplications may contain heterotopic gastric mucosa leading to peptic ulceration of the biliary tract. We report a case of biliary tract duplication cyst containing heterotopic alimentary mucosa which had initially been diagnosed and surgically treated as a choledochal cyst. (orig.)

  17. The centriole duplication cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fırat-Karalar, Elif Nur; Stearns, Tim

    2014-01-01

    Centrosomes are the main microtubule-organizing centre of animal cells and are important for many critical cellular and developmental processes from cell polarization to cell division. At the core of the centrosome are centrioles, which recruit pericentriolar material to form the centrosome and act as basal bodies to nucleate formation of cilia and flagella. Defects in centriole structure, function and number are associated with a variety of human diseases, including cancer, brain diseases and ciliopathies. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of how new centrioles are assembled and how centriole number is controlled. We propose a general model for centriole duplication control in which cooperative binding of duplication factors defines a centriole ‘origin of duplication’ that initiates duplication, and passage through mitosis effects changes that license the centriole for a new round of duplication in the next cell cycle. We also focus on variations on the general theme in which many centrioles are created in a single cell cycle, including the specialized structures associated with these variations, the deuterosome in animal cells and the blepharoplast in lower plant cells. PMID:25047614

  18. Current incidence of duplicate publication in otolaryngology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, Veronique Wan Fook; Lam, Gilbert O A; Wang, Yun Fan; Chadha, Neil K

    2014-03-01

    Duplicate publication--deemed highly unethical--is the reproduction of substantial content in another article by the same authors. In 1999, Rosenthal et al. identified an 8.5% incidence of duplicate articles in two otolaryngology journals. We explored the current incidence in three otolaryngology journals in North America and Europe. Retrospective literature review. Index articles in 2008 in Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Laryngoscope, and Clinical Otolaryngology were searched using MEDLINE. Potential duplicate publications in 2006 through 2010 were identified using the first, second, and last authors' names. Three authors independently investigated suspected duplicate publications--classifying them by degree of duplication. Of 358 index articles screened, 75 (20.9%) had 119 potential duplicates from 2006 to 2010. Full review of these 119 potential duplicates revealed a total of 40 articles with some form of redundancy (33.6% of the potential duplicates) involving 27 index articles (7.5% of 358 index articles); one (0.8%) "dual" publication (identical or nearly identical data and conclusions to the index article); three (2.5%) "suspected" dual publications (less than 50% new data and same conclusions); and 36 (30.3%) publications with "salami-slicing" (portion of the index article data repeated) were obtained. Further analysis compared the likelihood of duplicate publication by study source and subspecialty within otolaryngology. The incidence of duplicate publication has not significantly changed over 10 years. "Salami-slicing" was a concerning practice, with no cross-referencing in 61% of these cases. Detecting and eliminating redundant publications is a laborious task, but it is essential in upholding the journal quality and research integrity. © 2013 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

  19. Perfectly matched layers in a divergence preserving ADI scheme for electromagnetics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kraus, C.; Adelmann, A.; Arbenz, P.

    2012-01-01

    For numerical simulations of highly relativistic and transversely accelerated charged particles including radiation fast algorithms are needed. While the radiation in particle accelerators has wavelengths in the order of 100 μm the computational domain has dimensions roughly five orders of magnitude larger resulting in very large mesh sizes. The particles are confined to a small area of this domain only. To resolve the smallest scales close to the particles subgrids are envisioned. For reasons of stability the alternating direction implicit (ADI) scheme by Smithe et al. [D.N. Smithe, J.R. Cary, J.A. Carlsson, Divergence preservation in the ADI algorithms for electromagnetics, J. Comput. Phys. 228 (2009) 7289-7299] for Maxwell equations has been adopted. At the boundary of the domain absorbing boundary conditions have to be employed to prevent reflection of the radiation. In this paper we show how the divergence preserving ADI scheme has to be formulated in perfectly matched layers (PML) and compare the performance in several scenarios.

  20. Finite Divergence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Michael Edberg; Pandya, P. K.; Chaochen, Zhou

    1995-01-01

    the framework of duration calculus. Axioms and proof rules are given. Patterns of occurrence of divergence are classified into dense divergence, accumulative divergence and discrete divergence by appropriate axioms. Induction rules are given for reasoning about discrete divergence...

  1. Early vertebrate chromosome duplications and the evolution of the neuropeptide Y receptor gene regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brenner Sydney

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background One of the many gene families that expanded in early vertebrate evolution is the neuropeptide (NPY receptor family of G-protein coupled receptors. Earlier work by our lab suggested that several of the NPY receptor genes found in extant vertebrates resulted from two genome duplications before the origin of jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes and one additional genome duplication in the actinopterygian lineage, based on their location on chromosomes sharing several gene families. In this study we have investigated, in five vertebrate genomes, 45 gene families with members close to the NPY receptor genes in the compact genomes of the teleost fishes Tetraodon nigroviridis and Takifugu rubripes. These correspond to Homo sapiens chromosomes 4, 5, 8 and 10. Results Chromosome regions with conserved synteny were identified and confirmed by phylogenetic analyses in H. sapiens, M. musculus, D. rerio, T. rubripes and T. nigroviridis. 26 gene families, including the NPY receptor genes, (plus 3 described recently by other labs showed a tree topology consistent with duplications in early vertebrate evolution and in the actinopterygian lineage, thereby supporting expansion through block duplications. Eight gene families had complications that precluded analysis (such as short sequence length or variable number of repeated domains and another eight families did not support block duplications (because the paralogs in these families seem to have originated in another time window than the proposed genome duplication events. RT-PCR carried out with several tissues in T. rubripes revealed that all five NPY receptors were expressed in the brain and subtypes Y2, Y4 and Y8 were also expressed in peripheral organs. Conclusion We conclude that the phylogenetic analyses and chromosomal locations of these gene families support duplications of large blocks of genes or even entire chromosomes. Thus, these results are consistent with two early vertebrate

  2. The odds of duplicate gene persistence after polyploidization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chain Frédéric JJ

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene duplication is an important biological phenomenon associated with genomic redundancy, degeneration, specialization, innovation, and speciation. After duplication, both copies continue functioning when natural selection favors duplicated protein function or expression, or when mutations make them functionally distinct before one copy is silenced. Results Here we quantify the degree to which genetic parameters related to gene expression, molecular evolution, and gene structure in a diploid frog - Silurana tropicalis - influence the odds of functional persistence of orthologous duplicate genes in a closely related tetraploid species - Xenopus laevis. Using public databases and 454 pyrosequencing, we obtained genetic and expression data from S. tropicalis orthologs of 3,387 X. laevis paralogs and 4,746 X. laevis singletons - the most comprehensive dataset for African clawed frogs yet analyzed. Using logistic regression, we demonstrate that the most important predictors of the odds of duplicate gene persistence in the tetraploid species are the total gene expression level and evenness of expression across tissues and development in the diploid species. Slow protein evolution and information density (fewer exons, shorter introns in the diploid are also positively correlated with duplicate gene persistence in the tetraploid. Conclusions Our findings suggest that a combination of factors contribute to duplicate gene persistence following whole genome duplication, but that the total expression level and evenness of expression across tissues and through development before duplication are most important. We speculate that these parameters are useful predictors of duplicate gene longevity after whole genome duplication in other taxa.

  3. Colonic duplication in an adult

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baro, P.; Dario Casas, J.; Sanchez, D.

    1988-01-01

    A case of colonic duplication that was diagnosed radiologically in an adult is reported. A long duplicated segment below the normal transverse colon, with a wide anastomosis at the hepatic flexure level, was observed on barium enema. The rarity of this anomaly unassociated with other malformations is emphasized. (orig.)

  4. Clinical Fact of Rectal Duplication with gastric heterotopy | Atmani ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Enteric duplication could occur through the entire alimentary tract. A case of rectal duplication cyst with heterotopic gastric mucosa in a chid is described. MRI scan is shown useful in the diagnosis of the duplication. The treatment is the complete local resection of the rectal duplication. Keywords: duplication, rectal, MRI, ...

  5. Noncommunicating Isolated Enteric Duplication Cyst in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Noncommunicating isolated enteric duplications in the abdomen are an extremely rare variant of enteric duplications with their own blood supply. We report a case of a noncommunicating isolated ileal duplication in a 10-month-old boy. He was admitted because of severe abdominal distension and developed irritability ...

  6. Microevolution of Duplications and Deletions and Their Impact on Gene Expression in the Nematode Pristionchus pacificus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Praveen Baskaran

    Full Text Available The evolution of diversity across the animal kingdom has been accompanied by tremendous gene loss and gain. While comparative genomics has been fruitful to characterize differences in gene content across highly diverged species, little is known about the microevolution of structural variations that cause these differences in the first place. In order to investigate the genomic impact of structural variations, we made use of genomic and transcriptomic data from the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, which has been established as a satellite model to Caenorhabditis elegans for comparative biology. We exploit the fact that P. pacificus is a highly diverse species for which various genomic data including the draft genome of a sister species P. exspectatus is available. Based on resequencing coverage data for two natural isolates we identified large (> 2 kb deletions and duplications relative to the reference strain. By restriction to completely syntenic regions between P. pacificus and P. exspectatus, we were able to polarize the comparison and to assess the impact of structural variations on expression levels. We found that while loss of genes correlates with lack of expression, duplication of genes has virtually no effect on gene expression. Further investigating expression of individual copies at sites that segregate between the duplicates, we found in the majority of cases only one of the copies to be expressed. Nevertheless, we still find that certain gene classes are strongly depleted in deletions as well as duplications, suggesting evolutionary constraint acting on synteny. In summary, our results are consistent with a model, where most structural variations are either deleterious or neutral and provide first insights into the microevolution of structural variations in the P. pacificus genome.

  7. Laparoscopic excision of a newborn rectal duplication cyst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartin, Charles W; Lau, Stanley T; Escobar, Mauricio A; Glick, Philip L

    2008-08-01

    Congenital rectal duplication cyst is a rare entity treated with surgical excision. Without treatment, a rectal duplication cyst may cause a variety of complications, most notably, transforming into a malignancy. We report on a 7-week-old girl who was found to have a rectal duplication cyst. The rectal duplication cyst was successfully excised laparoscopically. Rectal duplication cysts are rare alimentary tract anomalies generally discovered during childhood. Complications include symptoms arising from the cyst and the possibility of malignant degeneration. They are typically managed by surgical excision.

  8. Our experience with unusual gastrointestinal tract duplications in infants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bilal Mirza

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Classical duplications may present along any part of gastrointestinal tract (GIT from mouth to anus. Atypical or unusual rare varieties of GIT duplications may also occur, but with different anatomical features. Materials and Methods: We reviewed our 5-year record (February 2008-January 2013 to describe clinical profile of unusual GIT duplications in neonates and small infants. Results: Three patients with atypical variety of GIT duplications were managed in our department during this tenure. Two were females and one male. Age was ranged between 11 days and 2 months. All patients presented with massive abdominal distension causing respiratory embarrassment in two of them. In all patients, the pre-operative differential diagnoses also included GIT duplication cysts. Computerized tomography (CT scan showed single huge cyst in one and multiple cysts in two patients. In one patient the CT scan also depicted a thoracic cyst in relation to posterior mediastinum. At operation, one patient had colonic tubular duplication cyst along with another isolated duplication cyst, the second case had a tubular duplication cyst of ileum with its segmental dilatation, and in the third case two isolated duplications were found. Duplication cysts were excised along with mucosal stripping in one patient, cyst excision and intestinal resection and anastomosis in one patient, and only cysts excision in one. All patients did well post-operatively. Conclusion: We presented unusual GIT duplications. These duplications are managed on similar lines as classical duplications with good prognosis when dealt early.

  9. Positive selection and propeptide repeats promote rapid interspecific divergence of a gastropod sperm protein.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellberg, M E; Moy, G W; Vacquier, V D

    2000-03-01

    Male-specific proteins have increasingly been reported as targets of positive selection and are of special interest because of the role they may play in the evolution of reproductive isolation. We report the rapid interspecific divergence of cDNA encoding a major acrosomal protein of unknown function (TMAP) of sperm from five species of teguline gastropods. A mitochondrial DNA clock (calibrated by congeneric species divided by the Isthmus of Panama) estimates that these five species diverged 2-10 MYA. Inferred amino acid sequences reveal a propeptide that has diverged rapidly between species. The mature protein has diverged faster still due to high nonsynonymous substitution rates (> 25 nonsynonymous substitutions per site per 10(9) years). cDNA encoding the mature protein (89-100 residues) shows evidence of positive selection (Dn/Ds > 1) for 4 of 10 pairwise species comparisons. cDNA and predicted secondary-structure comparisons suggest that TMAP is neither orthologous nor paralogous to abalone lysin, and thus marks a second, phylogenetically independent, protein subject to strong positive selection in free-spawning marine gastropods. In addition, an internal repeat in one species (Tegula aureotincta) produces a duplicated cleavage site which results in two alternatively processed mature proteins differing by nine amino acid residues. Such alternative processing may provide a mechanism for introducing novel amino acid sequence variation at the amino-termini of proteins. Highly divergent TMAP N-termini from two other tegulines (Tegula regina and Norrisia norrisii) may have originated by such a mechanism.

  10. MIT domain of Vps4 is a Ca2+-dependent phosphoinositide-binding domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwaya, Naoko; Takasu, Hirotoshi; Goda, Natsuko; Shirakawa, Masahiro; Tanaka, Toshiki; Hamada, Daizo; Hiroaki, Hidekazu

    2013-05-01

    The microtubule interacting and trafficking (MIT) domain is a small protein module that is conserved in proteins of diverged function, such as Vps4, spastin and sorting nexin 15 (SNX15). The molecular function of the MIT domain is protein-protein interaction, in which the domain recognizes peptides containing MIT-interacting motifs. Recently, we identified an evolutionarily related domain, 'variant' MIT domain at the N-terminal region of the microtubule severing enzyme katanin p60. We found that the domain was responsible for binding to microtubules and Ca(2+). Here, we have examined whether the authentic MIT domains also bind Ca(2+). We found that the loop between the first and second α-helices of the MIT domain binds a Ca(2+) ion. Furthermore, the MIT domains derived from Vps4b and SNX15a showed phosphoinositide-binding activities in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. We propose that the MIT domain is a novel membrane-associating domain involved in endosomal trafficking.

  11. Protein domain organisation: adding order.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kummerfeld, Sarah K; Teichmann, Sarah A

    2009-01-29

    Domains are the building blocks of proteins. During evolution, they have been duplicated, fused and recombined, to produce proteins with novel structures and functions. Structural and genome-scale studies have shown that pairs or groups of domains observed together in a protein are almost always found in only one N to C terminal order and are the result of a single recombination event that has been propagated by duplication of the multi-domain unit. Previous studies of domain organisation have used graph theory to represent the co-occurrence of domains within proteins. We build on this approach by adding directionality to the graphs and connecting nodes based on their relative order in the protein. Most of the time, the linear order of domains is conserved. However, using the directed graph representation we have identified non-linear features of domain organization that are over-represented in genomes. Recognising these patterns and unravelling how they have arisen may allow us to understand the functional relationships between domains and understand how the protein repertoire has evolved. We identify groups of domains that are not linearly conserved, but instead have been shuffled during evolution so that they occur in multiple different orders. We consider 192 genomes across all three kingdoms of life and use domain and protein annotation to understand their functional significance. To identify these features and assess their statistical significance, we represent the linear order of domains in proteins as a directed graph and apply graph theoretical methods. We describe two higher-order patterns of domain organisation: clusters and bi-directionally associated domain pairs and explore their functional importance and phylogenetic conservation. Taking into account the order of domains, we have derived a novel picture of global protein organization. We found that all genomes have a higher than expected degree of clustering and more domain pairs in forward and

  12. Protein domain organisation: adding order

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kummerfeld Sarah K

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Domains are the building blocks of proteins. During evolution, they have been duplicated, fused and recombined, to produce proteins with novel structures and functions. Structural and genome-scale studies have shown that pairs or groups of domains observed together in a protein are almost always found in only one N to C terminal order and are the result of a single recombination event that has been propagated by duplication of the multi-domain unit. Previous studies of domain organisation have used graph theory to represent the co-occurrence of domains within proteins. We build on this approach by adding directionality to the graphs and connecting nodes based on their relative order in the protein. Most of the time, the linear order of domains is conserved. However, using the directed graph representation we have identified non-linear features of domain organization that are over-represented in genomes. Recognising these patterns and unravelling how they have arisen may allow us to understand the functional relationships between domains and understand how the protein repertoire has evolved. Results We identify groups of domains that are not linearly conserved, but instead have been shuffled during evolution so that they occur in multiple different orders. We consider 192 genomes across all three kingdoms of life and use domain and protein annotation to understand their functional significance. To identify these features and assess their statistical significance, we represent the linear order of domains in proteins as a directed graph and apply graph theoretical methods. We describe two higher-order patterns of domain organisation: clusters and bi-directionally associated domain pairs and explore their functional importance and phylogenetic conservation. Conclusion Taking into account the order of domains, we have derived a novel picture of global protein organization. We found that all genomes have a higher than expected

  13. Comparative Hi-C Reveals that CTCF Underlies Evolution of Chromosomal Domain Architecture

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    Matteo Vietri Rudan

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Topological domains are key architectural building blocks of chromosomes, but their functional importance and evolutionary dynamics are not well defined. We performed comparative high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C in four mammals and characterized the conservation and divergence of chromosomal contact insulation and the resulting domain architectures within distantly related genomes. We show that the modular organization of chromosomes is robustly conserved in syntenic regions and that this is compatible with conservation of the binding landscape of the insulator protein CTCF. Specifically, conserved CTCF sites are co-localized with cohesin, are enriched at strong topological domain borders, and bind to DNA motifs with orientations that define the directionality of CTCF’s long-range interactions. Conversely, divergent CTCF binding between species is correlated with divergence of internal domain structure, likely driven by local CTCF binding sequence changes, demonstrating how genome evolution can be linked to a continuous flux of local conformation changes. We also show that large-scale domains are reorganized during genome evolution as intact modules.

  14. Acoustic, finite-difference, time-domain technique development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kunz, K.

    1994-01-01

    A close analog exists between the behavior of sound waves in an ideal gas and the radiated waves of electromagnetics. This analog has been exploited to obtain an acoustic, finite-difference, time-domain (AFDTD) technique capable of treating small signal vibrations in elastic media, such as air, water, and metal, with the important feature of bending motion included in the behavior of the metal. This bending motion is particularly important when the metal is formed into sheets or plates. Bending motion does not have an analog in electromagnetics, but can be readily appended to the acoustic treatment since it appears as a single additional term in the force equation for plate motion, which is otherwise analogous to the electromagnetic wave equation. The AFDTD technique has been implemented in a code architecture that duplicates the electromagnetic, finite-difference, time-domain technique code. The main difference in the implementation is the form of the first-order coupled differential equations obtained from the wave equation. The gradient of pressure and divergence of velocity appear in these equations in the place of curls of the electric and magnetic fields. Other small changes exist as well, but the codes are essentially interchangeable. The pre- and post-processing for model construction and response-data evaluation of the electromagnetic code, in the form of the TSAR code at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, can be used for the acoustic version. A variety of applications is possible, pending validation of the bending phenomenon. The applications include acoustic-radiation-pattern predictions for a submerged object; mine detection analysis; structural noise analysis for cars; acoustic barrier analysis; and symphonic hall/auditorium predictions and speaker enclosure modeling

  15. Perforated ileal duplication cyst with haemorrhagic pseudocyst formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hwang, Im Kyung; Kim, Bong Soo; Kim, Heung Chul; Lee, In Sun; Hwang, Woo Chul; Namkung, Sook

    2003-01-01

    Duplication cysts of the gastrointestinal tract are rare congenital abnormalities. Ectopic gastric mucosa, which can be found in duplications, may cause peptic ulceration, gastrointestinal bleeding or perforation. We report a 1-year-old boy with a perforated ileal duplication cyst with haemorrhagic pseudocyst formation caused by peptic ulceration of the duplication cyst. It presented a snowman-like appearance consisting of a small, thick-walled, true enteric cyst and a large, thin-walled haemorrhagic pseudocyst on US and CT. It is an unusual manifestation of a duplication cyst, which has not been reported in the English language literature. (orig.)

  16. Total Bregman Divergence and its Applications to Shape Retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Meizhu; Vemuri, Baba C; Amari, Shun-Ichi; Nielsen, Frank

    2010-01-01

    Shape database search is ubiquitous in the world of biometric systems, CAD systems etc. Shape data in these domains is experiencing an explosive growth and usually requires search of whole shape databases to retrieve the best matches with accuracy and efficiency for a variety of tasks. In this paper, we present a novel divergence measure between any two given points in [Formula: see text] or two distribution functions. This divergence measures the orthogonal distance between the tangent to the convex function (used in the definition of the divergence) at one of its input arguments and its second argument. This is in contrast to the ordinate distance taken in the usual definition of the Bregman class of divergences [4]. We use this orthogonal distance to redefine the Bregman class of divergences and develop a new theory for estimating the center of a set of vectors as well as probability distribution functions. The new class of divergences are dubbed the total Bregman divergence (TBD). We present the l 1 -norm based TBD center that is dubbed the t-center which is then used as a cluster center of a class of shapes The t-center is weighted mean and this weight is small for noise and outliers. We present a shape retrieval scheme using TBD and the t-center for representing the classes of shapes from the MPEG-7 database and compare the results with other state-of-the-art methods in literature.

  17. Parallel reorganization of protein function in the spindle checkpoint pathway through evolutionary paths in the fitness landscape that appear neutral in laboratory experiments.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex N Nguyen Ba

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Regulatory networks often increase in complexity during evolution through gene duplication and divergence of component proteins. Two models that explain this increase in complexity are: 1 adaptive changes after gene duplication, such as resolution of adaptive conflicts, and 2 non-adaptive processes such as duplication, degeneration and complementation. Both of these models predict complementary changes in the retained duplicates, but they can be distinguished by direct fitness measurements in organisms with short generation times. Previously, it has been observed that repeated duplication of an essential protein in the spindle checkpoint pathway has occurred multiple times over the eukaryotic tree of life, leading to convergent protein domain organization in its duplicates. Here, we replace the paralog pair in S. cerevisiae with a single-copy protein from a species that did not undergo gene duplication. Surprisingly, using quantitative fitness measurements in laboratory conditions stressful for the spindle-checkpoint pathway, we find no evidence that reorganization of protein function after gene duplication is beneficial. We then reconstruct several evolutionary intermediates from the inferred ancestral network to the extant one, and find that, at the resolution of our assay, there exist stepwise mutational paths from the single protein to the divergent pair of extant proteins with no apparent fitness defects. Parallel evolution has been taken as strong evidence for natural selection, but our results suggest that even in these cases, reorganization of protein function after gene duplication may be explained by neutral processes.

  18. Gallbladder duplication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yagan Pillay

    2015-01-01

    Conclusion: Duplication of the gallbladder is a rare congenital abnormality, which requires special attention to the biliary ductal and arterial anatomy. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy with intraoperative cholangiography is the appropriate treatment in a symptomatic gallbladder. The removal of an asymptomatic double gallbladder remains controversial.

  19. Presentation and Surgical Management of Duodenal Duplication in Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline C. Jadlowiec

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Duodenal duplications in adults are exceedingly rare and their diagnosis remains difficult as symptoms are largely nonspecific. Clinical presentations include pancreatitis, biliary obstruction, gastrointestinal bleeding from ectopic gastric mucosa, and malignancy. A case of duodenal duplication in a 59-year-old female is presented, and her treatment course is reviewed with description of combined surgical and endoscopic approach to repair, along with a review of historic and current recommendations for management. Traditionally, gastrointestinal duplications have been treated with surgical resection; however, for duodenal duplications, the anatomic proximity to the biliopancreatic ampulla makes surgical management challenging. Recently, advances in endoscopy have improved the clinical success of cystic intraluminal duodenal duplications. Despite these advances, surgical resection is still recommended for extraluminal tubular duplications although combined techniques may be necessary for long tubular duplications. For duodenal duplications, a combined approach of partial excision combined with mucosal stripping may offer advantage.

  20. Rectal Duplication%直肠重复畸形

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    张道荣; 牟弦琴; 李振东; 李恭才; 王修忠; 代蕊霜

    1983-01-01

    @@ 我们两院近10年来共收治先天性直肠重复畸形17例(其中河北医学院11例,西安医学院6例).均经手术及病理证实.现总结如下:临床资料本组男性6例,女性11例,最小年龄4天,最大年龄14岁.%This paper reports 17 cases of rectal duplication. There were 6 males and 11rectal duplications were divided into three bordered by a common wall.9 patients in this series were found to have this condition.a rectovestitubular fistula.B.Pararectal duplication.The duplicated bowel lies near elliptical in shape and filled with fluid.In Complicated rectal duplication.The dupticated bowel is located at the perineum near the abnormal anus and is usually associated with hypospadia.Two cases were of this type.between the duplicated bowel and normal rectum must be partially resected at the distal end.The rectovestitubular fistula should be repaired at the same time.Pararectal duplication can be completely resected.resect the duplicated bowel from perineum but leave the genital anomaly for later treatment.

  1. Rectal duplication cyst in a cat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kook, Peter H; Hagen, Regine; Willi, Barbara; Ruetten, Maja; Venzin, Claudio

    2010-12-01

    Enteric duplication is a rare developmental malformation in people, dogs and cats. The purpose of the present report is to describe the first case of a rectal duplication cyst in a 7-year-old domestic shorthair cat presenting for acute constipation and tenesmus. On rectal palpation a spherical mass compressing the lumen of the rectum could be felt in the dorsal wall of the rectum. A computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed the presence of a well demarcated cystic lesion in the pelvic canal, dorsal to the rectum. The cyst was surgically removed via a perineal approach. No communication with the rectal lumen could be demonstrated. Histopathological examination was consistent with a rectal duplication cyst. Clinical signs resolved completely after excision of this conjoined non-communicating cystic rectal duplicate. Copyright © 2010 ISFM and AAFP. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Effect of Duplicate Genes on Mouse Genetic Robustness: An Update

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhixi Su

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In contrast to S. cerevisiae and C. elegans, analyses based on the current knockout (KO mouse phenotypes led to the conclusion that duplicate genes had almost no role in mouse genetic robustness. It has been suggested that the bias of mouse KO database toward ancient duplicates may possibly cause this knockout duplicate puzzle, that is, a very similar proportion of essential genes (PE between duplicate genes and singletons. In this paper, we conducted an extensive and careful analysis for the mouse KO phenotype data and corroborated a strong effect of duplicate genes on mouse genetics robustness. Moreover, the effect of duplicate genes on mouse genetic robustness is duplication-age dependent, which holds after ruling out the potential confounding effect from coding-sequence conservation, protein-protein connectivity, functional bias, or the bias of duplicates generated by whole genome duplication (WGD. Our findings suggest that two factors, the sampling bias toward ancient duplicates and very ancient duplicates with a proportion of essential genes higher than that of singletons, have caused the mouse knockout duplicate puzzle; meanwhile, the effect of genetic buffering may be correlated with sequence conservation as well as protein-protein interactivity.

  3. Local divergence and curvature divergence in first order optics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mafusire, Cosmas; Krüger, Tjaart P. J.

    2018-06-01

    The far-field divergence of a light beam propagating through a first order optical system is presented as a square root of the sum of the squares of the local divergence and the curvature divergence. The local divergence is defined as the ratio of the beam parameter product to the beam width whilst the curvature divergence is a ratio of the space-angular moment also to the beam width. It is established that the beam’s focusing parameter can be defined as a ratio of the local divergence to the curvature divergence. The relationships between the two divergences and other second moment-based beam parameters are presented. Their various mathematical properties are presented such as their evolution through first order systems. The efficacy of the model in the analysis of high power continuous wave laser-based welding systems is briefly discussed.

  4. Rapid genome reshaping by multiple-gene loss after whole-genome duplication in teleost fish suggested by mathematical modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Yukuto; Tsukamoto, Katsumi; Nishida, Mutsumi

    2015-01-01

    Whole-genome duplication (WGD) is believed to be a significant source of major evolutionary innovation. Redundant genes resulting from WGD are thought to be lost or acquire new functions. However, the rates of gene loss and thus temporal process of genome reshaping after WGD remain unclear. The WGD shared by all teleost fish, one-half of all jawed vertebrates, was more recent than the two ancient WGDs that occurred before the origin of jawed vertebrates, and thus lends itself to analysis of gene loss and genome reshaping. Using a newly developed orthology identification pipeline, we inferred the post–teleost-specific WGD evolutionary histories of 6,892 protein-coding genes from nine phylogenetically representative teleost genomes on a time-calibrated tree. We found that rapid gene loss did occur in the first 60 My, with a loss of more than 70–80% of duplicated genes, and produced similar genomic gene arrangements within teleosts in that relatively short time. Mathematical modeling suggests that rapid gene loss occurred mainly by events involving simultaneous loss of multiple genes. We found that the subsequent 250 My were characterized by slow and steady loss of individual genes. Our pipeline also identified about 1,100 shared single-copy genes that are inferred to have become singletons before the divergence of clupeocephalan teleosts. Therefore, our comparative genome analysis suggests that rapid gene loss just after the WGD reshaped teleost genomes before the major divergence, and provides a useful set of marker genes for future phylogenetic analysis. PMID:26578810

  5. Exon duplications in the ATP7A gene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mogensen, Mie; Skjørringe, Tina; Kodama, Hiroko

    2011-01-01

    the identified duplicated fragments originated from a single or from two different X-chromosomes, polymorphic markers located in the duplicated fragments were analyzed. RESULTS: Partial ATP7A gene duplication was identified in 20 unrelated patients including one patient with Occipital Horn Syndrome (OHS...

  6. Long segment ileal duplication with extensive gastric heterotopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacob Sunitha

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Duplications of the alimentary tract are rare congenital anomalies which can be found at all levels of the alimentary tract. Majority of the duplications present as spherical cysts and usually range from a few millimeters to less than ten centimeters in size. Duplications produce complications such as intestinal obstruction or hemorrhage. A two-month-old infant presented with recurrent episodes of bleeding per rectum. Laparotomy revealed a giant ileal duplicated bowel segment which exhibited extensive gastric heterotopia with focal ulceration.

  7. Finding all sorting tandem duplication random loss operations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bernt, Matthias; Chen, Kuan Yu; Chen, Ming Chiang

    2011-01-01

    A tandem duplication random loss (TDRL) operation duplicates a contiguous segment of genes, followed by the random loss of one copy of each of the duplicated genes. Although the importance of this operation is founded by several recent biological studies, it has been investigated only rarely from...

  8. Protein domain evolution is associated with reproductive diversification and adaptive radiation in the genus Eucalyptus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersting, Anna R; Mizrachi, Eshchar; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich; Myburg, Alexander A

    2015-06-01

    Eucalyptus is a pivotal genus within the rosid order Myrtales with distinct geographic history and adaptations. Comparative analysis of protein domain evolution in the newly sequenced Eucalyptus grandis genome and other rosid lineages sheds light on the adaptive mechanisms integral to the success of this genus of woody perennials. We reconstructed the ancestral domain content to elucidate the gain, loss and expansion of protein domains and domain arrangements in Eucalyptus in the context of rosid phylogeny. We used functional gene ontology (GO) annotation of genes to investigate the possible biological and evolutionary consequences of protein domain expansion. We found that protein modulation within the angiosperms occurred primarily on the level of expansion of certain domains and arrangements. Using RNA-Seq data from E. grandis, we showed that domain expansions have contributed to tissue-specific expression of tandemly duplicated genes. Our results indicate that tandem duplication of genes, a key feature of the Eucalyptus genome, has played an important role in the expansion of domains, particularly in proteins related to the specialization of reproduction and biotic and abiotic interactions affecting root and floral biology, and that tissue-specific expression of proteins with expanded domains has facilitated subfunctionalization in domain families. © 2014 University of Pretoria New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

  9. Embryonic duplications in sheep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, S M

    1975-02-01

    Twenty-seven embryonic duplications were examined during a 3-year investigation into the causes of perinatal lamb mortality. Twenty of the 27 were anomalous twins with 19 being conjoined (diplopagus 9 and heteropagus 10). The various duplications were: haloacardius acephalus 1, diprosopus 2, dicephalus 2, dipypus 3, diprosopus dipygus 1, syncephalus dipygus 1, pygopagus parasiticus 1, heteropagus dipygus 3, melodidymus 6, polyury 4, penile duplication 2, and bilateral otognathia 1. Four lambs were living and the time of death of the others was: parturient 8, and post-parturient 15. Average dry weight of the lambs was 3.35 kg (range 1.59 to 5.45 kg). Breed distribution was: Merino 77.8%, Crossbred 14.8%, Dorset Horn 3.7%, and Corriedale 3.7%. The caudal region was involved in 10 of the conjoined twins (52.6%), anterior region in 7 (36.9%), and both anterior and caudal regions in 2 (10.5%). Associated defects were present in 70.4% of the 27 lambs, the most common being atresia ani.

  10. Tissue-specific differential induction of duplicated fatty acid-binding protein genes by the peroxisome proliferator, clofibrate, in zebrafish (Danio rerio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venkatachalam Ananda B

    2012-07-01

    RNAs for both the duplicated copies of fabp1a/fabp1b.1, and fabp7a/fabp7b, but in different tissues. Clofibrate also increased the steady-state level of fabp10a and fabp11a mRNAs and hnRNAs in liver, but not for fabp10b and fabp11b. Conclusion Some duplicated fabp genes have, most likely, retained PPREs, but induction by clofibrate is over-ridden by an, as yet, unknown tissue-specific mechanism(s. Regardless of the tissue-specific mechanism(s, transcriptional control of duplicated zebrafish fabp genes by clofibrate has markedly diverged since the WGD event.

  11. The duplication 17p13.3 phenotype

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Curry, Cynthia J; Rosenfeld, Jill A; Grant, Erica

    2013-01-01

    . Older patients were often overweight. Three variant phenotypes included cleft lip/palate (CLP), split hand/foot with long bone deficiency (SHFLD), and a connective tissue phenotype resembling Marfan syndrome. The duplications in patients with clefts appear to disrupt ABR, while the SHFLD phenotype......Chromosome 17p13.3 is a gene rich region that when deleted is associated with the well-known Miller-Dieker syndrome. A recently described duplication syndrome involving this region has been associated with intellectual impairment, autism and occasional brain MRI abnormalities. We report 34...... was associated with duplication of BHLHA9 as noted in two recent reports. The connective tissue phenotype did not have a convincing critical region. Our experience with this large cohort expands knowledge of this diverse duplication syndrome....

  12. Prevalence of lower extremity venous duplication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simpson William

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This retrospective study was performed to determine the prevalence of lower extremity venous duplication using duplex ultrasound in the patient population of a large urban medical center. Materials and Methods: The reports of all lower extremity venous ultrasound examinations performed at our institution between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2002 were reviewed. Ultrasound examinations that were performed for purposes other than the detection of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis were excluded. The prevalence of duplication and its specific location were recorded. In addition, the prevalence of thrombus and its specific location were also recorded. Results: A total of 3118 exams were performed in 2664 patients. Of the 2664 patients, 2311 had only one examination performed during the study period; 353 patients had more than one examination performed. We found that 10.1% of patients (270/2664 had at least one venous segment duplicated and 5.4% of patients (143/2664 had a thrombus in at least one venous segment. There was a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of both duplication and thrombus with a change in venous segment. Only 0.4% of patients (11/2664 had thrombus within a duplicated segment. Of those who had more than one examination performed, 15.3% (54/353 had the same venous segment(s seen on one examination but not another. Conclusion: Lower extremity venous duplication is a frequent anatomic variant that is seen in 10.1% of patients, but it may not be as common as is generally believed. It can result in a false negative result for deep vein thrombosis.

  13. Summation of Divergent Series and Zeldovich's Regularization Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mur, V.D.; Pozdnyakov, S.G.; Popruzhenko, S.V.; Popov, V.S.

    2005-01-01

    A method for summing divergent series, including perturbation-theory series, is considered. This method is an analog of Zeldovich's regularization method in the theory of quasistationary states. It is shown that the method in question is more powerful than the well-known Abel and Borel methods, but that it is compatible with them (that is, it leads to the same value for the sum of a series). The constraints on the parameter domain that arise upon the removal of the regularization of divergent integrals by this method are discussed. The dynamical Stark shifts and widths of loosely bound s states in the field of a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave are calculated at various values of the Keldysh adiabaticity parameter and the multiquantum parameter

  14. Complete cloacal duplication imaged before and during pregnancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ragab, Omar; Landay, Melanie; Shriki, Jabi

    2009-01-01

    The authors describe a 31 year-old female who presented emergently with abdominal pain and was found at CT to have complete genitourinary duplication including separate urinary bladders, uteri, cervices, and vaginas, and also duplication of the rectum. No etiology for abdominal pain was identified. The patient was referred to urology for further evaluation, and an intravenous urographic study was obtained, which confirmed complete lower urinary tract duplication. The patient presented emergently 9 months later during a subsequent pregnancy for further evaluation of abdominal pain. A second CT scan was ordered to rule out appendicitis. Findings consistent with cloacal duplication were again noted. There was also dilatation of the urinary collecting systems, more prominently on the right side. A Cesarean section was performed and confirmed total genitourinary and rectal duplication.

  15. The role of glycosylation and domain interactions in the thermal stability of human angiotensin-converting enzyme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, Hester G; Redelinghuys, Pierre; Schwager, Sylva L U; Sturrock, Edward D

    2008-09-01

    The N and C domains of somatic angiotensin-converting enzyme (sACE) differ in terms of their substrate specificity, inhibitor profiling, chloride dependency and thermal stability. The C domain is thermally less stable than sACE or the N domain. Since both domains are heavily glycosylated, the effect of glycosylation on their thermal stability was investigated by assessing their catalytic and physicochemical properties. Testis ACE (tACE) expressed in mammalian cells, mammalian cells in the presence of a glucosidase inhibitor and insect cells yielded proteins with altered catalytic and physicochemical properties, indicating that the more complex glycans confer greater thermal stabilization. Furthermore, a decrease in tACE and N-domain N-glycans using site-directed mutagenesis decreased their thermal stability, suggesting that certain N-glycans have an important effect on the protein's thermodynamic properties. Evaluation of the thermal stability of sACE domain swopover and domain duplication mutants, together with sACE expressed in insect cells, showed that the C domain contained in sACE is less dependent on glycosylation for thermal stabilization than a single C domain, indicating that stabilizing interactions between the two domains contribute to the thermal stability of sACE and are decreased in a C-domain-duplicating mutant.

  16. An unusual presentation of a rectal duplication cyst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Katharine L; Peche, William J; Rollins, Michael D

    2012-01-01

    Intestinal duplications are rare developmental anomalies that can occur anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract. Rectal duplication cysts account for approximately 4% of all duplication cysts. They usually present in childhood with symptoms of mass effect, local infection or more rarely with rectal bleeding from ectopic gastric mucosa. A 26year old male presented with a history of bright red blood per rectum. On examination a mucosal defect with an associated cavity adjacent to the rectum was identified. This was confirmed with rigid proctoscopy and CT scan imaging. A complete transanal excision was performed. Rectal duplication cysts are more common in pediatric patients. They more frequently present with symptoms of mass effect or local infection than with rectal bleeding. In adult patients they are a rare cause of rectal bleeding. Definitive treatment is with surgical excision. A transanal, transcoccygeal, posterior sagittal or a combined abdominoperineal approach may be used depending on anatomic characteristics of the duplication cyst. We present a rare case of a rectal duplication cyst presenting in adulthood with rectal bleeding, managed with transanal excision. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  17. [Rectal duplication cyst--case report].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turyna, R; Horák, L; Kucera, E; Hejda, V; Krofta, L; Feyereisl, J

    2009-06-01

    The authors demonstrate a rare case of duplication anomaly of the rectum. Case report. Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Prague. We present a rare case of cystic rectal duplication in adult, completely removed and histologically confirmed. A literature review was summarized. The case was complicated by delay in diagnosis, multiple operations, and by the association with endometriosis, as well. Mentioned anomaly is published in the Czech literature for the very first time.

  18. Ground state energies from converging and diverging power series expansions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lisowski, C.; Norris, S.; Pelphrey, R.; Stefanovich, E.; Su, Q.; Grobe, R.

    2016-01-01

    It is often assumed that bound states of quantum mechanical systems are intrinsically non-perturbative in nature and therefore any power series expansion methods should be inapplicable to predict the energies for attractive potentials. However, if the spatial domain of the Schrödinger Hamiltonian for attractive one-dimensional potentials is confined to a finite length L, the usual Rayleigh–Schrödinger perturbation theory can converge rapidly and is perfectly accurate in the weak-binding region where the ground state’s spatial extension is comparable to L. Once the binding strength is so strong that the ground state’s extension is less than L, the power expansion becomes divergent, consistent with the expectation that bound states are non-perturbative. However, we propose a new truncated Borel-like summation technique that can recover the bound state energy from the diverging sum. We also show that perturbation theory becomes divergent in the vicinity of an avoided-level crossing. Here the same numerical summation technique can be applied to reproduce the energies from the diverging perturbative sums.

  19. Ground state energies from converging and diverging power series expansions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lisowski, C.; Norris, S.; Pelphrey, R.; Stefanovich, E., E-mail: eugene-stefanovich@usa.net; Su, Q.; Grobe, R.

    2016-10-15

    It is often assumed that bound states of quantum mechanical systems are intrinsically non-perturbative in nature and therefore any power series expansion methods should be inapplicable to predict the energies for attractive potentials. However, if the spatial domain of the Schrödinger Hamiltonian for attractive one-dimensional potentials is confined to a finite length L, the usual Rayleigh–Schrödinger perturbation theory can converge rapidly and is perfectly accurate in the weak-binding region where the ground state’s spatial extension is comparable to L. Once the binding strength is so strong that the ground state’s extension is less than L, the power expansion becomes divergent, consistent with the expectation that bound states are non-perturbative. However, we propose a new truncated Borel-like summation technique that can recover the bound state energy from the diverging sum. We also show that perturbation theory becomes divergent in the vicinity of an avoided-level crossing. Here the same numerical summation technique can be applied to reproduce the energies from the diverging perturbative sums.

  20. Duplicate Record Elimination in Large Data Files.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-08-01

    UNCLASSIFIJED CSTR -445 NL LmEE~hhE - I1.0 . 111112----5 1.~4 __112 ___IL25_ 1.4 111111.6 EI24 COMPUTER SCIENCES DEPARTMENT oUniversity of Wisconsin...we propose a combinatorial model for the use in the analysis of algorithms for duplicate elimination. We contend that this model can serve as a...duplicates in a multiset of records, knowing the size of the multiset and the number of distinct records in it. 3. Algorithms for Duplicate Elimination

  1. Duplication and Loss of Function of Genes Encoding RNA Polymerase III Subunit C4 Causes Hybrid Incompatibility in Rice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giao Ngoc Nguyen

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Reproductive barriers are commonly observed in both animals and plants, in which they maintain species integrity and contribute to speciation. This report shows that a combination of loss-of-function alleles at two duplicated loci, DUPLICATED GAMETOPHYTIC STERILITY 1 (DGS1 on chromosome 4 and DGS2 on chromosome 7, causes pollen sterility in hybrid progeny derived from an interspecific cross between cultivated rice, Oryza sativa, and an Asian annual wild rice, O. nivara. Male gametes carrying the DGS1 allele from O. nivara (DGS1-nivaras and the DGS2 allele from O. sativa (DGS2-T65s were sterile, but female gametes carrying the same genotype were fertile. We isolated the causal gene, which encodes a protein homologous to DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RNAP III subunit C4 (RPC4. RPC4 facilitates the transcription of 5S rRNAs and tRNAs. The loss-of-function alleles at DGS1-nivaras and DGS2-T65s were caused by weak or nonexpression of RPC4 and an absence of RPC4, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that gene duplication of RPC4 at DGS1 and DGS2 was a recent event that occurred after divergence of the ancestral population of Oryza from other Poaceae or during diversification of AA-genome species.

  2. Increasing interpersonal trust through divergent thinking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberta eSellaro

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Interpersonal trust is an essential ingredient of many social relationships but how stable is it actually, and how is it controlled? There is evidence that the degree of trust into others might be rather volatile and can be affected by manipulations like drawing attention to personal interdependence or independence. Here we investigated whether the degree of interpersonal trust can be biased by inducing either a more integrative or a more cognitive-control mode by means of a creativity task requiring divergent or convergent thinking, respectively. Participants then performed the Trust Game, which provides an index of interpersonal trust by assessing the money units one participant (the trustor transfers to another participant (the trustee. As expected, participants transferred significantly more money to the trustee after engaging in divergent thinking as compared to convergent thinking. This observation provides support for the idea that interpersonal trust is controlled by domain-general (i.e., not socially dedicated cognitive states.

  3. A case report of Ileal duplication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oh, K K; Suh, J H; Choi, B S [Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1971-10-15

    Since Frankel reported the congenital anomalous intestinal duplication incidentally during autopsy in 1883, about 228 cases has been reported on the literatures. In our severance hospital, one case of ileal duplication was found, and was confirmed by pathology and surgery. This patient of duplication usually reveals the symptoms of abnormal distension, pain and palpable abdominal mass, and sometimes the symptoms of intestinal obstruction. On x-ray flate abdomen, huge occupying mass displaces intestinal gas pattern to left side. Barium enema study reveals elongation and displacement of ileum by large extrinsic mass. And cecum is also displaced upward. On the IVP, this extrinsic mass is not related to kidneys. Also, the literature was reviewed.

  4. Functional analysis of duplicated Symbiosis Receptor Kinase (SymRK) genes during nodulation and mycorrhizal infection in soybean (Glycine max).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Indrasumunar, Arief; Wilde, Julia; Hayashi, Satomi; Li, Dongxue; Gresshoff, Peter M

    2015-03-15

    Association between legumes and rhizobia results in the formation of root nodules, where symbiotic nitrogen fixation occurs. The early stages of this association involve a complex of signalling events between the host and microsymbiont. Several genes dealing with early signal transduction have been cloned, and one of them encodes the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor kinase (SymRK; also termed NORK). The Symbiosis Receptor Kinase gene is required by legumes to establish a root endosymbiosis with Rhizobium bacteria as well as mycorrhizal fungi. Using degenerate primer and BAC sequencing, we cloned duplicated SymRK homeologues in soybean called GmSymRKα and GmSymRKβ. These duplicated genes have high similarity of nucleotide (96%) and amino acid sequence (95%). Sequence analysis predicted a malectin-like domain within the extracellular domain of both genes. Several putative cis-acting elements were found in promoter regions of GmSymRKα and GmSymRKβ, suggesting a participation in lateral root development, cell division and peribacteroid membrane formation. The mutant of SymRK genes is not available in soybean; therefore, to know the functions of these genes, RNA interference (RNAi) of these duplicated genes was performed. For this purpose, RNAi construct of each gene was generated and introduced into the soybean genome by Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated hairy root transformation. RNAi of GmSymRKβ gene resulted in an increased reduction of nodulation and mycorrhizal infection than RNAi of GmSymRKα, suggesting it has the major activity of the duplicated gene pair. The results from the important crop legume soybean confirm the joint phenotypic action of GmSymRK genes in both mycorrhizal and rhizobial infection seen in model legumes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  5. Duplication of Key Frames of Video Streams in Wireless Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Sagatov, Evgeny S.; Sukhov, Andrei M.

    2011-01-01

    In this paper technological solutions for improving the quality of video transfer along wireless networks are investigated. Tools have been developed to allow packets to be duplicated with key frames data. In the paper we tested video streams with duplication of all frames, with duplication of key frames, and without duplication. The experiments showed that the best results are obtained by duplication of packages which contain key frames. The paper also provides an overview of the coefficient...

  6. Partial craniofacial duplication: a review of the literature and case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Melinda A; Borzabadi-Farahani, Ali; Lara-Sanchez, Pedro A; Schweitzer, Daniela; Jacobson, Lia; Clarke, Noreen; Hammoudeh, Jeffery; Urata, Mark M; Magee, William P

    2014-06-01

    Diprosopus (Greek; di-, "two" + prosopon, "face"), or craniofacial duplication, is a rare craniofacial anomaly referring to the complete duplication of facial structures. Partial craniofacial duplication describes a broad spectrum of congenital anomalies, including duplications of the oral cavity. This paper describes a 15 month-old female with a duplicated oral cavity, mandible, and maxilla. A Tessier type 7 cleft, midline meningocele, and duplicated hypophysis were also present. The preoperative evaluation, surgical approach, postoperative results, and a review of the literature are presented. The surgical approach was designed to preserve facial nerve innervation to the reconstructed cheek and mouth. The duplicated mandible and maxilla were excised and the remaining left maxilla was bone grafted. Soft tissue repair included closure of the Tessier type VII cleft. Craniofacial duplication remains a rare entity that is more common in females. The pathophysiology remains incompletely characterized, but is postulated to be due to duplication of the notochord, as well as duplication of mandibular growth centres. While diprosopus is a severe deformity often associated with anencephaly, patients with partial duplication typically benefit from surgical treatment. Managing craniofacial duplication requires a detailed preoperative evaluation as well as a comprehensive, staged treatment plan. Long-term follow up is needed appropriately to address ongoing craniofacial deformity. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Rectal duplication cyst presenting as rectal prolapse in an infant

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maher Zaiem

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Rectal duplication is a rare variety of gastrointestinal duplication. It accounts 4% of the total gastrointestinal duplications.In this paper, we are reporting a case of an 8 months old male who presented with rectal prolapse. Digital rectal examination revealed a soft mass bulging through the posterior wall of rectum. Computed tomography (CT scan showed a cystic mass compressing the posterior wall of the rectum. The mass was excised using a Muscle Complex Saving Posterior Sagittal approach (MCS-PSA. The pathology report confirmed the diagnosis of the rectal duplication cyst. The postoperative recovery was uneventful. Keywords: Intestinal duplication, Cystic rectal duplication, Rectal prolapse

  8. Mechanisms of haplotype divergence at the RGA08 nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat gene locus in wild banana (Musa balbisiana).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baurens, Franc-Christophe; Bocs, Stéphanie; Rouard, Mathieu; Matsumoto, Takashi; Miller, Robert N G; Rodier-Goud, Marguerite; MBéguié-A-MBéguié, Didier; Yahiaoui, Nabila

    2010-07-16

    Comparative sequence analysis of complex loci such as resistance gene analog clusters allows estimating the degree of sequence conservation and mechanisms of divergence at the intraspecies level. In banana (Musa sp.), two diploid wild species Musa acuminata (A genome) and Musa balbisiana (B genome) contribute to the polyploid genome of many cultivars. The M. balbisiana species is associated with vigour and tolerance to pests and disease and little is known on the genome structure and haplotype diversity within this species. Here, we compare two genomic sequences of 253 and 223 kb corresponding to two haplotypes of the RGA08 resistance gene analog locus in M. balbisiana "Pisang Klutuk Wulung" (PKW). Sequence comparison revealed two regions of contrasting features. The first is a highly colinear gene-rich region where the two haplotypes diverge only by single nucleotide polymorphisms and two repetitive element insertions. The second corresponds to a large cluster of RGA08 genes, with 13 and 18 predicted RGA genes and pseudogenes spread over 131 and 152 kb respectively on each haplotype. The RGA08 cluster is enriched in repetitive element insertions, in duplicated non-coding intergenic sequences including low complexity regions and shows structural variations between haplotypes. Although some allelic relationships are retained, a large diversity of RGA08 genes occurs in this single M. balbisiana genotype, with several RGA08 paralogs specific to each haplotype. The RGA08 gene family has evolved by mechanisms of unequal recombination, intragenic sequence exchange and diversifying selection. An unequal recombination event taking place between duplicated non-coding intergenic sequences resulted in a different RGA08 gene content between haplotypes pointing out the role of such duplicated regions in the evolution of RGA clusters. Based on the synonymous substitution rate in coding sequences, we estimated a 1 million year divergence time for these M. balbisiana haplotypes. A

  9. Origin of the duplicated regions in the yeast genomes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Piskur, Jure

    2001-01-01

    The genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains several duplicated regions. The recent sequencing results of several yeast species suggest that the duplicated regions found in the modern Saccharomyces species are probably the result of a single gross duplication, as well as a series of sporadic...

  10. [Intestinal volvulus due to yeyunal duplication].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez Iglesias, P; Carazo Palacios, M E; Lluna González, J; Ibáñez Pradas, V; Rodríguez Caraballo, L

    2014-10-01

    Duplications of the alimentary tract are congenital malformations. The ileum is the most commonly affected organ. A lot of duplications are incidentally diagnosed but most of patients present a combination of pain or complications such as obstructive symptoms, intestinal intussusception, perforation or volvulus. We report the case of a 6-years-old girl, with intermittent abdominal pain and vomits for two months long. Laboratory work was completely normal and in the radiology analysis (abdominal sonography and magnetic resonance) a cystic image with intestinal volvulus was observed. The patient underwent laparotomy, Ladd's procedure was done and the cyst was resected. In conclusion, if a patient is admitted with abdominal pain and obstructive symptoms, it is important to consider duplication of the alimentary tract as a possible diagnosis.

  11. Surgical management of complete penile duplication accompanied by multiple anomalies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karaca, Irfan; Turk, Erdal; Ucan, A Basak; Yayla, Derya; Itirli, Gulcin; Ercal, Derya

    2014-09-01

    Diphallus (penile duplication) is very rare and seen once every 5.5 million births. It can be isolated, but is usually accompanied by other congenital anomalies. Previous studies have reported many concurrent anomalies, such as bladder extrophy, cloacal extrophy, duplicated bladder, scrotal abnormalities, hypospadias, separated symphysis pubis, intestinal anomalies and imperforate anus; no penile duplication case accompanied by omphalocele has been reported. We present the surgical management of a patient with multiple anomalies, including complete penile duplication, hypo-gastric omphalocele and extrophic rectal duplication.

  12. Molecular Evolution and Functional Divergence of Trace Amine-Associated Receptors.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seong-Il Eyun

    Full Text Available Trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs are a member of the G-protein-coupled receptor superfamily and are known to be expressed in olfactory sensory neurons. A limited number of molecular evolutionary studies have been done for TAARs so far. To elucidate how lineage-specific evolution contributed to their functional divergence, we examined 30 metazoan genomes. In total, 493 TAAR gene candidates (including 84 pseudogenes were identified from 26 vertebrate genomes. TAARs were not identified from non-vertebrate genomes. An ancestral-type TAAR-like gene appeared to have emerged in lamprey. We found four therian-specific TAAR subfamilies (one eutherian-specific and three metatherian-specific in addition to previously known nine subfamilies. Many species-specific TAAR gene duplications and losses contributed to a large variation of TAAR gene numbers among mammals, ranging from 0 in dolphin to 26 in flying fox. TAARs are classified into two groups based on binding preferences for primary or tertiary amines as well as their sequence similarities. Primary amine-detecting TAARs (TAAR1-4 have emerged earlier, generally have single-copy orthologs (very few duplication or loss, and have evolved under strong functional constraints. In contrast, tertiary amine-detecting TAARs (TAAR5-9 have emerged more recently and the majority of them experienced higher rates of gene duplications. Protein members that belong to the tertiary amine-detecting TAAR group also showed the patterns of positive selection especially in the area surrounding the ligand-binding pocket, which could have affected ligand-binding activities and specificities. Expansions of the tertiary amine-detecting TAAR gene family may have played important roles in terrestrial adaptations of therian mammals. Molecular evolution of the TAAR gene family appears to be governed by a complex, species-specific, interplay between environmental and evolutionary factors.

  13. Functional requirements driving the gene duplication in 12 Drosophila species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Yan; Jia, Yanxiao; Gao, Yang; Tian, Dacheng; Yang, Sihai; Zhang, Xiaohui

    2013-08-15

    Gene duplication supplies the raw materials for novel gene functions and many gene families arisen from duplication experience adaptive evolution. Most studies of young duplicates have focused on mammals, especially humans, whereas reports describing their genome-wide evolutionary patterns across the closely related Drosophila species are rare. The sequenced 12 Drosophila genomes provide the opportunity to address this issue. In our study, 3,647 young duplicate gene families were identified across the 12 Drosophila species and three types of expansions, species-specific, lineage-specific and complex expansions, were detected in these gene families. Our data showed that the species-specific young duplicate genes predominated (86.6%) over the other two types. Interestingly, many independent species-specific expansions in the same gene family have been observed in many species, even including 11 or 12 Drosophila species. Our data also showed that the functional bias observed in these young duplicate genes was mainly related to responses to environmental stimuli and biotic stresses. This study reveals the evolutionary patterns of young duplicates across 12 Drosophila species on a genomic scale. Our results suggest that convergent evolution acts on young duplicate genes after the species differentiation and adaptive evolution may play an important role in duplicate genes for adaption to ecological factors and environmental changes in Drosophila.

  14. A 15 Mb large paracentric chromosome 21 inversion identified in Czech population through a pair of flanking duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drabova, Jana; Trkova, Marie; Hancarova, Miroslava; Novotna, Drahuse; Hejtmankova, Michaela; Havlovicova, Marketa; Sedlacek, Zdenek

    2014-01-01

    Inversions are balanced structural chromosome rearrangements, which can influence gene expression and the risk of unbalanced chromosome constitution in offspring. Many examples of inversion polymorphisms exist in human, affecting both heterochromatic regions and euchromatin. We describe a novel, 15 Mb long paracentric inversion, inv(21)(q21.1q22.11), affecting more than a third of human 21q. Despite of its length, the inversion cannot be detected using karyotyping due to similar band patterns on the normal and inverted chromosomes, and is therefore likely to escape attention. Its identification was aided by the repeated observation of the same pair of 150 kb long duplications present in cis on chromosome 21 in three Czech families subjected to microarray analysis. The finding prompted us to hypothesise that this co-occurrence of two remote duplications could be associated with an inversion of the intervening segment, and this speculation turned out to be right. The inversion was confirmed in a series of FISH experiments which also showed that the second copy of each of the duplications was always located at the opposite end of the inversion. The presence of the same pair of duplications in additional individuals reported in public databases indicates that the inversion may also be present in other populations. Three out of the total of about 4000 chromosomes 21 examined in our sample carried the duplications and were inverted, corresponding to carrier frequency of about 1/660. Although the breakpoints affect protein-coding genes, the occurrence of the inversion in normal parents and siblings of our patients and the occurrence of the duplications in unaffected controls in databases indicate that this rare variant is rather non-pathogenic. The inverted segment carried an identical shared haplotype in the three families studied. The haplotypes, however, diverged very rapidly in the flanking regions, possibly pointing to an ancient founder event at the origin of the

  15. Endoscopic ultrasonography and rectal duplication cyst in an adult.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro-Poças, Fernando M; Araújo, Tarcísio P; Silva, Jorge D; Gonçalves, Vicente S

    2017-01-01

    Rectal duplication cysts account for 4% of all duplications of the alimentary tract. Presentation in adulthood is rare. An asymptomatic 54-year-old man was referred for endoscopic colorectal cancer screening. A bulging mass covered by normal mucosa was identified in the rectum. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) with fine needle aspiration (FNA) was made for a diagnosis of rectal duplication cyst. The patient was operated and the diagnosis was confirmed. The diagnosis of the rectal duplication cyst is a challenge. EUS may have a singular role when identifying a muscular layer, because this is the only absolutely necessary criterion for the diagnosis. FNA by EUS may eventually identify colorectal and/or heterotypic epithelium that are the other diagnostic criteria of the duplication cyst.

  16. Targeted tandem duplication of a large chromosomal segment in Aspergillus oryzae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Tadashi; Sato, Atsushi; Ogawa, Masahiro; Hanya, Yoshiki; Oguma, Tetsuya

    2014-08-01

    We describe here the first successful construction of a targeted tandem duplication of a large chromosomal segment in Aspergillus oryzae. The targeted tandem chromosomal duplication was achieved by using strains that had a 5'-deleted pyrG upstream of the region targeted for tandem chromosomal duplication and a 3'-deleted pyrG downstream of the target region. Consequently,strains bearing a 210-kb targeted tandem chromosomal duplication near the centromeric region of chromosome 8 and strains bearing a targeted tandem chromosomal duplication of a 700-kb region of chromosome 2 were successfully constructed. The strains bearing the tandem chromosomal duplication were efficiently obtained from the regenerated protoplast of the parental strains. However, the generation of the chromosomal duplication did not depend on the introduction of double-stranded breaks(DSBs) by I-SceI. The chromosomal duplications of these strains were stably maintained after five generations of culture under nonselective conditions. The strains bearing the tandem chromosomal duplication in the 700-kb region of chromosome 2 showed highly increased protease activity in solid-state culture, indicating that the duplication of large chromosomal segments could be a useful new breeding technology and gene analysis method.

  17. Efficient Algorithms for Analyzing Segmental Duplications, Deletions, and Inversions in Genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahn, Crystal L.; Mozes, Shay; Raphael, Benjamin J.

    Segmental duplications, or low-copy repeats, are common in mammalian genomes. In the human genome, most segmental duplications are mosaics consisting of pieces of multiple other segmental duplications. This complex genomic organization complicates analysis of the evolutionary history of these sequences. Earlier, we introduced a genomic distance, called duplication distance, that computes the most parsimonious way to build a target string by repeatedly copying substrings of a source string. We also showed how to use this distance to describe the formation of segmental duplications according to a two-step model that has been proposed to explain human segmental duplications. Here we describe polynomial-time exact algorithms for several extensions of duplication distance including models that allow certain types of substring deletions and inversions. These extensions will permit more biologically realistic analyses of segmental duplications in genomes.

  18. Evaluating, Comparing, and Interpreting Protein Domain Hierarchies

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Abstract Arranging protein domain sequences hierarchically into evolutionarily divergent subgroups is important for investigating evolutionary history, for speeding up web-based similarity searches, for identifying sequence determinants of protein function, and for genome annotation. However, whether or not a particular hierarchy is optimal is often unclear, and independently constructed hierarchies for the same domain can often differ significantly. This article describes methods for statistically evaluating specific aspects of a hierarchy, for probing the criteria underlying its construction and for direct comparisons between hierarchies. Information theoretical notions are used to quantify the contributions of specific hierarchical features to the underlying statistical model. Such features include subhierarchies, sequence subgroups, individual sequences, and subgroup-associated signature patterns. Underlying properties are graphically displayed in plots of each specific feature's contributions, in heat maps of pattern residue conservation, in “contrast alignments,” and through cross-mapping of subgroups between hierarchies. Together, these approaches provide a deeper understanding of protein domain functional divergence, reveal uncertainties caused by inconsistent patterns of sequence conservation, and help resolve conflicts between competing hierarchies. PMID:24559108

  19. Immunohistochemical findings in rectal duplication mimicking rectal prolapse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortese, M G; Pucci, A; Macchieraldo, R; Sacco Casamassima, M G; Canavese, F

    2008-08-01

    Alimentary tract duplications represent rare anomalies, with only 5 % occurring in the rectum. The variety in clinical presentation may lead to a delay in diagnosis or to incorrect and multiple surgical procedures. We report the clinical, histological and immunohistochemical characteristics of a rectal duplication occurring in a 3-month-old male with an unusual clinical presentation. Using routine histology and immunohistochemistry, the rectal duplication showed the diffuse presence of gastric mucosa with a characteristic immunophenotype (i.e., diffuse cytokeratin 7 positivity and scattered chromogranin immunoreactivity). As far as we know, this is the first report showing an immunohistochemical differentiation pattern of gastric lining in a rectal duplication. Our results, showing the presence of gastric mucosa, are suggestive of a possible origin from the embryonic foregut.

  20. Sorting by Cuts, Joins, and Whole Chromosome Duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeira, Ron; Shamir, Ron

    2017-02-01

    Genome rearrangement problems have been extensively studied due to their importance in biology. Most studied models assumed a single copy per gene. However, in reality, duplicated genes are common, most notably in cancer. In this study, we make a step toward handling duplicated genes by considering a model that allows the atomic operations of cut, join, and whole chromosome duplication. Given two linear genomes, [Formula: see text] with one copy per gene and [Formula: see text] with two copies per gene, we give a linear time algorithm for computing a shortest sequence of operations transforming [Formula: see text] into [Formula: see text] such that all intermediate genomes are linear. We also show that computing an optimal sequence with fewest duplications is NP-hard.

  1. Bilateral duplication of the internal auditory canal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weon, Young Cheol; Kim, Jae Hyoung; Choi, Sung Kyu; Koo, Ja-Won

    2007-01-01

    Duplication of the internal auditory canal is an extremely rare temporal bone anomaly that is believed to result from aplasia or hypoplasia of the vestibulocochlear nerve. We report bilateral duplication of the internal auditory canal in a 28-month-old boy with developmental delay and sensorineural hearing loss. (orig.)

  2. HD-PTP is a catalytically inactive tyrosine phosphatase due to a conserved divergence in its phosphatase domain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie-Claude Gingras

    Full Text Available The HD-PTP protein has been described as a tumor suppressor candidate and based on its amino acid sequence, categorized as a classical non-transmembrane protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP. To date, no HD-PTP phosphorylated substrate has been identified and controversial results concerning its catalytic activity have been recently reported.Here we report a rigorous enzymatic analysis demonstrating that the HD-PTP protein does not harbor tyrosine phosphatase or lipid phosphatase activity using the highly sensitive DiFMUP substrate and a panel of different phosphatidylinositol phosphates. We found that HD-PTP tyrosine phosphatase inactivity is caused by an evolutionary conserved amino acid divergence of a key residue located in the HD-PTP phosphatase domain since its back mutation is sufficient to restore the HD-PTP tyrosine phosphatase activity. Moreover, in agreement with a tumor suppressor activity, HD-PTP expression leads to colony growth reduction in human cancer cell lines, independently of its catalytic PTP activity status.In summary, we demonstrate that HD-PTP is a catalytically inactive protein tyrosine phosphatase. As such, we identify one residue involved in its inactivation and show that its colony growth reduction activity is independent of its PTP activity status in human cancer cell lines.

  3. [Colonic duplication revealed by intestinal obstruction due to fecal impaction].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azahouani, A; Hida, M; Benhaddou, H

    2015-12-01

    Colonic duplications are very rare in children. With rectal duplications, they are the rarest locations of alimentary tract duplications, most often diagnosed in the first years of life. We report an unusual case of colic duplication with fecal impaction in a 9-month-old boy revealed by intestinal obstruction. We discuss the main diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this malformation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  4. Gene Duplicability of Core Genes Is Highly Consistent across All Angiosperms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhen; Defoort, Jonas; Tasdighian, Setareh; Maere, Steven; Van de Peer, Yves; De Smet, Riet

    2016-02-01

    Gene duplication is an important mechanism for adding to genomic novelty. Hence, which genes undergo duplication and are preserved following duplication is an important question. It has been observed that gene duplicability, or the ability of genes to be retained following duplication, is a nonrandom process, with certain genes being more amenable to survive duplication events than others. Primarily, gene essentiality and the type of duplication (small-scale versus large-scale) have been shown in different species to influence the (long-term) survival of novel genes. However, an overarching view of "gene duplicability" is lacking, mainly due to the fact that previous studies usually focused on individual species and did not account for the influence of genomic context and the time of duplication. Here, we present a large-scale study in which we investigated duplicate retention for 9178 gene families shared between 37 flowering plant species, referred to as angiosperm core gene families. For most gene families, we observe a strikingly consistent pattern of gene duplicability across species, with gene families being either primarily single-copy or multicopy in all species. An intermediate class contains gene families that are often retained in duplicate for periods extending to tens of millions of years after whole-genome duplication, but ultimately appear to be largely restored to singleton status, suggesting that these genes may be dosage balance sensitive. The distinction between single-copy and multicopy gene families is reflected in their functional annotation, with single-copy genes being mainly involved in the maintenance of genome stability and organelle function and multicopy genes in signaling, transport, and metabolism. The intermediate class was overrepresented in regulatory genes, further suggesting that these represent putative dosage-balance-sensitive genes. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

  5. Craniofacial duplication (diprosopus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turpin, I M; Furnas, D W; Amlie, R N

    1981-02-01

    No congenital malformation in infants is more profound than anterior craniofacial duplication. The precise term for this rare anomaly is diprosopus, referring to a fetus with a single trunk, normal limbs, and varying degrees of facial duplication. A search of the world literature produced only 16 cases of diprosopus since 1864. Despite the rarity of this anomaly, three such infants were born in the Southern California area during the past year, making this the largest reported series to date. The three infants were born with two distinctly formed faces. Each had four separate eyes, two mouths, two noses, and two ears with a primitive ear or sinus tract at the plane of fusion. In addition, multiple congenital aberrations existed which involved a variety of internal organs. The pathogenesis of diprosopus is not well understood, but environmental stress early in embryologic development has been suggested as a possible factor. The apparent mechanism is a slowing of pregastrulation oxidation with resultant focal developmental arrests.

  6. Analysis of the 9p21.3 sequence associated with coronary artery disease reveals a tendency for duplication in a CAD patient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kouprina, Natalay; Noskov, Vladimir N.; Waterfall, Joshua J.; Walker, Robert L.; Meltzer, Paul S.; Topol, Eric J.; Larionov, Vladimir

    2018-01-01

    Tandem segmental duplications (SDs) greater than 10 kb are widespread in complex genomes. They provide material for gene divergence and evolutionary adaptation, while formation of specific de novo SDs is a hallmark of cancer and some human diseases. Most SDs map to distinct genomic regions termed ‘duplication blocks’. SDs organization within these blocks is often poorly characterized as they are mosaics of ancestral duplicons juxtaposed with younger duplicons arising from more recent duplication events. Structural and functional analysis of SDs is further hampered as long repetitive DNA structures are underrepresented in existing BAC and YAC libraries. We applied Transformation-Associated Recombination (TAR) cloning, a versatile technique for large DNA manipulation, to selectively isolate the coronary artery disease (CAD) interval sequence within the 9p21.3 chromosome locus from a patient with coronary artery disease and normal individuals. Four tandem head-to-tail duplicons, each ∼50 kb long, were recovered in the patient but not in normal individuals. Sequence analysis revealed that the repeats varied by 10-15 SNPs between each other and by 82 SNPs between the human genome sequence (version hg19). SNPs polymorphism within the junctions between repeats allowed two junction types to be distinguished, Type 1 and Type 2, which were found at a 2:1 ratio. The junction sequences contained an Alu element, a sequence previously shown to play a role in duplication. Knowledge of structural variation in the CAD interval from more patients could help link this locus to cardiovascular diseases susceptibility, and maybe relevant to other cases of regional amplification, including cancer. PMID:29632643

  7. Duplication of the Portal Vein: A Case Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Sang Won; Shin, Hyeong Cheol; Jou, Sung Shick; Han, Jong Kyu; Kim, Il Young [Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan (Korea, Republic of)

    2009-12-15

    The duplication of the portal vein is an uncommon congenital anomaly. To date, only four cases have been reported in the medical literature. This anomaly can cause portal hypertension in pediatric patients. In addition, duplication of the portal vein has various patterns of connection with a splenic vein or mesenteric veins, and it can lie anterior or posterior to the duodenum. We report the MDCT findings of an adult patient with duplication of the portal vein that was found incidentally

  8. On fictitious domain formulations for Maxwell's equations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dahmen, W.; Jensen, Torben Klint; Urban, K.

    2003-01-01

    We consider fictitious domain-Lagrange multiplier formulations for variational problems in the space H(curl: Omega) derived from Maxwell's equations. Boundary conditions and the divergence constraint are imposed weakly by using Lagrange multipliers. Both the time dependent and time harmonic formu...

  9. The origin of the 5S ribosomal RNA molecule could have been caused by a single inverse duplication: strong evidence from its sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branciamore, Sergio; Di Giulio, Massimo

    2012-04-01

    The secondary structure of the 5S ribosomal RNA (5S rRNA) molecule shows a high degree of symmetry. In order to explain the origin of this symmetry, it has been conjectured that one half of the 5S rRNA molecule was its precursor and that an indirect duplication of this precursor created the other half and thus the current symmetry of the molecule. Here, we have subjected to an empirical test both the indirect duplication model, analysing a total of 684 5S rRNA sequences for complementarity between the two halves of the 5S rRNA, and the direct duplication model analysing in this case the similarity between the two halves of this molecule. In intra- and inter-molecule and intra- and inter-domain comparisons, we find a high statistical support to the hypothesis of a complementarity relationship between the two halves of the 5S rRNA molecule, denying vice versa the hypothesis of similarity between these halves. Therefore, these observations corroborate the indirect duplication model at the expense of the direct duplication model, as reason of the origin of the 5S rRNA molecule. More generally, we discuss and favour the hypothesis that all RNAs and proteins, which present symmetry, did so through gene duplication and not by gradualistic accumulation of few monomers or segments of molecule into a gradualistic growth process. This would be the consequence of the very high propensity that nucleic acids have to be subjected to duplications.

  10. SOXE neofunctionalization and elaboration of the neural crest during chordate evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tai, Andrew; Cheung, Martin; Huang, Yong-Heng; Jauch, Ralf; Bronner, Marianne E.; Cheah, Kathryn S. E.

    2016-01-01

    During chordate evolution, two genome-wide duplications facilitated acquisition of vertebrate traits, including emergence of neural crest cells (NCCs), in which neofunctionalization of the duplicated genes are thought to have facilitated development of craniofacial structures and the peripheral nervous system. How these duplicated genes evolve and acquire the ability to specify NC and their derivatives are largely unknown. Vertebrate SoxE paralogues, most notably Sox9/10, are essential for NC induction, delamination and lineage specification. In contrast, the basal chordate, amphioxus, has a single SoxE gene and lacks NC-like cells. Here, we test the hypothesis that duplication and divergence of an ancestral SoxE gene may have facilitated elaboration of NC lineages. By using an in vivo expression assay to compare effects of AmphiSoxE and vertebrate Sox9 on NC development, we demonstrate that all SOXE proteins possess similar DNA binding and homodimerization properties and can induce NCCs. However, AmphiSOXE is less efficient than SOX9 in transactivation activity and in the ability to preferentially promote glial over neuronal fate, a difference that lies within the combined properties of amino terminal and transactivation domains. We propose that acquisition of AmphiSoxE expression in the neural plate border led to NCC emergence while duplication and divergence produced advantageous mutations in vertebrate homologues, promoting elaboration of NC traits. PMID:27734831

  11. Typewriting: Toward Duplicating Success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orsborn, Karen J.

    1977-01-01

    A description of two projects (secretarial handbook and memo pad and personalized stationery) for use in teaching the duplication process that will capture the interests of students in an advanced typewriting class. (HD)

  12. Identification of approximately duplicate material records in ERP systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zong, Wei; Wu, Feng; Chu, Lap-Keung; Sculli, Domenic

    2017-03-01

    The quality of master data is crucial for the accurate functioning of the various modules of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This study addresses specific data problems arising from the generation of approximately duplicate material records in ERP databases. Such problems are mainly due to the firm's lack of unique and global identifiers for the material records, and to the arbitrary assignment of alternative names for the same material by various users. Traditional duplicate detection methods are ineffective in identifying such approximately duplicate material records because these methods typically rely on string comparisons of each field. To address this problem, a machine learning-based framework is developed to recognise semantic similarity between strings and to further identify and reunify approximately duplicate material records - a process referred to as de-duplication in this article. First, the keywords of the material records are extracted to form vectors of discriminating words. Second, a machine learning method using a probabilistic neural network is applied to determine the semantic similarity between these material records. The approach was evaluated using data from a real case study. The test results indicate that the proposed method outperforms traditional algorithms in identifying approximately duplicate material records.

  13. Chromosomal duplication strains of Aspergillus nidulans and their instability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azevedo, J.L. de; Almeida Okino, L.M. de

    1981-01-01

    Strains of Aspergillus nidulans with chromosomal duplication were obtained after gamma irradiation followed by crossing of the translocated strains with normal strains. From 20 analysed colonies, 12 have shown translocations induced by irradiation. Segregants from four of these translocation strains crossed to normal strains have shown to be unstable although presenting normal morphology. Two segregants were genetically analysed. The first one has shown a duplication of part of linkage groups VIII and the second one presented a duplication of a segment of linkage group V. These new duplication strains in A. nidulans open new perspectives of a more detailed study of the instability phenomenon in this fungus. (Author) [pt

  14. Finding Commonalities: Social Information Processing and Domain Theory in the Study of Aggression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nucci, Larry

    2004-01-01

    The Arsenio and Lemerise (this issue) proposal integrating social information processing (SIP) and domain theory to study children's aggression is evaluated from a domain theory perspective. Basic tenets of domain theory rendering it compatible with SIP are discussed as well as points of divergence. Focus is directed to the proposition that…

  15. Divergent series: from Thomas Bayes’s bewilderment to today’s resurgence via the rainbow

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2014-01-01

    Following the discovery in 1747 that Stirling’s series for the factorial is divergent, the study of asymptotic series has advanced so that today it is possible to sum the divergent tails of many series with an accuracy far beyond that of the smallest term. Key advances by Euler, Stokes, Dingle and Écalle unify the different series corresponding to different parameter domains, culminating in the concept of resurgence: quantifying the way in which the low orders of such series reappear in the high orders.

  16. The medaka novel immune-type receptor (NITR gene clusters reveal an extraordinary degree of divergence in variable domains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Litman Gary W

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Novel immune-type receptor (NITR genes are members of diversified multigene families that are found in bony fish and encode type I transmembrane proteins containing one or two extracellular immunoglobulin (Ig domains. The majority of NITRs can be classified as inhibitory receptors that possess cytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motifs (ITIMs. A much smaller number of NITRs can be classified as activating receptors by the lack of cytoplasmic ITIMs and presence of a positively charged residue within their transmembrane domain, which permits partnering with an activating adaptor protein. Results Forty-four NITR genes in medaka (Oryzias latipes are located in three gene clusters on chromosomes 10, 18 and 21 and can be organized into 24 families including inhibitory and activating forms. The particularly large dataset acquired in medaka makes direct comparison possible to another complete dataset acquired in zebrafish in which NITRs are localized in two clusters on different chromosomes. The two largest medaka NITR gene clusters share conserved synteny with the two zebrafish NITR gene clusters. Shared synteny between NITRs and CD8A/CD8B is limited but consistent with a potential common ancestry. Conclusion Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses between the complete datasets of NITRs from medaka and zebrafish indicate multiple species-specific expansions of different families of NITRs. The patterns of sequence variation among gene family members are consistent with recent birth-and-death events. Similar effects have been observed with mammalian immunoglobulin (Ig, T cell antigen receptor (TCR and killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR genes. NITRs likely diverged along an independent pathway from that of the somatically rearranging antigen binding receptors but have undergone parallel evolution of V family diversity.

  17. Partial duplication of head--a rare congenital anomaly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemachandran, Manikkapurath; Radotra, Bishan Dass

    2004-10-01

    Duplication of notochord results in rare congenital anomalies like double headed monsters, with or without trunk/limb duplication, depending upon the extent of notochordal abnormality. Here we describe the morphological abnormalities in a case of partial duplication of cranial structures with fusion of the two. Autopsy findings suggest that the bifurcation of the neural tube took place around 4th to 6th week of gestation. There are only few reports in English literature describing the autopsy findings of such an anomaly, which is termed as Diprosopus triophthalmus in the modern literature.

  18. Duplication of the Left Vertebral Artery Origin: A Case Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shin, Sang Wook; Park, Dong Woo; Park, Choong Ki; Lee, Young Jun [Dept. of Radiology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Guri (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-01-15

    Duplication of vertebral arteries is a very rare but clinically important condition. A duplicated vertebral artery origin can influence hemodynamics, pathogenesis of vascular lesions and treatment options. In cases of vertebral artery duplication, the vertebral arteries generally enter the transverse foramen higher up than normal. Awareness of these vertebral artery variants before procedures, such as neurointervention or surgery, may be beneficial. Here, we describe a case of a 51-year-old female patient with left vertebral artery duplication which was detected incidentally.

  19. Duplication of the Left Vertebral Artery Origin: A Case Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Sang Wook; Park, Dong Woo; Park, Choong Ki; Lee, Young Jun

    2013-01-01

    Duplication of vertebral arteries is a very rare but clinically important condition. A duplicated vertebral artery origin can influence hemodynamics, pathogenesis of vascular lesions and treatment options. In cases of vertebral artery duplication, the vertebral arteries generally enter the transverse foramen higher up than normal. Awareness of these vertebral artery variants before procedures, such as neurointervention or surgery, may be beneficial. Here, we describe a case of a 51-year-old female patient with left vertebral artery duplication which was detected incidentally.

  20. Ancient duplications and functional divergence in the interferon regulatory factors of vertebrates provide insights into the evolution of vertebrate immune systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Kang; Zhong, Zaixuan; Fang, Chengchi; Dai, Wei; Shen, Yanjun; Gan, Xiaoni; He, Shunping

    2018-04-01

    Interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) were first discovered as transcription factors that regulate the transcription of human interferon (IFN)-β. Increasing evidence shows that they might be important players involved in Adaptive immune system (AIS) evolution. Although numbers of IRFs have been identified in chordates, the evolutionary history and functional diversity of this gene family during the early evolution of vertebrates have remained obscure. Using IRF HMM profile and HMMER searches, we identified 148 IRFs in 11 vertebrates and 4 protochordates. For them, we reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships, determined the synteny conservation, investigated the profile of natural selection, and analyzed the expression patterns in four "living fossil" vertebrates: lamprey, elephant shark, coelacanth and bichir. The results from phylogeny and synteny analysis imply that vertebrate IRFs evolved from three predecessors, instead of four as suggested in a previous study, as results from an ancient duplication followed by special expansions and lost during the vertebrate evolution. The profile of natural selection and expression reveals functional dynamics during the process. Together, they suggest that the 2nd whole-genome duplication (2WGD) provided raw materials for innovation in the IRF family, and that the birth of type-I IFN might be an important factor inducing the establishment of IRF-mediated immune networks. As a member involved in the AIS evolution, IRF provide insights into the process and mechanism involved in the complexity and novelties of vertebrate immune systems. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  1. Rectal duplication cyst in adults treated with transanal endoscopic microsurgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben-Ishay, O; Person, B; Eran, B; Hershkovitz, D; Duek, D Simon

    2011-12-01

    Rectal duplication cyst is a rare entity that accounts for approximately 4% of all alimentary tract duplications. To the best of our knowledge, the presented cases are the first reports in the English literature of rectal duplication cyst resection by transanal endoscopic microsurgery. We present two patients; both are 41-year-old women with a palpable rectal mass. Workup revealed a submucosal posterior mass that was then resected by transanal endoscopic microsurgery. The pathology report described cystic lesions with squamous and columnar epithelium and segments of smooth muscle. These findings were compatible with rectal duplication cyst. Our limited experience showed good results with minimal morbidity and mortality for resection of rectal duplication cysts of limited size with no evidence of malignancy.

  2. Double-blind ureteral duplication: report of two cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Ja-Young; Kim, Seung Hyup; Kim, Sun Ho

    2002-01-01

    Blind ending of ureteral duplication is one of the most rare anomalies of the upper urinary tract. We report two cases of ureteral duplication with a blind ending both superiorly and inferiorly, and with no definite communication with the urinary tract. (orig.)

  3. Supervised Learning for Detection of Duplicates in Genomic Sequence Databases.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qingyu Chen

    Full Text Available First identified as an issue in 1996, duplication in biological databases introduces redundancy and even leads to inconsistency when contradictory information appears. The amount of data makes purely manual de-duplication impractical, and existing automatic systems cannot detect duplicates as precisely as can experts. Supervised learning has the potential to address such problems by building automatic systems that learn from expert curation to detect duplicates precisely and efficiently. While machine learning is a mature approach in other duplicate detection contexts, it has seen only preliminary application in genomic sequence databases.We developed and evaluated a supervised duplicate detection method based on an expert curated dataset of duplicates, containing over one million pairs across five organisms derived from genomic sequence databases. We selected 22 features to represent distinct attributes of the database records, and developed a binary model and a multi-class model. Both models achieve promising performance; under cross-validation, the binary model had over 90% accuracy in each of the five organisms, while the multi-class model maintains high accuracy and is more robust in generalisation. We performed an ablation study to quantify the impact of different sequence record features, finding that features derived from meta-data, sequence identity, and alignment quality impact performance most strongly. The study demonstrates machine learning can be an effective additional tool for de-duplication of genomic sequence databases. All Data are available as described in the supplementary material.

  4. Supervised Learning for Detection of Duplicates in Genomic Sequence Databases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Qingyu; Zobel, Justin; Zhang, Xiuzhen; Verspoor, Karin

    2016-01-01

    First identified as an issue in 1996, duplication in biological databases introduces redundancy and even leads to inconsistency when contradictory information appears. The amount of data makes purely manual de-duplication impractical, and existing automatic systems cannot detect duplicates as precisely as can experts. Supervised learning has the potential to address such problems by building automatic systems that learn from expert curation to detect duplicates precisely and efficiently. While machine learning is a mature approach in other duplicate detection contexts, it has seen only preliminary application in genomic sequence databases. We developed and evaluated a supervised duplicate detection method based on an expert curated dataset of duplicates, containing over one million pairs across five organisms derived from genomic sequence databases. We selected 22 features to represent distinct attributes of the database records, and developed a binary model and a multi-class model. Both models achieve promising performance; under cross-validation, the binary model had over 90% accuracy in each of the five organisms, while the multi-class model maintains high accuracy and is more robust in generalisation. We performed an ablation study to quantify the impact of different sequence record features, finding that features derived from meta-data, sequence identity, and alignment quality impact performance most strongly. The study demonstrates machine learning can be an effective additional tool for de-duplication of genomic sequence databases. All Data are available as described in the supplementary material.

  5. Endoscopic Decompression and Marsupialization of A Duodenal Duplication Cyst

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliza I-Lin Sin

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Duodenal duplication cysts are rare congenital foregut anomalies, accounting for 2%–12% of all gastrointestinal tract duplications. Surgical excision entails risk of injury to the pancreaticobiliary structures due to proximity or communication with the cyst. We present a case of duodenal duplication cyst in a 3 year-old boy who successfully underwent endoscopic decompression. Case report: AT is a young boy who first presented at 15 months of age with abdominal pain. There was one subsequent episode of pancreatitis. Ultrasonography showed the typical double wall sign of a duplication cyst and magnetic resonance cholangio-pancreatography showed a large 5 cm cyst postero-medial to the second part of the duodenum, communicating with the pancreaticobiliary system and causing dilatation of the proximal duodenum. He subsequently underwent successful endoscopic ultrasound guided decompression at 3 years of age under general anesthesia, and had an uneventful postoperative recovery. Conclusion: Endoscopic ultrasound guided assessment and treatment of gastrointestinal duplication cysts is increasingly reported in adults. To the best of our knowledge, only one case of endoscopic treatment of duodenal duplication cyst, in an older child, has been reported thus far in the paediatric literature. In this paper, we review the current literature and discuss the therapeutic options of this rare condition.

  6. Enteric Duplication Cysts in Children: A Clinicopathological Dilemma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Sonam; Yadav, Amit K; Mandal, Ashish K; Zaheer, Sufian; Yadav, Devendra K; Samie, Amat

    2015-08-01

    Enteric duplication cysts are rare and uncommon congenital malformations formed during the embryonic period of the development of human digestive system and are mainly encountered during infancy or early childhood, but seldom in adults. The clinical presentation is extremely variable depending upon its size, location and type. We present six cases of enteric duplication cysts with diverse clinico-pathological features. This study was carried out in the Department of Pathology and Department of Paediatric Surgery, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India for a period of 2 years (January 2013 - December 2014). We retrospectively analyzed six patients of enteric duplication cysts based on data obtained, which consisted of patient's age, sex, clinical presentation, radiological features, operative findings and histopathology report. The data collected was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Six children between age range of 3 days to 10 years had enteric duplication cysts. Two had ileal and one each were of pyloroduodenal, colonic and rectal duplication cyst. In one patient a presumptive diagnosis of enteric duplication cyst was made. Radiology played an important contributory role in diagnosis of these cysts in all the patients but histopathology proved to be gold standard for its confirmation. All these patients were managed by surgical excision. The postoperative and follow up period in all the cases was uneventful. It is important to be aware and make a definitive diagnosis of this rare congenital anomaly as they can present in various clinical forms and can cause significant morbidity and even mortality if left untreated by causing life threatening complications.

  7. Gene duplication, loss and selection in the evolution of saxitoxin biosynthesis in alveolates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Shauna A; Diwan, Rutuja; Orr, Russell J S; Kohli, Gurjeet S; John, Uwe

    2015-11-01

    A group of marine dinoflagellates (Alveolata, Eukaryota), consisting of ∼10 species of the genus Alexandrium, Gymnodinium catenatum and Pyrodinium bahamense, produce the toxin saxitoxin and its analogues (STX), which can accumulate in shellfish, leading to ecosystem and human health impacts. The genes, sxt, putatively involved in STX biosynthesis, have recently been identified, however, the evolution of these genes within dinoflagellates is not clear. There are two reasons for this: uncertainty over the phylogeny of dinoflagellates; and that the sxt genes of many species of Alexandrium and other dinoflagellate genera are not known. Here, we determined the phylogeny of STX-producing and other dinoflagellates based on a concatenated eight-gene alignment. We determined the presence, diversity and phylogeny of sxtA, domains A1 and A4 and sxtG in 52 strains of Alexandrium, and a further 43 species of dinoflagellates and thirteen other alveolates. We confirmed the presence and high sequence conservation of sxtA, domain A4, in 40 strains (35 Alexandrium, 1 Pyrodinium, 4 Gymnodinium) of 8 species of STX-producing dinoflagellates, and absence from non-producing species. We found three paralogs of sxtA, domain A1, and a widespread distribution of sxtA1 in non-STX producing dinoflagellates, indicating duplication events in the evolution of this gene. One paralog, clade 2, of sxtA1 may be particularly related to STX biosynthesis. Similarly, sxtG appears to be generally restricted to STX-producing species, while three amidinotransferase gene paralogs were found in dinoflagellates. We investigated the role of positive (diversifying) selection following duplication in sxtA1 and sxtG, and found negative selection in clades of sxtG and sxtA1, clade 2, suggesting they were functionally constrained. Significant episodic diversifying selection was found in some strains in clade 3 of sxtA1, a clade that may not be involved in STX biosynthesis, indicating pressure for diversification

  8. Penile Duplication and Two Anal Openings; Report of a Very Rare Case

    OpenAIRE

    Bakheet, Mohamed Abdel Al M.; Refaei, Mohammad

    2012-01-01

    Background Penile duplication (diphallus) is an extremely rare disorder. It is almost always associated with other malformations like double bladder, exstrophy of the cloacae, imperforate anus, duplication of the rectosigmoid and vertebral deformities. Meanwhile anal canal duplication, the most distal and least common duplication of the digestive tube and is a very rare congenital malformation. Case Presentation A 21 days old Egyptian neonate is reported with complete penile duplication and t...

  9. Comparative inference of duplicated genes produced by polyploidization in soybean genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yanmei; Wang, Jinpeng; Di, Jianyong

    2013-01-01

    Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important crop plants for providing protein and oil. It is important to investigate soybean genome for its economic and scientific value. Polyploidy is a widespread and recursive phenomenon during plant evolution, and it could generate massive duplicated genes which is an important resource for genetic innovation. Improved sequence alignment criteria and statistical analysis are used to identify and characterize duplicated genes produced by polyploidization in soybean. Based on the collinearity method, duplicated genes by whole genome duplication account for 70.3% in soybean. From the statistical analysis of the molecular distances between duplicated genes, our study indicates that the whole genome duplication event occurred more than once in the genome evolution of soybean, which is often distributed near the ends of chromosomes.

  10. Drosophila duplication hotspots are associated with late-replicating regions of the genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margarida Cardoso-Moreira

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Duplications play a significant role in both extremes of the phenotypic spectrum of newly arising mutations: they can have severe deleterious effects (e.g. duplications underlie a variety of diseases but can also be highly advantageous. The phenotypic potential of newly arisen duplications has stimulated wide interest in both the mutational and selective processes shaping these variants in the genome. Here we take advantage of the Drosophila simulans-Drosophila melanogaster genetic system to further our understanding of both processes. Regarding mutational processes, the study of two closely related species allows investigation of the potential existence of shared duplication hotspots, and the similarities and differences between the two genomes can be used to dissect its underlying causes. Regarding selection, the difference in the effective population size between the two species can be leveraged to ask questions about the strength of selection acting on different classes of duplications. In this study, we conducted a survey of duplication polymorphisms in 14 different lines of D. simulans using tiling microarrays and combined it with an analogous survey for the D. melanogaster genome. By integrating the two datasets, we identified duplication hotspots conserved between the two species. However, unlike the duplication hotspots identified in mammalian genomes, Drosophila duplication hotspots are not associated with sequences of high sequence identity capable of mediating non-allelic homologous recombination. Instead, Drosophila duplication hotspots are associated with late-replicating regions of the genome, suggesting a link between DNA replication and duplication rates. We also found evidence supporting a higher effectiveness of selection on duplications in D. simulans than in D. melanogaster. This is also true for duplications segregating at high frequency, where we find evidence in D. simulans that a sizeable fraction of these mutations is

  11. Antisense-induced exon skipping for duplications in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Ommen Gert-Jan B

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Antisense-mediated exon skipping is currently one of the most promising therapeutic approaches for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD. Using antisense oligonucleotides (AONs targeting specific exons the DMD reading frame is restored and partially functional dystrophins are produced. Following proof of concept in cultured muscle cells from patients with various deletions and point mutations, we now focus on single and multiple exon duplications. These mutations are in principle ideal targets for this approach since the specific skipping of duplicated exons would generate original, full-length transcripts. Methods Cultured muscle cells from DMD patients carrying duplications were transfected with AONs targeting the duplicated exons, and the dystrophin RNA and protein were analyzed. Results For two brothers with an exon 44 duplication, skipping was, even at suboptimal transfection conditions, so efficient that both exons 44 were skipped, thus generating, once more, an out-of-frame transcript. In such cases, one may resort to multi-exon skipping to restore the reading frame, as is shown here by inducing skipping of exon 43 and both exons 44. By contrast, in cells from a patient with an exon 45 duplication we were able to induce single exon 45 skipping, which allowed restoration of wild type dystrophin. The correction of a larger duplication (involving exons 52 to 62, by combinations of AONs targeting the outer exons, appeared problematic due to inefficient skipping and mistargeting of original instead of duplicated exons. Conclusion The correction of DMD duplications by exon skipping depends on the specific exons targeted. Its options vary from the ideal one, restoring for the first time the true, wild type dystrophin, to requiring more 'classical' skipping strategies, while the correction of multi-exon deletions may need the design of tailored approaches.

  12. 40 CFR 25.13 - Coordination and non-duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Coordination and non-duplication. 25.13 Section 25.13 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN... ACT § 25.13 Coordination and non-duplication. The public participation activities and materials that...

  13. Evolutionary Fates and Dynamic Functionalization of Young Duplicate Genes in Arabidopsis Genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jun; Tao, Feng; Marowsky, Nicholas C; Fan, Chuanzhu

    2016-09-01

    Gene duplication is a primary means to generate genomic novelties, playing an essential role in speciation and adaptation. Particularly in plants, a high abundance of duplicate genes has been maintained for significantly long periods of evolutionary time. To address the manner in which young duplicate genes were derived primarily from small-scale gene duplication and preserved in plant genomes and to determine the underlying driving mechanisms, we generated transcriptomes to produce the expression profiles of five tissues in Arabidopsis thaliana and the closely related species Arabidopsis lyrata and Capsella rubella Based on the quantitative analysis metrics, we investigated the evolutionary processes of young duplicate genes in Arabidopsis. We determined that conservation, neofunctionalization, and specialization are three main evolutionary processes for Arabidopsis young duplicate genes. We explicitly demonstrated the dynamic functionalization of duplicate genes along the evolutionary time scale. Upon origination, duplicates tend to maintain their ancestral functions; but as they survive longer, they might be likely to develop distinct and novel functions. The temporal evolutionary processes and functionalization of plant duplicate genes are associated with their ancestral functions, dynamic DNA methylation levels, and histone modification abundances. Furthermore, duplicate genes tend to be initially expressed in pollen and then to gain more interaction partners over time. Altogether, our study provides novel insights into the dynamic retention processes of young duplicate genes in plant genomes. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

  14. Evolution of the duplicated intracellular lipid-binding protein genes of teleost fishes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkatachalam, Ananda B; Parmar, Manoj B; Wright, Jonathan M

    2017-08-01

    Increasing organismal complexity during the evolution of life has been attributed to the duplication of genes and entire genomes. More recently, theoretical models have been proposed that postulate the fate of duplicated genes, among them the duplication-degeneration-complementation (DDC) model. In the DDC model, the common fate of a duplicated gene is lost from the genome owing to nonfunctionalization. Duplicated genes are retained in the genome either by subfunctionalization, where the functions of the ancestral gene are sub-divided between the sister duplicate genes, or by neofunctionalization, where one of the duplicate genes acquires a new function. Both processes occur either by loss or gain of regulatory elements in the promoters of duplicated genes. Here, we review the genomic organization, evolution, and transcriptional regulation of the multigene family of intracellular lipid-binding protein (iLBP) genes from teleost fishes. Teleost fishes possess many copies of iLBP genes owing to a whole genome duplication (WGD) early in the teleost fish radiation. Moreover, the retention of duplicated iLBP genes is substantially higher than the retention of all other genes duplicated in the teleost genome. The fatty acid-binding protein genes, a subfamily of the iLBP multigene family in zebrafish, are differentially regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) isoforms, which may account for the retention of iLBP genes in the zebrafish genome by the process of subfunctionalization of cis-acting regulatory elements in iLBP gene promoters.

  15. Recombination facilitates neofunctionalization of duplicate genes via originalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huang Ren

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recently originalization was proposed to be an effective way of duplicate-gene preservation, in which recombination provokes the high frequency of original (or wild-type allele on both duplicated loci. Because the high frequency of wild-type allele might drive the arising and accumulating of advantageous mutation, it is hypothesized that recombination might enlarge the probability of neofunctionalization (Pneo of duplicate genes. In this article this hypothesis has been tested theoretically. Results Results show that through originalization recombination might not only shorten mean time to neofunctionalizaiton, but also enlarge Pneo. Conclusions Therefore, recombination might facilitate neofunctionalization via originalization. Several extensive applications of these results on genomic evolution have been discussed: 1. Time to nonfunctionalization can be much longer than a few million generations expected before; 2. Homogenization on duplicated loci results from not only gene conversion, but also originalization; 3. Although the rate of advantageous mutation is much small compared with that of degenerative mutation, Pneo cannot be expected to be small.

  16. Female Urethral Duplication: Rare Anomaly with Unusual Presentation

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    UD is classified according to plane (frontal or sagittal) of duplication into different types: (1) Double urethra and double bladder, (2) double urethra with single bladder,. (3) accessory urethra posterior to the normal channel,. (4) double proximal urethra and single distal urethra, and. (5) single proximal urethra and duplicated ...

  17. Gene Duplicability of Core Genes Is Highly Consistent across All Angiosperms[OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhen; Van de Peer, Yves; De Smet, Riet

    2016-01-01

    Gene duplication is an important mechanism for adding to genomic novelty. Hence, which genes undergo duplication and are preserved following duplication is an important question. It has been observed that gene duplicability, or the ability of genes to be retained following duplication, is a nonrandom process, with certain genes being more amenable to survive duplication events than others. Primarily, gene essentiality and the type of duplication (small-scale versus large-scale) have been shown in different species to influence the (long-term) survival of novel genes. However, an overarching view of “gene duplicability” is lacking, mainly due to the fact that previous studies usually focused on individual species and did not account for the influence of genomic context and the time of duplication. Here, we present a large-scale study in which we investigated duplicate retention for 9178 gene families shared between 37 flowering plant species, referred to as angiosperm core gene families. For most gene families, we observe a strikingly consistent pattern of gene duplicability across species, with gene families being either primarily single-copy or multicopy in all species. An intermediate class contains gene families that are often retained in duplicate for periods extending to tens of millions of years after whole-genome duplication, but ultimately appear to be largely restored to singleton status, suggesting that these genes may be dosage balance sensitive. The distinction between single-copy and multicopy gene families is reflected in their functional annotation, with single-copy genes being mainly involved in the maintenance of genome stability and organelle function and multicopy genes in signaling, transport, and metabolism. The intermediate class was overrepresented in regulatory genes, further suggesting that these represent putative dosage-balance-sensitive genes. PMID:26744215

  18. Duplicate retention in signalling proteins and constraints from network dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soyer, O S; Creevey, C J

    2010-11-01

    Duplications are a major driving force behind evolution. Most duplicates are believed to fix through genetic drift, but it is not clear whether this process affects all duplications equally or whether there are certain gene families that are expected to show neutral expansions under certain circumstances. Here, we analyse the neutrality of duplications in different functional classes of signalling proteins based on their effects on response dynamics. We find that duplications involving intermediary proteins in a signalling network are neutral more often than those involving receptors. Although the fraction of neutral duplications in all functional classes increase with decreasing population size and selective pressure on dynamics, this effect is most pronounced for receptors, indicating a possible expansion of receptors in species with small population size. In line with such an expectation, we found a statistically significant increase in the number of receptors as a fraction of genome size in eukaryotes compared with prokaryotes. Although not confirmative, these results indicate that neutral processes can be a significant factor in shaping signalling networks and affect proteins from different functional classes differently. © 2010 The Authors. Journal Compilation © 2010 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

  19. Diverging Cohesion?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Charron, Nicholas

    2016-01-01

    – which we define here as a combination of impartial bureaucratic practices, corruption and the rule of law – limits, and in some cases reverses the tendency towards greater divergence linked to trade. Countries with high levels of state capacity – that is, those that have greater government effectiveness......, stronger rule of law and lower corruption – experience lower levels of divergence, as they have the mechanisms to counterbalance the strong centripetal forces linked to openness. This claim is tested on countries that have experienced relatively high levels of increases in levels of economic and political......Why do increases in globalisation in the face of European expansion lead to sharp levels of regional divergences in wealth in some countries but not in others? The central crux of this paper is that convergence/divergence trends in European states are conditioned by ‘state capacity’. State capacity...

  20. Use of diagnostic imaging in the evaluation of gastrointestinal tract duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laskowska, Katarzyna; Gałązka, Przemysław; Daniluk-Matraś, Irena; Leszczyński, Waldemar; Serafin, Zbigniew

    2014-01-01

    Gastrointestinal tract duplication is a rare malformation associated with the presence of additional segment of the fetal gut. The aim of this study was to retrospectively review clinical features and imaging findings in intraoperatively confirmed cases of gastrointestinal tract duplication in children. The analysis included own material from the years 2002-2012. The analyzed group included 14 children, among them 8 boys and 6 girls. The youngest patient was diagnosed at the age of three weeks, and the oldest at 12 years of age. The duplication cysts were identified in the esophagus (n=2), stomach (n=5), duodenum (n=1), terminal ileum (n=5), and rectum (n=1). In four cases, the duplication coexisted with other anomalies, such as patent urachus, Meckel's diverticulum, mesenteric cyst, and accessory pancreas. Clinical manifestation of gastrointestinal duplication cysts was variable, and some of them were detected accidently. Thin- or thick-walled cystic structures adjacent to the wall of neighboring gastrointestinal segment were documented on diagnostic imaging. Ultrasound and computed tomography are the methods of choice in the evaluation of gastrointestinal duplication cysts. Apart from the diagnosis of the duplication cyst, an important issue is the detection of concomitant developmental pathologies, including pancreatic heterotopy.

  1. Cholecystitis of a duplicated gallbladder complicated by a cholecystoenteric fistula

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang, Brady K. [University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Imaging Sciences, Rochester, NY (United States); Chess, Mitchell A. [University of Rochester Medical Center, Department of Imaging Sciences, Rochester, NY (United States); Advanced Imaging, Batavia, NY (United States)

    2009-04-15

    Gallbladder duplications are uncommon anatomic variants that are sometimes mistaken for other entities on imaging. We present a surgically confirmed case of cholecystitis in a ductular-type duplicated gallbladder complicated by the formation of an inflammatory fistula to the adjacent duodenum. Both US and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography were performed preoperatively, in addition to intraoperative cholangiography, which confirmed the presence of a duplicated gallbladder. (orig.)

  2. Preliminary experiments of electronic duplication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fay, Bernard

    1974-01-01

    Systems of electron sputtering (at the unit scale) use as master mask a photocathode with localized emitting zones. Emitted electrons are accelerated and focussed on a silicon substrate covered with an electrosensitive resin. The very high definition associated with electron masking is obtained whatever the complexity of the master mask is, for a printing duration of the order of the minute. This is a duplication method without any contact that prevents the master mask from any mechanical erosion. Alignment of the successive masks is obtained from an electric signal directly usable through an automatic alignment system. Experiments using the apparatus for reproducing masks through an electronic image or ''electronic duplicator'' developed in Thomson-CSF Laboratory at Corbeville, are presented [fr

  3. Evolution and Expansion of the Prokaryote-Like Lipoxygenase Family in the Brown Alga Saccharina japonica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linhong Teng

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Lipoxygenase (LOX plays important roles in fatty acid oxidation and lipid mediator biosynthesis. In this study, we give first insights into brown algal LOX evolution. Whole genome searches revealed four, three, and eleven LOXs in Ectocarpus siliculosus, Cladosiphon okamuranus, and Saccharina japonica, respectively. In phylogenetic analyses, LOXs from brown algae form a robust clade with those from prokaryotes, suggesting an ancestral origin and slow evolution. Brown algal LOXs were divided into two clades, C1 and C2 in a phylogenetic tree. Compared to the two species of Ectocarpales, LOX gene expansion occurred in the kelp S. japonica through tandem duplication and segmental duplication. Selection pressure analysis showed that LOX genes in brown algae have undergone strong purifying selection, while the selective constraint in the C2 clade was more relaxed than that in the C1 clade. Furthermore, within each clade, LOXs of S. japonica evolved under more relaxed selection constraints than E. siliculosus and C. okamuranus. Structural modeling showed that unlike LOXs of plants and animals, which contain a β barrel in the N-terminal part of the protein, LOXs in brown algae fold into a single domain. Analysis of previously published transcriptomic data showed that LOXs in E. siliculosus are responsive to hyposaline, hypersaline, oxidative, and copper stresses. Moreover, clear divergence of expression patterns was observed among different life stages, as well as between duplicate gene pairs. In E. siliculosus, all four LOXs are male-biased in immature gametophytes, and mature gametophytes showed significantly higher LOX mRNA levels than immature gametophytes and sporophytes. In S. japonica, however, our RNA-Seq data showed that most LOXs are highly expressed in sporophytes. Even the most recently duplicated gene pairs showed divergent expression patterns, suggesting that functional divergence has likely occurred since LOX genes duplicated, which

  4. Centrioles: duplicating precariously.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelletier, Laurence

    2007-09-04

    To assemble a mitotic spindle and accurately segregate chromosomes to progeny, a cell needs to precisely regulate its centrosome number, a feat largely accomplished through the tight control of centriole duplication. Recent work showing that the overexpression of centriolar proteins can lead to the formation of multiple centrioles in the absence of pre-existing centrioles challenges the idea that it is a self-replicating organelle.

  5. Ruptured rectal duplication with urogenital abnormality: Unusual presentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solanki, Shailesh; Babu, M Narendra; Jadhav, Vinay; Shankar, Gowri; Santhanakrishnan, Ramesh

    2015-01-01

    Rectal duplication (RD) accounts for 5% of alimentary tract duplication. A varied presentation and associated anomalies have been described in the literature. Antenatal rupture of the RD is very rare. We present an unusual case of a ruptured RD associated with urogenital abnormalities in newborn male. We are discussing diagnosis, embryology, management and literature review of ruptured RD.

  6. Expression Pattern Similarities Support the Prediction of Orthologs Retaining Common Functions after Gene Duplication Events1[OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberer, Georg; Panda, Arup; Das Laha, Shayani; Ghosh, Tapas Chandra; Schäffner, Anton R.

    2016-01-01

    The identification of functionally equivalent, orthologous genes (functional orthologs) across genomes is necessary for accurate transfer of experimental knowledge from well-characterized organisms to others. This frequently relies on automated, coding sequence-based approaches such as OrthoMCL, Inparanoid, and KOG, which usually work well for one-to-one homologous states. However, this strategy does not reliably work for plants due to the occurrence of extensive gene/genome duplication. Frequently, for one query gene, multiple orthologous genes are predicted in the other genome, and it is not clear a priori from sequence comparison and similarity which one preserves the ancestral function. We have studied 11 organ-dependent and stress-induced gene expression patterns of 286 Arabidopsis lyrata duplicated gene groups and compared them with the respective Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genes to predict putative expressologs and nonexpressologs based on gene expression similarity. Promoter sequence divergence as an additional tool to substantiate functional orthology only partially overlapped with expressolog classification. By cloning eight A. lyrata homologs and complementing them in the respective four Arabidopsis loss-of-function mutants, we experimentally proved that predicted expressologs are indeed functional orthologs, while nonexpressologs or nonfunctionalized orthologs are not. Our study demonstrates that even a small set of gene expression data in addition to sequence homologies are instrumental in the assignment of functional orthologs in the presence of multiple orthologs. PMID:27303025

  7. Colonic duplication in adults: Report of two cases presenting with rectal bleeding

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    C Fotiadis; M Genetzakis; I Papandreou; EP Misiakos; E Agapitos; GC Zografos

    2005-01-01

    Gastrointestinal duplication is an uncommon congenital abnormality in two-thirds of cases manifesting before the age of 2 years. Ileal duplication is common while colonic duplication, either cystic or tubular, is a rather unusual clinical entity that remains asymptomatic and undiagnosed in most cases. Mostly occurring in pediatric patients,colonic duplication is encountered in adults only in a few cases. This study reports two cases of colonic duplication in adults. Both cases presented with rectal bleeding on admission. The study was focused on clinical, imaging,histological, and therapeutical aspects of the presenting cases. Gastrografin enema established the diagnosis in both cases. The cystic structure and the adjacent part of the colon were excised en-block. The study implies that colonic duplication, though uncommon, should be included in the differential diagnosis of rectal bleeding.

  8. Colonic duplication in adults: report of two cases presenting with rectal bleeding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fotiadis, C; Genetzakis, M; Papandreou, I; Misiakos, E P; Agapitos, E; Zografos, G C

    2005-08-28

    Gastrointestinal duplication is an uncommon congenital abnormality in two-thirds of cases manifesting before the age of 2 years. Ileal duplication is common while colonic duplication, either cystic or tubular, is a rather unusual clinical entity that remains asymptomatic and undiagnosed in most cases. Mostly occurring in pediatric patients, colonic duplication is encountered in adults only in a few cases. This study reports two cases of colonic duplication in adults. Both cases presented with rectal bleeding on admission. The study was focused on clinical, imaging, histological, and therapeutical aspects of the presenting cases. Gastrografin enema established the diagnosis in both cases. The cystic structure and the adjacent part of the colon were excised en-block. The study implies that colonic duplication, though uncommon, should be included in the differential diagnosis of rectal bleeding.

  9. Divergence of RNA polymerase α subunits in angiosperm plastid genomes is mediated by genomic rearrangement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blazier, J Chris; Ruhlman, Tracey A; Weng, Mao-Lun; Rehman, Sumaiyah K; Sabir, Jamal S M; Jansen, Robert K

    2016-04-18

    Genes for the plastid-encoded RNA polymerase (PEP) persist in the plastid genomes of all photosynthetic angiosperms. However, three unrelated lineages (Annonaceae, Passifloraceae and Geraniaceae) have been identified with unusually divergent open reading frames (ORFs) in the conserved region of rpoA, the gene encoding the PEP α subunit. We used sequence-based approaches to evaluate whether these genes retain function. Both gene sequences and complete plastid genome sequences were assembled and analyzed from each of the three angiosperm families. Multiple lines of evidence indicated that the rpoA sequences are likely functional despite retaining as low as 30% nucleotide sequence identity with rpoA genes from outgroups in the same angiosperm order. The ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous substitutions indicated that these genes are under purifying selection, and bioinformatic prediction of conserved domains indicated that functional domains are preserved. One of the lineages (Pelargonium, Geraniaceae) contains species with multiple rpoA-like ORFs that show evidence of ongoing inter-paralog gene conversion. The plastid genomes containing these divergent rpoA genes have experienced extensive structural rearrangement, including large expansions of the inverted repeat. We propose that illegitimate recombination, not positive selection, has driven the divergence of rpoA.

  10. Ruptured rectal duplication with urogenital abnormality: Unusual presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shailesh Solanki

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Rectal duplication (RD accounts for 5% of alimentary tract duplication. A varied presentation and associated anomalies have been described in the literature. Antenatal rupture of the RD is very rare. We present an unusual case of a ruptured RD associated with urogenital abnormalities in newborn male. We are discussing diagnosis, embryology, management and literature review of ruptured RD.

  11. Gastric duplication cyst: A cause of rectal bleeding in a young child.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surridge, Clare A; Goodier, Matthew D

    2014-01-01

    Gastric duplication cysts are an uncommon congenital anomaly and rectal bleeding is a rare presentation of a complicated gastric duplication cyst. This case report describes the radiological findings in a child with a complicated gastric duplication cyst.

  12. Dynamic Delayed Duplicate Detection for External Memory Model Checking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Evangelista, Sami

    2008-01-01

    Duplicate detection is an expensive operation of disk-based model checkers. It consists of comparing some potentially new states, the candidate states, to previous visited states. We propose a new approach to this technique called dynamic delayed duplicate detection. This one exploits some typical...

  13. Spinal Accessory Nerve Duplication: A Case Report and Literature Review

    OpenAIRE

    Papagianni, Eleni; Kosmidou, Panagiota; Fergadaki, Sotiria; Pallantzas, Athanasios; Skandalakis, Panagiotis; Filippou, Dimitrios

    2018-01-01

    Aim of the present study is to expand our knowledge of the anatomy of the 11th cranial nerve and discuss the clinical importance and literature pertaining to accessory nerve duplication. We present one case of duplicated spinal accessory nerve in a patient undergoing neck dissection for oral cavity cancer. The literature review confirms the extremely rare diagnosis of a duplicated accessory nerve. Its clinical implication is of great importance. From this finding, a further extension to our k...

  14. Duplicate Address Detection Table in IPv6 Mobile Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alisherov, Farkhod; Kim, Taihoon

    In IP networks, each computer or communication equipment needs an IP address. To supply enough IP addresses, the new Internet protocol IPv6 is used in next generatoion mobile communication. Although IPv6 improves the existing IPv4 Internet protocol, Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) mechanism may consume resources and suffer from long delay. DAD is used to ensure whether the IP address is unique or not. When a mobile node performs an inter-domain handoff, it will first generate a new IP and perform a DAD procedure. The DAD procedure not only wastes time but also increases the signaling load on Internet. In this paper, the author proposes a new DAD mechanism to speed up the DAD procedure. A DAD table is created in access or mobility routers in IP networks and record all IP addresses of the area. When a new IP address needs to perform DAD, it can just search in the DAD table to confirm the uniqueness of the address.

  15. Gastric duplication cyst: A cause of rectal bleeding in a young child

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clare A Surridge

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Gastric duplication cysts are an uncommon congenital anomaly and rectal bleeding is a rare presentation of a complicated gastric duplication cyst. This case report describes the radiological findings in a child with a complicated gastric duplication cyst.

  16. Two Rounds of Whole Genome Duplication in the AncestralVertebrate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dehal, Paramvir; Boore, Jeffrey L.

    2005-04-12

    The hypothesis that the relatively large and complex vertebrate genome was created by two ancient, whole genome duplications has been hotly debated, but remains unresolved. We reconstructed the evolutionary relationships of all gene families from the complete gene sets of a tunicate, fish, mouse, and human, then determined when each gene duplicated relative to the evolutionary tree of the organisms. We confirmed the results of earlier studies that there remains little signal of these events in numbers of duplicated genes, gene tree topology, or the number of genes per multigene family. However, when we plotted the genomic map positions of only the subset of paralogous genes that were duplicated prior to the fish-tetrapod split, their global physical organization provides unmistakable evidence of two distinct genome duplication events early in vertebrate evolution indicated by clear patterns of 4-way paralogous regions covering a large part of the human genome. Our results highlight the potential for these large-scale genomic events to have driven the evolutionary success of the vertebrate lineage.

  17. Association of anorectal malformation with anal and rectal duplication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karla A. Santos-Jasso

    2014-08-01

    We present three cases of rectal duplications with anorectal malforma- tion with recto-perineal fistula and colonic duplication. Two of them with delayed diagnosis and bowel obstruction, treated with laparotomy, colostomy and side-to-side anastomosis of the proximal colonic duplica- tion; in the third case the diagnosis of the colonic and rectal duplication was made during a colostomy opening. For definitive correction, the three patients underwent abdomino-perineal approach and side-to-side anastomosis of the rectal duplication, placement of the rectum within the muscle complex, and later on colostomy closure. In a fourth patient with anorectal malformation and colostomy after birth, the perineal electro-stimulation showed two muscle complexes. A posterior sagittal approach in both showed two separate blind rectal pouches; an end- to-side anastomosis of the dilated rectum was made, and the muscle complex with stronger contraction was used for the anoplasty. The posterior sagittal approach is the best surgical option to preserve the muscle complex, with a better prognosis for rectal continence.

  18. Familial partial duplication (1)(p21p31)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoechstetter, L.; Soukup, S.; Schorry, E.K. [Children`s Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH (United States)

    1995-11-20

    A partial duplication (1)(p21p31), resulting from a maternal direct insertion (13,1) (q22p21p31), was found in a 30-year-old woman with mental retardation, cleft palate, and multiple minor anomalies. Two other affected and deceased relatives were presumed to have the same chromosome imbalance. Duplication 1p cases are reviewed. 8 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

  19. Characterization of paralogous protein families in rice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhu Wei

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background High gene numbers in plant genomes reflect polyploidy and major gene duplication events. Oryza sativa, cultivated rice, is a diploid monocotyledonous species with a ~390 Mb genome that has undergone segmental duplication of a substantial portion of its genome. This, coupled with other genetic events such as tandem duplications, has resulted in a substantial number of its genes, and resulting proteins, occurring in paralogous families. Results Using a computational pipeline that utilizes Pfam and novel protein domains, we characterized paralogous families in rice and compared these with paralogous families in the model dicotyledonous diploid species, Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis, which has undergone genome duplication as well, has a substantially smaller genome (~120 Mb and gene complement compared to rice. Overall, 53% and 68% of the non-transposable element-related rice and Arabidopsis proteins could be classified into paralogous protein families, respectively. Singleton and paralogous family genes differed substantially in their likelihood of encoding a protein of known or putative function; 26% and 66% of singleton genes compared to 73% and 96% of the paralogous family genes encode a known or putative protein in rice and Arabidopsis, respectively. Furthermore, a major skew in the distribution of specific gene function was observed; a total of 17 Gene Ontology categories in both rice and Arabidopsis were statistically significant in their differential distribution between paralogous family and singleton proteins. In contrast to mammalian organisms, we found that duplicated genes in rice and Arabidopsis tend to have more alternative splice forms. Using data from Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, we show that a significant portion of the duplicated genes in rice show divergent expression although a correlation between sequence divergence and correlation of expression could be seen in very young genes. Conclusion

  20. 10 CFR 7.21 - Cost of duplication of documents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Cost of duplication of documents. 7.21 Section 7.21 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ADVISORY COMMITTEES § 7.21 Cost of duplication of documents. Copies of the records, reports, transcripts, minutes, appendices, working papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other...

  1. Evolution of stress-regulated gene expression in duplicate genes of Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng Zou

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Due to the selection pressure imposed by highly variable environmental conditions, stress sensing and regulatory response mechanisms in plants are expected to evolve rapidly. One potential source of innovation in plant stress response mechanisms is gene duplication. In this study, we examined the evolution of stress-regulated gene expression among duplicated genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Key to this analysis was reconstructing the putative ancestral stress regulation pattern. By comparing the expression patterns of duplicated genes with the patterns of their ancestors, duplicated genes likely lost and gained stress responses at a rapid rate initially, but the rate is close to zero when the synonymous substitution rate (a proxy for time is > approximately 0.8. When considering duplicated gene pairs, we found that partitioning of putative ancestral stress responses occurred more frequently compared to cases of parallel retention and loss. Furthermore, the pattern of stress response partitioning was extremely asymmetric. An analysis of putative cis-acting DNA regulatory elements in the promoters of the duplicated stress-regulated genes indicated that the asymmetric partitioning of ancestral stress responses are likely due, at least in part, to differential loss of DNA regulatory elements; the duplicated genes losing most of their stress responses were those that had lost more of the putative cis-acting elements. Finally, duplicate genes that lost most or all of the ancestral responses are more likely to have gained responses to other stresses. Therefore, the retention of duplicates that inherit few or no functions seems to be coupled to neofunctionalization. Taken together, our findings provide new insight into the patterns of evolutionary changes in gene stress responses after duplication and lay the foundation for testing the adaptive significance of stress regulatory changes under highly variable biotic and abiotic environments.

  2. Oculocutaneous albinism in a patient with 17p13.2-pter duplication - a review on the molecular syndromology of 17p13 duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucharczyk, Marzena; Jezela-Stanek, Aleksandra; Gieruszczak-Bialek, Dorota; Kugaudo, Monika; Cieslikowska, Agata; Pelc, Magdalena; Krajewska-Walasek, Malgorzata

    2015-06-01

    Chromosomal duplications involving 17p13.3 have recently been defined as a new distinctive syndrome with several diagnosed patients. Some variation is known to occur in the breakpoints of the duplicated region and, consequently, in the phenotype as well. We report on a patient, the fifth to our knowledge, a 4-year-old girl with a pure de novo subtelomeric 17p13.2-pter duplication. She presents all of the facial features described so far for this duplication and in addition, a unilateral palmar transversal crease and oculocutaneous albinism which has not been reported previously. A detailed molecular description of the reported aberration and correlation with the observed phenotypical features based on a literature review. We discuss the possible molecular etiology of albinism in regard to the mode of inheritance. The new data provided here may be useful for further genotype correlations in syndromes with oculocutaneous albinism, especially of autosomal dominant inheritance.

  3. Recurrent Gene Duplication Leads to Diverse Repertoires of Centromeric Histones in Drosophila Species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kursel, Lisa E; Malik, Harmit S

    2017-06-01

    Despite their essential role in the process of chromosome segregation in most eukaryotes, centromeric histones show remarkable evolutionary lability. Not only have they been lost in multiple insect lineages, but they have also undergone gene duplication in multiple plant lineages. Based on detailed study of a handful of model organisms including Drosophila melanogaster, centromeric histone duplication is considered to be rare in animals. Using a detailed phylogenomic study, we find that Cid, the centromeric histone gene, has undergone at least four independent gene duplications during Drosophila evolution. We find duplicate Cid genes in D. eugracilis (Cid2), in the montium species subgroup (Cid3, Cid4) and in the entire Drosophila subgenus (Cid5). We show that Cid3, Cid4, and Cid5 all localize to centromeres in their respective species. Some Cid duplicates are primarily expressed in the male germline. With rare exceptions, Cid duplicates have been strictly retained after birth, suggesting that they perform nonredundant centromeric functions, independent from the ancestral Cid. Indeed, each duplicate encodes a distinct N-terminal tail, which may provide the basis for distinct protein-protein interactions. Finally, we show some Cid duplicates evolve under positive selection whereas others do not. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that Drosophila Cid duplicates have subfunctionalized. Thus, these gene duplications provide an unprecedented opportunity to dissect the multiple roles of centromeric histones. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  4. Conservation of the abscission signaling peptide IDA during Angiosperm evolution: withstanding genome duplications and gain and loss of the receptors HAE/HSL2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ida M. Stø

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The peptide INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION (IDA, which signals through the leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases HAESA (HAE and HAESA-LIKE2 (HSL2, controls different cell separation events in Arabidopsis thaliana. We hypothesize the involvement of this signaling module in abscission processes in other plant species even though they may shed other organs than A. thaliana. As the first step towards testing this hypothesis from an evolutionarily perspective we have identified genes encoding putative orthologues of IDA and its receptors by BLAST searches of publically available protein, nucleotide and genome databases for angiosperms. Genes encoding IDA or IDA-LIKE (IDL peptides and HSL proteins were found in all investigated species, which were selected as to represent each angiosperm order with available genomic sequences. The 12 amino acids representing the bioactive peptide in A. thaliana have virtually been unchanged throughout the evolution of the angiosperms; however, the number of IDL and HSL genes varies between different orders and species. The phylogenetic analyses suggest that IDA, HSL2 and the related HSL1 gene, were present in the species that gave rise to the angiosperms. HAE has arisen from HSL1 after a genome duplication that took place after the monocot - eudicots split. HSL1 has also independently been duplicated in the monocots, while HSL2 has been lost in gingers (Zingiberales and grasses (Poales. IDA has been duplicated in eudicots to give rise to functionally divergent IDL peptides. We postulate that the high number of IDL homologs present in the core eudicots is a result of multiple whole genome duplications. We substantiate the involvement of IDA and HAE/HSL2 homologs in abscission by providing gene expression data of different organ separation events from various species.

  5. Further delineation of the MECP2 duplication syndrome phenotype in 59 French male patients, with a particular focus on morphological and neurological features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miguet, Marguerite; Faivre, Laurence; Amiel, Jeanne; Nizon, Mathilde; Touraine, Renaud; Prieur, Fabienne; Pasquier, Laurent; Lefebvre, Mathilde; Thevenon, Julien; Dubourg, Christèle; Julia, Sophie; Sarret, Catherine; Remerand, Ganaëlle; Francannet, Christine; Laffargue, Fanny; Boespflug-Tanguy, Odile; David, Albert; Isidor, Bertrand; Vigneron, Jacqueline; Leheup, Bruno; Lambert, Laetitia; Philippe, Christophe; Béri-Dexheimer, Mylène; Cuisset, Jean-Marie; Andrieux, Joris; Plessis, Ghislaine; Toutain, Annick; Guibaud, Laurent; Cormier-Daire, Valérie; Rio, Marlene; Bonnefont, Jean-Paul; Echenne, Bernard; Journel, Hubert; Burglen, Lydie; Chantot-Bastaraud, Sandrine; Bienvenu, Thierry; Baumann, Clarisse; Perrin, Laurence; Drunat, Séverine; Jouk, Pierre-Simon; Dieterich, Klaus; Devillard, Françoise; Lacombe, Didier; Philip, Nicole; Sigaudy, Sabine; Moncla, Anne; Missirian, Chantal; Badens, Catherine; Perreton, Nathalie; Thauvin-Robinet, Christel; AChro-Puce, Réseau; Pedespan, Jean-Michel; Rooryck, Caroline; Goizet, Cyril; Vincent-Delorme, Catherine; Duban-Bedu, Bénédicte; Bahi-Buisson, Nadia; Afenjar, Alexandra; Maincent, Kim; Héron, Delphine; Alessandri, Jean-Luc; Martin-Coignard, Dominique; Lesca, Gaëtan; Rossi, Massimiliano; Raynaud, Martine; Callier, Patrick; Mosca-Boidron, Anne-Laure; Marle, Nathalie; Coutton, Charles; Satre, Véronique; Caignec, Cédric Le; Malan, Valérie; Romana, Serge; Keren, Boris; Tabet, Anne-Claude; Kremer, Valérie; Scheidecker, Sophie; Vigouroux, Adeline; Lackmy-Port-Lis, Marilyn; Sanlaville, Damien; Till, Marianne; Carneiro, Maryline; Gilbert-Dussardier, Brigitte; Willems, Marjolaine; Van Esch, Hilde; Portes, Vincent Des; El Chehadeh, Salima

    2018-04-04

    The Xq28 duplication involving the MECP2 gene ( MECP2 duplication) has been mainly described in male patients with severe developmental delay (DD) associated with spasticity, stereotypic movements and recurrent infections. Nevertheless, only a few series have been published. We aimed to better describe the phenotype of this condition, with a focus on morphological and neurological features. Through a national collaborative study, we report a large French series of 59 affected males with interstitial MECP2 duplication. Most of the patients (93%) shared similar facial features, which evolved with age (midface hypoplasia, narrow and prominent nasal bridge, thick lower lip, large prominent ears), thick hair, livedo of the limbs, tapered fingers, small feet and vasomotor troubles. Early hypotonia and global DD were constant, with 21% of patients unable to walk. In patients able to stand, lower limbs weakness and spasticity led to a singular standing habitus: flexion of the knees, broad-based stance with pseudo-ataxic gait. Scoliosis was frequent (53%), such as divergent strabismus (76%) and hypermetropia (54%), stereotypic movements (89%), without obvious social withdrawal and decreased pain sensitivity (78%). Most of the patients did not develop expressive language, 35% saying few words. Epilepsy was frequent (59%), with a mean onset around 7.4 years of age, and often (62%) drug-resistant. Other medical issues were frequent: constipation (78%), and recurrent infections (89%), mainly lung. We delineate the clinical phenotype of MECP2 duplication syndrome in a large series of 59 males. Pulmonary hypertension appeared as a cause of early death in these patients, advocating its screening early in life. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  6. Duplicate laboratory test reduction using a clinical decision support tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Procop, Gary W; Yerian, Lisa M; Wyllie, Robert; Harrison, A Marc; Kottke-Marchant, Kandice

    2014-05-01

    Duplicate laboratory tests that are unwarranted increase unnecessary phlebotomy, which contributes to iatrogenic anemia, decreased patient satisfaction, and increased health care costs. We employed a clinical decision support tool (CDST) to block unnecessary duplicate test orders during the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) process. We assessed laboratory cost savings after 2 years and searched for untoward patient events associated with this intervention. This CDST blocked 11,790 unnecessary duplicate test orders in these 2 years, which resulted in a cost savings of $183,586. There were no untoward effects reported associated with this intervention. The movement to CPOE affords real-time interaction between the laboratory and the physician through CDSTs that signal duplicate orders. These interactions save health care dollars and should also increase patient satisfaction and well-being.

  7. Characterization and evolution of the mitochondrial DNA control region in hornbills (Bucerotiformes).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delport, Wayne; Ferguson, J Willem H; Bloomer, Paulette

    2002-06-01

    We determined the mitochondrial DNA control region sequences of six Bucerotiformes. Hornbills have the typical avian gene order and their control region is similar to other avian control regions in that it is partitioned into three domains: two variable domains that flank a central conserved domain. Two characteristics of the hornbill control region sequence differ from that of other birds. First, domain I is AT rich as opposed to AC rich, and second, the control region is approximately 500 bp longer than that of other birds. Both these deviations from typical avian control region sequence are explainable on the basis of repeat motifs in domain I of the hornbill control region. The repeat motifs probably originated from a duplication of CSB-1 as has been determined in chicken, quail, and snowgoose. Furthermore, the hornbill repeat motifs probably arose before the divergence of hornbills from each other but after the divergence of hornbills from other avian taxa. The mitochondrial control region of hornbills is suitable for both phylogenetic and population studies, with domains I and II probably more suited to population and phylogenetic analyses, respectively.

  8. Dynamic Delayed Duplicate Detection for External Memory Model Checking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Evangelista, Sami

    2008-01-01

    Duplicate detection is an expensive operation of disk-based model checkers. It consists of comparing some potentially new states, the candidate states, to previous visited states. We propose a new approach to this technique called dynamic delayed duplicate detection. This one exploits some typica...... significantly better than some previously published algorithms....

  9. Evolutionary Fates and Dynamic Functionalization of Young Duplicate Genes in Arabidopsis Genomes1[OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jun; Tao, Feng; Marowsky, Nicholas C.; Fan, Chuanzhu

    2016-01-01

    Gene duplication is a primary means to generate genomic novelties, playing an essential role in speciation and adaptation. Particularly in plants, a high abundance of duplicate genes has been maintained for significantly long periods of evolutionary time. To address the manner in which young duplicate genes were derived primarily from small-scale gene duplication and preserved in plant genomes and to determine the underlying driving mechanisms, we generated transcriptomes to produce the expression profiles of five tissues in Arabidopsis thaliana and the closely related species Arabidopsis lyrata and Capsella rubella. Based on the quantitative analysis metrics, we investigated the evolutionary processes of young duplicate genes in Arabidopsis. We determined that conservation, neofunctionalization, and specialization are three main evolutionary processes for Arabidopsis young duplicate genes. We explicitly demonstrated the dynamic functionalization of duplicate genes along the evolutionary time scale. Upon origination, duplicates tend to maintain their ancestral functions; but as they survive longer, they might be likely to develop distinct and novel functions. The temporal evolutionary processes and functionalization of plant duplicate genes are associated with their ancestral functions, dynamic DNA methylation levels, and histone modification abundances. Furthermore, duplicate genes tend to be initially expressed in pollen and then to gain more interaction partners over time. Altogether, our study provides novel insights into the dynamic retention processes of young duplicate genes in plant genomes. PMID:27485883

  10. [Anterior rectal duplication in adult patient: a case report].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Cabrera, J; Villanueva-Sáenz, E; Bolaños-Badillo, L E

    2009-01-01

    To report a case of rectal duplication in the adult and make a literature review. The intestinal duplications are injuries of congenital origin that can exist from the base of the tongue to the anal verge, being the most frequent site at level of terminal ileum (22%) and at the rectal level in 5% To date approximately exist 80 reports in world-wide Literature generally in the pediatric population being little frequent in the adult age. Its presentation could be tubular or cystic. The recommended treatment is the surgical resection generally in block with coloanal anastomosis. A case review of rectal duplication in the adult and the conducted treatment. The case of a patient appears with diagnose of rectal duplication with tubular type,whose main symptom was constipation and fecal impactation. In the exploration was detect double rectal lumen (anterior and posterior) that it above initiates by of the anorectal ring with fibrous ulcer of fibrinoid aspect of 3 approx cm of length x 1 cm wide, at level of the septum that separates both rectal lumina. The rectal duplication is a rare pathology in the adult nevertheless is due to suspect before the existence of alterations in the mechanics of the defecation, rectal prolapse and rectal bleeding,the election treatment is a protectomy with colonic pouch in "J" and coloanal anastomosis.

  11. Quantum skew divergence

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Audenaert, Koenraad M. R., E-mail: koenraad.audenaert@rhul.ac.uk [Department of Mathematics, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Ghent, S9, Krijgslaan 281, B-9000 Ghent (Belgium)

    2014-11-15

    In this paper, we study the quantum generalisation of the skew divergence, which is a dissimilarity measure between distributions introduced by Lee in the context of natural language processing. We provide an in-depth study of the quantum skew divergence, including its relation to other state distinguishability measures. Finally, we present a number of important applications: new continuity inequalities for the quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence and the Holevo information, and a new and short proof of Bravyi's Small Incremental Mixing conjecture.

  12. Adenocarcinoma within a rectal duplication cyst: case report and literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, D; Cohen, C R; Northover, J M

    1999-05-01

    Intestinal duplications are uncommon but recognised developmental anomalies. Duplications of the rectum are the most uncommon of these anomalies. They may present with perianal fistulae, bleeding, a pelvic mass or symptoms produced by a mass, or, rarely, malignant change. We present a case of an adenocarcinoma within a rectal duplication cyst which was initially thought to be inoperable but was treated by radical surgery.

  13. On Hölder Projective Divergences

    KAUST Repository

    Nielsen, Frank

    2017-03-16

    We describe a framework to build distances by measuring the tightness of inequalities and introduce the notion of proper statistical divergences and improper pseudo-divergences. We then consider the Holder ordinary and reverse inequalities and present two novel classes of Holder divergences and pseudo-divergences that both encapsulate the special case of the Cauchy-Schwarz divergence. We report closed-form formulas for those statistical dissimilarities when considering distributions belonging to the same exponential family provided that the natural parameter space is a cone (e.g., multivariate Gaussians) or affine (e.g., categorical distributions). Those new classes of Holder distances are invariant to rescaling and thus do not require distributions to be normalized. Finally, we show how to compute statistical Holder centroids with respect to those divergences and carry out center-based clustering toy experiments on a set of Gaussian distributions which demonstrate empirically that symmetrized Holder divergences outperform the symmetric Cauchy-Schwarz divergence.

  14. On Hölder Projective Divergences

    KAUST Repository

    Nielsen, Frank; Sun, Ke; Marchand-Maillet, Stephane

    2017-01-01

    We describe a framework to build distances by measuring the tightness of inequalities and introduce the notion of proper statistical divergences and improper pseudo-divergences. We then consider the Holder ordinary and reverse inequalities and present two novel classes of Holder divergences and pseudo-divergences that both encapsulate the special case of the Cauchy-Schwarz divergence. We report closed-form formulas for those statistical dissimilarities when considering distributions belonging to the same exponential family provided that the natural parameter space is a cone (e.g., multivariate Gaussians) or affine (e.g., categorical distributions). Those new classes of Holder distances are invariant to rescaling and thus do not require distributions to be normalized. Finally, we show how to compute statistical Holder centroids with respect to those divergences and carry out center-based clustering toy experiments on a set of Gaussian distributions which demonstrate empirically that symmetrized Holder divergences outperform the symmetric Cauchy-Schwarz divergence.

  15. Laparoscopic excision of an ascending colon duplication cyst in an adolescent

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heather R. Nolan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Colonic intestinal duplications are infrequent and rarely present past early childhood. We present the case of a large, ascending colon duplication in a 17-year-old boy resected using minimally invasive techniques. This appears to be the first reported case of a laparoscopic en-bloc ascending colon duplication resection in an adolescent. The diagnosis and management of colonic duplications are discussed.

  16. Adenocarcinoma arising in rectal duplication cyst: case report and review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shivnani, Anand T; Small, William; Benson, Al; Rao, Sambasiva; Talamonti, Mark S

    2004-11-01

    Duplication cyst of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a rare congenital anomaly, and rectal duplication cysts comprise a small fraction these cases. Most patients present for the first time in adulthood, and the origin of rectal duplication cysts is unclear. Prior series document malignant transformation in approximately 20 per cent of cases. The following case report describes a carcinoma arising in a rectal duplication cyst. Given the lack of data demonstrating adequate control for patients with adenocarcinoma arising in a rectal duplication cyst and our experience with this patient, we recommend all patients undergo multidisciplinary evaluation prior to any therapy.

  17. Colonic duplications: Clinical presentation and radiologic features of five cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blickman, J.G.; Rieu, P.H.M.; Buonomo, C.; Hoogeveen, Y.L.; Boetes, C.

    2006-01-01

    Diagnosis of colonic duplication can pose a potential problem even for those familiar with gastro-intestinal tract duplications in general but unaware of the condition due to its rarity and its apparently bimodal clinical presentation. In this report of five cases of surgically proven pediatric colonic duplication, we illustrate how the condition manifests clinically and describe the imaging features in an attempt to illustrate this bimodal presentation of the condition. The possible etiology, associated congenital anomalies and modes of clinical presentation are reviewed based on literature review as well as on our own experience

  18. Exposing region duplication through local geometrical color invariant features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Jiachang; Guo, Jichang

    2015-05-01

    Many advanced image-processing softwares are available for tampering images. How to determine the authenticity of an image has become an urgent problem. Copy-move is one of the most common image forgery operations. Many methods have been proposed for copy-move forgery detection (CMFD). However, most of these methods are designed for grayscale images without any color information used. They are usually not suitable when the duplicated regions have little structure or have undergone various transforms. We propose a CMFD method using local geometrical color invariant features to detect duplicated regions. The method starts by calculating the color gradient of the inspected image. Then, we directly take the color gradient as the input for scale invariant features transform (SIFT) to extract color-SIFT descriptors. Finally, keypoints are matched and clustered before their geometrical relationship is estimated to expose the duplicated regions. We evaluate the detection performance and computational complexity of the proposed method together with several popular CMFD methods on a public database. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method in detecting duplicated regions with various transforms and poor structure.

  19. Penile duplication and two anal openings; report of a very rare case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakheet, Mohamed Abdel Al M; Refaei, Mohammad

    2012-03-01

    Penile duplication (diphallus) is an extremely rare disorder. It is almost always associated with other malformations like double bladder, exstrophy of the cloacae, imperforate anus, duplication of the rectosigmoid and vertebral deformities. Meanwhile anal canal duplication, the most distal and least common duplication of the digestive tube and is a very rare congenital malformation. A 21 days old Egyptian neonate is reported with complete penile duplication and two scrotums with each one carrying two palpable testes. Both penises have normal shaft with normally located meatus. Clear urine voids from both meati spontaneously. The child had also a fold of redundant skin about 4×5 cm at the anal region in which two separate anal openings are present. In rectal examination we found two normal anuses passing stool spontaneously. Ascending (voiding) cystourethrography revealed two penises with two separate meatuses and one bladder from which the two urethras go out separately. Intravenous pyelogram (IVP) revealed two normal kidneys and ureters. Barium study revealed duplication of rectum and colon, otherwise normal GIT. In our review of the literature, we did not come across any other case of this variety of the penile duplication and congenital presence of two anuses. Unfortunately the patient expired before any surgical correction.

  20. String perturbation theory diverges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gross, D.J.; Periwal, V.

    1988-01-01

    We prove that perturbation theory for the bosonic string diverges for arbitrary values of the coupling constant and is not Borel summable. This divergence is independent of the existence of the infinities that occur in the theory due to the presence of tachyons and dilaton tadpoles. We discuss the physical implications of such a divergence

  1. Hypospadiac Duplication of Anterior Urethra-a Rare Congenital Anomaly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goyal, Bhawana; Gupta, Suresh; Goyal, Parag

    2017-02-01

    Duplication of the urethra is a complex and rarely seen congenital anomaly with three anatomic variants: epispadiac (dorsal), hypospadiac (ventral), and Y-type. We report here a case of hypospadiac duplication of anterior urethra with dorsal blind ending urethra in a 9-year-old boy who presented with complaint of passing urine from the ventral aspect of penis.

  2. Diversity of the DNA Replication System in the Archaea Domain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Sarmiento

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The precise and timely duplication of the genome is essential for cellular life. It is achieved by DNA replication, a complex process that is conserved among the three domains of life. Even though the cellular structure of archaea closely resembles that of bacteria, the information processing machinery of archaea is evolutionarily more closely related to the eukaryotic system, especially for the proteins involved in the DNA replication process. While the general DNA replication mechanism is conserved among the different domains of life, modifications in functionality and in some of the specialized replication proteins are observed. Indeed, Archaea possess specific features unique to this domain. Moreover, even though the general pattern of the replicative system is the same in all archaea, a great deal of variation exists between specific groups.

  3. Comparing genomes with rearrangements and segmental duplications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Mingfu; Moret, Bernard M E

    2015-06-15

    Large-scale evolutionary events such as genomic rearrange.ments and segmental duplications form an important part of the evolution of genomes and are widely studied from both biological and computational perspectives. A basic computational problem is to infer these events in the evolutionary history for given modern genomes, a task for which many algorithms have been proposed under various constraints. Algorithms that can handle both rearrangements and content-modifying events such as duplications and losses remain few and limited in their applicability. We study the comparison of two genomes under a model including general rearrangements (through double-cut-and-join) and segmental duplications. We formulate the comparison as an optimization problem and describe an exact algorithm to solve it by using an integer linear program. We also devise a sufficient condition and an efficient algorithm to identify optimal substructures, which can simplify the problem while preserving optimality. Using the optimal substructures with the integer linear program (ILP) formulation yields a practical and exact algorithm to solve the problem. We then apply our algorithm to assign in-paralogs and orthologs (a necessary step in handling duplications) and compare its performance with that of the state-of-the-art method MSOAR, using both simulations and real data. On simulated datasets, our method outperforms MSOAR by a significant margin, and on five well-annotated species, MSOAR achieves high accuracy, yet our method performs slightly better on each of the 10 pairwise comparisons. http://lcbb.epfl.ch/softwares/coser. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  4. Gastric Duplication Cyst: A Rare Congenital Disease Often Misdiagnosed in Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica Falleti

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Gastrointestinal duplication is a rare congenital disease which affected more commonly the ileum, while the stomach is rarely involved. Generally diagnosed in paediatric or young age, it could be difficult to suspect a gastrointestinal duplication in adults. Herein, we report a 55-year-old male with a gastric duplication cyst found on routinely checkup for chronic hepatitis and first misdiagnosed as a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST; we also discuss its embryology.

  5. Evolutionary Pattern and Regulation Analysis to Support Why Diversity Functions Existed within PPAR Gene Family Members

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tianyu Zhou

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor (PPAR gene family members exhibit distinct patterns of distribution in tissues and differ in functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the evolutionary impacts on diversity functions of PPAR members and the regulatory differences on gene expression patterns. 63 homology sequences of PPAR genes from 31 species were collected and analyzed. The results showed that three isolated types of PPAR gene family may emerge from twice times of gene duplication events. The conserved domains of HOLI (ligand binding domain of hormone receptors domain and ZnF_C4 (C4 zinc finger in nuclear in hormone receptors are essential for keeping basic roles of PPAR gene family, and the variant domains of LCRs may be responsible for their divergence in functions. The positive selection sites in HOLI domain are benefit for PPARs to evolve towards diversity functions. The evolutionary variants in the promoter regions and 3′ UTR regions of PPARs result into differential transcription factors and miRNAs involved in regulating PPAR members, which may eventually affect their expressions and tissues distributions. These results indicate that gene duplication event, selection pressure on HOLI domain, and the variants on promoter and 3′ UTR are essential for PPARs evolution and diversity functions acquired.

  6. Evolutionary Pattern and Regulation Analysis to Support Why Diversity Functions Existed within PPAR Gene Family Members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Tianyu; Yan, Xiping; Wang, Guosong; Liu, Hehe; Gan, Xiang; Zhang, Tao; Wang, Jiwen; Li, Liang

    2015-01-01

    Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor (PPAR) gene family members exhibit distinct patterns of distribution in tissues and differ in functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the evolutionary impacts on diversity functions of PPAR members and the regulatory differences on gene expression patterns. 63 homology sequences of PPAR genes from 31 species were collected and analyzed. The results showed that three isolated types of PPAR gene family may emerge from twice times of gene duplication events. The conserved domains of HOLI (ligand binding domain of hormone receptors) domain and ZnF_C4 (C4 zinc finger in nuclear in hormone receptors) are essential for keeping basic roles of PPAR gene family, and the variant domains of LCRs may be responsible for their divergence in functions. The positive selection sites in HOLI domain are benefit for PPARs to evolve towards diversity functions. The evolutionary variants in the promoter regions and 3' UTR regions of PPARs result into differential transcription factors and miRNAs involved in regulating PPAR members, which may eventually affect their expressions and tissues distributions. These results indicate that gene duplication event, selection pressure on HOLI domain, and the variants on promoter and 3' UTR are essential for PPARs evolution and diversity functions acquired.

  7. On the mixed discretization of the time domain magnetic field integral equation

    KAUST Repository

    Ulku, Huseyin Arda; Bogaert, Ignace; Cools, Kristof; Andriulli, Francesco P.; Bagci, Hakan

    2012-01-01

    Time domain magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) is discretized using divergence-conforming Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) and curl-conforming Buffa-Christiansen (BC) functions as spatial basis and testing functions, respectively. The resulting mixed

  8. Gene duplication and fragmentation in the zebra finch major histocompatibility complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balakrishnan, Christopher N; Ekblom, Robert; Völker, Martin; Westerdahl, Helena; Godinez, Ricardo; Kotkiewicz, Holly; Burt, David W; Graves, Tina; Griffin, Darren K; Warren, Wesley C; Edwards, Scott V

    2010-04-01

    Due to its high polymorphism and importance for disease resistance, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has been an important focus of many vertebrate genome projects. Avian MHC organization is of particular interest because the chicken Gallus gallus, the avian species with the best characterized MHC, possesses a highly streamlined minimal essential MHC, which is linked to resistance against specific pathogens. It remains unclear the extent to which this organization describes the situation in other birds and whether it represents a derived or ancestral condition. The sequencing of the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata genome, in combination with targeted bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) sequencing, has allowed us to characterize an MHC from a highly divergent and diverse avian lineage, the passerines. The zebra finch MHC exhibits a complex structure and history involving gene duplication and fragmentation. The zebra finch MHC includes multiple Class I and Class II genes, some of which appear to be pseudogenes, and spans a much more extensive genomic region than the chicken MHC, as evidenced by the presence of MHC genes on each of seven BACs spanning 739 kb. Cytogenetic (FISH) evidence and the genome assembly itself place core MHC genes on as many as four chromosomes with TAP and Class I genes mapping to different chromosomes. MHC Class II regions are further characterized by high endogenous retroviral content. Lastly, we find strong evidence of selection acting on sites within passerine MHC Class I and Class II genes. The zebra finch MHC differs markedly from that of the chicken, the only other bird species with a complete genome sequence. The apparent lack of synteny between TAP and the expressed MHC Class I locus is in fact reminiscent of a pattern seen in some mammalian lineages and may represent convergent evolution. Our analyses of the zebra finch MHC suggest a complex history involving chromosomal fission, gene duplication and translocation in the

  9. Gene duplication and fragmentation in the zebra finch major histocompatibility complex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burt David W

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Due to its high polymorphism and importance for disease resistance, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC has been an important focus of many vertebrate genome projects. Avian MHC organization is of particular interest because the chicken Gallus gallus, the avian species with the best characterized MHC, possesses a highly streamlined minimal essential MHC, which is linked to resistance against specific pathogens. It remains unclear the extent to which this organization describes the situation in other birds and whether it represents a derived or ancestral condition. The sequencing of the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata genome, in combination with targeted bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC sequencing, has allowed us to characterize an MHC from a highly divergent and diverse avian lineage, the passerines. Results The zebra finch MHC exhibits a complex structure and history involving gene duplication and fragmentation. The zebra finch MHC includes multiple Class I and Class II genes, some of which appear to be pseudogenes, and spans a much more extensive genomic region than the chicken MHC, as evidenced by the presence of MHC genes on each of seven BACs spanning 739 kb. Cytogenetic (FISH evidence and the genome assembly itself place core MHC genes on as many as four chromosomes with TAP and Class I genes mapping to different chromosomes. MHC Class II regions are further characterized by high endogenous retroviral content. Lastly, we find strong evidence of selection acting on sites within passerine MHC Class I and Class II genes. Conclusion The zebra finch MHC differs markedly from that of the chicken, the only other bird species with a complete genome sequence. The apparent lack of synteny between TAP and the expressed MHC Class I locus is in fact reminiscent of a pattern seen in some mammalian lineages and may represent convergent evolution. Our analyses of the zebra finch MHC suggest a complex history involving

  10. Divergence of dielectric permittivity near phase transition within ferroelectric domain boundaries

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Márton, Pavel; Stepkova, Vilgelmina; Hlinka, Jiří

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 86, č. 1 (2013), s. 103-108 ISSN 0141-1594 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP204/10/0616 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : Bloch wall * domain boundary * BaTiO 3 * Ginzburg-Landau-Devonshire theory * permittivity Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 1.044, year: 2013

  11. Treatment of Duodenal Duplication by Trans-umbilical Exploratory Minimal Laparotomy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li-Lan Chiang

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Duodenal duplication cysts are rare congenital lesions. Their presentation is often non-specific and physical examination and laboratory studies usually reveal no abnormal findings. The diagnosis of duodenal duplication cysts can thus be challenging and relies on ultrasonography, barium swallow, contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP. The management of duodenal duplication cyst is surgical. Laparotomy is usually necessary, and complete resection is the management goal. Subtotal excision with stripping of the mucosa due to close involvement of the pancreatobiliary tree, and endoscopic resection have Duodenal duplication cysts are rare congenital lesions usually diagnosed in infancy, although they may present in adulthood. Prenatal diagnosis is difficult, and postnatal diagnosis relies on ultrasonography, barium swallow, contrast-enhanced computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. A female newborn was diagnosed with an abdominal cyst (size around 6 ×; 5 × 4 cm at gestational age (GA 24 weeks, by regular prenatal examination. After her birth at GA 37 weeks, we performed abdominal ultrasonography and MRI, but there was no definite diagnosis. The usual management of an abdominal cyst involves resection by laparotomy (requiring a large incision or laparoscopy (requiring several small incisions. We performed an exploratory trans-umbilical minimal laparotomy excision for surgery, and the pathology revealed duodenal duplication. In our case, there was no recurrence of the cyst after 18 months follow-up, and the operation scar was almost undetectable. Trans-umbilical minimal laparotomy excision may be considered as an alternative choice for the management of abdominal and duodenal duplication cysts.

  12. A rare case of congenital Y-type urethral duplication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charu Tiwari

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Duplication of urethra is a rare congenital anomaly. We report a case of Y-type of urethral duplication with the accessory urethra arising from posterior urethra and opening in the perineum. The orthotopic urethra was normal. The accessory urethral tract was cored, transfixed and divided. At 1 year of follow-up, the patient has no urinary complaints

  13. A synergism between adaptive effects and evolvability drives whole genome duplication to fixation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cuypers, Thomas D; Hogeweg, Paulien; Hogeweg, P.

    Whole genome duplication has shaped eukaryotic evolutionary history and has been associated with drastic environmental change and species radiation. While the most common fate of WGD duplicates is a return to single copy, retained duplicates have been found enriched for highly interacting genes.

  14. The relation between gray matter morphology and divergent thinking in adolescents and young adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janna Cousijn

    Full Text Available Adolescence and early adulthood are developmental time periods during which creative cognition is highly important for adapting to environmental changes. Divergent thinking, which refers to generating novel and useful solutions to open-ended problems, has often been used as a measure of creative cognition. The first goal of this structural neuroimaging study was to elucidate the relationship between gray matter morphology and performance in the verbal (AUT; alternative uses task and visuo-spatial (CAT; creative ability test domain of divergent thinking in adolescents and young adults. The second goal was to test if gray matter morphology is related to brain activity during AUT performance. Neural and behavioral data were combined from a cross-sectional study including 25 adolescents aged 15-17 and 20 young adults aged 25-30. Brain-behavior relationships were assessed without a priori location assumptions and within areas that were activated during an AUT-scanner task. Gray matter volume and cortical thickness were not significantly associated with verbal divergent thinking. However, visuo-spatial divergent thinking (CAT originality and fluency was positively associated with cortical thickness of the right middle temporal gyrus and left brain areas including the superior frontal gyrus and various occipital, parietal, and temporal areas, independently of age. AUT brain activity was not associated with cortical thickness. The results support an important role of a widespread brain network involved in flexible visuo-spatial divergent thinking, providing evidence for a relation between cortical thickness and visuo-spatial divergent thinking in adolescents and young adults. However, studies including visuo-spatial divergent thinking tasks in the scanner are warranted.

  15. Structure of the thioredoxin-fold domain of human phosducin-like protein 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lou, Xiaochu; Bao, Rui; Zhou, Cong-Zhao; Chen, Yuxing

    2009-01-01

    The X-ray crystal structure of the Trx-fold domain of hPDCL2 was solved at 2.70 Å resolution and resembled the Trx-fold domain of rat phosducin. Human phosducin-like protein 2 (hPDCL2) has been identified as belonging to subgroup II of the phosducin (Pdc) family. The members of this family share an N-terminal helix domain and a C-terminal thioredoxin-fold (Trx-fold) domain. The X-ray crystal structure of the Trx-fold domain of hPDCL2 was solved at 2.70 Å resolution and resembled the Trx-fold domain of rat phosducin. Comparative structural analysis revealed the structural basis of their putative functional divergence

  16. Time-domain single-source integral equations for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects

    KAUST Repository

    Valdés, Felipe

    2013-03-01

    Single-source time-domain electric-and magnetic-field integral equations for analyzing scattering from homogeneous penetrable objects are presented. Their temporal discretization is effected by using shifted piecewise polynomial temporal basis functions and a collocation testing procedure, thus allowing for a marching-on-in-time (MOT) solution scheme. Unlike dual-source formulations, single-source equations involve space-time domain operator products, for which spatial discretization techniques developed for standalone operators do not apply. Here, the spatial discretization of the single-source time-domain integral equations is achieved by using the high-order divergence-conforming basis functions developed by Graglia alongside the high-order divergence-and quasi curl-conforming (DQCC) basis functions of Valdés The combination of these two sets allows for a well-conditioned mapping from div-to curl-conforming function spaces that fully respects the space-mapping properties of the space-time operators involved. Numerical results corroborate the fact that the proposed procedure guarantees accuracy and stability of the MOT scheme. © 2012 IEEE.

  17. Rectal duplication cyst: a combined abdominal and endoanal operative approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rees, Clare M; Woodward, Mark; Grier, David; Cusick, Eleri

    2007-04-01

    Rectal duplication cysts are rare, comprising duplications. Early excision is the treatment of choice and a number of surgical approaches have been described. We present a 3-week-old infant with a 3 cm cyst that was excised using a previously unreported combined abdominal and endoanal approach.

  18. p53 protects against genome instability following centriole duplication failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambrus, Bramwell G.; Uetake, Yumi; Clutario, Kevin M.; Daggubati, Vikas; Snyder, Michael; Sluder, Greenfield

    2015-01-01

    Centriole function has been difficult to study because of a lack of specific tools that allow persistent and reversible centriole depletion. Here we combined gene targeting with an auxin-inducible degradation system to achieve rapid, titratable, and reversible control of Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4), a master regulator of centriole biogenesis. Depletion of Plk4 led to a failure of centriole duplication that produced an irreversible cell cycle arrest within a few divisions. This arrest was not a result of a prolonged mitosis, chromosome segregation errors, or cytokinesis failure. Depleting p53 allowed cells that fail centriole duplication to proliferate indefinitely. Washout of auxin and restoration of endogenous Plk4 levels in cells that lack centrioles led to the penetrant formation of de novo centrioles that gained the ability to organize microtubules and duplicate. In summary, we uncover a p53-dependent surveillance mechanism that protects against genome instability by preventing cell growth after centriole duplication failure. PMID:26150389

  19. Divergent Cumulative Cultural Evolution

    OpenAIRE

    Marriott, Chris; Chebib, Jobran

    2016-01-01

    Divergent cumulative cultural evolution occurs when the cultural evolutionary trajectory diverges from the biological evolutionary trajectory. We consider the conditions under which divergent cumulative cultural evolution can occur. We hypothesize that two conditions are necessary. First that genetic and cultural information are stored separately in the agent. Second cultural information must be transferred horizontally between agents of different generations. We implement a model with these ...

  20. Verification and characterization of chromosome duplication in haploid maize.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Oliveira Couto, E G; Resende Von Pinho, E V; Von Pinho, R G; Veiga, A D; de Carvalho, M R; de Oliveira Bustamante, F; Nascimento, M S

    2015-06-26

    Doubled haploid technology has been used by various private companies. However, information regarding chromosome duplication methodologies, particularly those concerning techniques used to identify duplication in cells, is limited. Thus, we analyzed and characterized artificially doubled haploids using microsatellites molecular markers, pollen viability, and flow cytometry techniques. Evaluated material was obtained using two different chromosome duplication protocols in maize seeds considered haploids, resulting from the cross between the haploid inducer line KEMS and 4 hybrids (GNS 3225, GNS 3032, GNS 3264, and DKB 393). Fourteen days after duplication, plant samples were collected and assessed by flow cytometry. Further, the plants were transplanted to a field, and samples were collected for DNA analyses using microsatellite markers. The tassels were collected during anthesis for pollen viability analyses. Haploid, diploid, and mixoploid individuals were detected using flow cytometry, demonstrating that this technique was efficient for identifying doubled haploids. The microsatellites markers were also efficient for confirming the ploidies preselected by flow cytometry and for identifying homozygous individuals. Pollen viability showed a significant difference between the evaluated ploidies when the Alexander and propionic-carmin stains were used. The viability rates between the plodies analyzed show potential for fertilization.

  1. Case Report Duplication Of Gastrointestinal Tract

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    duplication (Fig 3). A tragic event occurred intra-operatively when ... Brain damage persisted and all modalities of treatment were terminated upon confirmation of brain death. ... compression, epithelial recanalization, and vascular accidents (6) ...

  2. [Partial facial duplication (a rare diprosopus): Case report and review of the literature].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Es-Seddiki, A; Rkain, M; Ayyad, A; Nkhili, H; Amrani, R; Benajiba, N

    2015-12-01

    Diprosopus, or partial facial duplication, is a very rare congenital abnormality. It is a rare form of conjoined twins. Partial facial duplication may be symmetric or not and may involve the nose, the maxilla, the mandible, the palate, the tongue and the mouth. A male newborn springing from inbred parents was admitted at his first day of life for facial deformity. He presented with hypertelorism, 2 eyes, a tendency to nose duplication (flatted large nose, 2 columellae, 2 lateral nostrils separated in the midline by a third deformed hole), two mouths and a duplicated maxilla. Laboratory tests were normal. The cranio-facial CT confirmed the maxillary duplication. This type of cranio-facial duplication is a rare entity with about 35 reported cases in the literature. Our patient was similar to a rare case of living diprosopus reported by Stiehm in 1972. Diprosopus is often associated with abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract, the central nervous system, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and with a high incidence of cleft lip and palate. Surgical treatment consists in the resection of the duplicated components. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  3. Gene conversion limits divergence of mammalian TLR1 and TLR6

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dunoyer-Geindre Sylvie

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Toll-like receptors (TLR recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns and are important mediators of the innate immune system. TLR1 and TLR6 are paralogs and located in tandem on the same chromosome in mammals. They form heterodimers with TLR2 and bind lipopeptide components of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial cell walls. To identify conserved stretches in TLR1 and TLR6, that may be important for their function, we compared their protein sequences in nine mammalian species(Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, Macaca mulatta, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus; Erinaceus europaeus, Bos Taurus, Sus scrofa and Canis familiaris. Results The N-terminal sequences of the orthologous proteins showed greater similarity than corresponding paralog sequences. However, we identified a region of 300 amino acids towards the C-terminus of TLR1 and TLR6, where paralogs had a greater degree of sequence identity than orthologs. Preservation of DNA sequence identity of paralogs in this region was observed in all nine mammalian species investigated, and is due to independent gene conversion events. The regions having undergone gene conversion in each species are almost identical and encode the leucine-rich repeat motifs 16 to 19, the C-terminal cap motif, the transmembrane domain and most of the intracellular Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR domain. Conclusion Our results show that, for a specific conserved region, divergence of TLR1 and TLR6 is limited by gene conversion, most likely because of the need for co-evolution with multiple intracellular and extracellular binding partners. Thus, gene conversion provides a mechanism for limiting the divergence of functional regions of protein paralogs, while allowing other domains to evolve diversified functions.

  4. Tail-like Congenital Duplication of Lower Extremity (Extra Leg or ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2018-01-01

    Jan 1, 2018 ... ABSTRACT. BACKGROUND: Congenital duplication of lower extremity, either complete or incomplete is extremely rare. Only 26 cases had been reported till 2010, of which only 5 cases had feature of complete duplication. Theories have been proposed that the cause of this abnormality includes maternal ...

  5. MLL duplication in a pediatric patient with B-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mater, David Van; Goodman, Barbara K; Wang, Endi; Gaca, Ana M; Wechsler, Daniel S

    2012-04-01

    Lymphoblastic lymphoma is the second most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma seen in children. Approximately, 90% of lymphoblastic lymphomas arise from T cells, with the remaining 10% being B-cell-lineage derived. Although T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma most frequently occurs in the anterior mediastinum (thymus), B-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (B-LBL) predominates in extranodal sites such as skin and bone. Here, we describe a pediatric B-LBL patient who presented with extensive abdominal involvement and whose lymphoma cells displayed segmental duplication of the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene. MLL duplication/amplification has been described primarily in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome with no published reports of discrete MLL duplication/amplification events in B-LBL. The MLL gene duplication noted in this case may represent a novel mechanism for tumorigenesis in B-LBL.

  6. Malrotation with midgut volvulus associated with perforated ileal duplication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anand Pandey

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Duplication of the alimentary tract is an important surgical condition. It may occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. An important complication of this entity is perforation of the normal or abnormal gut. Malrotation with midgut volvulus can be a surgical emergency. We present a patient, who presented as malrotation with midgut volvulus associated with perforated ileal duplication. The patient was successfully managed.

  7. Functional and evolutionary analyses of Helicobacter pylori HP0231 (DsbK protein with strong oxidative and chaperone activity characterized by a highly diverged dimerization domain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarzyna Marta Bocian-Ostrzycka

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Helicobacter pylori does not encode the classical DsbA/DsbB oxidoreductases that are crucial for oxidative folding of extracytoplasmic proteins. Instead, this microorganism encodes an untypical two proteins playing a role in disulfide bond formation – periplasmic HP0231, which structure resembles that of EcDsbC/DsbG, and its redox partner, a membrane protein HpDsbI (HP0595 with a -propeller structure. The aim of presented work was to assess relations between HP0231 structure and function.We showed that HP0231 is most closely related evolutionarily to the catalytic domain of DsbG, even though it possesses a catalytic motif typical for canonical DsbA proteins. Similarly, the highly diverged N-terminal dimerization domain is homologous to the dimerization domain of DsbG. To better understand the functioning of this atypical oxidoreductase, we examined its activity using in vivo and in vitro experiments. We found that HP0231 exhibits oxidizing and chaperone activities but no isomerizing activity, even though H. pylori does not contain a classical DsbC. We also show that HP0231 is not involved in the introduction of disulfide bonds into HcpC (Helicobacter cysteine-rich protein C, a protein involved in the modulation of the H. pylori interaction with its host. Additionally, we also constructed a truncated version of HP0231 lacking the dimerization domain, denoted HP0231m, and showed that it acts in E. coli cells in a DsbB-dependent manner. In contrast, HP0231m and classical monomeric EcDsbA (Escherichia coli DsbA protein were both unable to complement the lack of HP0231 in H. pylori cells, though they exist in oxidized forms. HP0231m is inactive in the insulin reduction assay and possesses high chaperone activity, in contrast to EcDsbA. In conclusion, HP0231 combines oxidative functions characteristic of DsbA proteins and chaperone activity characteristic of DsbC/DsbG, and it lacks isomerization activity.

  8. Error analysis of filtering operations in pixel-duplicated images of diabetic retinopathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehrubeoglu, Mehrube; McLauchlan, Lifford

    2010-08-01

    In this paper, diabetic retinopathy is chosen for a sample target image to demonstrate the effectiveness of image enlargement through pixel duplication in identifying regions of interest. Pixel duplication is presented as a simpler alternative to data interpolation techniques for detecting small structures in the images. A comparative analysis is performed on different image processing schemes applied to both original and pixel-duplicated images. Structures of interest are detected and and classification parameters optimized for minimum false positive detection in the original and enlarged retinal pictures. The error analysis demonstrates the advantages as well as shortcomings of pixel duplication in image enhancement when spatial averaging operations (smoothing filters) are also applied.

  9. Gene Duplication of the zebrafish kit ligand and partitioning of melanocyte development functions to kit ligand a.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keith A Hultman

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The retention of particular genes after the whole genome duplication in zebrafish has given insights into how genes may evolve through partitioning of ancestral functions. We examine the partitioning of expression patterns and functions of two zebrafish kit ligands, kit ligand a (kitla and kit ligand b (kitlb, and discuss their possible coevolution with the duplicated zebrafish kit receptors (kita and kitb. In situ hybridizations show that kitla mRNA is expressed in the trunk adjacent to the notochord in the middle of each somite during stages of melanocyte migration and later expressed in the skin, when the receptor is required for melanocyte survival. kitla is also expressed in other regions complementary to kita receptor expression, including the pineal gland, tail bud, and ear. In contrast, kitlb mRNA is expressed in brain ventricles, ear, and cardinal vein plexus, in regions generally not complementary to either zebrafish kit receptor ortholog. However, like kitla, kitlb is expressed in the skin during stages consistent with melanocyte survival. Thus, it appears that kita and kitla have maintained congruent expression patterns, while kitb and kitlb have evolved divergent expression patterns. We demonstrate the interaction of kita and kitla by morpholino knockdown analysis. kitla morphants, but not kitlb morphants, phenocopy the null allele of kita, with defects for both melanocyte migration and survival. Furthermore, kitla morpholino, but not kitlb morpholino, interacts genetically with a sensitized allele of kita, confirming that kitla is the functional ligand to kita. Last, we examine kitla overexpression in embryos, which results in hyperpigmentation caused by an increase in the number and size of melanocytes. This hyperpigmentation is dependent on kita function. We conclude that following genome duplication, kita and kitla have maintained their receptor-ligand relationship, coevolved complementary expression patterns, and that

  10. Scintigraphic detection of 'yo-yo' phenomenon in incomplete ureteric duplication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chu, Winnie C.W.; Chan, Kam-wing; Metreweli, Constantine

    2003-01-01

    'Yo-yo' reflux in an incompletely duplicated renal system was demonstrated on 99m Tc-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) renal scintigraphy in a 7-year-old girl presenting with low-grade fever and pyelonephritis. Incomplete duplication and a bifid renal pelvis, which may be seen in up to 4% of the North American population, occasionally causes symptoms because of recurrent urinary tract infection or loin pain. 99m Tc-MAG3 renal scintigraphy can demonstrate 'yo-yo' reflux in patients with incomplete renal duplication and should be considered in cases with unexplained loin pain, even if 99m Tc-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) renal scintigraphy is normal. (orig.)

  11. Rectal duplication cyst in an adult: the laparoscopic approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salameh, Jihad R; Votanopoulos, Konstantinos I; Hilal, Raouf E; Essien, Francis A; Williams, Michael D; Barroso, Alberto O; Sweeney, John F; Brunicardi, F Charles

    2002-12-01

    Rectal duplication cyst (RDC) is a rare congenital anomaly representing 1% to 8% of all intestinal duplications. The case presented here is the first report of the laparoscopic resection of an RDC. We report the case of a 49-year-old white woman in whom a retrorectal cystic mass measuring 5 x 5.3 x 6 cm was diagnosed. The mass was completely resected by means of laparoscopic techniques. Pathologic findings revealed a cystic structure partially lined with squamous as well as respiratory- and gastrointestinal-type epithelium. Muscularis propria was identified in the outer portions of the wall of the specimen. No atypia or malignancy was identified. The overall findings were consistent with an RDC. Laparoscopic resection constitutes an excellent and patient-friendly approach to the management of large adult cystic duplication of the rectum.

  12. Horizontal transfer, not duplication, drives the expansion of protein families in prokaryotes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Todd J Treangen

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Gene duplication followed by neo- or sub-functionalization deeply impacts the evolution of protein families and is regarded as the main source of adaptive functional novelty in eukaryotes. While there is ample evidence of adaptive gene duplication in prokaryotes, it is not clear whether duplication outweighs the contribution of horizontal gene transfer in the expansion of protein families. We analyzed closely related prokaryote strains or species with small genomes (Helicobacter, Neisseria, Streptococcus, Sulfolobus, average-sized genomes (Bacillus, Enterobacteriaceae, and large genomes (Pseudomonas, Bradyrhizobiaceae to untangle the effects of duplication and horizontal transfer. After removing the effects of transposable elements and phages, we show that the vast majority of expansions of protein families are due to transfer, even among large genomes. Transferred genes--xenologs--persist longer in prokaryotic lineages possibly due to a higher/longer adaptive role. On the other hand, duplicated genes--paralogs--are expressed more, and, when persistent, they evolve slower. This suggests that gene transfer and gene duplication have very different roles in shaping the evolution of biological systems: transfer allows the acquisition of new functions and duplication leads to higher gene dosage. Accordingly, we show that paralogs share most protein-protein interactions and genetic regulators, whereas xenologs share very few of them. Prokaryotes invented most of life's biochemical diversity. Therefore, the study of the evolution of biology systems should explicitly account for the predominant role of horizontal gene transfer in the diversification of protein families.

  13. A Bayesian Sampler for Optimization of Protein Domain Hierarchies

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Abstract The process of identifying and modeling functionally divergent subgroups for a specific protein domain class and arranging these subgroups hierarchically has, thus far, largely been done via manual curation. How to accomplish this automatically and optimally is an unsolved statistical and algorithmic problem that is addressed here via Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. Taking as input a (typically very large) multiple-sequence alignment, the sampler creates and optimizes a hierarchy by adding and deleting leaf nodes, by moving nodes and subtrees up and down the hierarchy, by inserting or deleting internal nodes, and by redefining the sequences and conserved patterns associated with each node. All such operations are based on a probability distribution that models the conserved and divergent patterns defining each subgroup. When we view these patterns as sequence determinants of protein function, each node or subtree in such a hierarchy corresponds to a subgroup of sequences with similar biological properties. The sampler can be applied either de novo or to an existing hierarchy. When applied to 60 protein domains from multiple starting points in this way, it converged on similar solutions with nearly identical log-likelihood ratio scores, suggesting that it typically finds the optimal peak in the posterior probability distribution. Similarities and differences between independently generated, nearly optimal hierarchies for a given domain help distinguish robust from statistically uncertain features. Thus, a future application of the sampler is to provide confidence measures for various features of a domain hierarchy. PMID:24494927

  14. Bias and efficiency loss in regression estimates due to duplicated observations: a Monte Carlo simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Sarracino

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies documented that survey data contain duplicate records. We assess how duplicate records affect regression estimates, and we evaluate the effectiveness of solutions to deal with duplicate records. Results show that the chances of obtaining unbiased estimates when data contain 40 doublets (about 5% of the sample range between 3.5% and 11.5% depending on the distribution of duplicates. If 7 quintuplets are present in the data (2% of the sample, then the probability of obtaining biased estimates ranges between 11% and 20%. Weighting the duplicate records by the inverse of their multiplicity, or dropping superfluous duplicates outperform other solutions in all considered scenarios. Our results illustrate the risk of using data in presence of duplicate records and call for further research on strategies to analyze affected data.

  15. k-Means Clustering with Hölder Divergences

    KAUST Repository

    Nielsen, Frank

    2017-10-24

    We introduced two novel classes of Hölder divergences and Hölder pseudo-divergences that are both invariant to rescaling, and that both encapsulate the Cauchy-Schwarz divergence and the skew Bhattacharyya divergences. We review the elementary concepts of those parametric divergences, and perform a clustering analysis on two synthetic datasets. It is shown experimentally that the symmetrized Hölder divergences consistently outperform significantly the Cauchy-Schwarz divergence in clustering tasks.

  16. k-Means Clustering with Hölder Divergences

    KAUST Repository

    Nielsen, Frank; Sun, Ke; Marchand-Maillet, Sté phane

    2017-01-01

    We introduced two novel classes of Hölder divergences and Hölder pseudo-divergences that are both invariant to rescaling, and that both encapsulate the Cauchy-Schwarz divergence and the skew Bhattacharyya divergences. We review the elementary concepts of those parametric divergences, and perform a clustering analysis on two synthetic datasets. It is shown experimentally that the symmetrized Hölder divergences consistently outperform significantly the Cauchy-Schwarz divergence in clustering tasks.

  17. The conversion of centrioles to centrosomes: essential coupling of duplication with segregation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Won-Jing; Soni, Rajesh Kumar; Uryu, Kunihiro; Tsou, Meng-Fu Bryan

    2011-05-16

    Centrioles are self-reproducing organelles that form the core structure of centrosomes or microtubule-organizing centers (MTOCs). However, whether duplication and MTOC organization reflect innate activities of centrioles or activities acquired conditionally is unclear. In this paper, we show that newly formed full-length centrioles had no inherent capacity to duplicate or to organize pericentriolar material (PCM) but acquired both after mitosis through a Plk1-dependent modification that occurred in early mitosis. Modified centrioles initiated PCM recruitment in G1 and segregated equally in mitosis through association with spindle poles. Conversely, unmodified centrioles segregated randomly unless passively tethered to modified centrioles. Strikingly, duplication occurred only in centrioles that were both modified and disengaged, whereas unmodified centrioles, engaged or not, were "infertile," indicating that engagement specifically blocks modified centrioles from reduplication. These two requirements, centriole modification and disengagement, fully exclude unlimited duplication in one cell cycle. We thus uncovered a Plk1-dependent mechanism whereby duplication and segregation are coupled to maintain centriole homeostasis.

  18. MSOAR 2.0: Incorporating tandem duplications into ortholog assignment based on genome rearrangement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Liqing

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Ortholog assignment is a critical and fundamental problem in comparative genomics, since orthologs are considered to be functional counterparts in different species and can be used to infer molecular functions of one species from those of other species. MSOAR is a recently developed high-throughput system for assigning one-to-one orthologs between closely related species on a genome scale. It attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary history of input genomes in terms of genome rearrangement and gene duplication events. It assumes that a gene duplication event inserts a duplicated gene into the genome of interest at a random location (i.e., the random duplication model. However, in practice, biologists believe that genes are often duplicated by tandem duplications, where a duplicated gene is located next to the original copy (i.e., the tandem duplication model. Results In this paper, we develop MSOAR 2.0, an improved system for one-to-one ortholog assignment. For a pair of input genomes, the system first focuses on the tandemly duplicated genes of each genome and tries to identify among them those that were duplicated after the speciation (i.e., the so-called inparalogs, using a simple phylogenetic tree reconciliation method. For each such set of tandemly duplicated inparalogs, all but one gene will be deleted from the concerned genome (because they cannot possibly appear in any one-to-one ortholog pairs, and MSOAR is invoked. Using both simulated and real data experiments, we show that MSOAR 2.0 is able to achieve a better sensitivity and specificity than MSOAR. In comparison with the well-known genome-scale ortholog assignment tool InParanoid, Ensembl ortholog database, and the orthology information extracted from the well-known whole-genome multiple alignment program MultiZ, MSOAR 2.0 shows the highest sensitivity. Although the specificity of MSOAR 2.0 is slightly worse than that of InParanoid in the real data experiments

  19. MECP2 duplication phenotype in symptomatic females: report of three further cases

    OpenAIRE

    Novara, Francesca; Simonati, Alessandro; Sicca, Federico; Battini, Roberta; Fiori, Simona; Contaldo, Annarita; Criscuolo, Lucia; Zuffardi, Orsetta; Ciccone, Roberto

    2014-01-01

    Background Xq28 duplications, including MECP2 (methyl CpG-binding protein 2; OMIM 300005), have been identified in approximately 140 male patients presenting with hypotonia, severe developmental delay/intellectual disability, limited or absent speech and ambulation, and recurrent respiratory infections. Female patients with Xq28 duplication have been rarely reported and are usually asymptomatic. Altogether, only fifteen symptomatic females with Xq28 duplications including MECP2 have been repo...

  20. Craniofacial duplication (diprosopus): CT, MR imaging, and MR angiography findings case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hähnel, Stefan; Schramm, Peter; Hassfeld, Stefan; Steiner, Hans H; Seitz, Angelika

    2003-01-01

    Diprosopus is one of the rarest malformations in humans. In addition to the facial structures, the cerebral frontal lobes were duplicated in this case. Three pairs of anterior cerebral arteries were detected, and the rostral parts of the superior sagittal sinus were duplicated. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and MR angiography allowed study of the degree of duplicative changes in diprosopus, especially for planning cosmetic correction. Copyright RSNA, 2002

  1. Method of duplicating film using the CR system. Evaluation of detectability in a simulated nodule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukuyama, Atsushi; Ando, Satoshi; Maeda, Kayoko; Ida, Kazushi; Suzuki, Tomoaki; Fukuyama, Kouichi; Hasegawa, Takeo

    2005-01-01

    Since film processors used for screen-film systems have been decreasing recently, it is becoming difficult to develop duplicating film (Dup film) used conventionally. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the method of duplicating film using a computed radiography (CR) system. The process of duplicating film using CR is to eliminate energy accumulated on the imaging plate (IP) using white light, to accumulate energy on the whole surface, and to place the original film in piles. After an exposure of white light, duplicated films can be obtained by CR system. In order to evaluate the reproducibiliy of our system, duplicated films were read by experienced observers and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was carried out. Observers read 50 images with a simulated nodule and 50 images without a simulated nodule. The average Az values were 0.94 for the original films, 0.91 for films duplicated using Dup film, and 0.90 for films duplicated using the CR system. When the two-tailed paired-T test was performed for each result, there were no statistically significant differences at p<0.05. The detectability of a simulated nodule for films duplicated using the CR system did not differ from the detectability of films duplicated using Dup film. This method may be a reasonable substitute for the conventional duplication system. (author)

  2. A case of asymptomatic ileal duplication cyst associated with acute appendicitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hülya İpek

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Duplications of the alimentary tract are infrequent anomalies. They are most frequently located in the terminal ileum, and majority of them became symptomatic before the age of 2. Presenting symptoms may include abdominal mass, intestinal obstruction, intussusception, rectal bleeding, and abdominal pain. Preoperative diagnosis is usually difficult, intra-abdominal duplications are usually diagnosed during surgical explorations of above complications. We presented a 12-year-old girl with asymptomatic ileal duplication cyst associated with non-complicated acute appendicitis, whose imaging studies at admission were compatible with complicated perforated appendicitis.

  3. Comparative genomics using microarrays reveals divergence and loss of virulence-associated genes in host-specific strains of the insect pathogen Metarhizium anisopliae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Sibao; Leclerque, Andreas; Pava-Ripoll, Monica; Fang, Weiguo; St Leger, Raymond J

    2009-06-01

    Many strains of Metarhizium anisopliae have broad host ranges, but others are specialists and adapted to particular hosts. Patterns of gene duplication, divergence, and deletion in three generalist and three specialist strains were investigated by heterologous hybridization of genomic DNA to genes from the generalist strain Ma2575. As expected, major life processes are highly conserved, presumably due to purifying selection. However, up to 7% of Ma2575 genes were highly divergent or absent in specialist strains. Many of these sequences are conserved in other fungal species, suggesting that there has been rapid evolution and loss in specialist Metarhizium genomes. Some poorly hybridizing genes in specialists were functionally coordinated, indicative of reductive evolution. These included several involved in toxin biosynthesis and sugar metabolism in root exudates, suggesting that specialists are losing genes required to live in alternative hosts or as saprophytes. Several components of mobile genetic elements were also highly divergent or lost in specialists. Exceptionally, the genome of the specialist cricket pathogen Ma443 contained extra insertion elements that might play a role in generating evolutionary novelty. This study throws light on the abundance of orphans in genomes, as 15% of orphan sequences were found to be rapidly evolving in the Ma2575 lineage.

  4. Partial Duplication of Chromosome 8p

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    rme

    The partial chromosome 8p duplication is a rare syndrome and is ... abnormality of maternal origin that ... second trimester by vaginal bleeding and ... echocardiography, brain CT scan and. MRI. Fig. 1:Conventional karyotype of case 3 showing.

  5. Hyperreal Numbers for Infinite Divergent Series

    OpenAIRE

    Bartlett, Jonathan

    2018-01-01

    Treating divergent series properly has been an ongoing issue in mathematics. However, many of the problems in divergent series stem from the fact that divergent series were discovered prior to having a number system which could handle them. The infinities that resulted from divergent series led to contradictions within the real number system, but these contradictions are largely alleviated with the hyperreal number system. Hyperreal numbers provide a framework for dealing with divergent serie...

  6. A retroperitoneal foregut duplication cyst: a case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Yong Woon; Lee, Jin Hee; Byun, Kyung Hwan; Kim, Byung Ki; Sohn, Kyung Sik; Kee, Se Kook; Jeon, Jin Min; Yun, Young Kook

    2006-01-01

    Retroperitoneal foregut duplication cyst is an extremely rare congenital malformation. Pathologically, this lesion contains both gastric mucosa and respiratory type mucosa; radiologically, it is often challenging to differentiate it from the other cystic neoplasms that present a similar appearance. We report on a case of retroperitoneal foregut duplication cyst that was lined by both gastric and pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium, and it was also accompanied by a pancreatic pseudocyst. Initially, it presented with peripancreatic and intrapancreatic cystic masses in an asymptomatic 30-year-old man, and this man has since undergone surgical resection

  7. Gene duplication, tissue-specific gene expression and sexual conflict in stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Richard H; Narechania, Apurva; Johns, Philip M; Wilkinson, Gerald S

    2012-08-19

    Gene duplication provides an essential source of novel genetic material to facilitate rapid morphological evolution. Traits involved in reproduction and sexual dimorphism represent some of the fastest evolving traits in nature, and gene duplication is intricately involved in the origin and evolution of these traits. Here, we review genomic research on stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae) that has been used to examine the extent of gene duplication and its role in the genetic architecture of sexual dimorphism. Stalk-eyed flies are remarkable because of the elongation of the head into long stalks, with the eyes and antenna laterally displaced at the ends of these stalks. Many species are strongly sexually dimorphic for eyespan, and these flies have become a model system for studying sexual selection. Using both expressed sequence tag and next-generation sequencing, we have established an extensive database of gene expression in the developing eye-antennal imaginal disc, the adult head and testes. Duplicated genes exhibit narrower expression patterns than non-duplicated genes, and the testes, in particular, provide an abundant source of gene duplication. Within somatic tissue, duplicated genes are more likely to be differentially expressed between the sexes, suggesting gene duplication may provide a mechanism for resolving sexual conflict.

  8. FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIZATION OF DUPLICATED FLAVONOID BIOSYNTHESIS GENES IN WHEAT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khlestkina E.

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Gene duplication followed by subfunctionalization and neofunctionalization is of a great evolutionary importance. In plant genomes, duplicated genes may result from either polyploidization (homoeologous genes or segmental chromosome duplications (paralogous genes. In allohexaploid wheat Triticum aestivum L. (2n=6x=42, genome BBAADD, both homoeologous and paralogous copies were found for the regulatory gene Myc encoding MYC-like transcriptional factor in the biosynthesis of flavonoid pigments, anthocyanins, and for the structural gene F3h encoding one of the key enzymes of flavonoid biosynthesis, flavanone 3-hydroxylase. From the 5 copies (3 homoeologous and 2 paralogous of the Myc gene found in T. aestivum, only one plays a regulatory role in anthocyanin biosynthesis, interacting complementary with another transcriptional factor (MYB-like to confer purple pigmentation of grain pericarp in wheat. The role and functionality of the other 4 copies of the Myc gene remain unknown. From the 4 functional copies of the F3h gene in T. aestivum, three homoeologues have similar function. They are expressed in wheat organs colored with anthocyanins or in the endosperm, participating there in biosynthesis of uncolored flavonoid substances. The fourth copy (the B-genomic paralogue is transcribed neither in wheat organs colored with anthocyanins nor in seeds, however, it’s expression has been noticed in roots of aluminium-stressed plants, where the three homoeologous copies are not active. Functional diversification of the duplicated flavonoid biosynthesis genes in wheat may be a reason for maintenance of the duplicated copies and preventing them from pseudogenization.The study was supported by RFBR (11-04-92707. We also thank Ms. Galina Generalova for technical assistance.

  9. The divergence theorem for divergence measure vectorfields on sets with fractal boundaries

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šilhavý, Miroslav

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 14, č. 5 (2009), s. 445-455 ISSN 1081-2865 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : divergence measure vectorfields * fractal s * divergence theorem Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.065, year: 2009

  10. The Patchwork Divergence Theorem

    OpenAIRE

    Dray, Tevian; Hellaby, Charles

    1994-01-01

    The divergence theorem in its usual form applies only to suitably smooth vector fields. For vector fields which are merely piecewise smooth, as is natural at a boundary between regions with different physical properties, one must patch together the divergence theorem applied separately in each region. We give an elegant derivation of the resulting "patchwork divergence theorem" which is independent of the metric signature in either region, and which is thus valid if the signature changes. (PA...

  11. Obscure bleeding colonic duplication responds to proton pump inhibitor therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacques, Jérémie; Projetti, Fabrice; Legros, Romain; Valgueblasse, Virginie; Sarabi, Matthieu; Carrier, Paul; Fredon, Fabien; Bouvier, Stéphane; Loustaud-Ratti, Véronique; Sautereau, Denis

    2013-09-21

    We report the case of a 17-year-old male admitted to our academic hospital with massive rectal bleeding. Since childhood he had reported recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding and had two exploratory laparotomies 5 and 2 years previously. An emergency abdominal computed tomography scan, gastroscopy and colonoscopy, performed after hemodynamic stabilization, were considered normal. High-dose intravenous proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy was initiated and bleeding stopped spontaneously. Two other massive rectal bleeds occurred 8 h after each cessation of PPI which led to a hemostatic laparotomy after negative gastroscopy and small bowel capsule endoscopy. This showed long tubular duplication of the right colon, with fresh blood in the duplicated colon. Obscure lower gastrointestinal bleeding is a difficult medical situation and potentially life-threatening. The presence of ulcerated ectopic gastric mucosa in the colonic duplication explains the partial efficacy of PPI therapy. Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding responding to empiric anti-acid therapy should probably evoke the diagnosis of bleeding ectopic gastric mucosa such as Meckel's diverticulum or gastrointestinal duplication, and gastroenterologists should be aware of this potential medical situation.

  12. Cystic rectal duplication: a rare cause of neonatal intestinal obstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mboyo, A; Monek, O; Massicot, R; Martin, L; Destuynder, O; Lemouel, A; Aubert, D

    1997-07-01

    A case of cystic rectal duplication revealed on day 2 of life by a low intestinal occluding syndrome is reported. Radiologic imaging (ultrasonography, cystography, rectography) showed a large, retrorectal liquid formation in the pelvis and abdomen, with pelvic compression of the terminal alimentary canal and lower urinary tract. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a liquid formation with clearly defined edges and no medullary involvement, thus ruling out the possibility of a previous meningeal hernia. Biological markers were within normal limits. On day 4, a 9 x 6-cm cystic rectal duplication was removed, followed by a temporary colostomy. Pathologic examination demonstrated typical rectal architecture with ciliated cells. Radiologic and clinical findings at 2-month follow-up were reassuring. This case report is exceptional for the following reasons: (1) As a rule, rectal duplications are relatively rare (70 cases reported in the literature); (2) The means of disclosing a neonatal rectal duplication is unusual (4 cases reported in the literature); (3) The volume of the malformation was considerable; and (4) Heterotopic ciliated epithelium was present.

  13. Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of WRKY Transcription Factors under Multiple Stresses in Brassica napus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Yajun; Mao, Shaoshuai; Gao, Yulong; Zhu, Liying; Wu, Daoming; Cui, Yixin; Li, Jiana; Qian, Wei

    2016-01-01

    WRKY transcription factors play important roles in responses to environmental stress stimuli. Using a genome-wide domain analysis, we identified 287 WRKY genes with 343 WRKY domains in the sequenced genome of Brassica napus, 139 in the A sub-genome and 148 in the C sub-genome. These genes were classified into eight groups based on phylogenetic analysis. In the 343 WRKY domains, a total of 26 members showed divergence in the WRKY domain, and 21 belonged to group I. This finding suggested that WRKY genes in group I are more active and variable compared with genes in other groups. Using genome-wide identification and analysis of the WRKY gene family in Brassica napus, we observed genome duplication, chromosomal/segmental duplications and tandem duplication. All of these duplications contributed to the expansion of the WRKY gene family. The duplicate segments that were detected indicated that genome duplication events occurred in the two diploid progenitors B. rapa and B. olearecea before they combined to form B. napus. Analysis of the public microarray database and EST database for B. napus indicated that 74 WRKY genes were induced or preferentially expressed under stress conditions. According to the public QTL data, we identified 77 WRKY genes in 31 QTL regions related to various stress tolerance. We further evaluated the expression of 26 BnaWRKY genes under multiple stresses by qRT-PCR. Most of the genes were induced by low temperature, salinity and drought stress, indicating that the WRKYs play important roles in B. napus stress responses. Further, three BnaWRKY genes were strongly responsive to the three multiple stresses simultaneously, which suggests that these 3 WRKY may have multi-functional roles in stress tolerance and can potentially be used in breeding new rapeseed cultivars. We also found six tandem repeat pairs exhibiting similar expression profiles under the various stress conditions, and three pairs were mapped in the stress related QTL regions

  14. Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of WRKY Transcription Factors under Multiple Stresses in Brassica napus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yajun He

    Full Text Available WRKY transcription factors play important roles in responses to environmental stress stimuli. Using a genome-wide domain analysis, we identified 287 WRKY genes with 343 WRKY domains in the sequenced genome of Brassica napus, 139 in the A sub-genome and 148 in the C sub-genome. These genes were classified into eight groups based on phylogenetic analysis. In the 343 WRKY domains, a total of 26 members showed divergence in the WRKY domain, and 21 belonged to group I. This finding suggested that WRKY genes in group I are more active and variable compared with genes in other groups. Using genome-wide identification and analysis of the WRKY gene family in Brassica napus, we observed genome duplication, chromosomal/segmental duplications and tandem duplication. All of these duplications contributed to the expansion of the WRKY gene family. The duplicate segments that were detected indicated that genome duplication events occurred in the two diploid progenitors B. rapa and B. olearecea before they combined to form B. napus. Analysis of the public microarray database and EST database for B. napus indicated that 74 WRKY genes were induced or preferentially expressed under stress conditions. According to the public QTL data, we identified 77 WRKY genes in 31 QTL regions related to various stress tolerance. We further evaluated the expression of 26 BnaWRKY genes under multiple stresses by qRT-PCR. Most of the genes were induced by low temperature, salinity and drought stress, indicating that the WRKYs play important roles in B. napus stress responses. Further, three BnaWRKY genes were strongly responsive to the three multiple stresses simultaneously, which suggests that these 3 WRKY may have multi-functional roles in stress tolerance and can potentially be used in breeding new rapeseed cultivars. We also found six tandem repeat pairs exhibiting similar expression profiles under the various stress conditions, and three pairs were mapped in the stress related

  15. Whole Genome and Tandem Duplicate Retention facilitated Glucosinolate Pathway Diversification in the Mustard Family.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hofberger, J.A.; Lyons, E.; Edger, P.P.; Pires, J.C.; Schranz, M.E.

    2013-01-01

    Plants share a common history of successive whole genome duplication (WGD) events retaining genomic patterns of duplicate gene copies (ohnologs) organized in conserved syntenic blocks. Duplication was often proposed to affect the origin of novel traits during evolution. However, genetic evidence

  16. HMMerThread: detecting remote, functional conserved domains in entire genomes by combining relaxed sequence-database searches with fold recognition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles Richard Bradshaw

    Full Text Available Conserved domains in proteins are one of the major sources of functional information for experimental design and genome-level annotation. Though search tools for conserved domain databases such as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs are sensitive in detecting conserved domains in proteins when they share sufficient sequence similarity, they tend to miss more divergent family members, as they lack a reliable statistical framework for the detection of low sequence similarity. We have developed a greatly improved HMMerThread algorithm that can detect remotely conserved domains in highly divergent sequences. HMMerThread combines relaxed conserved domain searches with fold recognition to eliminate false positive, sequence-based identifications. With an accuracy of 90%, our software is able to automatically predict highly divergent members of conserved domain families with an associated 3-dimensional structure. We give additional confidence to our predictions by validation across species. We have run HMMerThread searches on eight proteomes including human and present a rich resource of remotely conserved domains, which adds significantly to the functional annotation of entire proteomes. We find ∼4500 cross-species validated, remotely conserved domain predictions in the human proteome alone. As an example, we find a DNA-binding domain in the C-terminal part of the A-kinase anchor protein 10 (AKAP10, a PKA adaptor that has been implicated in cardiac arrhythmias and premature cardiac death, which upon stress likely translocates from mitochondria to the nucleus/nucleolus. Based on our prediction, we propose that with this HLH-domain, AKAP10 is involved in the transcriptional control of stress response. Further remotely conserved domains we discuss are examples from areas such as sporulation, chromosome segregation and signalling during immune response. The HMMerThread algorithm is able to automatically detect the presence of remotely conserved domains in

  17. A Δ11 desaturase gene genealogy reveals two divergent allelic classes within the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harrison Richard G

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Moth pheromone mating systems have been characterized at the molecular level, allowing evolutionary biologists to study how changes in protein sequence or gene expression affect pheromone phenotype, patterns of mating, and ultimately, the formation of barriers to gene exchange. Recent studies of Ostrinia pheromones have focused on the diversity of sex pheromone desaturases and their role in the specificity of pheromone production. Here we produce a Δ11 desaturase genealogy within Ostrinia nubilalis. We ask what has been the history of this gene, and whether this history suggests that changes in Δ11 desaturase have been involved in the divergence of the E and Z O. nubilalis pheromone strains. Results The Δ11 desaturase gene genealogy does not differentiate O. nubilalis pheromone strains. However, we find two distinct clades, separated by 2.9% sequence divergence, that do not sort with pheromone strain, geographic origin, or emergence time. We demonstrate that these clades do not represent gene duplicates, but rather allelic variation at a single gene locus. Conclusions Analyses of patterns of variation at the Δ11 desaturase gene in ECB suggest that this enzyme does not contribute to reproductive isolation between pheromone strains (E and Z. However, our genealogy reveals two deeply divergent allelic classes. Standing variation at loci that contribute to mate choice phenotypes may permit novel pheromone mating systems to arise in the presence of strong stabilizing selection.

  18. Combined failure acoustical diagnosis based on improved frequency domain blind deconvolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pan, Nan; Wu, Xing; Chi, YiLin; Liu, Xiaoqin; Liu, Chang

    2012-01-01

    According to gear box combined failure extraction in complex sound field, an acoustic fault detection method based on improved frequency domain blind deconvolution was proposed. Follow the frequency-domain blind deconvolution flow, the morphological filtering was firstly used to extract modulation features embedded in the observed signals, then the CFPA algorithm was employed to do complex-domain blind separation, finally the J-Divergence of spectrum was employed as distance measure to resolve the permutation. Experiments using real machine sound signals was carried out. The result demonstrate this algorithm can be efficiently applied to gear box combined failure detection in practice.

  19. Enhancing divergent thinking in visual arts education: Effects of explicit instruction of meta-cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Kamp, Marie-Thérèse; Admiraal, Wilfried; van Drie, Jannet; Rijlaarsdam, Gert

    2015-03-01

    The main purposes of visual arts education concern the enhancement of students' creative processes and the originality of their art products. Divergent thinking is crucial for finding original ideas in the initial phase of a creative process that aims to result in an original product. This study aims to examine the effects of explicit instruction of meta-cognition on students' divergent thinking. A quasi-experimental design was implemented with 147 secondary school students in visual arts education. In the experimental condition, students attended a series of regular lessons with assignments on art reception and production, and they attended one intervention lesson with explicit instruction of meta-cognition. In the control condition, students attended a series of regular lessons only. Pre-test and post-test instances tests measured fluency, flexibility, and originality as indicators of divergent thinking. Explicit instruction of meta-cognitive knowledge had a positive effect on fluency and flexibility, but not on originality. This study implies that in the domain of visual arts, instructional support in building up meta-cognitive knowledge about divergent thinking may improve students' creative processes. This study also discusses possible reasons for the demonstrated lack of effect for originality. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  20. Increasing self-other integration through divergent thinking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colzato, Lorenza S; van den Wildenberg, Wery P M; Hommel, Bernhard

    2013-10-01

    Increasing evidence suggests that people may cognitively represent themselves and others just like any other, nonsocial event. Here, we provide evidence that the degree of self-other integration (as reflected by the joint Simon effect; JSE) is systematically affected by the control characteristics of temporally overlapping but unrelated and nonsocial creativity tasks. In particular, the JSE was found to be larger in the context of a divergent-thinking task (alternate uses task) than in the context of a convergent-thinking task (remote association task). This suggests that self-other integration and action corepresentation are controlled by domain-general cognitive-control parameters that regulate the integrativeness (strong vs. weak top-down control and a resulting narrow vs. broad attentional focus) of information processing irrespective of its social implications.

  1. Duplication of the pituitary gland associated with multiple blastogenesis defects: Duplication of the pituitary gland (DPG)-plus syndrome. Case report and review of literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manjila, Sunil; Miller, Erin A; Vadera, Sumeet; Goel, Rishi K; Khan, Fahd R; Crowe, Carol; Geertman, Robert T

    2012-01-01

    Duplication of the pituitary gland (DPG) is a rare craniofacial developmental anomaly occurring during blastogenesis with postulated etiology such as incomplete twinning, teratogens, median cleft face syndrome or splitting of the notochord. The complex craniocaudal spectrum of blastogenesis defects associated with DPG is examined with an illustrative case. We report for the first time in the medical literature some unique associations with DPG, such as a clival encephalocele, third cerebral peduncle, duplicate odontoid process and a double tongue with independent volitional control. This patient also has the previously reported common associations such as duplicated sella, cleft palate, hypertelorism, callosal agenesis, hypothalamic enlargement, nasopharyngeal teratoma, fenestrated basilar artery and supernumerary teeth. This study also reviews 37 cases of DPG identified through MEDLINE literature search from 1880 to 2011. It provides a detailed analysis of the current case through physical examination and imaging. The authors propose that the developmental deformities associated with duplication of pituitary gland (DPG) occur as part of a developmental continuum, not as chance associations. Considering the fact that DPG is uniquely and certainly present throughout the spectrum of these blastogenesis defects, we suggest the term DPG-plus syndrome.

  2. Segmental duplications and evolutionary acquisition of UV damage response in the SPATA31 gene family of primates and humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bekpen, Cemalettin; Künzel, Sven; Xie, Chen; Eaaswarkhanth, Muthukrishnan; Lin, Yen-Lung; Gokcumen, Omer; Akdis, Cezmi A; Tautz, Diethard

    2017-03-06

    Segmental duplications are an abundant source for novel gene functions and evolutionary adaptations. This mechanism of generating novelty was very active during the evolution of primates particularly in the human lineage. Here, we characterize the evolution and function of the SPATA31 gene family (former designation FAM75A), which was previously shown to be among the gene families with the strongest signal of positive selection in hominoids. The mouse homologue for this gene family is a single copy gene expressed during spermatogenesis. We show that in primates, the SPATA31 gene duplicated into SPATA31A and SPATA31C types and broadened the expression into many tissues. Each type became further segmentally duplicated in the line towards humans with the largest number of full-length copies found for SPATA31A in humans. Copy number estimates of SPATA31A based on digital PCR show an average of 7.5 with a range of 5-11 copies per diploid genome among human individuals. The primate SPATA31 genes also acquired new protein domains that suggest an involvement in UV response and DNA repair. We generated antibodies and show that the protein is re-localized from the nucleolus to the whole nucleus upon UV-irradiation suggesting a UV damage response. We used CRISPR/Cas mediated mutagenesis to knockout copies of the gene in human primary fibroblast cells. We find that cell lines with reduced functional copies as well as naturally occurring low copy number HFF cells show enhanced sensitivity towards UV-irradiation. The acquisition of new SPATA31 protein functions and its broadening of expression may be related to the evolution of the diurnal life style in primates that required a higher UV tolerance. The increased segmental duplications in hominoids as well as its fast evolution suggest the acquisition of further specific functions particularly in humans.

  3. Diprosopus (partially duplicated head) associated with anencephaly: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    al Muti Zaitoun, A; Chang, J; Booker, M

    1999-01-01

    Craniofacial duplication (diprosopus) is a rare form of conjoined twin. A 16 year old mother with a twin pregnancy delivered one normally formed baby boy and one diprosopus male. The malformed baby was 33 weeks of gestation with a single trunk, normal limbs and various degrees of facial duplication. Of the following structures there were two of each: noses, eyes, ears (and one dimple), mouths, tongues and, with bilateral central cleft lips and cleft palates. This was associated with holoprosencephaly and craniorachischisis. Internal organs showed no duplication. There were multiple congenital anomalies including diaphragmatic hernia, small lungs, two lobes of the right lung, ventricular septal defect, small adrenal gland and small left kidney with short ureter. The body also had a short neck, small chest cavities and kyphosis. X-ray revealed duplication of the vertebral column. The case presented here represents a type II of diprosopia of Rating (1933) and is the least common type reported. We also reviewed 22 recently reported cases of diprosopus. In addition to facial duplication, anencephaly, neural tube defect and cardiac malformations represent the more common congenital abnormalities associated with diprosopus. The pathogenesis of diprosopus is not well understood. Factors that play a role in diprosopus are probably similar to those factors (genetic, environmental and abnormal placental circulation) which affect monozoygotic twins as observed in this case report. Early ultrasonography diagnosis of diprosopus permits one to consider a vaginal therapeutic abortion.

  4. Independent Origin and Global Distribution of Distinct Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein Gene Duplications.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica B Hostetler

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Plasmodium vivax causes the majority of malaria episodes outside Africa, but remains a relatively understudied pathogen. The pathology of P. vivax infection depends critically on the parasite's ability to recognize and invade human erythrocytes. This invasion process involves an interaction between P. vivax Duffy Binding Protein (PvDBP in merozoites and the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC on the erythrocyte surface. Whole-genome sequencing of clinical isolates recently established that some P. vivax genomes contain two copies of the PvDBP gene. The frequency of this duplication is particularly high in Madagascar, where there is also evidence for P. vivax infection in DARC-negative individuals. The functional significance and global prevalence of this duplication, and whether there are other copy number variations at the PvDBP locus, is unknown.Using whole-genome sequencing and PCR to study the PvDBP locus in P. vivax clinical isolates, we found that PvDBP duplication is widespread in Cambodia. The boundaries of the Cambodian PvDBP duplication differ from those previously identified in Madagascar, meaning that current molecular assays were unable to detect it. The Cambodian PvDBP duplication did not associate with parasite density or DARC genotype, and ranged in prevalence from 20% to 38% over four annual transmission seasons in Cambodia. This duplication was also present in P. vivax isolates from Brazil and Ethiopia, but not India.PvDBP duplications are much more widespread and complex than previously thought, and at least two distinct duplications are circulating globally. The same duplication boundaries were identified in parasites from three continents, and were found at high prevalence in human populations where DARC-negativity is essentially absent. It is therefore unlikely that PvDBP duplication is associated with infection of DARC-negative individuals, but functional tests will be required to confirm this hypothesis.

  5. Approximate controllability of the Navier-Stokes system in unbounded domains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shorygin, P O

    2003-01-01

    The question of the approximate controllability for the 2- and the 3-dimensional Navier-Stokes system defined in the exterior of a bounded domain ω or in the entire space is studied. It is shown that one can find boundary controls or locally distributed controls (having support in a prescribed bounded domain) defined on the right-hand side of the system such that in prescribed time the solution of the Navier-Stokes system becomes arbitrarily close to an arbitrary prescribed divergence-free vector field

  6. A rare association of rectal and genitourinary duplication and anorectal malformation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    王俊; 施诚仁; 余世耀; 吴燕; 徐长辉

    2003-01-01

    @@ It is very rare to see multiple malformations occurring in both the urogenital and digestive systems in a case of congenital anorectal malformation. In this particular care, an imperforated anus occurred with other multiple malformations, including a double kidney, urethral duplication and rectal duplication, etc.

  7. Role of computed tomography in oesophageal duplications. Report of two cases; Duplications oesophagiennes: place de la tomodensitometrie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jouini, S.; Menif, E.; Azaiez, N.; Ben Hajel, H.; Cheikh, I.; Ben Ammar, A.; Sellami, M.; Ben Jaafar, M. [Hopital La Rabta, Tunis (Tunisia)

    1995-12-31

    The authors present two cases of esophageal duplication: tubular in one case and cystic in the other. This rare anomaly was identified in both cases by CT scan. A review of literature is proposed. (authors). 22 refs., 10 figs.

  8. Intussusception due to a cecal duplication cyst: a rare cause of acute abdomen. Case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corroppolo, M; Zampieri, N; Erculiani, E; Cecchetto, M; Camoglio, F S

    2007-01-01

    Duplications of the alimentary tract are rare congenital anomalies. The ileum is the most common site, whereas rectal, duodenal, gastric and cecal duplications are extremely rare. Duplication cysts of the cecum, in a neonate, are even rarer, with only 19 cases reported in medical literature to date. We report a case of intestinal intussusception due to a cecal duplication cyst.

  9. Sas-4 proteins are required during basal body duplication in Paramecium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gogendeau, Delphine; Hurbain, Ilse; Raposo, Graca; Cohen, Jean; Koll, France; Basto, Renata

    2011-01-01

    Centrioles and basal bodies are structurally related organelles composed of nine microtubule (MT) triplets. Studies performed in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos have shown that centriole duplication takes place in sequential way, in which different proteins are recruited in a specific order to assemble a procentriole. ZYG-1 initiates centriole duplication by triggering the recruitment of a complex of SAS-5 and SAS-6, which then recruits the final player, SAS-4, to allow the incorporation of MT singlets. It is thought that a similar mechanism (that also involves additional proteins) is present in other animal cells, but it remains to be investigated whether the same players and their ascribed functions are conserved during basal body duplication in cells that exclusively contain basal bodies. To investigate this question, we have used the multiciliated protist Paramecium tetraurelia. Here we show that in the absence of PtSas4, two types of defects in basal body duplication can be identified. In the majority of cases, the germinative disk and cartwheel, the first structures assembled during duplication, are not detected. In addition, if daughter basal bodies were formed, they invariably had defects in MT recruitment. Our results suggest that PtSas4 has a broader function than its animal orthologues. PMID:21289083

  10. On infrared divergences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parisi, G.

    1979-01-01

    The structure of infrared divergences is studied in superrenormalizable interactions. It is conjectured that there is an extension of the Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp theorem which copes also with infrared divergences. The consequences of this conjecture on the singularities of the Borel transform in a massless asymptotic free field theory are discussed. The application of these ideas to gauge theories is briefly discussed. (Auth.)

  11. String loop divergences and effective lagrangians

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fischler, W.; Klebanov, I.; Susskind, L.

    1988-01-01

    We isolate logarithmic divergences from bosonic string amplitudes on a disc. These divergences are compared with 'tadpole' divergences in the effective field theory, with a covariant cosmological term implied by the counting of string coupling constants. We find an inconsistency between the two. This might be a problem in eliminating divergences from the bosonic string. (orig.)

  12. Craniofacial Duplication (Diprosopus) in the Cat — Case Report and Review of the Literature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sekeles, E.; Aharon, D.C.; Fass, U.

    1985-01-01

    A kitten displaying the features of symmetrical partial duplication of the head (diprosopus) is described. The morphological description of this double monster is compared to three previous similar cases. All four cases were similar in that duplication of the orbits and eyes were not completed and fission of the oral and nasal cavities and their contents were partial. Furthermore, the central nervous systems were duplicated as far caudal as the brain stem. Present case displayed cleft palate in the two faces, a feature that was not described earlier. Though diprosopus is a rare anomaly in cats, it is more common than in the dog, pig and sheep. In cattle, anterior duplications are one of the largest groups of congenital anomalies. Based on generally accepted considerations concerning the mechanism behind the formation of monozyous twins, conjoined twins and anterior duplications, integrated with experimental data on induction of duplications in animals, an hypothesis is proposed for early embryonic fission. It suggests a constant cleaving factor active along the median plane with affinity to midline structures. Its temporal relations with the developing embryo, especially in susceptible species, decide the degree and type of duplication

  13. Statistical inference based on divergence measures

    CERN Document Server

    Pardo, Leandro

    2005-01-01

    The idea of using functionals of Information Theory, such as entropies or divergences, in statistical inference is not new. However, in spite of the fact that divergence statistics have become a very good alternative to the classical likelihood ratio test and the Pearson-type statistic in discrete models, many statisticians remain unaware of this powerful approach.Statistical Inference Based on Divergence Measures explores classical problems of statistical inference, such as estimation and hypothesis testing, on the basis of measures of entropy and divergence. The first two chapters form an overview, from a statistical perspective, of the most important measures of entropy and divergence and study their properties. The author then examines the statistical analysis of discrete multivariate data with emphasis is on problems in contingency tables and loglinear models using phi-divergence test statistics as well as minimum phi-divergence estimators. The final chapter looks at testing in general populations, prese...

  14. Rectosigmoid tubular duplication presenting as perineal sepsis in a neonate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhibo; Huang, Ying; Wang, Dajia; Su, Pengjun

    2010-03-01

    Tubular rectal duplication is a very rare congenital anomaly. We report a case of tubular rectal duplication in a newborn baby who presented with perianal sepsis. The diagnosis was confirmed by barium enema, magnetic resonance imaging, and at operation. We performed total mucosectomy through a posterior sagittal incision combined with laparotomy. The patient was doing quite well at 17-month follow-up examination.

  15. Activation and polar sequestration of PopA, a c-di-GMP effector protein involved in Caulobacter crescentus cell cycle control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ozaki, Shogo; Schalch-Moser, Annina; Zumthor, Ludwig

    2014-01-01

    that PopA originated through gene duplication from its paralogue response regulator PleD and subsequent co-option as c-di-GMP effector protein. While the C-terminal catalytic domain (GGDEF) of PleD is activated by phosphorylation of the N-terminal receiver domain, functional adaptation has reversed signal......A to the cell pole in response to c-di-GMP binding. In agreement with the divergent activation and targeting mechanisms, distinct markers sequester PleD and PopA to the old cell pole upon S-phase entry. Together these data indicate that PopA adopted a novel role as topology specificity factor to help recruit...

  16. Reducing duplicate testing: a comparison of two clinical decision support tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Procop, Gary W; Keating, Catherine; Stagno, Paul; Kottke-Marchant, Kandice; Partin, Mary; Tuttle, Robert; Wyllie, Robert

    2015-05-01

    Unnecessary duplicate laboratory testing is common and costly. Systems-based means to avert unnecessary testing should be investigated and employed. We compared the effectiveness and cost savings associated with two clinical decision support tools to stop duplicate testing. The Hard Stop required telephone contact with the laboratory and justification to have the duplicate test performed, whereas the Smart Alert allowed the provider to bypass the alert at the point of order entry without justification. The Hard Stop alert was significantly more effective than the Smart Alert (92.3% vs 42.6%, respectively; P < .0001). The cost savings realized per alert activation was $16.08/alert for the Hard Stop alert vs $3.52/alert for the Smart Alert. Structural and process changes that require laboratory contact and justification for duplicate testing are more effective than interventions that allow providers to bypass alerts without justification at point of computerized physician order entry. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

  17. Circular DNA Intermediate in the Duplication of Nile Tilapia vasa Genes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujimura, Koji; Conte, Matthew A.; Kocher, Thomas D.

    2011-01-01

    vasa is a highly conserved RNA helicase involved in animal germ cell development. Among vertebrate species, it is typically present as a single copy per genome. Here we report the isolation and sequencing of BAC clones for Nile tilapia vasa genes. Contrary to a previous report that Nile tilapia have a single copy of the vasa gene, we find evidence for at least three vasa gene loci. The vasa gene locus was duplicated from the original site and integrated into two distant novel sites. For one of these insertions we find evidence that the duplication was mediated by a circular DNA intermediate. This mechanism of gene duplication may explain the origin of isolated gene duplicates during the evolution of fish genomes. These data provide a foundation for studying the role of multiple vasa genes in the development of tilapia gonads, and will contribute to investigations of the molecular mechanisms of sex determination and evolution in cichlid fishes. PMID:22216289

  18. Differential transcriptional modulation of duplicated fatty acid-binding protein genes by dietary fatty acids in zebrafish (Danio rerio: evidence for subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization of duplicated genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denovan-Wright Eileen M

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the Duplication-Degeneration-Complementation (DDC model, subfunctionalization and neofunctionalization have been proposed as important processes driving the retention of duplicated genes in the genome. These processes are thought to occur by gain or loss of regulatory elements in the promoters of duplicated genes. We tested the DDC model by determining the transcriptional induction of fatty acid-binding proteins (Fabps genes by dietary fatty acids (FAs in zebrafish. We chose zebrafish for this study for two reasons: extensive bioinformatics resources are available for zebrafish at zfin.org and zebrafish contains many duplicated genes owing to a whole genome duplication event that occurred early in the ray-finned fish lineage approximately 230-400 million years ago. Adult zebrafish were fed diets containing either fish oil (12% lipid, rich in highly unsaturated fatty acid, sunflower oil (12% lipid, rich in linoleic acid, linseed oil (12% lipid, rich in linolenic acid, or low fat (4% lipid, low fat diet for 10 weeks. FA profiles and the steady-state levels of fabp mRNA and heterogeneous nuclear RNA in intestine, liver, muscle and brain of zebrafish were determined. Result FA profiles assayed by gas chromatography differed in the intestine, brain, muscle and liver depending on diet. The steady-state level of mRNA for three sets of duplicated genes, fabp1a/fabp1b.1/fabp1b.2, fabp7a/fabp7b, and fabp11a/fabp11b, was determined by reverse transcription, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR. In brain, the steady-state level of fabp7b mRNAs was induced in fish fed the linoleic acid-rich diet; in intestine, the transcript level of fabp1b.1 and fabp7b were elevated in fish fed the linolenic acid-rich diet; in liver, the level of fabp7a mRNAs was elevated in fish fed the low fat diet; and in muscle, the level of fabp7a and fabp11a mRNAs were elevated in fish fed the linolenic acid-rich or the low fat diets. In all cases

  19. Evolution of SH2 domains and phosphotyrosine signalling networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bernard A.; Nash, Piers D.

    2012-01-01

    Src homology 2 (SH2) domains mediate selective protein–protein interactions with tyrosine phosphorylated proteins, and in doing so define specificity of phosphotyrosine (pTyr) signalling networks. SH2 domains and protein-tyrosine phosphatases expand alongside protein-tyrosine kinases (PTKs) to coordinate cellular and organismal complexity in the evolution of the unikont branch of the eukaryotes. Examination of conserved families of PTKs and SH2 domain proteins provides fiduciary marks that trace the evolutionary landscape for the development of complex cellular systems in the proto-metazoan and metazoan lineages. The evolutionary provenance of conserved SH2 and PTK families reveals the mechanisms by which diversity is achieved through adaptations in tissue-specific gene transcription, altered ligand binding, insertions of linear motifs and the gain or loss of domains following gene duplication. We discuss mechanisms by which pTyr-mediated signalling networks evolve through the development of novel and expanded families of SH2 domain proteins and the elaboration of connections between pTyr-signalling proteins. These changes underlie the variety of general and specific signalling networks that give rise to tissue-specific functions and increasingly complex developmental programmes. Examination of SH2 domains from an evolutionary perspective provides insight into the process by which evolutionary expansion and modification of molecular protein interaction domain proteins permits the development of novel protein-interaction networks and accommodates adaptation of signalling networks. PMID:22889907

  20. Divergent thinking and constructing episodic simulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Addis, Donna Rose; Pan, Ling; Musicaro, Regina; Schacter, Daniel L

    2016-01-01

    Divergent thinking likely plays an important role in simulating autobiographical events. We investigated whether divergent thinking is differentially associated with the ability to construct detailed imagined future and imagined past events as opposed to recalling past events. We also examined whether age differences in divergent thinking might underlie the reduced episodic detail generated by older adults. The richness of episodic detail comprising autobiographical events in young and older adults was assessed using the Autobiographical Interview. Divergent thinking abilities were measured using the Alternative Uses Task. Divergent thinking was significantly associated with the amount of episodic detail for imagined future events. Moreover, while age was significantly associated with imagined episodic detail, this effect was strongly related to age-related changes in episodic retrieval rather than divergent thinking.

  1. Divergence from, and Convergence to, Uniformity of Probability Density Quantiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert G. Staudte

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available We demonstrate that questions of convergence and divergence regarding shapes of distributions can be carried out in a location- and scale-free environment. This environment is the class of probability density quantiles (pdQs, obtained by normalizing the composition of the density with the associated quantile function. It has earlier been shown that the pdQ is representative of a location-scale family and carries essential information regarding shape and tail behavior of the family. The class of pdQs are densities of continuous distributions with common domain, the unit interval, facilitating metric and semi-metric comparisons. The Kullback–Leibler divergences from uniformity of these pdQs are mapped to illustrate their relative positions with respect to uniformity. To gain more insight into the information that is conserved under the pdQ mapping, we repeatedly apply the pdQ mapping and find that further applications of it are quite generally entropy increasing so convergence to the uniform distribution is investigated. New fixed point theorems are established with elementary probabilistic arguments and illustrated by examples.

  2. On the absence of large-order divergences in superstring theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, S.

    2003-01-01

    The genus-dependence of multi-loop superstring amplitudes is estimated at large orders in perturbation theory using the super-Schottky group parameterization of supermoduli space. Restriction of the integration region to a subset of supermoduli space and a single fundamental domain of the super-modular group suggests an exponential dependence on the genus. Upper bounds for these estimates are obtained for arbitrary N-point superstring scattering amplitudes and are shown to be consistent with exact results obtained for special type II string amplitudes for orbifold or Calabi-Yau compactifications. The genus-dependence is then obtained by considering the effect of the remaining contribution to the superstring amplitudes after the coefficients of the formally divergent parts of the integrals vanish as a result of a sum over spin structures. The introduction of supersymmetry therefore leads to the elimination of large-order divergences in string perturbation theory, a result which is based only on the supersymmetric generalization of the Polyakov measure and not the gauge group of the string model. (Abstract Copyright [2003], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

  3. Duplicate Health Insurance Coverage: Determinants of Variation Across States

    OpenAIRE

    Luft, Harold S.; Maerki, Susan C.

    1982-01-01

    Although it is recognized that many people have duplicate private health insurance coverage, either through separate purchase or as health benefits in multi-earner families, there has been little analysis of the factors determining duplicate coverage rates. A new data source, the Survey of Income and Education, offers a comparison with the only previous source of state level data, the estimates from the Health Insurance Association of America. The R2 between the two sets is only .3 and certai...

  4. Functional diversity of Csk, Chk, and Src SH2 domains due to a single residue variation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayrapetov, Marina K; Nam, Nguyen Hai; Ye, Guofeng; Kumar, Anil; Parang, Keykavous; Sun, Gongqin

    2005-07-08

    The C-terminal Src kinase (Csk) family of protein tyrosine kinases contains two members: Csk and Csk homologous kinase (Chk). Both phosphorylate and inactivate Src family kinases. Recent reports suggest that the Src homology (SH) 2 domains of Csk and Chk may bind to different phosphoproteins, which provides a basis for different cellular functions for Csk and Chk. To verify and characterize such a functional divergence, we compared the binding properties of the Csk, Chk, and Src SH2 domains and investigated the structural basis for the functional divergence. First, the study demonstrated striking functional differences between the Csk and Chk SH2 domains and revealed functional similarities between the Chk and Src SH2 domains. Second, structural analysis and mutagenic studies revealed that the functional differences among the three SH2 domains were largely controlled by one residue, Glu127 in Csk, Ile167 in Chk, and Lys200 in Src. Mutating these residues in the Csk or Chk SH2 domain to the Src counterpart resulted in dramatic gain of function similar to Src SH2 domain, whereas mutating Lys200 in Src SH2 domain to Glu (the Csk counterpart) resulted in loss of Src SH2 function. Third, a single point mutation of E127K rendered Csk responsive to activation by a Src SH2 domain ligand. Finally, the optimal phosphopeptide sequence for the Chk SH2 domain was determined. These results provide a compelling explanation for the functional differences between two homologous protein tyrosine kinases and reveal a new structure-function relationship for the SH2 domains.

  5. Social network analysis of duplicative prescriptions: One-month analysis of medical facilities in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Yoshimitsu; Ishizaki, Tatsuro; Nakayama, Takeo; Kawachi, Ichiro

    2016-03-01

    Duplicative prescriptions refer to situations in which patients receive medications for the same condition from two or more sources. Health officials in Japan have expressed concern about medical "waste" resulting from this practices. We sought to conduct descriptive analysis of duplicative prescriptions using social network analysis and to report their prevalence across ages. We analyzed a health insurance claims database including 1.24 million people from December 2012. Through social network analysis, we examined the duplicative prescription networks, representing each medical facility as nodes, and individual prescriptions for patients as edges. The prevalence of duplicative prescription for any drug class was strongly correlated with its frequency of prescription (r=0.90). Among patients aged 0-19, cough and colds drugs showed the highest prevalence of duplicative prescriptions (10.8%). Among people aged 65 and over, antihypertensive drugs had the highest frequency of prescriptions, but the prevalence of duplicative prescriptions was low (0.2-0.3%). Social network analysis revealed clusters of facilities connected via duplicative prescriptions, e.g., psychotropic drugs showed clustering due to a few patients receiving drugs from 10 or more facilities. Overall, the prevalence of duplicative prescriptions was quite low - less than 10% - although the extent of the problem varied by drug class and age group. Our approach illustrates the potential utility of using a social network approach to understand these practices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. A large duplication involving the IHH locus mimics acrocallosal syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuksel-Apak, Memnune; Bögershausen, Nina; Pawlik, Barbara; Li, Yun; Apak, Selcuk; Uyguner, Oya; Milz, Esther; Nürnberg, Gudrun; Karaman, Birsen; Gülgören, Ayan; Grzeschik, Karl-Heinz; Nürnberg, Peter; Kayserili, Hülya; Wollnik, Bernd

    2012-06-01

    Indian hedgehog (Ihh) signaling is a major determinant of various processes during embryonic development and has a pivotal role in embryonic skeletal development. A specific spatial and temporal expression of Ihh within the developing limb buds is essential for accurate digit outgrowth and correct digit number. Although missense mutations in IHH cause brachydactyly type A1, small tandem duplications involving the IHH locus have recently been described in patients with mild syndactyly and craniosynostosis. In contrast, a ∼600-kb deletion 5' of IHH in the doublefoot mouse mutant (Dbf) leads to severe polydactyly without craniosynostosis, but with craniofacial dysmorphism. We now present a patient resembling acrocallosal syndrome (ACS) with extensive polysyndactyly of the hands and feet, craniofacial abnormalities including macrocephaly, agenesis of the corpus callosum, dysplastic and low-set ears, severe hypertelorism and profound psychomotor delay. Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array copy number analysis identified a ∼900-kb duplication of the IHH locus, which was confirmed by an independent quantitative method. A fetus from a second pregnancy of the mother by a different spouse showed similar craniofacial and limb malformations and the same duplication of the IHH-locus. We defined the exact breakpoints and showed that the duplications are identical tandem duplications in both sibs. No copy number changes were observed in the healthy mother. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a human phenotype similar to the Dbf mutant and strikingly overlapping with ACS that is caused by a copy number variation involving the IHH locus on chromosome 2q35.

  7. Giant T-shaped duplication of the transverse colon. A case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trotovsek, Blaz; Hribernik, Marija; Gvardijancic, Diana; Jelenc, Franc

    2006-01-01

    A case of long diverticular colonic duplication producing acute abdominal pain in a 6-year-old girl is presented. Physical examination showed no signs of acute abdomen at the initial presentation. After a pain-free interval, there was a sudden onset of severe abdominal pain and a large tumor in the lower abdomen was observed. A plain x-ray showed an enormously dilated colonic pouch filled with gas. Excision of the T-shaped duplication and small part of the transverse colon was successful. Because of extensive fibrotic changes in the colon near the opening of duplication, a resection margin of at least 2 cm is recommended.

  8. Large tubular colonic duplication in an adult treated with a small midline incision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yong, Yuen Geng; Jung, Kyung Uk; Cho, Yong Beom; Yun, Seong Hyeon; Kim, Hee Cheol; Lee, Woo Yong

    2012-01-01

    Tubular colonic duplication presenting in adults is rare and difficult to diagnose preoperatively. Only a few cases have been reported in the literature. We report a case of a 29-year-old lady presenting with a long history of chronic constipation, abdominal mass and repeated episodes of abdominal pain. The abdominal-pelvic computed tomography scan showed segmental bowel wall thickening thought to be small bowel, and dilatation with stasis of intraluminal content. The provisional diagnosis was small bowel duplication. She was scheduled for single port laparoscopic resection. However, a T-shaped tubular colonic duplication at sigmoid colon was found intraoperatively. Resection of the large T-shaped tubular colonic duplication containing multiple impacted large fecaloma and primary anastomosis was performed. There was no perioperative complication. We report, herein, the case of a T-shaped tubular colonic duplication at sigmoid colon in an adult who was successfully treated through mini-laparotomy assisted by single port laparoscopic surgery. PMID:22403754

  9. Multidetector row computed tomography and ultrasound characteristics of caudal vena cava duplication in dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertolini, Giovanna; Diana, Alessia; Cipone, Mario; Drigo, Michele; Caldin, Marco

    2014-01-01

    Caudal vena cava duplication has been rarely reported in small animals. The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe characteristics of duplicated caudal vena cava in a large group of dogs. Computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound databases from two hospitals were searched for canine reports having the diagnosis "double caudal vena cava." One observer reviewed CT images for 71 dogs and two observers reviewed ultrasound images for 21 dogs. In all CT cases, the duplication comprised two vessels that were bilaterally symmetrical and approximately the same calibre (similar to Type I complete duplication in humans). In all ultrasound cases, the duplicated caudal vena cava appeared as a distinct vessel running on the left side of the abdominal segment of the descending aorta and extending from the left common iliac vein to the left renal vein. The prevalence of caudal vena cava duplication was 0.46% for canine ultrasound studies and 2.08% for canine CT studies performed at these hospitals. Median body weight for affected dogs was significantly lower than that of unaffected dogs (P dogs, caudal vena cava duplication should be differentiated from other vascular anomalies when planning surgeries and for avoiding misdiagnoses. © 2014 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

  10. A synergism between adaptive effects and evolvability drives whole genome duplication to fixation

    OpenAIRE

    Cuypers, Thomas D; Hogeweg, Paulien; Hogeweg, P.

    2014-01-01

    Whole genome duplication has shaped eukaryotic evolutionary history and has been associated with drastic environmental change and species radiation. While the most common fate of WGD duplicates is a return to single copy, retained duplicates have been found enriched for highly interacting genes. This pattern has been explained by a neutral process of subfunctionalization and more recently, dosage balance selection. However, much about the relationship between environmental change, WGD and ada...

  11. A synergism between adaptive effects and evolvability drives whole genome duplication to fixation.

    OpenAIRE

    Thomas D Cuypers; Paulien Hogeweg

    2014-01-01

    Whole genome duplication has shaped eukaryotic evolutionary history and has been associated with drastic environmental change and species radiation. While the most common fate of WGD duplicates is a return to single copy, retained duplicates have been found enriched for highly interacting genes. This pattern has been explained by a neutral process of subfunctionalization and more recently, dosage balance selection. However, much about the relationship between environmental change, WGD and ada...

  12. Evolution of vertebrate central nervous system is accompanied by novel expression changes of duplicate genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yuan; Ding, Yun; Zhang, Zuming; Wang, Wen; Chen, Jun-Yuan; Ueno, Naoto; Mao, Bingyu

    2011-12-20

    The evolution of the central nervous system (CNS) is one of the most striking changes during the transition from invertebrates to vertebrates. As a major source of genetic novelties, gene duplication might play an important role in the functional innovation of vertebrate CNS. In this study, we focused on a group of CNS-biased genes that duplicated during early vertebrate evolution. We investigated the tempo-spatial expression patterns of 33 duplicate gene families and their orthologs during the embryonic development of the vertebrate Xenopus laevis and the cephalochordate Brachiostoma belcheri. Almost all the identified duplicate genes are differentially expressed in the CNS in Xenopus embryos, and more than 50% and 30% duplicate genes are expressed in the telencephalon and mid-hindbrain boundary, respectively, which are mostly considered as two innovations in the vertebrate CNS. Interestingly, more than 50% of the amphioxus orthologs do not show apparent expression in the CNS in amphioxus embryos as detected by in situ hybridization, indicating that some of the vertebrate CNS-biased duplicate genes might arise from non-CNS genes in invertebrates. Our data accentuate the functional contribution of gene duplication in the CNS evolution of vertebrate and uncover an invertebrate non-CNS history for some vertebrate CNS-biased duplicate genes. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  13. Targeted Exon Skipping to Correct Exon Duplications in the Dystrophin Gene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kane L Greer

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a severe muscle-wasting disease caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene that ablate functional protein expression. Although exonic deletions are the most common Duchenne muscular dystrophy lesion, duplications account for 10–15% of reported disease-causing mutations, and exon 2 is the most commonly duplicated exon. Here, we describe the in vitro evaluation of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers coupled to a cell-penetrating peptide and 2′-O-methyl phosphorothioate oligonucleotides, using three distinct strategies to reframe the dystrophin transcript in patient cells carrying an exon 2 duplication. Differences in exon-skipping efficiencies in vitro were observed between oligomer analogues of the same sequence, with the phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer coupled to a cell-penetrating peptide proving the most effective. Differences in exon 2 excision efficiency between normal and exon 2 duplication cells, were apparent, indicating that exon context influences oligomer-induced splice switching. Skipping of a single copy of exon 2 was induced in the cells carrying an exon 2 duplication, the simplest strategy to restore the reading frame and generate a normal dystrophin transcript. In contrast, multiexon skipping of exons 2–7 to generate a Becker muscular dystrophy-like dystrophin transcript was more challenging and could only be induced efficiently with the phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer chemistry.

  14. The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-to-teleost comparisons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braasch, Ingo; Gehrke, Andrew R.; Smith, Jeramiah J.; Kawasaki, Kazuhiko; Manousaki, Tereza; Pasquier, Jeremy; Amores, Angel; Desvignes, Thomas; Batzel, Peter; Catchen, Julian; Berlin, Aaron M.; Campbell, Michael S.; Barrell, Daniel; Martin, Kyle J.; Mulley, John F.; Ravi, Vydianathan; Lee, Alison P.; Nakamura, Tetsuya; Chalopin, Domitille; Fan, Shaohua; Wcisel, Dustin; Cañestro, Cristian; Sydes, Jason; Beaudry, Felix E. G.; Sun, Yi; Hertel, Jana; Beam, Michael J.; Fasold, Mario; Ishiyama, Mikio; Johnson, Jeremy; Kehr, Steffi; Lara, Marcia; Letaw, John H.; Litman, Gary W.; Litman, Ronda T.; Mikami, Masato; Ota, Tatsuya; Saha, Nil Ratan; Williams, Louise; Stadler, Peter F.; Wang, Han; Taylor, John S.; Fontenot, Quenton; Ferrara, Allyse; Searle, Stephen M. J.; Aken, Bronwen; Yandell, Mark; Schneider, Igor; Yoder, Jeffrey A.; Volff, Jean-Nicolas; Meyer, Axel; Amemiya, Chris T.; Venkatesh, Byrappa; Holland, Peter W. H.; Guiguen, Yann; Bobe, Julien; Shubin, Neil H.; Di Palma, Federica; Alföldi, Jessica; Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin; Postlethwait, John H.

    2016-01-01

    To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before the teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization, and development (e.g., Hox, ParaHox, and miRNA genes). Numerous conserved non-coding elements (CNEs, often cis-regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles of such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that the sum of expression domains and levels from duplicated teleost genes often approximate patterns and levels of gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes, and the function of human regulatory sequences. PMID:26950095

  15. The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-teleost comparisons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braasch, Ingo; Gehrke, Andrew R; Smith, Jeramiah J; Kawasaki, Kazuhiko; Manousaki, Tereza; Pasquier, Jeremy; Amores, Angel; Desvignes, Thomas; Batzel, Peter; Catchen, Julian; Berlin, Aaron M; Campbell, Michael S; Barrell, Daniel; Martin, Kyle J; Mulley, John F; Ravi, Vydianathan; Lee, Alison P; Nakamura, Tetsuya; Chalopin, Domitille; Fan, Shaohua; Wcisel, Dustin; Cañestro, Cristian; Sydes, Jason; Beaudry, Felix E G; Sun, Yi; Hertel, Jana; Beam, Michael J; Fasold, Mario; Ishiyama, Mikio; Johnson, Jeremy; Kehr, Steffi; Lara, Marcia; Letaw, John H; Litman, Gary W; Litman, Ronda T; Mikami, Masato; Ota, Tatsuya; Saha, Nil Ratan; Williams, Louise; Stadler, Peter F; Wang, Han; Taylor, John S; Fontenot, Quenton; Ferrara, Allyse; Searle, Stephen M J; Aken, Bronwen; Yandell, Mark; Schneider, Igor; Yoder, Jeffrey A; Volff, Jean-Nicolas; Meyer, Axel; Amemiya, Chris T; Venkatesh, Byrappa; Holland, Peter W H; Guiguen, Yann; Bobe, Julien; Shubin, Neil H; Di Palma, Federica; Alföldi, Jessica; Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin; Postlethwait, John H

    2016-04-01

    To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome has conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization and development (mediated, for example, by Hox, ParaHox and microRNA genes). Numerous conserved noncoding elements (CNEs; often cis regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles for such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the sums of expression domains and expression levels for duplicated teleost genes often approximate the patterns and levels of expression for gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes and the function of human regulatory sequences.

  16. Rethinking conformity and imitation: divergence, convergence, and social understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodges, Bert H

    2014-01-01

    Social and developmental psychologists have stressed the pervasiveness and strength of humans' tendencies to conform and to imitate, and social anthropologists have argued that these tendencies are crucial to the formation of cultures. Research from four domains is reviewed and elaborated to show that divergence is also pervasive and potent, and it is interwoven with convergence in a complex set of dynamics that is often unnoticed or minimized. First, classic research in social conformity is reinterpreted in terms of truth, trust, and social solidarity, revealing that dissent is its most salient feature. Second, recent studies of children's use of testimony to guide action reveal a surprisingly sophisticated balance of trust and prudence, and a concern for truth and charity. Third, new experiments indicate that people diverge from others even under conditions where conformity seems assured. Fourth, current studies of imitation provide strong evidence that children are both selective and faithful in who, what, and why they follow others. All of the evidence reviewed points toward children and adults as being engaged, embodied partners with others, motivated to learn and understand the world, others, and themselves in ways that go beyond goals and rules, prediction and control. Even young children act as if they are in a dialogical relationship with others and the world, rather than acting as if they are solo explorers or blind followers. Overall, the evidence supports the hypothesis that social understanding cannot be reduced to convergence or divergence, but includes ongoing activities that seek greater comprehensiveness and complexity in the ability to act and interact effectively, appropriately, and with integrity.

  17. Retroperitoneal duplication cyst with a fistulous tract to the vagina: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filmar, Gilad A; Lotze, Peter M; Fisher, Hilaire W

    2012-01-01

    To describe a rare case of a retroperitoneal duplication cyst that fistulized to the vagina. Case description and discussion of a patient found to have an intestinal duplication cyst. A patient presented for a laparoscopic hysterectomy because of menorrhagia and a fibroid uterus. She also complained of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and a vaginal discharge. A retroperitoneal intestinal duplication cyst that fistulized to the vagina and caused her recurrent UTIs was identified. Surgical resection of the cyst resolved her complaint of recurrent UTIs. Retroperitoneal intestinal duplication cysts are rare congenital anomalies with vague clinical manifestations. The finding of a fistulous communication to the vagina originating from such a structure can be associated with recurrent UTIs.

  18. Volvulus U-Shaped transverse colonic duplication: Report of a case and literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruankha Bilommi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Tubular duplication of the colon is very rare especially in adulthood, because it is frequently symptomatic earlier in newborn life, so only few cases are reported in literature. Several theories are proposed to explain the onset and the evolution of gut malformations as the aberrant lumen recanalization or the diverticular theory, the alteration of the lateral closure of the embryonal disk or finally the dorsal protrusion of the yolk-sac for herniation or adhesion to the ectoderm for an abnormality of the longitudinal line, but none clarifies the exact genesis of duplication [1–3]. U Shaped transverse colonic duplication with volvulus has never been reported before and very rare in condition in gastrointestinal duplication.

  19. Comparative study of human mitochondrial proteome reveals extensive protein subcellular relocalization after gene duplications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huang Yong

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Gene and genome duplication is the principle creative force in evolution. Recently, protein subcellular relocalization, or neolocalization was proposed as one of the mechanisms responsible for the retention of duplicated genes. This hypothesis received support from the analysis of yeast genomes, but has not been tested thoroughly on animal genomes. In order to evaluate the importance of subcellular relocalizations for retention of duplicated genes in animal genomes, we systematically analyzed nuclear encoded mitochondrial proteins in the human genome by reconstructing phylogenies of mitochondrial multigene families. Results The 456 human mitochondrial proteins selected for this study were clustered into 305 gene families including 92 multigene families. Among the multigene families, 59 (64% consisted of both mitochondrial and cytosolic (non-mitochondrial proteins (mt-cy families while the remaining 33 (36% were composed of mitochondrial proteins (mt-mt families. Phylogenetic analyses of mt-cy families revealed three different scenarios of their neolocalization following gene duplication: 1 relocalization from mitochondria to cytosol, 2 from cytosol to mitochondria and 3 multiple subcellular relocalizations. The neolocalizations were most commonly enabled by the gain or loss of N-terminal mitochondrial targeting signals. The majority of detected subcellular relocalization events occurred early in animal evolution, preceding the evolution of tetrapods. Mt-mt protein families showed a somewhat different pattern, where gene duplication occurred more evenly in time. However, for both types of protein families, most duplication events appear to roughly coincide with two rounds of genome duplications early in vertebrate evolution. Finally, we evaluated the effects of inaccurate and incomplete annotation of mitochondrial proteins and found that our conclusion of the importance of subcellular relocalization after gene duplication on

  20. The hidden duplication past of the plant pathogen Phytophthora and its consequences for infection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martens Cindy

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Oomycetes of the genus Phytophthora are pathogens that infect a wide range of plant species. For dicot hosts such as tomato, potato and soybean, Phytophthora is even the most important pathogen. Previous analyses of Phytophthora genomes uncovered many genes, large gene families and large genome sizes that can partially be explained by significant repeat expansion patterns. Results Analysis of the complete genomes of three different Phytophthora species, using a newly developed approach, unveiled a large number of small duplicated blocks, mainly consisting of two or three consecutive genes. Further analysis of these duplicated genes and comparison with the known gene and genome duplication history of ten other eukaryotes including parasites, algae, plants, fungi, vertebrates and invertebrates, suggests that the ancestor of P. infestans, P. sojae and P. ramorum most likely underwent a whole genome duplication (WGD. Genes that have survived in duplicate are mainly genes that are known to be preferentially retained following WGDs, but also genes important for pathogenicity and infection of the different hosts seem to have been retained in excess. As a result, the WGD might have contributed to the evolutionary and pathogenic success of Phytophthora. Conclusions The fact that we find many small blocks of duplicated genes indicates that the genomes of Phytophthora species have been heavily rearranged following the WGD. Most likely, the high repeat content in these genomes have played an important role in this rearrangement process. As a consequence, the paucity of retained larger duplicated blocks has greatly complicated previous attempts to detect remnants of a large-scale duplication event in Phytophthora. However, as we show here, our newly developed strategy to identify very small duplicated blocks might be a useful approach to uncover ancient polyploidy events, in particular for heavily rearranged genomes.

  1. The Macromolecular Machines that Duplicate the Escherichia coli Chromosome as Targets for Drug Discovery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jon M. Kaguni

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available DNA replication is an essential process. Although the fundamental strategies to duplicate chromosomes are similar in all free-living organisms, the enzymes of the three domains of life that perform similar functions in DNA replication differ in amino acid sequence and their three-dimensional structures. Moreover, the respective proteins generally utilize different enzymatic mechanisms. Hence, the replication proteins that are highly conserved among bacterial species are attractive targets to develop novel antibiotics as the compounds are unlikely to demonstrate off-target effects. For those proteins that differ among bacteria, compounds that are species-specific may be found. Escherichia coli has been developed as a model system to study DNA replication, serving as a benchmark for comparison. This review summarizes the functions of individual E. coli proteins, and the compounds that inhibit them.

  2. Duplication Cyst of the Sigmoid Colon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bastian Domajnko

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A 21-year-old male with developmental delay presented with abdominal pain of two days' duration. He was afebrile and his abdomen was soft with mild diffuse tenderness. There were no peritoneal signs. Plain x-ray demonstrated a large air-filled structure in the right upper quadrant. Computed tomography of the abdomen revealed a 9×8 cm structure adjacent to the hepatic flexure containing an air-fluid level. It did not contain oral contrast and had no apparent communication with the colon. At operation, the cystic lesion was identified as a duplication cyst of the sigmoid colon that was adherent to the right upper quadrant. The cyst was excised with a segment of the sigmoid colon and a stapled colo-colostomy was performed. Recovery was uneventful. Final pathology was consistent with a duplication cyst of the sigmoid colon. The cyst was attached to the colon but did not communicate with the lumen.

  3. Near-Duplicate Web Page Detection: An Efficient Approach Using Clustering, Sentence Feature and Fingerprinting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Prasanna Kumar

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Duplicate and near-duplicate web pages are the chief concerns for web search engines. In reality, they incur enormous space to store the indexes, ultimately slowing down and increasing the cost of serving results. A variety of techniques have been developed to identify pairs of web pages that are aldquo;similarardquo; to each other. The problem of finding near-duplicate web pages has been a subject of research in the database and web-search communities for some years. In order to identify the near duplicate web pages, we make use of sentence level features along with fingerprinting method. When a large number of web documents are in consideration for the detection of web pages, then at first, we use K-mode clustering and subsequently sentence feature and fingerprint comparison is used. Using these steps, we exactly identify the near duplicate web pages in an efficient manner. The experimentation is carried out on the web page collections and the results ensured the efficiency of the proposed approach in detecting the near duplicate web pages.

  4. "Tandem duplication-random loss" is not a real feature of oyster mitochondrial genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Guofan

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Duplications and rearrangements of coding genes are major themes in the evolution of mitochondrial genomes, bearing important consequences in the function of mitochondria and the fitness of organisms. Yu et al. (BMC Genomics 2008, 9:477 reported the complete mt genome sequence of the oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis (16,475 bp and found that a DNA segment containing four tRNA genes (trnK1, trnC, trnQ1 and trnN, a duplicated (rrnS and a split rRNA gene (rrnL5' was absent compared with that of two other Crassostrea species. It was suggested that the absence was a novel case of "tandem duplication-random loss" with evolutionary significance. We independently sequenced the complete mt genome of three C. hongkongensis individuals, all of which were 18,622 bp and contained the segment that was missing in Yu et al.'s sequence. Further, we designed primers, verified sequences and demonstrated that the sequence loss in Yu et al.'s study was an artifact caused by placing primers in a duplicated region. The duplication and split of ribosomal RNA genes are unique for Crassostrea oysters and not lost in C. hongkongensis. Our study highlights the need for caution when amplifying and sequencing through duplicated regions of the genome.

  5. Ruptured rectal duplication cyst with classical bladder exstrophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Rahul K; Oak, Sanjay; Parelkar, Sandesh V; Sanghvi, Beejal; Kaltari, Deepak K; Prakash, Advait; Patil, Rajashekhar; Bachani, Mitesh

    2010-07-01

    A newborn boy was brought to us, 2 hours after birth, with a mucosal-lined left hemiperineal lesion associated with classical bladder exstrophy and an anterolaterally displaced anus. Perineal anatomy was restored by excising the mucosa lined lesion. The bladder closure for classical bladder exstrophy was done at the same time. Histologically, gastric, respiratory, and small intestinal epithelia were present in the mucosa. A rectal duplication cyst that had ruptured in utero through the hemiperineum could explain the anomaly. The association of classical bladder exstrophy with ruptured rectal duplication cyst has never previously been described in the literature. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Prevalent Role of Gene Features in Determining Evolutionary Fates of Whole-Genome Duplication Duplicated Genes in Flowering Plants1[W][OA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Wen-kai; Liu, Yun-long; Xia, En-hua; Gao, Li-zhi

    2013-01-01

    The evolution of genes and genomes after polyploidization has been the subject of extensive studies in evolutionary biology and plant sciences. While a significant number of duplicated genes are rapidly removed during a process called fractionation, which operates after the whole-genome duplication (WGD), another considerable number of genes are retained preferentially, leading to the phenomenon of biased gene retention. However, the evolutionary mechanisms underlying gene retention after WGD remain largely unknown. Through genome-wide analyses of sequence and functional data, we comprehensively investigated the relationships between gene features and the retention probability of duplicated genes after WGDs in six plant genomes, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), poplar (Populus trichocarpa), soybean (Glycine max), rice (Oryza sativa), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and maize (Zea mays). The results showed that multiple gene features were correlated with the probability of gene retention. Using a logistic regression model based on principal component analysis, we resolved evolutionary rate, structural complexity, and GC3 content as the three major contributors to gene retention. Cluster analysis of these features further classified retained genes into three distinct groups in terms of gene features and evolutionary behaviors. Type I genes are more prone to be selected by dosage balance; type II genes are possibly subject to subfunctionalization; and type III genes may serve as potential targets for neofunctionalization. This study highlights that gene features are able to act jointly as primary forces when determining the retention and evolution of WGD-derived duplicated genes in flowering plants. These findings thus may help to provide a resolution to the debate on different evolutionary models of gene fates after WGDs. PMID:23396833

  7. Genome-wide signatures of 'rearrangement hotspots' within segmental duplications in humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Uddin

    Full Text Available The primary objective of this study was to create a genome-wide high resolution map (i.e., >100 bp of 'rearrangement hotspots' which can facilitate the identification of regions capable of mediating de novo deletions or duplications in humans. A hierarchical method was employed to fragment segmental duplications (SDs into multiple smaller SD units. Combining an end space free pairwise alignment algorithm with a 'seed and extend' approach, we have exhaustively searched 409 million alignments to detect complex structural rearrangements within the reference-guided assembly of the NA18507 human genome (18× coverage, including the previously identified novel 4.8 Mb sequence from de novo assembly within this genome. We have identified 1,963 rearrangement hotspots within SDs which encompass 166 genes and display an enrichment of duplicated gene nucleotide variants (DNVs. These regions are correlated with increased non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR event frequency which presumably represents the origin of copy number variations (CNVs and pathogenic duplications/deletions. Analysis revealed that 20% of the detected hotspots are clustered within the proximal and distal SD breakpoints flanked by the pathogenic deletions/duplications that have been mapped for 24 NAHR-mediated genomic disorders. FISH Validation of selected complex regions revealed 94% concordance with in silico localization of the highly homologous derivatives. Other results from this study indicate that intra-chromosomal recombination is enhanced in genic compared with agenic duplicated regions, and that gene desert regions comprising SDs may represent reservoirs for creation of novel genes. The generation of genome-wide signatures of 'rearrangement hotspots', which likely serve as templates for NAHR, may provide a powerful approach towards understanding the underlying mutational mechanism(s for development of constitutional and acquired diseases.

  8. Wide rectal duplication cyst in an adult resected by anterior approach: efficacy and recurrence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ceriotti, Michela; Saccomani, Giorgia; Lacelli, Francesca; Saccomani, Giovanni E

    2017-06-01

    Alimentary tract duplications are uncommon congenital abnormalities usually diagnosed and treated in childhood. Rectal involvement is extremely rare. We report the case of a 22-year-old female who presented with chronic abdominal and perianal pain; feeling of rectal fullness. Workup revealed a rectal duplication cyst. The patient underwent a complete transabdominal excision of the cyst: an hybrid laparoscopic and laparotomic technique was adopted. The hybrid isolated anterior abdominal approach is safe and feasible even for the treatment of wide rectal duplication cysts. Real recurrence in rectal duplication cysts is uncommon when the first operation was performed with radical intent.

  9. Gimme Context – towards New Domain-Specific Collocational Dictionaries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvana Krausse

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The days of traditional drudgery-filled lexicography are long gone. Fortunately today, computers help in the enormous task of storing and analysing language in order to condense and store the found information in the form of dictionaries. In this paper, the way from a corpus to a small domain-specific collocational dictionary will be described and thus exemplified based on the example of the domain-specific language of mining reclamation, which can be duplicated for other specific languages too. So far, domain-specific dictionaries are mostly rare as their creation is very labour- and thus cost-effective and all too often they are just a collection of terms plus translation without any information on how to use them in speech. Particular small domains which do not involve a lot of users have been disregarded by lexicographers as there is also always the question of how well it sells afterwards. Following this, I will describe the creation of a small collocational dictionary on mining reclamation language which is based on the consequent use of corpus information. It is relatively quick to realize in the design phase and is thought to provide the sort of linguistic information engineering experts need when they communicate in English or read specialist texts in the specific domain.

  10. Genetics Home Reference: 17q12 duplication

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... J, Li C, Roeder E, Cox S, Karaviti L, Pearson M, Kang SH, Sahoo T, Lalani SR, Stankiewicz ... genomic disorders from the duplication architecture of the human genome. Nat Genet. 2006 Sep;38(9):1038- ...

  11. Anal canal duplication and triplication: a rare entity with different presentations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palazon, P; Julia, V; Saura, L; de Haro, I; Bejarano, M; Rovira, C; Tarrado, X

    2017-05-01

    Anal canal duplication (ACD) is the rarest of gastrointestinal duplications. Few cases have been reported. Most cases present as an opening in the midline, posterior to the normal anus. The aim of our revision is to contribute with eight new cases, some of them with unusual presentations: five presented as the typical form, one with a perianal nodule, and two presented as two separate orifices (anal canal triplication). Complete excision was performed in all patients with no complications. ACD is the most distal and the least frequent digestive duplication. Its treatment should be surgical excision, to avoid complications such as abscess, fistulization, or malignization. Anal canal triplication has never been described before.

  12. Signals of historical interlocus gene conversion in human segmental duplications.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beth L Dumont

    Full Text Available Standard methods of DNA sequence analysis assume that sequences evolve independently, yet this assumption may not be appropriate for segmental duplications that exchange variants via interlocus gene conversion (IGC. Here, we use high quality multiple sequence alignments from well-annotated segmental duplications to systematically identify IGC signals in the human reference genome. Our analysis combines two complementary methods: (i a paralog quartet method that uses DNA sequence simulations to identify a statistical excess of sites consistent with inter-paralog exchange, and (ii the alignment-based method implemented in the GENECONV program. One-quarter (25.4% of the paralog families in our analysis harbor clear IGC signals by the quartet approach. Using GENECONV, we identify 1477 gene conversion tracks that cumulatively span 1.54 Mb of the genome. Our analyses confirm the previously reported high rates of IGC in subtelomeric regions and Y-chromosome palindromes, and identify multiple novel IGC hotspots, including the pregnancy specific glycoproteins and the neuroblastoma breakpoint gene families. Although the duplication history of a paralog family is described by a single tree, we show that IGC has introduced incredible site-to-site variation in the evolutionary relationships among paralogs in the human genome. Our findings indicate that IGC has left significant footprints in patterns of sequence diversity across segmental duplications in the human genome, out-pacing the contributions of single base mutation by orders of magnitude. Collectively, the IGC signals we report comprise a catalog that will provide a critical reference for interpreting observed patterns of DNA sequence variation across duplicated genomic regions, including targets of recent adaptive evolution in humans.

  13. Zebrafish brd2a and brd2b are paralogous members of the bromodomain-ET (BET family of transcriptional coregulators that show structural and expression divergence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bee Katharine J

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Brd2 belongs to the bromodomain-extraterminal domain (BET family of transcriptional co-regulators, and functions as a pivotal histone-directed recruitment scaffold in chromatin modification complexes affecting signal-dependent transcription. Brd2 facilitates expression of genes promoting proliferation and is implicated in apoptosis and in egg maturation and meiotic competence in mammals; it is also a susceptibility gene for juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME in humans. The brd2 ortholog in Drosophila is a maternal effect, embryonic lethal gene that regulates several homeotic loci, including Ultrabithorax. Despite its importance, there are few systematic studies of Brd2 developmental expression in any organism. To help elucidate both conserved and novel gene functions, we cloned and characterized expression of brd2 cDNAs in zebrafish, a vertebrate system useful for genetic analysis of development and disease, and for study of the evolution of gene families and functional diversity in chordates. Results We identify cDNAs representing two paralogous brd2 loci in zebrafish, brd2a on chromosome 19 and brd2b on chromosome 16. By sequence similarity, syntenic and phylogenetic analyses, we present evidence for structural divergence of brd2 after gene duplication in fishes. brd2 paralogs show potential for modular domain combinations, and exhibit distinct RNA expression patterns throughout development. RNA in situ hybridizations in oocytes and embryos implicate brd2a and brd2b as maternal effect genes involved in egg polarity and egg to embryo transition, and as zygotic genes important for development of the vertebrate nervous system and for morphogenesis and differentiation of the digestive tract. Patterns of brd2 developmental expression in zebrafish are consistent with its proposed role in Homeobox gene regulation. Conclusion Expression profiles of zebrafish brd2 paralogs support a role in vertebrate developmental patterning and

  14. Pattern of Duplicate Presentations at National Hematology-Oncology Meetings: Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramchandren, Radhakrishnan; Schiffer, Charles A

    2016-03-01

    The major large US hematology-oncology meetings sponsored by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) have specific guidelines in place discouraging submission of scientific information presented previously at other meetings. Nonetheless, duplicate submissions are frequent. The incidence and motivations for duplicate hematologic presentations and the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on this process have not been thoroughly analyzed. Therefore, were viewed four consecutive ASH and ASCO meetings to assess the frequency of duplicate abstract presentations. All abstracts presented at ASCO2010 in the area of malignant hematology were compared with abstracts from ASCO and ASH 2009 and ASH 2010, and funding sources were reviewed. More than half (54%) of all abstracts submitted to ASCO 2010 acknowledged pharmaceutical company support. Almost one third (31%) of ASCO 2010 abstracts were resubmitted in the 2-year time period, and it was notable that a high fraction (75%) of these duplicate abstracts had pharmaceutical industry sponsorship, compared with 42% of the abstracts that were submitted only once. Despite current guidelines prohibiting duplicate abstract presentation, a substantial proportion (31%) of abstracts at large international hematology-oncology meetings are duplicative, with potential negative consequences. In addition, a disproportionate percentage of the duplicate abstracts rely on pharmaceutical industry support (75%), suggesting that marketing strategies may be a motivation for some of these repetitive submissions.

  15. Urethral duplication with unusual cause of bladder outlet obstruction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vivek Venkatramani

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A 12-year-old boy presented with poor flow and recurrent urinary tract infections following hypospadias repair at the age of 3 years. The evaluation revealed urethral duplication with a hypoplastic dorsal urethra and patent ventral urethra. He also had duplication of the bladder neck, and on voiding cystourethrogram the ventral bladder neck appeared hypoplastic and compressed by the dorsal bladder neck during voiding. The possibility of functional obstruction of the ventral urethra by the occluded dorsal urethra was suspected, and he underwent a successful urethro-urethrostomy.

  16. Acute abdominal pain presenting as a rare appendiceal duplication: a case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahmood Ali

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Appendiceal duplication is a rare anomaly that can manifest as right lower quadrant pain. There are several variations described for this condition. We recommend aggressive operative management should this anatomical variation present in the presence of acute appendicitis. Case presentation We report the case of a 15-year-old African American girl who presented to our hospital with right lower quadrant pain and was subsequently found to have appendiceal duplication. Conclusion There are two categorical systems that have described and stratified appendiceal duplication. Both classification systems have been outlined and referenced in this case report. A computed tomography scan has been included to provide a visual aid to help identify true vermiform appendiceal duplication. The presence of this anatomical abnormality is not a reason for surgical intervention; however, should this be found in the setting of acute appendicitis, aggressive resection of both appendices is mandatory.

  17. Chained Kullback-Leibler Divergences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlichin, Dmitri S.; Weissman, Tsachy

    2017-01-01

    We define and characterize the “chained” Kullback-Leibler divergence minw D(p‖w) + D(w‖q) minimized over all intermediate distributions w and the analogous k-fold chained K-L divergence min D(p‖wk−1) + … + D(w2‖w1) + D(w1‖q) minimized over the entire path (w1,…,wk−1). This quantity arises in a large deviations analysis of a Markov chain on the set of types – the Wright-Fisher model of neutral genetic drift: a population with allele distribution q produces offspring with allele distribution w, which then produce offspring with allele distribution p, and so on. The chained divergences enjoy some of the same properties as the K-L divergence (like joint convexity in the arguments) and appear in k-step versions of some of the same settings as the K-L divergence (like information projections and a conditional limit theorem). We further characterize the optimal k-step “path” of distributions appearing in the definition and apply our findings in a large deviations analysis of the Wright-Fisher process. We make a connection to information geometry via the previously studied continuum limit, where the number of steps tends to infinity, and the limiting path is a geodesic in the Fisher information metric. Finally, we offer a thermodynamic interpretation of the chained divergence (as the rate of operation of an appropriately defined Maxwell’s demon) and we state some natural extensions and applications (a k-step mutual information and k-step maximum likelihood inference). We release code for computing the objects we study. PMID:29130024

  18. 20 CFR 410.705 - Duplicate claims.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Duplicate claims. 410.705 Section 410.705 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION FEDERAL COAL MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT OF 1969, TITLE IV-BLACK LUNG BENEFITS (1969- ) Rules for the Review of Denied and Pending Claims Under the Black Lung...

  19. The roles of segmental and tandem gene duplication in the evolution of large gene families in Arabidopsis thaliana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Baumgarten Andrew

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Most genes in Arabidopsis thaliana are members of gene families. How do the members of gene families arise, and how are gene family copy numbers maintained? Some gene families may evolve primarily through tandem duplication and high rates of birth and death in clusters, and others through infrequent polyploidy or large-scale segmental duplications and subsequent losses. Results Our approach to understanding the mechanisms of gene family evolution was to construct phylogenies for 50 large gene families in Arabidopsis thaliana, identify large internal segmental duplications in Arabidopsis, map gene duplications onto the segmental duplications, and use this information to identify which nodes in each phylogeny arose due to segmental or tandem duplication. Examples of six gene families exemplifying characteristic modes are described. Distributions of gene family sizes and patterns of duplication by genomic distance are also described in order to characterize patterns of local duplication and copy number for large gene families. Both gene family size and duplication by distance closely follow power-law distributions. Conclusions Combining information about genomic segmental duplications, gene family phylogenies, and gene positions provides a method to evaluate contributions of tandem duplication and segmental genome duplication in the generation and maintenance of gene families. These differences appear to correspond meaningfully to differences in functional roles of the members of the gene families.

  20. 46 CFR Sec. 5 - Responsibility for duplicating copies of NSA-WORKSMALREP Contract.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Responsibility for duplicating copies of NSA-WORKSMALREP Contract. Sec. 5 Section 5 Shipping MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION A-NATIONAL... INDIVIDUAL CONTRACT FOR MINOR REPAIRS-NSA-WORKSMALREP Sec. 5 Responsibility for duplicating copies of NSA...

  1. Bladder exstrophy associated with complete urethral duplication ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    J.E. Mensah

    ees.elsevier.com/afju · www.sciencedirect.com. Case report. Bladder exstrophy associated with complete urethral duplication: Bladder can be augmented with dorsal urethral mucosa. J.E. Mensaha,∗. , K.N. Ampadua, M.Y. Kyeia, B. Edusieb.

  2. Prenatal diagnosis of foetuses with congenital abnormalities and duplication of the MECP2 region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Fang; Liu, Huan-ling; Li, Ru; Han, Jin; Yang, Xin; Min, Pan; Zhen, Li; Zhang, Yong-ling; Xie, Gui-e; Lei, Ting-ying; Li, Yan; Li, Jian; Li, Dong-zhi; Liao, Can

    2014-08-10

    MECP2 duplication results in a well-recognised syndrome in 100% of affected male children; this syndrome is characterised by severe neurodevelopmental disabilities and recurrent infections. However, no sonographic findings have been reported for affected foetuses, and prenatal molecular diagnosis has not been possible for this disease due to lack of prenatal clinical presentation. In this study, we identified a small duplication comprising the MECP2 and L1CAM genes in the Xq28 region in a patient from a family with severe X-linked mental retardation and in a prenatal foetus with brain structural abnormalities. Using high-resolution chromosome microarray analysis (CMA) to screen 108 foetuses with congenital structural abnormalities, we identified additional three foetuses with the MECP2 duplication. Our study indicates that ventriculomegaly, hydrocephalus, agenesis of the corpus callosum, choroid plexus cysts, foetal growth restriction and hydronephrosis might be common ultrasound findings in prenatal foetuses with the MECP2 duplication and provides the first set of prenatal cases with MECP2 duplication, the ultrasonographic phenotype described in these patients will help to recognise the foetuses with possible MECP2 duplication and prompt the appropriate molecular testing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Duodenal duplication cyst extending into the posterior mediastinum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tuzun Sefa

    2015-01-01

    Conclusion: Duodenal and the other intestinal duplication cysts should be considered in the differential diagnosis of oral contrast enhanced intrathoracic lesions in thorocoabdominal computerised tomography imaging.

  4. NASAwide electronic publishing system: Electronic printing and duplicating, stage-2 evaluation report (GSFC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuey, Richard C.; Lane, Robert; Hart, Susan V.

    1995-01-01

    The NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office was assigned the responsibility to continue with the expansion of the NASAwide networked electronic duplicating effort by including the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as an additional node to the existing configuration of networked electronic duplicating systems within NASA. The subject of this report is the evaluation of a networked electronic duplicating system which meets the duplicating requirements and expands electronic publishing capabilities without increasing current operating costs. This report continues the evaluation reported in 'NASA Electronic Publishing System - Electronic Printing and Duplicating Evaluation Report' (NASA TM-106242) and 'NASA Electronic Publishing System - Stage 1 Evaluation Report' (NASA TM-106510). This report differs from the previous reports through the inclusion of an external networked desktop editing, archival, and publishing functionality which did not exist with the previous networked electronic duplicating system. Additionally, a two-phase approach to the evaluation was undertaken; the first was a paper study justifying a 90-day, on-site evaluation, and the second phase was to validate, during the 90-day evaluation, the cost benefits and productivity increases that could be achieved in an operational mode. A benchmark of the functionality of the networked electronic publishing system and external networked desktop editing, archival, and publishing system was performed under a simulated daily production environment. This report can be used to guide others in determining the most cost effective duplicating/publishing alternative through the use of cost/benefit analysis and return on investment techniques. A treatise on the use of these techniques can be found by referring to 'NASA Electronic Publishing System -Cost/Benefit Methodology' (NASA TM-106662).

  5. The ethics of scholarly publishing: exploring differences in plagiarism and duplicate publication across nations*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amos, Kathleen A.

    2014-01-01

    This study explored national differences in plagiarism and duplicate publication in retracted biomedical literature. The national affiliations of authors and reasons for retraction of papers accessible through PubMed that were published from 2008 to 2012 and subsequently retracted were determined in order to identify countries with the largest numbers and highest rates of retraction due to plagiarism and duplicate publication. Authors from more than fifty countries retracted papers. While the United States retracted the most papers, China retracted the most papers for plagiarism and duplicate publication. Rates of plagiarism and duplicate publication were highest in Italy and Finland, respectively. Unethical publishing practices cut across nations. PMID:24860263

  6. The ethics of scholarly publishing: exploring differences in plagiarism and duplicate publication across nations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amos, Kathleen A

    2014-04-01

    This study explored national differences in plagiarism and duplicate publication in retracted biomedical literature. The national affiliations of authors and reasons for retraction of papers accessible through PubMed that were published from 2008 to 2012 and subsequently retracted were determined in order to identify countries with the largest numbers and highest rates of retraction due to plagiarism and duplicate publication. Authors from more than fifty countries retracted papers. While the United States retracted the most papers, China retracted the most papers for plagiarism and duplicate publication. Rates of plagiarism and duplicate publication were highest in Italy and Finland, respectively. Unethical publishing practices cut across nations.

  7. A search for RNA insertions and NS3 gene duplication in the genome of cytopathic isolates of bovine viral diarrhea virus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.L. Quadros

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available Calves born persistently infected with non-cytopathic bovine viral diarrhea virus (ncpBVDV frequently develop a fatal gastroenteric illness called mucosal disease. Both the original virus (ncpBVDV and an antigenically identical but cytopathic virus (cpBVDV can be isolated from animals affected by mucosal disease. Cytopathic BVDVs originate from their ncp counterparts by diverse genetic mechanisms, all leading to the expression of the non-structural polypeptide NS3 as a discrete protein. In contrast, ncpBVDVs express only the large precursor polypeptide, NS2-3, which contains the NS3 sequence within its carboxy-terminal half. We report here the investigation of the mechanism leading to NS3 expression in 41 cpBVDV isolates. An RT-PCR strategy was employed to detect RNA insertions within the NS2-3 gene and/or duplication of the NS3 gene, two common mechanisms of NS3 expression. RT-PCR amplification revealed insertions in the NS2-3 gene of three cp isolates, with the inserts being similar in size to that present in the cpBVDV NADL strain. Sequencing of one such insert revealed a 296-nucleotide sequence with a central core of 270 nucleotides coding for an amino acid sequence highly homologous (98% to the NADL insert, a sequence corresponding to part of the cellular J-Domain gene. One cpBVDV isolate contained a duplication of the NS3 gene downstream from the original locus. In contrast, no detectable NS2-3 insertions or NS3 gene duplications were observed in the genome of 37 cp isolates. These results demonstrate that processing of NS2-3 without bulk mRNA insertions or NS3 gene duplications seems to be a frequent mechanism leading to NS3 expression and BVDV cytopathology.

  8. Convergent and divergent validity of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning in young children with and without autism spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swineford, Lauren B; Guthrie, Whitney; Thurm, Audrey

    2015-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to report on the construct, convergent, and divergent validity of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), a widely used test of development for young children. The sample consisted of 399 children with a mean age of 3.38 years (SD = 1.14) divided into a group of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a group of children not on the autism spectrum, with and without developmental delays. The study used the MSEL and several other measures assessing constructs relevant to the age range--including developmental skills, autism symptoms, and psychopathology symptoms--across multiple methods of assessment. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses revealed good overall fit and equal form of the MSEL 1-factor model across the ASD and nonspectrum groups, supporting the construct validity of the MSEL. However, neither full nor partial invariance of factor loadings was established because of the lower loadings in the ASD group compared with the nonspectrum group. Exploratory structural equation modeling revealed that other measures of developmental skills loaded together with the MSEL domain scores on a Developmental Functioning factor, supporting convergent validity of the MSEL. Divergent validity was supported by the lack of loading of MSEL domain scores on Autism Symptoms or Emotion/Behavior Problems factors. Although factor structure and loadings varied across groups, convergent and divergent validity findings were similar in the ASD and nonspectrum samples. Together, these results demonstrate evidence for the construct, convergent, and divergent validity of the MSEL using powerful data-analytic techniques. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Intestinal duplication and retroperitoneal teratoma in child hoof: a case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atzingen, Augusto Castelli Von; Bazzano, Felix Carlos Ocariz; Tiburzio, Nicolas Biagione; Grande, Rogerio Mendes; Juntolli Netto, Joao Diniz

    2007-01-01

    The authors present a case of intestinal duplication and retroperitoneal teratoma in a 7-year-old patient with evident mass and abdominal pain to explain; that it was submitted to study conventional X-ray, ultrasonography, computed tomography and subsequent exploiting laparotomia. The anatomopathological study verified intestinal duplication and ripe teratoma. In the existent medical literature it was not found any similar case. (author)

  10. Tandem duplications of a degenerated GTP-binding domain at the origin of GTPase receptors Toc159 and thylakoidal SRP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernandez Torres, Jorge; Maldonado, Monica Alexandra Arias; Chomilier, Jacques

    2007-01-01

    The evolutionary origin of some nuclear encoded proteins that translocate proteins across the chloroplast envelope remains unknown. Therefore, sequences of GTPase proteins constituting the Arabidopsis thaliana translocon at the outer membrane of chloroplast (atToc) complexes were analyzed by means of HCA. In particular, atToc159 and related proteins (atToc132, atToc120, and atToc90) do not have proven homologues of prokaryotic or eukaryotic ancestry. We established that the three domains commonly referred to as A, G, and M originate from the GTPase G domain, tandemly repeated, and probably evolving toward an unstructured conformation in the case of the A domain. It resulted from this study a putative common ancestor for these proteins and a new domain definition, in particular the splitting of A into three domains (A1, A2, and A3), has been proposed. The family of Toc159, previously containing A. thaliana and Pisum sativum, has been extended to Medicago truncatula and Populus trichocarpa and it has been revised for Oryza sativa. They have also been compared to GTPase subunits involved in the cpSRP system. A distant homology has been revealed among Toc and cpSRP GTP-hydrolyzing proteins of A. thaliana, and repetitions of a GTPase domain were also found in cpSRP protein receptors, by means of HCA analysis

  11. The Analysis of High School Students' Conceptions of Learning in Different Domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadi, Özlem

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not conceptions of learning diverge in different science domains by identifying high school students' conceptions of learning in physics, chemistry and biology. The Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) questionnaire was adapted for physics (Conceptions of Learning Physics, COLP), chemistry…

  12. Direct Observation of Field and Temperature Induced Domain Replication in Dipolar Coupled Perpendicular Anisotropy Films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hauet, T.; Gunther, C.M.; Pfau, B.; Eisebitt, S.; Fischer, P.; Rick, R. L.; Thiele, J.-U.; Hellwig, O.; Schabes, M.E.

    2007-07-01

    Dipolar interactions in a soft/Pd/hard [CoNi/Pd]{sub 30}/Pd/[Co/Pd]{sub 20} multilayer system, where a thick Pd layer between two ferromagnetic units prevents direct exchange coupling, are directly revealed by combining magnetometry and state-of-the-art layer resolving soft x-ray imaging techniques with sub-100-nm spatial resolution. The domains forming in the soft layer during external magnetic field reversal are found to match the domains previously trapped in the hard layer. The low Curie temperature of the soft layer allows varying its intrinsic parameters via temperature and thus studying the competition with dipolar fields due to the domains in the hard layer. Micromagnetic simulations elucidate the role of [CoNi/Pd] magnetization, exchange, and anisotropy in the duplication process. Finally, thermally driven domain replication in remanence during temperature cycling is demonstrated.

  13. Evolutionary Divergence of the C-terminal Domain of Complexin Accounts for Functional Disparities between Vertebrate and Invertebrate Complexins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel T. Wragg

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Complexin is a critical presynaptic protein that regulates both spontaneous and calcium-triggered neurotransmitter release in all synapses. Although the SNARE-binding central helix of complexin is highly conserved and required for all known complexin functions, the remainder of the protein has profoundly diverged across the animal kingdom. Striking disparities in complexin inhibitory activity are observed between vertebrate and invertebrate complexins but little is known about the source of these differences or their relevance to the underlying mechanism of complexin regulation. We found that mouse complexin 1 (mCpx1 failed to inhibit neurotransmitter secretion in Caenorhabditis elegans neuromuscular junctions lacking the worm complexin 1 (CPX-1. This lack of inhibition stemmed from differences in the C-terminal domain (CTD of mCpx1. Previous studies revealed that the CTD selectively binds to highly curved membranes and directs complexin to synaptic vesicles. Although mouse and worm complexin have similar lipid binding affinity, their last few amino acids differ in both hydrophobicity and in lipid binding conformation, and these differences strongly impacted CPX-1 inhibitory function. Moreover, function was not maintained if a critical amphipathic helix in the worm CPX-1 CTD was replaced with the corresponding mCpx1 amphipathic helix. Invertebrate complexins generally shared more C-terminal similarity with vertebrate complexin 3 and 4 isoforms, and the amphipathic region of mouse complexin 3 significantly restored inhibitory function to worm CPX-1. We hypothesize that the CTD of complexin is essential in conferring an inhibitory function to complexin, and that this inhibitory activity has been attenuated in the vertebrate complexin 1 and 2 isoforms. Thus, evolutionary changes in the complexin CTD differentially shape its synaptic role across phylogeny.

  14. Translocations used to generate chromosome segment duplications ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    a duplication (Dp) of the translocated segment and four inviable (white, W) ascospores with .... of this work, namely, the definition of breakpoint junction sequences of 12 ..... then our results would place supercontig 10.9 in distal. LG VIR. A third ...

  15. A conserved domain in type III secretion links the cytoplasmic domain of InvA to elements of the basal body

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lilic, Mirjana; Quezada, Cindy M.; Stebbins, C. Erec

    2010-01-01

    The cytoplasmic domain of Salmonella InvA shares homology to a recurring scaffold in the membrane-spanning components of the type II and type III secretion systems. Protein type III secretion systems (T3SSs) are organic nanosyringes that achieve an energy-dependent translocation of bacterial proteins through the two membranes of Gram-negative organisms. Examples include the pathogenic systems of animals, plants and symbiotic bacteria that inject factors into eukaryotic cells, and the flagellar export system that secretes flagellin. T3SSs possess a core of several membrane-associated proteins that are conserved across all known bacterial species that use this system. The Salmonella protein InvA is one of the most highly conserved proteins of this core of critical T3SS components. The crystal structure of a C-terminal domain of InvA reveals an unexpected homology to domains that have been repeatedly found as building blocks of other elements of the T3SS apparatus. This suggests the surprising hypothesis that evolution has produced a significant component of the apparatus structure through a series of gene-duplication and gene-rearrangement events

  16. Duplication of the vertebral artery: report of two cases and review of the literature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goddard, A.J.P.; Annesley-Williams, D.; Guthrie, J.A.; Weston, M.

    2001-01-01

    Duplication of the vertebral artery is rare. We report two cases in which it was an incidental finding. In the first, duplication of the right vertebral artery was demonstrated by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and conventional angiography. The second patient had duplication of the right vertebral artery demonstrated by MRA. We discuss the origin of this abnormality, its radiological implications and its potential clinical significance are discussed. (orig.)

  17. Duplicated collecting system of a kidney complicated with hydronephrosis - diagnostic methods review: A case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osmanski, P.; Plucinska, I.; Calka, K.; Kedzierski, B.; Jazwiec, P.

    2008-01-01

    Duplicated collecting system of a kidney occurs in 1.7-4.2% of the population. It is a complex, unilateral or bilateral, congenital abnormality of the pyelocalyceal system and the ureter. The 2 ureters fuse to form a single ureteral orifice or empty separately into the bladder (ureter duplex). Duplicated collecting systems with complete ureteric duplication may lead to developing vesicoureteral reflux, hydronephrosis, and urinary infection. This article presents a case of a 49-year-old woman with duplicated collecting system and hydronephrosis in the upper pole. The anomaly was diagnosed using urography, ultrasonography and computed tomography examination.The best method for diagnostics of the duplicated pyelocalyceal system complicated by hydronephrosis is computed tomography examination, especially multislice computed tomography. The authors present also the options for therapy (author)

  18. Rethinking conformity and imitation: divergence, convergence, and social understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bert eHodges

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Social and developmental psychologists have stressed the pervasiveness and strength of humans’ tendencies to conform and to imitate, and social anthropologists have argued that these tendencies are crucial to the formation of cultures. Research from four domains is reviewed and elaborated to show that divergence is also pervasive and potent, and is interwoven with convergence in a complex set of dynamics that is often unnoticed or minimized. First, classic research in social conformity is reinterpreted in terms of truth, trust, and social solidarity, revealing that dissent is its most salient feature. Second, recent studies of children’s use of testimony to guide action reveal a surprisingly sophisticated balance of trust and prudence, and a concern for truth and charity. Third, new experiments indicate that people diverge from others even under conditions where conformity seems assured. Fourth, current studies of imitation provide strong evidence that children are both selective and faithful in who, what, and why they follow others. All of the evidence reviewed points toward children and adults as being engaged, embodied partners with others, motivated to learn and understand the world, others, and themselves in ways that go beyond goals and rules, prediction and control. Even young children act as if they are in a dialogical relationship with others and the world, rather than acting as if they are solo explorers or blind followers. Overall, the evidence supports the hypothesis that social understanding cannot be reduced to convergence or divergence, but includes ongoing activities that seek greater comprehensiveness and complexity in the ability to act and interact effectively, appropriately, and with integrity.

  19. Chromosome duplication in Lolium multiflorum Lam.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roselaine Cristina Pereira

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Artificial chromosome duplication of diploid genotypes of Lolium multiflorum (2n=2x=14 is worthy to breeding, and aims to increase the expression of traits with agronomic interest. The purpose of this study was to obtain polyploid plants of L. multiflorum from local diploid populations in order to exploit adaptation and future verification of the effects of polyploidy in agronomic traits. Seedlings were immersed in different colchicine solutions for an exposure time of 3h and 24h. Ploidy determination was made by the DNA content and certified by chromosomes counts. The plants confirmed as tetraploids were placed in a greenhouse, and, at flowering, pollen viability was evaluated, and seeds were harvested to assess the stability of the progenies. The percentage of polyploids obtained was 20%. Pollen viability of the tetraploids generated ranged from 58% to 69%. The tetraploid plants obtained in the experiment generated 164 progenies, of which 109 presented DNA content compatible with the tetraploid level, showing stability of chromosome duplication in the filial generation.

  20. Noncommunicating isolated enteric duplication cyst in the abdomen ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... Surgery 2013, 9:124–126. Keywords: abdomen, children, duplication, isolated, noncommunicating. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, .... M Abdominal pain, anorexia, fever. Ileum. Respiratory.

  1. Collinearity, convergence and cancelling infrared divergences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lavelle, Martin; McMullan, David

    2006-01-01

    The Lee-Nauenberg theorem is a fundamental quantum mechanical result which provides the standard theoretical response to the problem of collinear and infrared divergences. Its argument, that the divergences due to massless charged particles can be removed by summing over degenerate states, has been successfully applied to systems with final state degeneracies such as LEP processes. If there are massless particles in both the initial and final states, as will be the case at the LHC, the theorem requires the incorporation of disconnected diagrams which produce connected interference effects at the level of the cross-section. However, this aspect of the theory has never been fully tested in the calculation of a cross-section. We show through explicit examples that in such cases the theorem introduces a divergent series of diagrams and hence fails to cancel the infrared divergences. It is also demonstrated that the widespread practice of treating soft infrared divergences by the Bloch-Nordsieck method and handling collinear divergences by the Lee-Nauenberg method is not consistent in such cases

  2. Asterless licenses daughter centrioles to duplicate for the first time in Drosophila embryos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, Zsofia A; Conduit, Paul T; Wainman, Alan; Raff, Jordan W

    2014-06-02

    Centrioles form centrosomes and cilia, and defects in any of these three organelles are associated with human disease [1]. Centrioles duplicate once per cell cycle, when a mother centriole assembles an adjacent daughter during S phase. Daughter centrioles cannot support the assembly of another daughter until they mature into mothers during the next cell cycle [2-5]. The molecular nature of this daughter-to-mother transition remains mysterious. Pioneering studies in C. elegans identified a set of core proteins essential for centriole duplication [6-12], and a similar set have now been identified in other species [10, 13-18]. The protein kinase ZYG-1/Sak/Plk4 recruits the inner centriole cartwheel components SAS-6 and SAS-5/Ana2/STIL, which then recruit SAS-4/CPAP, which in turn helps assemble the outer centriole microtubules [19, 20]. In flies and humans, the Asterless/Cep152 protein interacts with Sak/Plk4 and Sas-4/CPAP and is required for centriole duplication, although its precise role in the assembly pathway is unclear [21-24]. Here, we show that Asl is not incorporated into daughter centrioles as they assemble during S phase but is only incorporated once mother and daughter separate at the end of mitosis. The initial incorporation of Asterless (Asl) is irreversible, requires DSas-4, and, crucially, is essential for daughter centrioles to mature into mothers that can support centriole duplication. We therefore propose a "dual-licensing" model of centriole duplication, in which Asl incorporation provides a permanent primary license to allow new centrioles to duplicate for the first time, while centriole disengagement provides a reduplication license to allow mother centrioles to duplicate again. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Duplication of SOX9 associated with 46,XX ovotesticular disorder of sex development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Hernández, Berenice; Méndez, Juan Pablo; Coral-Vázquez, Ramón Mauricio; Benítez-Granados, Jesús; Zenteno, Juan Carlos; Villegas-Ruiz, Vanessa; Calzada-León, Raúl; Soderlund, Daniela; Canto, Patricia

    2018-04-04

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether ten unrelated SRY-negative individuals with this sex differentiation disorder presented a double dose of SOX9 as the cause of their disease. Ten unrelated SRY-negative 46,XX ovotesticular disorder of sexual development (DSD) subjects were molecularly studied. Multiplex-ligation dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and quantitative real-time PCR analysis (qRT-PCR) for SOX9 were performed. The MLPA analysis demonstrated that one patient presented a heterozygous duplication of the entire SOX9 coding region (above 1.3 value of peak ratio), as well as at least a ~ 483 kb upstream duplication. Moreover, no duplication of other SOX9 probes was observed corresponding to the region between -1007 and -1500 kb upstream. A qRT-PCR analysis showed a duplication of at least -581 kb upstream and ~1.63 kb of the coding region that encompasses exon 3. The limits of the duplication were mapped approximately from ~71539762 to 72122741 of Chr17. No molecular abnormalities were found in the remaining nine patients. This study is thought to be the first report regarding a duplication of SOX9 that is associated with the presence of 46,XX ovotesticular DSD, encompassing at least -581 kb upstream, and the almost entire coding region of the gene. Copyright © 2018 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. So many genes, so little time: A practical approach to divergence-time estimation in the genomic era.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Stephen A; Brown, Joseph W; Walker, Joseph F

    2018-01-01

    Phylogenomic datasets have been successfully used to address questions involving evolutionary relationships, patterns of genome structure, signatures of selection, and gene and genome duplications. However, despite the recent explosion in genomic and transcriptomic data, the utility of these data sources for efficient divergence-time inference remains unexamined. Phylogenomic datasets pose two distinct problems for divergence-time estimation: (i) the volume of data makes inference of the entire dataset intractable, and (ii) the extent of underlying topological and rate heterogeneity across genes makes model mis-specification a real concern. "Gene shopping", wherein a phylogenomic dataset is winnowed to a set of genes with desirable properties, represents an alternative approach that holds promise in alleviating these issues. We implemented an approach for phylogenomic datasets (available in SortaDate) that filters genes by three criteria: (i) clock-likeness, (ii) reasonable tree length (i.e., discernible information content), and (iii) least topological conflict with a focal species tree (presumed to have already been inferred). Such a winnowing procedure ensures that errors associated with model (both clock and topology) mis-specification are minimized, therefore reducing error in divergence-time estimation. We demonstrated the efficacy of this approach through simulation and applied it to published animal (Aves, Diplopoda, and Hymenoptera) and plant (carnivorous Caryophyllales, broad Caryophyllales, and Vitales) phylogenomic datasets. By quantifying rate heterogeneity across both genes and lineages we found that every empirical dataset examined included genes with clock-like, or nearly clock-like, behavior. Moreover, many datasets had genes that were clock-like, exhibited reasonable evolutionary rates, and were mostly compatible with the species tree. We identified overlap in age estimates when analyzing these filtered genes under strict clock and uncorrelated

  5. Habitual Cognitive Reappraisal Was Negatively Related to Perceived Immorality in the Harm and Fairness Domains

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Zhongquan; Wu, Xiaoyuan; Zhang, Lisong; Zhang, Ziyuan

    2017-01-01

    Emotion plays an important role in moral judgment, and people always use emotion regulation strategies to modulate emotion, consciously or unconsciously. Previous studies had investigated only the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and moral judgment in the Harm domain, and revealed divergent results. Based on Moral Foundations Theory, the present study extended the investigation into moral judgment in all five moral domains and used a set of standardized moral vignettes. Two ...

  6. Y-type urethral duplication with posterior perineal fistula: A new variant

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandesh V Parelkar

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available 13 months old boy presented with constipation and straining during micturition with poor urinary stream and voiding of urine per rectum. Perineal examination revealed posterior perineal fistula. Voiding cysto-urethrogram showed bilateral vesicoureteral reflux with bladder diverticuli, normal dorsal urethra and dye going from urethra to rectum suggestive of Y type urethral duplication. Under stoma cover, he underwent excision of posterior perineal fistula with accessory ventral urethra and anorectoplasty was done. At present patient is passing urine in good stream without straining. The uniqueness of our case is the presence of Y type of urethral duplication with normal calibre dorsal urethra and presence of posterior perineal fistula. Therefore, we consider our case to be an unusual variant of Y type of urethral duplication that has not been described before.

  7. The Sequence and Analysis of Duplication Rich Human Chromosome 16

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Joel; Han, Cliff; Gordon, Laurie A.; Terry, Astrid; Prabhakar, Shyam; She, Xinwei; Xie, Gary; Hellsten, Uffe; Man Chan, Yee; Altherr, Michael; Couronne, Olivier; Aerts, Andrea; Bajorek, Eva; Black, Stacey; Blumer, Heather; Branscomb, Elbert; Brown, Nancy C.; Bruno, William J.; Buckingham, Judith M.; Callen, David F.; Campbell, Connie S.; Campbell, Mary L.; Campbell, Evelyn W.; Caoile, Chenier; Challacombe, Jean F.; Chasteen, Leslie A.; Chertkov, Olga; Chi, Han C.; Christensen, Mari; Clark, Lynn M.; Cohn, Judith D.; Denys, Mirian; Detter, John C.; Dickson, Mark; Dimitrijevic-Bussod, Mira; Escobar, Julio; Fawcett, Joseph J.; Flowers, Dave; Fotopulos, Dea; Glavina, Tijana; Gomez, Maria; Gonzales, Eidelyn; Goodstein, David; Goodwin, Lynne A.; Grady, Deborah L.; Grigoriev, Igor; Groza, Matthew; Hammon, Nancy; Hawkins, Trevor; Haydu, Lauren; Hildebrand, Carl E.; Huang, Wayne; Israni, Sanjay; Jett, Jamie; Jewett, Phillip E.; Kadner, Kristen; Kimball, Heather; Kobayashi, Arthur; Krawczyk, Marie-Claude; Leyba, Tina; Longmire, Jonathan L.; Lopez, Frederick; Lou, Yunian; Lowry, Steve; Ludeman, Thom; Mark, Graham A.; Mcmurray, Kimberly L.; Meincke, Linda J.; Morgan, Jenna; Moyzis, Robert K.; Mundt, Mark O.; Munk, A. Christine; Nandkeshwar, Richard D.; Pitluck, Sam; Pollard, Martin; Predki, Paul; Parson-Quintana, Beverly; Ramirez, Lucia; Rash, Sam; Retterer, James; Ricke, Darryl O.; Robinson, Donna L.; Rodriguez, Alex; Salamov, Asaf; Saunders, Elizabeth H.; Scott, Duncan; Shough, Timothy; Stallings, Raymond L.; Stalvey, Malinda; Sutherland, Robert D.; Tapia, Roxanne; Tesmer, Judith G.; Thayer, Nina; Thompson, Linda S.; Tice, Hope; Torney, David C.; Tran-Gyamfi, Mary; Tsai, Ming; Ulanovsky, Levy E.; Ustaszewska, Anna; Vo, Nu; White, P. Scott; Williams, Albert L.; Wills, Patricia L.; Wu, Jung-Rung; Wu, Kevin; Yang, Joan; DeJong, Pieter; Bruce, David; Doggett, Norman; Deaven, Larry; Schmutz, Jeremy; Grimwood, Jane; Richardson, Paul; et al.

    2004-01-01

    We report here the 78,884,754 base pairs of finished human chromosome 16 sequence, representing over 99.9 percent of its euchromatin. Manual annotation revealed 880 protein coding genes confirmed by 1,637 aligned transcripts, 19 tRNA genes, 341 pseudogenes and 3 RNA pseudogenes. These genes include metallothionein, cadherin and iroquois gene families, as well as the disease genes for polycystic kidney disease and acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Several large-scale structural polymorphisms spanning hundreds of kilobasepairs were identified and result in gene content differences across humans. One of the unique features of chromosome 16 is its high level of segmental duplication, ranked among the highest of the human autosomes. While the segmental duplications are enriched in the relatively gene poor pericentromere of the p-arm, some are involved in recent gene duplication and conversion events which are likely to have had an impact on the evolution of primates and human disease susceptibility.

  8. The sequence and analysis of duplication rich human chromosome 16

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martin, Joel; Han, Cliff; Gordon, Laurie A.; Terry, Astrid; Prabhakar, Shyam; She, Xinwei; Xie, Gary; Hellsten, Uffe; Man Chan, Yee; Altherr, Michael; Couronne, Olivier; Aerts, Andrea; Bajorek, Eva; Black, Stacey; Blumer, Heather; Branscomb, Elbert; Brown, Nancy C.; Bruno, William J.; Buckingham, Judith M.; Callen, David F.; Campbell, Connie S.; Campbell, Mary L.; Campbell, Evelyn W.; Caoile, Chenier; Challacombe, Jean F.; Chasteen, Leslie A.; Chertkov, Olga; Chi, Han C.; Christensen, Mari; Clark, Lynn M.; Cohn, Judith D.; Denys, Mirian; Detter, John C.; Dickson, Mark; Dimitrijevic-Bussod, Mira; Escobar, Julio; Fawcett, Joseph J.; Flowers, Dave; Fotopulos, Dea; Glavina, Tijana; Gomez, Maria; Gonzales, Eidelyn; Goodstein, David; Goodwin, Lynne A.; Grady, Deborah L.; Grigoriev, Igor; Groza, Matthew; Hammon, Nancy; Hawkins, Trevor; Haydu, Lauren; Hildebrand, Carl E.; Huang, Wayne; Israni, Sanjay; Jett, Jamie; Jewett, Phillip E.; Kadner, Kristen; Kimball, Heather; Kobayashi, Arthur; Krawczyk, Marie-Claude; Leyba, Tina; Longmire, Jonathan L.; Lopez, Frederick; Lou, Yunian; Lowry, Steve; Ludeman, Thom; Mark, Graham A.; Mcmurray, Kimberly L.; Meincke, Linda J.; Morgan, Jenna; Moyzis, Robert K.; Mundt, Mark O.; Munk, A. Christine; Nandkeshwar, Richard D.; Pitluck, Sam; Pollard, Martin; Predki, Paul; Parson-Quintana, Beverly; Ramirez, Lucia; Rash, Sam; Retterer, James; Ricke, Darryl O.; Robinson, Donna L.; Rodriguez, Alex; Salamov, Asaf; Saunders, Elizabeth H.; Scott, Duncan; Shough, Timothy; Stallings, Raymond L.; Stalvey, Malinda; Sutherland, Robert D.; Tapia, Roxanne; Tesmer, Judith G.; Thayer, Nina; Thompson, Linda S.; Tice, Hope; Torney, David C.; Tran-Gyamfi, Mary; Tsai, Ming; Ulanovsky, Levy E.; Ustaszewska, Anna; Vo, Nu; White, P. Scott; Williams, Albert L.; Wills, Patricia L.; Wu, Jung-Rung; Wu, Kevin; Yang, Joan; DeJong, Pieter; Bruce, David; Doggett, Norman; Deaven, Larry; Schmutz, Jeremy; Grimwood, Jane; Richardson, Paul; et al.

    2004-08-01

    We report here the 78,884,754 base pairs of finished human chromosome 16 sequence, representing over 99.9 percent of its euchromatin. Manual annotation revealed 880 protein coding genes confirmed by 1,637 aligned transcripts, 19 tRNA genes, 341 pseudogenes and 3 RNA pseudogenes. These genes include metallothionein, cadherin and iroquois gene families, as well as the disease genes for polycystic kidney disease and acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Several large-scale structural polymorphisms spanning hundreds of kilobasepairs were identified and result in gene content differences across humans. One of the unique features of chromosome 16 is its high level of segmental duplication, ranked among the highest of the human autosomes. While the segmental duplications are enriched in the relatively gene poor pericentromere of the p-arm, some are involved in recent gene duplication and conversion events which are likely to have had an impact on the evolution of primates and human disease susceptibility.

  9. Generalized vector calculus on convex domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrawal, Om P.; Xu, Yufeng

    2015-06-01

    In this paper, we apply recently proposed generalized integral and differential operators to develop generalized vector calculus and generalized variational calculus for problems defined over a convex domain. In particular, we present some generalization of Green's and Gauss divergence theorems involving some new operators, and apply these theorems to generalized variational calculus. For fractional power kernels, the formulation leads to fractional vector calculus and fractional variational calculus for problems defined over a convex domain. In special cases, when certain parameters take integer values, we obtain formulations for integer order problems. Two examples are presented to demonstrate applications of the generalized variational calculus which utilize the generalized vector calculus developed in the paper. The first example leads to a generalized partial differential equation and the second example leads to a generalized eigenvalue problem, both in two dimensional convex domains. We solve the generalized partial differential equation by using polynomial approximation. A special case of the second example is a generalized isoperimetric problem. We find an approximate solution to this problem. Many physical problems containing integer order integrals and derivatives are defined over arbitrary domains. We speculate that future problems containing fractional and generalized integrals and derivatives in fractional mechanics will be defined over arbitrary domains, and therefore, a general variational calculus incorporating a general vector calculus will be needed for these problems. This research is our first attempt in that direction.

  10. Semantic search during divergent thinking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hass, Richard W

    2017-09-01

    Divergent thinking, as a method of examining creative cognition, has not been adequately analyzed in the context of modern cognitive theories. This article casts divergent thinking responding in the context of theories of memory search. First, it was argued that divergent thinking tasks are similar to semantic fluency tasks, but are more constrained, and less well structured. Next, response time distributions from 54 participants were analyzed for temporal and semantic clustering. Participants responded to two prompts from the alternative uses test: uses for a brick and uses for a bottle, for two minutes each. Participants' cumulative response curves were negatively accelerating, in line with theories of search of associative memory. However, results of analyses of semantic and temporal clustering suggested that clustering is less evident in alternative uses responding compared to semantic fluency tasks. This suggests either that divergent thinking responding does not involve an exhaustive search through a clustered memory trace, but rather that the process is more exploratory, yielding fewer overall responses that tend to drift away from close associates of the divergent thinking prompt. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Rectal duplication in an adult: unusual cause of a buttock mass. Report of a case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monek, O; Martin, L; Heyd, B; Mantion, G

    1999-06-01

    Duplications of the rectum are extremely rare embryologic events, with almost 70 cases reported in the world literature. We report on a 39-year-old female patient with a duplication of the rectum. Physical examination showed a left buttock mass; rectal examination revealed the presence of a painless mass compressing the rectum posterolaterally, confirmed by computerized tomography. The patient was operated on with a abdominal then a sacrococcygeal approach. After a complete excision, the postoperative course was unremarkable. Histology revealed a rectal duplication lined with heterotopic cylindric ciliated epithelium. This case shows that the diagnosis of rectal duplication is difficult and can be confused with other types of anorectal pathology. The presence of heterotopic ciliated epithelium has rarely been described. Complete excision of the duplication should be possible in most cases using a transcoccygeal, transanal, or abdominoperineal approach, depending on anatomic considerations.

  12. Parental Origin of Interstitial Duplications at 15q11.2-q13.3 in Schizophrenia and Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony R Isles

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Duplications at 15q11.2-q13.3 overlapping the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome (PWS/AS region have been associated with developmental delay (DD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD and schizophrenia (SZ. Due to presence of imprinted genes within the region, the parental origin of these duplications may be key to the pathogenicity. Duplications of maternal origin are associated with disease, whereas the pathogenicity of paternal ones is unclear. To clarify the role of maternal and paternal duplications, we conducted the largest and most detailed study to date of parental origin of 15q11.2-q13.3 interstitial duplications in DD, ASD and SZ cohorts. We show, for the first time, that paternal duplications lead to an increased risk of developing DD/ASD/multiple congenital anomalies (MCA, but do not appear to increase risk for SZ. The importance of the epigenetic status of 15q11.2-q13.3 duplications was further underlined by analysis of a number of families, in which the duplication was paternally derived in the mother, who was unaffected, whereas her offspring, who inherited a maternally derived duplication, suffered from psychotic illness. Interestingly, the most consistent clinical characteristics of SZ patients with 15q11.2-q13.3 duplications were learning or developmental problems, found in 76% of carriers. Despite their lower pathogenicity, paternal duplications are less frequent in the general population with a general population prevalence of 0.0033% compared to 0.0069% for maternal duplications. This may be due to lower fecundity of male carriers and differential survival of embryos, something echoed in the findings that both types of duplications are de novo in just over 50% of cases. Isodicentric chromosome 15 (idic15 or interstitial triplications were not observed in SZ patients or in controls. Overall, this study refines the distinct roles of maternal and paternal interstitial duplications at 15q11.2-q13.3, underlining the critical importance of

  13. Parental Origin of Interstitial Duplications at 15q11.2-q13.3 in Schizophrenia and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isles, Anthony R.; Ingason, Andrés; Lowther, Chelsea; Gawlick, Micha; Stöber, Gerald; Potter, Harry; Georgieva, Lyudmila; Pizzo, Lucilla; Ozaki, Norio; Kushima, Itaru; Ikeda, Masashi; Iwata, Nakao; Levinson, Douglas F.; Gejman, Pablo V.; Shi, Jianxin; Sanders, Alan R.; Duan, Jubao; Sisodiya, Sanjay; Costain, Gregory; Degenhardt, Franziska; Giegling, Ina; Rujescu, Dan; Hreidarsson, Stefan J.; Saemundsen, Evald; Ahn, Joo Wook; Ogilvie, Caroline; Stefansson, Hreinn; Stefansson, Kari; O’Donovan, Michael C.; Owen, Michael J.; Bassett, Anne; Kirov, George

    2016-01-01

    Duplications at 15q11.2-q13.3 overlapping the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome (PWS/AS) region have been associated with developmental delay (DD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Due to presence of imprinted genes within the region, the parental origin of these duplications may be key to the pathogenicity. Duplications of maternal origin are associated with disease, whereas the pathogenicity of paternal ones is unclear. To clarify the role of maternal and paternal duplications, we conducted the largest and most detailed study to date of parental origin of 15q11.2-q13.3 interstitial duplications in DD, ASD and SZ cohorts. We show, for the first time, that paternal duplications lead to an increased risk of developing DD/ASD/multiple congenital anomalies (MCA), but do not appear to increase risk for SZ. The importance of the epigenetic status of 15q11.2-q13.3 duplications was further underlined by analysis of a number of families, in which the duplication was paternally derived in the mother, who was unaffected, whereas her offspring, who inherited a maternally derived duplication, suffered from psychotic illness. Interestingly, the most consistent clinical characteristics of SZ patients with 15q11.2-q13.3 duplications were learning or developmental problems, found in 76% of carriers. Despite their lower pathogenicity, paternal duplications are less frequent in the general population with a general population prevalence of 0.0033% compared to 0.0069% for maternal duplications. This may be due to lower fecundity of male carriers and differential survival of embryos, something echoed in the findings that both types of duplications are de novo in just over 50% of cases. Isodicentric chromosome 15 (idic15) or interstitial triplications were not observed in SZ patients or in controls. Overall, this study refines the distinct roles of maternal and paternal interstitial duplications at 15q11.2-q13.3, underlining the critical importance of maternally

  14. Incidentally found rectal duplication during surgery for rectovestibular fistula and its management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balaji, Dhiraj K; Basavaraju, Mamatha

    2015-01-01

    Association of rectal duplication with rectovestibular fistula is rare. A 3-month-old patient underwent primary posterior sagittal anorectoplasty (PSARP) for rectovestibular fistula. During surgery the patient was found to have a rectal duplication (RD). We managed the case by excising the common wall and fenestrating the two lumens together and completed the PSARP.

  15. A molecularly defined duplication set for the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Venken, Koen J. T.; Popodi, Ellen; Holtzman, Stacy L.; Schulze, Karen L.; Park, Soo; Carlson, Joseph W.; Hoskins, Roger A.; Bellen, Hugo J.; Kaufman, Thomas C.

    2010-07-22

    We describe a molecularly defined duplication kit for the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. A set of 408 overlapping P[acman] BAC clones was used to create small duplications (average length 88 kb) covering the 22-Mb sequenced portion of the chromosome. The BAC clones were inserted into an attP docking site on chromosome 3L using C31 integrase, allowing direct comparison of different transgenes. The insertions complement 92% of the essential and viable mutations and deletions tested, demonstrating that almost all Drosophila genes are compact and that the current annotations of the genome are reasonably accurate. Moreover, almost all genes are tolerated at twice the normal dosage. Finally, we more precisely mapped two regions at which duplications cause diplo-lethality in males. This collection comprises the first molecularly defined duplication set to cover a whole chromosome in a multicellular organism. The work presented removes a long-standing barrier to genetic analysis of the Drosophila X chromosome, will greatly facilitate functional assays of X-linked genes in vivo, and provides a model for functional analyses of entire chromosomes in other species.

  16. Duplicate Abalone Egg Coat Proteins Bind Sperm Lysin Similarly, but Evolve Oppositely, Consistent with Molecular Mimicry at Fertilization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aagaard, Jan E.; Springer, Stevan A.; Soelberg, Scott D.; Swanson, Willie J.

    2013-01-01

    Sperm and egg proteins constitute a remarkable paradigm in evolutionary biology: despite their fundamental role in mediating fertilization (suggesting stasis), some of these molecules are among the most rapidly evolving ones known, and their divergence can lead to reproductive isolation. Because of strong selection to maintain function among interbreeding individuals, interacting fertilization proteins should also exhibit a strong signal of correlated divergence among closely related species. We use evidence of such molecular co-evolution to target biochemical studies of fertilization in North Pacific abalone (Haliotis spp.), a model system of reproductive protein evolution. We test the evolutionary rates (d N/d S) of abalone sperm lysin and two duplicated egg coat proteins (VERL and VEZP14), and find a signal of co-evolution specific to ZP-N, a putative sperm binding motif previously identified by homology modeling. Positively selected residues in VERL and VEZP14 occur on the same face of the structural model, suggesting a common mode of interaction with sperm lysin. We test this computational prediction biochemically, confirming that the ZP-N motif is sufficient to bind lysin and that the affinities of VERL and VEZP14 are comparable. However, we also find that on phylogenetic lineages where lysin and VERL evolve rapidly, VEZP14 evolves slowly, and vice versa. We describe a model of sexual conflict that can recreate this pattern of anti-correlated evolution by assuming that VEZP14 acts as a VERL mimic, reducing the intensity of sexual conflict and slowing the co-evolution of lysin and VERL. PMID:23408913

  17. Duplicate abalone egg coat proteins bind sperm lysin similarly, but evolve oppositely, consistent with molecular mimicry at fertilization.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan E Aagaard

    Full Text Available Sperm and egg proteins constitute a remarkable paradigm in evolutionary biology: despite their fundamental role in mediating fertilization (suggesting stasis, some of these molecules are among the most rapidly evolving ones known, and their divergence can lead to reproductive isolation. Because of strong selection to maintain function among interbreeding individuals, interacting fertilization proteins should also exhibit a strong signal of correlated divergence among closely related species. We use evidence of such molecular co-evolution to target biochemical studies of fertilization in North Pacific abalone (Haliotis spp., a model system of reproductive protein evolution. We test the evolutionary rates (d(N/d(S of abalone sperm lysin and two duplicated egg coat proteins (VERL and VEZP14, and find a signal of co-evolution specific to ZP-N, a putative sperm binding motif previously identified by homology modeling. Positively selected residues in VERL and VEZP14 occur on the same face of the structural model, suggesting a common mode of interaction with sperm lysin. We test this computational prediction biochemically, confirming that the ZP-N motif is sufficient to bind lysin and that the affinities of VERL and VEZP14 are comparable. However, we also find that on phylogenetic lineages where lysin and VERL evolve rapidly, VEZP14 evolves slowly, and vice versa. We describe a model of sexual conflict that can recreate this pattern of anti-correlated evolution by assuming that VEZP14 acts as a VERL mimic, reducing the intensity of sexual conflict and slowing the co-evolution of lysin and VERL.

  18. Williams Syndrome and 15q Duplication: Coincidence versus Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khokhar, Aditi; Agarwal, Swashti; Perez-Colon, Sheila

    2017-01-01

    Williams syndrome is a multisystem disorder caused by contiguous gene deletion in 7q11.23, commonly associated with distinctive facial features, supravalvular aortic stenosis, short stature, idiopathic hypercalcemia, developmental delay, joint laxity, and a friendly personality. The clinical features of 15q11q13 duplication syndrome include autism, mental retardation, ataxia, seizures, developmental delay, and behavioral problems. We report a rare case of a girl with genetically confirmed Williams syndrome and coexisting 15q duplication syndrome. The patient underwent treatment for central precocious puberty and later presented with primary amenorrhea. The karyotype revealed 47,XX,+mar. FISH analysis for the marker chromosome showed partial trisomy/tetrasomy for proximal chromosome 15q (15p13q13). FISH using an ELN -specific probe demonstrated a deletion in the Williams syndrome critical region in 7q11.23. To our knowledge, a coexistence of Williams syndrome and 15q duplication syndrome has not been reported in the literature. Our patient had early pubertal development, which has been described in some patients with Williams syndrome. However, years later after discontinuing gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue treatment, she developed primary amenorrhea.

  19. Rectal Duplication Cyst: A Rare Cause of Rectal Prolapse in a Toddler.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khushbakht, Samreen; ul Haq, Anwar

    2015-12-01

    Rectal duplication cysts are rare congenital anomalies. They constitute only 4% of the total gastrointestinal anomalies. They usually present in childhood. The common presenting symptoms are mass or pressure effects like constipation, tenesmus, urinary retention, local infection or bleeding due to presence of ectopic gastric mucosa. We are reporting a rare presenting symptom of rectal duplication cyst in a 4-year-old boy/toddler who presented with rectal prolapse. He also had bleeding per rectum. Rectal examination revealed a soft mass palpable in the posterior rectal wall. CT scan showed a cystic mass in the posterior wall of the rectum. It was excised trans-anally and the postoperative recovery was uneventful. Biopsy report showed rectal duplication cyst.

  20. Linear energy divergences in Coulomb gauge QCD

    OpenAIRE

    Andrasi, A.

    2011-01-01

    The structure of linear energy divergences is analysed on the example of one graph to 3-loop order. Such dangerous divergences do cancel when all graphs are added, but next to leading divergences do not cancel out.

  1. Incomplete urethral duplication with cyst formation in a dog

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duffey, M.H.; Barnhart, M.D.; Barthez, P.Y.; Smeak, D.D.

    1998-01-01

    Incomplete urethral duplication with cyst formation was diagnosed in a dog that had soft, fluctuant, subcutaneous swellings in the ventral perineal and penile areas and a history of nocturia and incontinence during recumbency that were unresponsive to treatment with antibiotics. Retrograde urethrocystography, voiding urethrography, double-contrast cystography, radiography after direct administration of contrast medium into cystic structures, and excretory urography were performed to evaluate the urinary tract. Communication between the cysts and the urethra was demonstrated radiographically only after intralesional injection of contrast medium. Nocturia and incontinence resolved after surgical removal of the urethral duplication and cysts. The dog was clinically normal 1 year after surgery

  2. Incidence of Data Duplications in a Randomly Selected Pool of Life Science Publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oksvold, Morten P

    2016-04-01

    Since the solution to many public health problems depends on research, it is critical for the progress and well-being for the patients that we can trust the scientific literature. Misconduct and poor laboratory practice in science threatens the scientific progress, leads to loss of productivity and increased healthcare costs, and endangers lives of patients. Data duplication may represent one of challenges related to these problems. In order to estimate the frequency of data duplication in life science literature, a systematic screen through 120 original scientific articles published in three different cancer related journals [journal impact factor (IF) 20] was completed. The study revealed a surprisingly high proportion of articles containing data duplication. For the IF 20 journals, 25% of the articles were found to contain data duplications. The IF 5-10 journal showed a comparable proportion (22.5%). The proportion of articles containing duplicated data was comparable between the three journals and no significant correlation to journal IF was found. The editorial offices representing the journals included in this study and the individual authors of the detected articles were contacted to clarify the individual cases. The editorial offices did not reply and only 1 out of 29 cases were apparently clarified by the authors, although no supporting data was supplied. This study questions the reliability of life science literature, it illustrates that data duplications are widespread and independent of journal impact factor and call for a reform of the current peer review and retraction process of scientific publishing.

  3. Reducing and Sustaining Duplicate Medical Record Creation by Usability Testing and System Redesign.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khunlertkit, Adjhaporn; Dorissaint, Leonard; Chen, Allen; Paine, Lori; Pronovost, Peter J

    2017-10-25

    Duplicate medical record creation is a common and consequential health care systems error often caused by poor search system usability and inappropriate user training. We conducted two phases of scenario-based usability testing with patient registrars working in areas at risk of generating duplicate medical records. Phase 1 evaluated the existing search system, which led to system redesigns. Phase 2 tested the redesigned system to mitigate potential errors before health system-wide implementation. To evaluate system effectiveness, we compared the monthly potential duplicate medical record rates for preimplementation and postimplementation months. The existing system could not effectively handle a misspelling, which led to failed search and duplicate medical record creation. Using the existing system, 96% of registrars found commonly spelled patient names whereas only 69% successfully found complicated names. Registrars lacked knowledge and usage of a phonetic matching function to assist in misspelling. The new system consistently captured the correct patient regardless of misspelling, but search returned more potential matches, resulting in, on average, 4 seconds longer to select common names. Potential monthly duplicate medical record rate reduced by 38%, from 4% to 2.3% after implementation of the new system, and has sustained at an average of 2.5% for 2 years. Usability testing was an effective method to reveal problems and aid system redesign to deliver a more user friendly system, hence reducing the potential for medical record duplication. Greater standards for usability would ensure that these improvements can be realized before rather than after exposing patients to risks.

  4. Guises and disguises of quadratic divergences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cherchiglia, A.L., E-mail: adriano@fisica.ufmg.br [Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, P.O. BOX 702, 30.161-970, Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Vieira, A.R., E-mail: arvieira@fisica.ufmg.br [Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, P.O. BOX 702, 30.161-970, Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Hiller, Brigitte, E-mail: brigitte@teor.fis.uc.pt [Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra, 3004-516 Coimbra (Portugal); Baêta Scarpelli, A.P., E-mail: scarpelli.apbs@dpf.gov.br [Setor Técnico-Científico, Departamento de Polícia Federal, Rua Hugo D’Antola, 95 - Lapa, São Paulo (Brazil); Sampaio, Marcos, E-mail: marcos.sampaio@durham.ac.uk [Departamento de Física, ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, P.O. BOX 702, 30.161-970, Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Centre for Particle Theory, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, South Road Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

    2014-12-15

    In this contribution, we present a new perspective on the control of quadratic divergences in quantum field theory, in general, and in the Higgs naturalness problem, in particular. Our discussion is essentially based on an approach where UV divergences are parameterized, after being reduced to basic divergent integrals (BDI) in one internal momentum, as functions of a cutoff and a renormalization group scale λ. We illustrate our proposal with well-known examples, such as the gluon vacuum self energy of QCD and the Higgs decay in two photons within this approach. We also discuss frameworks in effective low-energy QCD models, where quadratic divergences are indeed fundamental.

  5. Membrane and Protein Interactions of the Pleckstrin Homology Domain Superfamily

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc Lenoir

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The human genome encodes about 285 proteins that contain at least one annotated pleckstrin homology (PH domain. As the first phosphoinositide binding module domain to be discovered, the PH domain recruits diverse protein architectures to cellular membranes. PH domains constitute one of the largest protein superfamilies, and have diverged to regulate many different signaling proteins and modules such as Dbl homology (DH and Tec homology (TH domains. The ligands of approximately 70 PH domains have been validated by binding assays and complexed structures, allowing meaningful extrapolation across the entire superfamily. Here the Membrane Optimal Docking Area (MODA program is used at a genome-wide level to identify all membrane docking PH structures and map their lipid-binding determinants. In addition to the linear sequence motifs which are employed for phosphoinositide recognition, the three dimensional structural features that allow peripheral membrane domains to approach and insert into the bilayer are pinpointed and can be predicted ab initio. The analysis shows that conserved structural surfaces distinguish which PH domains associate with membrane from those that do not. Moreover, the results indicate that lipid-binding PH domains can be classified into different functional subgroups based on the type of membrane insertion elements they project towards the bilayer.

  6. Membrane and Protein Interactions of the Pleckstrin Homology Domain Superfamily.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenoir, Marc; Kufareva, Irina; Abagyan, Ruben; Overduin, Michael

    2015-10-23

    The human genome encodes about 285 proteins that contain at least one annotated pleckstrin homology (PH) domain. As the first phosphoinositide binding module domain to be discovered, the PH domain recruits diverse protein architectures to cellular membranes. PH domains constitute one of the largest protein superfamilies, and have diverged to regulate many different signaling proteins and modules such as Dbl homology (DH) and Tec homology (TH) domains. The ligands of approximately 70 PH domains have been validated by binding assays and complexed structures, allowing meaningful extrapolation across the entire superfamily. Here the Membrane Optimal Docking Area (MODA) program is used at a genome-wide level to identify all membrane docking PH structures and map their lipid-binding determinants. In addition to the linear sequence motifs which are employed for phosphoinositide recognition, the three dimensional structural features that allow peripheral membrane domains to approach and insert into the bilayer are pinpointed and can be predicted ab initio. The analysis shows that conserved structural surfaces distinguish which PH domains associate with membrane from those that do not. Moreover, the results indicate that lipid-binding PH domains can be classified into different functional subgroups based on the type of membrane insertion elements they project towards the bilayer.

  7. Incidentally found rectal duplication during surgery for rectovestibular fistula and its management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhiraj K Balaji

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Association of rectal duplication with rectovestibular fistula is rare. A 3-month-old patient underwent primary posterior sagittal anorectoplasty (PSARP for rectovestibular fistula. During surgery the patient was found to have a rectal duplication (RD. We managed the case by excising the common wall and fenestrating the two lumens together and completed the PSARP.

  8. Different clinical presentations, diagnostic difficulties, and management of cecal duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Temiz, Abdulkerim; Oğuzkurt, Pelin; Ezer, Semire Serin; İnce, Emine; Gezer, Hasan Özkan; Hiçsönmez, Akgün

    2013-03-01

    Cecal duplications (CDs) are very rare, representing 0.4% of all gastrointestinal duplications. This study evaluates the variable clinical presentations, imaging workup, and surgical management of CDs. The records of 7 patients who underwent surgery between April 2001 and December 2011 for CD were retrospectively reviewed. Sex, age, duration of complaints, diagnostic studies, surgical intervention, and pathologic findings were recorded. The median age was 8 months, and mean age was 1.65 ± 2.88 years. Complaints were abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, vomiting, cough and dyspnea, and a prenatally detected cystic mass. The patients were referred with the diagnosis of appendicular abscess, necrotizing enterocolitis, gastrointestinal lymphoma, and intraabdominal cystic mass. Abdominal distention, signs of peritonitis, substernal retraction, fullness at right lower quadrant, and normal findings were detected on physical examination. Diagnostic imaging included plain abdominal radiography (7), ultrasonography (7), computed tomography (3), and magnetic resonance imaging (2). A cystic mass was reported on radiologic studies in 6 patients and appendicular abscess in 1. Cyst and cecum were resected, ileocolostomy was performed in 6 patients, and cyst excision was performed in 1. The diagnosis of duplication cyst was made by pathologic examination in all patients. Cecal duplications may be detected incidentally; however, they may mimic appendicular abscess, a tumor mass, or necrotizing enterocolitis. Whether cystic lesions are symptomatic, they should be excised when detected because of possible complications. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Evolutionary genomics of plant genes encoding N-terminal-TM-C2 domain proteins and the similar FAM62 genes and synaptotagmin genes of metazoans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craxton Molly

    2007-07-01

    among these large, multi-domain proteins are due not only to shared ancestry (homology but also to convergent evolution (analogy. During the evolution of these gene families, duplications and other gene rearrangements affecting domain composition, have occurred along with sequence divergence, leading to complex family relationships with accordingly complex functional implications. The functional homologies and analogies among these genes remain to be established empirically.

  10. Age distribution of human gene families shows significant roles of both large- and small-scale duplications in vertebrate evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Xun; Wang, Yufeng; Gu, Jianying

    2002-06-01

    The classical (two-round) hypothesis of vertebrate genome duplication proposes two successive whole-genome duplication(s) (polyploidizations) predating the origin of fishes, a view now being seriously challenged. As the debate largely concerns the relative merits of the 'big-bang mode' theory (large-scale duplication) and the 'continuous mode' theory (constant creation by small-scale duplications), we tested whether a significant proportion of paralogous genes in the contemporary human genome was indeed generated in the early stage of vertebrate evolution. After an extensive search of major databases, we dated 1,739 gene duplication events from the phylogenetic analysis of 749 vertebrate gene families. We found a pattern characterized by two waves (I, II) and an ancient component. Wave I represents a recent gene family expansion by tandem or segmental duplications, whereas wave II, a rapid paralogous gene increase in the early stage of vertebrate evolution, supports the idea of genome duplication(s) (the big-bang mode). Further analysis indicated that large- and small-scale gene duplications both make a significant contribution during the early stage of vertebrate evolution to build the current hierarchy of the human proteome.

  11. Computer recognition of divergences in Feynman graphs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Calmet, J

    1973-05-01

    The program described recognizes whether or not a graph is divergent. It determines the kind of the divergences found: vacuum polarizations, electron self energies and vertices. it does not consider infrared divergences. The programming language used is REDUCE. A LISP version is also available. The nature of the divergences and their counter terms was extensively used to write down this program, therefore it is limited to the case of quantum electrodynamics. (auth)

  12. Analysis of chitin-binding proteins from Manduca sexta provides new insights into evolution of peritrophin A-type chitin-binding domains in insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tetreau, Guillaume; Dittmer, Neal T; Cao, Xiaolong; Agrawal, Sinu; Chen, Yun-Ru; Muthukrishnan, Subbaratnam; Haobo, Jiang; Blissard, Gary W; Kanost, Michael R; Wang, Ping

    2015-07-01

    In insects, chitin is a major structural component of the cuticle and the peritrophic membrane (PM). In nature, chitin is always associated with proteins among which chitin-binding proteins (CBPs) are the most important for forming, maintaining and regulating the functions of these extracellular structures. In this study, a genome-wide search for genes encoding proteins with ChtBD2-type (peritrophin A-type) chitin-binding domains (CBDs) was conducted. A total of 53 genes encoding 56 CBPs were identified, including 15 CPAP1s (cuticular proteins analogous to peritrophins with 1 CBD), 11 CPAP3s (CPAPs with 3 CBDs) and 17 PMPs (PM proteins) with a variable number of CBDs, which are structural components of cuticle or of the PM. CBDs were also identified in enzymes of chitin metabolism including 6 chitinases and 7 chitin deacetylases encoded by 6 and 5 genes, respectively. RNA-seq analysis confirmed that PMP and CPAP genes have differential spatial expression patterns. The expression of PMP genes is midgut-specific, while CPAP genes are widely expressed in different cuticle forming tissues. Phylogenetic analysis of CBDs of proteins in insects belonging to different orders revealed that CPAP1s from different species constitute a separate family with 16 different groups, including 6 new groups identified in this study. The CPAP3s are clustered into a separate family of 7 groups present in all insect orders. Altogether, they reveal that duplication events of CBDs in CPAP1s and CPAP3s occurred prior to the evolutionary radiation of insect species. In contrast to the CPAPs, all CBDs from individual PMPs are generally clustered and distinct from other PMPs in the same species in phylogenetic analyses, indicating that the duplication of CBDs in each of these PMPs occurred after divergence of insect species. Phylogenetic analysis of these three CBP families showed that the CBDs in CPAP1s form a clearly separate family, while those found in PMPs and CPAP3s were clustered

  13. Caudal Duplication Syndrome: the Vital Role of a Multidisciplinary Approach and Staged Correction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuk, Inbal; Levitt, Marc; Dlugy, Elena; Kravarusic, Dragan; Ben-Meir, David; Rajz, Gustavo; Konen, Osnat; Freud, Enrique

    2016-12-01

    Caudal duplication syndrome is a rare entity that describes the association between congenital anomalies involving caudal structures and may have a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. A full-term male presented with combination of anomalies including anorectal malformation, duplication of the colon and lower urinary tract, split of the lower spine, and lipomyelomeningocele with tethering of the cord. We report this exceptional case of caudal duplication syndrome with special emphasis on surgical strategy and approach combining all disciplines involved. The purpose of this report is to present the pathology, assessment, and management strategy of this complex case.

  14. Caudal Duplication Syndrome: the Vital Role of a Multidisciplinary Approach and Staged Correction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuk, Inbal; Levitt, Marc; Dlugy, Elena; Kravarusic, Dragan; Ben-Meir, David; Rajz, Gustavo; Konen, Osnat; Freud, Enrique

    2015-01-01

    Caudal duplication syndrome is a rare entity that describes the association between congenital anomalies involving caudal structures and may have a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. A full-term male presented with combination of anomalies including anorectal malformation, duplication of the colon and lower urinary tract, split of the lower spine, and lipomyelomeningocele with tethering of the cord. We report this exceptional case of caudal duplication syndrome with special emphasis on surgical strategy and approach combining all disciplines involved. The purpose of this report is to present the pathology, assessment, and management strategy of this complex case. PMID:28018799

  15. Genetic divergence of common bean cultivars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veloso, J S; Silva, W; Pinheiro, L R; Dos Santos, J B; Fonseca, N S; Euzebio, M P

    2015-09-22

    The aim of this study was to evaluate genetic divergence in the 'Carioca' (beige with brown stripes) common bean cultivar used by different institutions and in 16 other common bean cultivars used in the Rede Cooperativa de Pesquisa de Feijão (Cooperative Network of Common Bean Research), by using simple sequence repeats associated with agronomic traits that are highly distributed in the common bean genome. We evaluated 22 polymorphic loci using bulks containing DNA from 30 plants. There was genetic divergence among the Carioca cultivar provided by the institutions. Nevertheless, there was lower divergence among them than among the other cultivars. The cultivar used by Instituto Agronômico do Paraná was the most divergent in relation to the Carioca samples. The least divergence was observed among the samples used by Universidade Federal de Lavras and by Embrapa Arroz e Feijão. Of all the cultivars, 'CNFP 10104' and 'BRSMG Realce' showed the greatest dissimilarity. The cultivars were separated in two groups of greatest similarity using the Structure software. Genetic variation among cultivars was greater than the variation within or between the groups formed. This fact, together with the high estimate of heterozygosity observed and the genetic divergence of the samples of the Carioca cultivar in relation to the original provided by Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, indicates a mixture of cultivars. The high divergence among cultivars provides potential for the utilization of this genetic variability in plant breeding.

  16. Properties of classical and quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J. Briët (Jop); P. Harremoës (Peter)

    2009-01-01

    htmlabstractJensen-Shannon divergence (JD) is a symmetrized and smoothed version of the most important divergence measure of information theory, Kullback divergence. As opposed to Kullback divergence it determines in a very direct way a metric; indeed, it is the square of a metric. We consider a

  17. A salmonid EST genomic study: genes, duplications, phylogeny and microarrays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brahmbhatt Sonal

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Salmonids are of interest because of their relatively recent genome duplication, and their extensive use in wild fisheries and aquaculture. A comprehensive gene list and a comparison of genes in some of the different species provide valuable genomic information for one of the most widely studied groups of fish. Results 298,304 expressed sequence tags (ESTs from Atlantic salmon (69% of the total, 11,664 chinook, 10,813 sockeye, 10,051 brook trout, 10,975 grayling, 8,630 lake whitefish, and 3,624 northern pike ESTs were obtained in this study and have been deposited into the public databases. Contigs were built and putative full-length Atlantic salmon clones have been identified. A database containing ESTs, assemblies, consensus sequences, open reading frames, gene predictions and putative annotation is available. The overall similarity between Atlantic salmon ESTs and those of rainbow trout, chinook, sockeye, brook trout, grayling, lake whitefish, northern pike and rainbow smelt is 93.4, 94.2, 94.6, 94.4, 92.5, 91.7, 89.6, and 86.2% respectively. An analysis of 78 transcript sets show Salmo as a sister group to Oncorhynchus and Salvelinus within Salmoninae, and Thymallinae as a sister group to Salmoninae and Coregoninae within Salmonidae. Extensive gene duplication is consistent with a genome duplication in the common ancestor of salmonids. Using all of the available EST data, a new expanded salmonid cDNA microarray of 32,000 features was created. Cross-species hybridizations to this cDNA microarray indicate that this resource will be useful for studies of all 68 salmonid species. Conclusion An extensive collection and analysis of salmonid RNA putative transcripts indicate that Pacific salmon, Atlantic salmon and charr are 94–96% similar while the more distant whitefish, grayling, pike and smelt are 93, 92, 89 and 86% similar to salmon. The salmonid transcriptome reveals a complex history of gene duplication that is

  18. Whole genome duplications and expansion of the vertebrate GATA transcription factor gene family

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bowerman Bruce

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background GATA transcription factors influence many developmental processes, including the specification of embryonic germ layers. The GATA gene family has significantly expanded in many animal lineages: whereas diverse cnidarians have only one GATA transcription factor, six GATA genes have been identified in many vertebrates, five in many insects, and eleven to thirteen in Caenorhabditis nematodes. All bilaterian animal genomes have at least one member each of two classes, GATA123 and GATA456. Results We have identified one GATA123 gene and one GATA456 gene from the genomic sequence of two invertebrate deuterostomes, a cephalochordate (Branchiostoma floridae and a hemichordate (Saccoglossus kowalevskii. We also have confirmed the presence of six GATA genes in all vertebrate genomes, as well as additional GATA genes in teleost fish. Analyses of conserved sequence motifs and of changes to the exon-intron structure, and molecular phylogenetic analyses of these deuterostome GATA genes support their origin from two ancestral deuterostome genes, one GATA 123 and one GATA456. Comparison of the conserved genomic organization across vertebrates identified eighteen paralogous gene families linked to multiple vertebrate GATA genes (GATA paralogons, providing the strongest evidence yet for expansion of vertebrate GATA gene families via genome duplication events. Conclusion From our analysis, we infer the evolutionary birth order and relationships among vertebrate GATA transcription factors, and define their expansion via multiple rounds of whole genome duplication events. As the genomes of four independent invertebrate deuterostome lineages contain single copy GATA123 and GATA456 genes, we infer that the 0R (pre-genome duplication invertebrate deuterostome ancestor also had two GATA genes, one of each class. Synteny analyses identify duplications of paralogous chromosomal regions (paralogons, from single ancestral vertebrate GATA123 and GATA456

  19. Gene duplication, silencing and expression alteration govern the molecular evolution of PRC2 genes in plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furihata, Hazuka Y; Suenaga, Kazuya; Kawanabe, Takahiro; Yoshida, Takanori; Kawabe, Akira

    2016-10-13

    PRC2 genes were analyzed for their number of gene duplications, d N /d S ratios and expression patterns among Brassicaceae and Gramineae species. Although both amino acid sequences and copy number of the PRC2 genes were generally well conserved in both Brassicaceae and Gramineae species, we observed that some rapidly evolving genes experienced duplications and expression pattern changes. After multiple duplication events, all but one or two of the duplicated copies tend to be silenced. Silenced copies were reactivated in the endosperm and showed ectopic expression in developing seeds. The results indicated that rapid evolution of some PRC2 genes is initially caused by a relaxation of selective constraint following the gene duplication events. Several loci could become maternally expressed imprinted genes and acquired functional roles in the endosperm.

  20. Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Gene Superfamily in Populus: Organization and Expression Divergence between Paralogous Gene Pairs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Feng-Xia; Zang, Jian-Lei; Wang, Tan; Xie, Yu-Li; Zhang, Jin; Hu, Jian-Jun

    2015-01-01

    Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) constitute a superfamily of NAD(P)+-dependent enzymes that catalyze the irreversible oxidation of a wide range of reactive aldehydes to their corresponding nontoxic carboxylic acids. ALDHs have been studied in many organisms from bacteria to mammals; however, no systematic analyses incorporating genome organization, gene structure, expression profiles, and cis-acting elements have been conducted in the model tree species Populus trichocarpa thus far. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the Populus ALDH gene superfamily was performed. A total of 26 Populus ALDH genes were found to be distributed across 12 chromosomes. Genomic organization analysis indicated that purifying selection may have played a pivotal role in the retention and maintenance of PtALDH gene families. The exon-intron organizations of PtALDHs were highly conserved within the same family, suggesting that the members of the same family also may have conserved functionalities. Microarray data and qRT-PCR analysis indicated that most PtALDHs had distinct tissue-specific expression patterns. The specificity of cis-acting elements in the promoter regions of the PtALDHs and the divergence of expression patterns between nine paralogous PtALDH gene pairs suggested that gene duplications may have freed the duplicate genes from the functional constraints. The expression levels of some ALDHs were up- or down-regulated by various abiotic stresses, implying that the products of these genes may be involved in the adaptation of Populus to abiotic stresses. Overall, the data obtained from our investigation contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of the Populus ALDH gene superfamily and provide insights into the function and evolution of ALDH gene families in vascular plants.

  1. Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Gene Superfamily in Populus: Organization and Expression Divergence between Paralogous Gene Pairs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feng-Xia Tian

    Full Text Available Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs constitute a superfamily of NAD(P+-dependent enzymes that catalyze the irreversible oxidation of a wide range of reactive aldehydes to their corresponding nontoxic carboxylic acids. ALDHs have been studied in many organisms from bacteria to mammals; however, no systematic analyses incorporating genome organization, gene structure, expression profiles, and cis-acting elements have been conducted in the model tree species Populus trichocarpa thus far. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the Populus ALDH gene superfamily was performed. A total of 26 Populus ALDH genes were found to be distributed across 12 chromosomes. Genomic organization analysis indicated that purifying selection may have played a pivotal role in the retention and maintenance of PtALDH gene families. The exon-intron organizations of PtALDHs were highly conserved within the same family, suggesting that the members of the same family also may have conserved functionalities. Microarray data and qRT-PCR analysis indicated that most PtALDHs had distinct tissue-specific expression patterns. The specificity of cis-acting elements in the promoter regions of the PtALDHs and the divergence of expression patterns between nine paralogous PtALDH gene pairs suggested that gene duplications may have freed the duplicate genes from the functional constraints. The expression levels of some ALDHs were up- or down-regulated by various abiotic stresses, implying that the products of these genes may be involved in the adaptation of Populus to abiotic stresses. Overall, the data obtained from our investigation contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of the Populus ALDH gene superfamily and provide insights into the function and evolution of ALDH gene families in vascular plants.

  2. Fate of males with urethral "Y-duplication": 40-year long follow-up in 8 patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lima, Mario; Destro, Francesca; Di Salvo, Neil; Gargano, Tommaso; Ruggeri, Giovanni

    2017-08-01

    The spectrum of male urethral duplication is heterogeneous and it includes the Y-duplication. The malformation is rare and there is only a few case series reported in the literature. The management of Y-forms remains challenging for the surgeon and the long-term follow-up is still scarcely investigated. We report our 40-year experience in the management of patients with Y-duplication. We conducted a restrospective analysis collecting information of patients with urethral Y-duplication treated at our department from April 1975 to April 2015. We investigated long-term effects of surgery by using a questionnaire. Ten male patients with Y-duplication came to our attention. One was treated conservatively, seven underwent surgery and two were lost. Surgery consisted of removal of the ectopic branch (via perineal or ASTRA/anterior sagittal trans-rectal approach approach) and reconstruction of the orthotopic urethra. Post-operative complications included stenosis and infections. Long-term results are influenced by associated anomalies and significant problems (incontinence, urinary tract infections and orchiepididimitis) have been reported. Y-duplication (or λ-duplication, as we prefer calling it) is a particular form of urethral duplication. The management of patients should be based upon the identification of the functional channel. The removal of the ectopic channel with ASTRA approach is safe and feasible. On the other hand, the reconstruction of the anterior urethra (when steno-atresic) is more challenging and justifies the need for many procedures. The P.A.D.U.A. (progressive augmentation by dilating the anterior urethra) technique was not effective. Skin tube grafts were responsible for infections ("hairy urethra"). BMFG (bladder mucosa free graft) urethroplasty is a good alternative, although associated with well-known complications. Associated anomalies influence long-term outcomes. Clinical study with type IV level of evidence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc

  3. Jensen divergence based on Fisher’s information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sánchez-Moreno, P; Zarzo, A; Dehesa, J S

    2012-01-01

    The measure of Jensen–Fisher divergence between probability distributions is introduced and its theoretical grounds set up. This quantity, in contrast to the remaining Jensen divergences, grasps the fluctuations of the probability distributions because it is controlled by the (local) Fisher information, which is a gradient functional of the distribution. So it is appropriate and informative when studying the similarity of distributions, mainly for those having oscillatory character. The new Jensen–Fisher divergence shares with the Jensen–Shannon divergence the following properties: non-negativity, additivity when applied to an arbitrary number of probability densities, symmetry under exchange of these densities, vanishing under certain conditions and definiteness even when these densities present non-common zeros. Moreover, the Jensen–Fisher divergence is shown to be expressed in terms of the relative Fisher information as the Jensen–Shannon divergence does in terms of the Kullback–Leibler or relative Shannon entropy. Finally, the Jensen–Shannon and Jensen–Fisher divergences are compared for the following three large, non-trivial and qualitatively different families of probability distributions: the sinusoidal, generalized gamma-like and Rakhmanov–Hermite distributions, which are closely related to the quantum-mechanical probability densities of numerous physical systems. (paper)

  4. Distribution of segmental duplications in the context of higher order chromatin organisation of human chromosome 7

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ebert, Grit; Steininger, Anne; Weißmann, Robert

    2014-01-01

    of the Williams-Beuren syndrome locus we demonstrate by cross-species comparison that these SDs have inserted at the borders of a topological domain and that they flank regions with distinct DNA conformation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests a link of nuclear architecture and the propagation of SDs across......BACKGROUND: Segmental duplications (SDs) are not evenly distributed along chromosomes. The reasons for this biased susceptibility to SD insertion are poorly understood. Accumulation of SDs is associated with increased genomic instability, which can lead to structural variants and genomic disorders...... chromosome 7, either by promoting regional SD insertion or by contributing to the establishment of higher order chromatin organisation themselves. The latter could compensate for the high risk of structural rearrangements and thus may have contributed to their evolutionary fixation in the human genome....

  5. Comprehensive genome-wide survey, genomic constitution and expression profiling of the NAC transcription factor family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L..

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Swati Puranik

    Full Text Available The NAC proteins represent a major plant-specific transcription factor family that has established enormously diverse roles in various plant processes. Aided by the availability of complete genomes, several members of this family have been identified in Arabidopsis, rice, soybean and poplar. However, no comprehensive investigation has been presented for the recently sequenced, naturally stress tolerant crop, Setaria italica (foxtail millet that is famed as a model crop for bioenergy research. In this study, we identified 147 putative NAC domain-encoding genes from foxtail millet by systematic sequence analysis and physically mapped them onto nine chromosomes. Genomic organization suggested that inter-chromosomal duplications may have been responsible for expansion of this gene family in foxtail millet. Phylogenetically, they were arranged into 11 distinct sub-families (I-XI, with duplicated genes fitting into one cluster and possessing conserved motif compositions. Comparative mapping with other grass species revealed some orthologous relationships and chromosomal rearrangements including duplication, inversion and deletion of genes. The evolutionary significance as duplication and divergence of NAC genes based on their amino acid substitution rates was understood. Expression profiling against various stresses and phytohormones provides novel insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of SiNAC genes, which may be responsible for functional divergence among individual members in this crop. Further, we performed structure modeling and molecular simulation of a stress-responsive protein, SiNAC128, proffering an initial framework for understanding its molecular function. Taken together, this genome-wide identification and expression profiling unlocks new avenues for systematic functional analysis of novel NAC gene family candidates which may be applied for improvising stress adaption in plants.

  6. Comprehensive genome-wide survey, genomic constitution and expression profiling of the NAC transcription factor family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puranik, Swati; Sahu, Pranav Pankaj; Mandal, Sambhu Nath; B, Venkata Suresh; Parida, Swarup Kumar; Prasad, Manoj

    2013-01-01

    The NAC proteins represent a major plant-specific transcription factor family that has established enormously diverse roles in various plant processes. Aided by the availability of complete genomes, several members of this family have been identified in Arabidopsis, rice, soybean and poplar. However, no comprehensive investigation has been presented for the recently sequenced, naturally stress tolerant crop, Setaria italica (foxtail millet) that is famed as a model crop for bioenergy research. In this study, we identified 147 putative NAC domain-encoding genes from foxtail millet by systematic sequence analysis and physically mapped them onto nine chromosomes. Genomic organization suggested that inter-chromosomal duplications may have been responsible for expansion of this gene family in foxtail millet. Phylogenetically, they were arranged into 11 distinct sub-families (I-XI), with duplicated genes fitting into one cluster and possessing conserved motif compositions. Comparative mapping with other grass species revealed some orthologous relationships and chromosomal rearrangements including duplication, inversion and deletion of genes. The evolutionary significance as duplication and divergence of NAC genes based on their amino acid substitution rates was understood. Expression profiling against various stresses and phytohormones provides novel insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of SiNAC genes, which may be responsible for functional divergence among individual members in this crop. Further, we performed structure modeling and molecular simulation of a stress-responsive protein, SiNAC128, proffering an initial framework for understanding its molecular function. Taken together, this genome-wide identification and expression profiling unlocks new avenues for systematic functional analysis of novel NAC gene family candidates which may be applied for improvising stress adaption in plants.

  7. The detection of large deletions or duplications in genomic DNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, J A L; Barton, D E; Cockburn, D J; Taylor, G R

    2002-11-01

    While methods for the detection of point mutations and small insertions or deletions in genomic DNA are well established, the detection of larger (>100 bp) genomic duplications or deletions can be more difficult. Most mutation scanning methods use PCR as a first step, but the subsequent analyses are usually qualitative rather than quantitative. Gene dosage methods based on PCR need to be quantitative (i.e., they should report molar quantities of starting material) or semi-quantitative (i.e., they should report gene dosage relative to an internal standard). Without some sort of quantitation, heterozygous deletions and duplications may be overlooked and therefore be under-ascertained. Gene dosage methods provide the additional benefit of reporting allele drop-out in the PCR. This could impact on SNP surveys, where large-scale genotyping may miss null alleles. Here we review recent developments in techniques for the detection of this type of mutation and compare their relative strengths and weaknesses. We emphasize that comprehensive mutation analysis should include scanning for large insertions and deletions and duplications. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  8. Hominoid chromosomal rearrangements on 17q map to complex regions of segmental duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardone, Maria Francesca; Jiang, Zhaoshi; D'Addabbo, Pietro; Archidiacono, Nicoletta; Rocchi, Mariano; Eichler, Evan E; Ventura, Mario

    2008-01-01

    Chromosomal rearrangements, such as translocations and inversions, are recurrent phenomena during evolution, and both of them are involved in reproductive isolation and speciation. To better understand the molecular basis of chromosome rearrangements and their part in karyotype evolution, we have investigated the history of human chromosome 17 by comparative fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and sequence analysis. Human bacterial artificial chromosome/p1 artificial chromosome probes spanning the length of chromosome 17 were used in FISH experiments on great apes, Old World monkeys and New World monkeys to study the evolutionary history of this chromosome. We observed that the macaque marker order represents the ancestral organization. Human, chimpanzee and gorilla homologous chromosomes differ by a paracentric inversion that occurred specifically in the Homo sapiens/Pan troglodytes/Gorilla gorilla ancestor. Detailed analyses of the paracentric inversion revealed that the breakpoints mapped to two regions syntenic to human 17q12/21 and 17q23, both rich in segmental duplications. Sequence analyses of the human and macaque organization suggest that the duplication events occurred in the catarrhine ancestor with the duplication blocks continuing to duplicate or undergo gene conversion during evolution of the hominoid lineage. We propose that the presence of these duplicons has mediated the inversion in the H. sapiens/P. troglodytes/G. gorilla ancestor. Recently, the same duplication blocks have been shown to be polymorphic in the human population and to be involved in triggering microdeletion and duplication in human. These results further support a model where genomic architecture has a direct role in both rearrangement involved in karyotype evolution and genomic instability in human.

  9. Single quadrature duplication and transparent taps

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Ajung

    2004-01-01

    The concept of single quadrature duplication, which is the process of producing two outputs with the same homodyne detecting statistics as an input, is addressed. This device has important potential application to optical communications as a transparent optical tap in a local area network environment. The characteristics of the device are examined, and a realization scheme employing a coupler and phase-sensitive amplifiers is proposed

  10. Protein Phosphatase 1 Down Regulates ZYG-1 Levels to Limit Centriole Duplication.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Peel

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In humans perturbations of centriole number are associated with tumorigenesis and microcephaly, therefore appropriate regulation of centriole duplication is critical. The C. elegans homolog of Plk4, ZYG-1, is required for centriole duplication, but our understanding of how ZYG-1 levels are regulated remains incomplete. We have identified the two PP1 orthologs, GSP-1 and GSP-2, and their regulators I-2SZY-2 and SDS-22 as key regulators of ZYG-1 protein levels. We find that down-regulation of PP1 activity either directly, or by mutation of szy-2 or sds-22 can rescue the loss of centriole duplication associated with a zyg-1 hypomorphic allele. Suppression is achieved through an increase in ZYG-1 levels, and our data indicate that PP1 normally regulates ZYG-1 through a post-translational mechanism. While moderate inhibition of PP1 activity can restore centriole duplication to a zyg-1 mutant, strong inhibition of PP1 in a wild-type background leads to centriole amplification via the production of more than one daughter centriole. Our results thus define a new pathway that limits the number of daughter centrioles produced each cycle.

  11. A molecularly defined duplication set for the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venken, Koen J T; Popodi, Ellen; Holtzman, Stacy L; Schulze, Karen L; Park, Soo; Carlson, Joseph W; Hoskins, Roger A; Bellen, Hugo J; Kaufman, Thomas C

    2010-12-01

    We describe a molecularly defined duplication kit for the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. A set of 408 overlapping P[acman] BAC clones was used to create small duplications (average length 88 kb) covering the 22-Mb sequenced portion of the chromosome. The BAC clones were inserted into an attP docking site on chromosome 3L using ΦC31 integrase, allowing direct comparison of different transgenes. The insertions complement 92% of the essential and viable mutations and deletions tested, demonstrating that almost all Drosophila genes are compact and that the current annotations of the genome are reasonably accurate. Moreover, almost all genes are tolerated at twice the normal dosage. Finally, we more precisely mapped two regions at which duplications cause diplo-lethality in males. This collection comprises the first molecularly defined duplication set to cover a whole chromosome in a multicellular organism. The work presented removes a long-standing barrier to genetic analysis of the Drosophila X chromosome, will greatly facilitate functional assays of X-linked genes in vivo, and provides a model for functional analyses of entire chromosomes in other species.

  12. Duplicate study on the dietary intake of PCDD/F by small children from Germany

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wittsiepe, J.; Schrey, P.; Schmidt, E.; Wilhelm, M.

    2002-01-01

    The dietary intake of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) by 42 small children at the age of 14 to 47 months was measured by the duplicate method. The children were living in urban or rural areas of Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany, and had different food consumption behaviour. The duplicates were collected over a period of seven days between May and September 1998. The PCDD/F-levels in the food duplicates were in the range of 39.2 to 325 pg I-TEq/kg dry weight (median: 90.7; arithmetic mean: 96.6). The doses were between 0.681 and 5.43 pg I-TEq/(kg body weight day) with a median of 1.56 and an arithmetric mean of 1.60. The aspired limit of 1 pg I-TEq/(kg body weight . day) was exceeded by most children. Food duplicates of children living in an urban industrialized area with food consumption including products from the family owned vegetable gardens or the surrounding area and/or products from domestic animals showed no statistically significant different PCDD/F-concentrations, calculated as I-TEq, than food duplicates of children living in a rural area with similar food consumption behavior or than food duplicates of children consuming exclusively food from the supermarket. The same was observed for the calculated intake rates of PCDD/F. Efforts to reduce the contamination of food with PCDD/F should be continued. (orig.) [de

  13. Molecular cytogenetic characterization and origin of two de novo duplication 9p cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsezou, A; Kitsiou, S; Galla, A; Petersen, M B; Karadima, G; Syrrou, M; Sahlèn, S; Blennow, E

    2000-03-13

    We report on two additional cases with duplication of 9p, minor with facial anomalies and developmental delay. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization and single-copy probes, we showed that the first case was a direct duplication, whereas the second case was inverted. The extent of the direct duplication was defined as 9p12 --> p24 by microdissection and microcloning of the aberrant chromosome and subsequent chromosome-specific comparative genomic hybridization. DNA polymorphism analysis with eight microsatellite markers revealed that the origin of the dup(9p) was maternal in the first case, whereas it was paternal in the second. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  14. Clinical and molecular characterization of duplications encompassing the human SHOX gene reveal a variable effect on stature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, N Simon; Harvey, John F; Bunyan, David J; Rankin, Julia; Grigelioniene, Giedre; Bruno, Damien L; Tan, Tiong Y; Tomkins, Susan; Hastings, Robert

    2009-07-01

    Deletions of the SHOX gene are well documented and cause disproportionate short stature and variable skeletal abnormalities. In contrast interstitial SHOX duplications limited to PAR1 appear to be very rare and the clinical significance of the only case report in the literature is unclear. Mapping of this duplication has now shown that it includes the entire SHOX gene but little flanking sequence and so will not encompass any of the long-range enhancers required for SHOX transcription. We now describe the clinical and molecular characterization of three additional cases. The duplications all included the SHOX coding sequence but varied in the amount of flanking sequence involved. The probands were ascertained for a variety of reasons: hypotonia and features of Asperger syndrome, Leri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD), and a family history of cleft palate. However, the presence of a duplication did not correlate with any of these features or with evidence of skeletal abnormality. Remarkably, the proband with LWD had inherited both a SHOX deletion and a duplication. The effect of the duplications on stature was variable: height appeared to be elevated in some carriers, particularly in those with the largest duplications, but was still within the normal range. SHOX duplications are likely to be under ascertained and more cases need to be identified and characterized in detail in order to accurately determine their phenotypic consequences.

  15. Verbal and visual divergent thinking in aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmiero, Massimiliano; Nori, Raffaella; Piccardi, Laura

    2017-04-01

    According to the peak and decline model divergent thinking declines at a specific age (in or after middle age). However, if divergent thinking declines steadily in aging still has to be clarified. In order to explore the age-related changes in verbal and visual divergent thinking, in the present study a sample of 159 participants was divided in five age groups: young adults (18-35 years), middle-aged adults (36-55), young old (56-74), old (75-85) and the oldest-old (86-98). Two divergent thinking tasks were administered: the alternative uses for cardboard boxes, aimed at assessing verbal ideational fluency, flexibility and originality; the completion drawing task, aimed at assessing visual ideational fluency, flexibility and originality. Results showed that after peaking in the young adult group (20-35 years) all components of verbal and visual divergent thinking stabilized in the middle-aged adult group (36-55 years) and then started declining in the young old group (56-75). Interestingly, all components were found to be preserved after declining. Yet, verbal and visual divergent thinking were found at the same extent across age groups, with the exception of visual ideational fluency, that was higher in the young old group, the old group and the oldest-old group than verbal ideational fluency. These results support the idea that divergent thinking does not decline steadily in the elderly. Given that older people can preserve to some extent verbal and visual divergent thinking, these findings have important implications for active aging, that is, divergent thinking might be fostered in aging in order to prevent the cognitive decline.

  16. Alimentary tract duplications in children: Report of 16 years′ experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed Zouari

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Alimentary tract duplications (ATDs are a rare condition in children, characterised by a large pathogenic, clinical, and histological polymorphism. Surgical observation and pathologic evaluation of the resected specimens are the only way to confirm the diagnosis. In this study, we want to analyse the anatomical, clinical and therapeutic aspects of this entity. Patients and Methods: A total of 12 cases of ATD were diagnosed over a 16-year period at paediatric surgery department. The diagnosis was evoked on clinical and radiological data. Histological study of the resected specimens confirmed the diagnosis in all cases. Results: The mean age of patients at diagnosis was 41 months with a peak of incidence at the 1 st year of life (42%. Out of a total 12 cases, 10 were girls and 2 were boys. Abdominal pain and vomiting were the most frequent presenting features. Ultrasonography, tomodensitometry and magnetic resonance imaging were useful for diagnosis. ATDs were localised on the oesophagus in one case, the stomach in one case, the duodenum in four cases, the ileum in five cases, and the colon in one case. All these duplications were cystic, with three communicating duplications. All patients underwent surgery, and resection procedure was chosen according to duplication type and site. Histological study confirmed the diagnosis in all cases. Conclusion: ATDs are a rare condition in children. Diagnosis relies on histology, and treatment can only be by means of surgery. The outcome after surgery is generally favourable. Diagnosis and precocious surgery of ATDs can warn serious complications.

  17. Quadratic divergences and dimensional regularisation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jack, I.; Jones, D.R.T.

    1990-01-01

    We present a detailed analysis of quadratic and quartic divergences in dimensionally regulated renormalisable theories. We perform explicit three-loop calculations for a general theory of scalars and fermions. We find that the higher-order quartic divergences are related to the lower-order ones by the renormalisation group β-functions. (orig.)

  18. Discovery of previously unidentified genomic disorders from the duplication architecture of the human genome

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sharp, Andrew J.; Hansen, Sierra; Selzer, Rebecca R.; Cheng, Ze; Regan, Regina; Hurst, Jane A.; Stewart, Helen; Price, Sue M.; Blair, Edward; Hennekam, Raoul C.; Fitzpatrick, Carrie A.; Segraves, Rick; Richmond, Todd A.; Guiver, Cheryl; Albertson, Donna G.; Pinkel, Daniel; Eis, Peggy S.; Schwartz, Stuart; Knight, Samantha J. L.; Eichler, Evan E.

    2006-01-01

    Genomic disorders are characterized by the presence of flanking segmental duplications that predispose these regions to recurrent rearrangement. Based on the duplication architecture of the genome, we investigated 130 regions that we hypothesized as candidates for previously undescribed genomic

  19. Meiotic UV-sensitive mutant that causes deletion of duplications in neurospora

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Newmeyer, D.; Galeazzi, D.R.

    1978-01-01

    The meiotic-3 (mei-3) mutant of Neurospora crassa has several effects: (1) when homozygous, it almost completely blocks meiosis and ascospore formation, (2) it is sensitive to uv, (3) its growth is inhibited by histidine, and (4) it increases the instability of nontandem duplications. This was shown for duplications produced by five different rearrangements and was demonstrated by two different criteria. The effects on meiosis and duplication instability are expressed strongly at 25 0 ; the effects on sensitivity to uv and to histidine are expressed strongly at 38.5 0 but only slightly at 25 0 . Nevertheless, all four effects were shown to be due to a single gene. Mei-3 is not allelic with previously reported uv-sensitive mutants. Two other results were obtained that are not necessarily due to mei-3: (1) a cross involving mei-3 produced a new unlinked meiotic mutant, mei-4, which is not sensitive to uv or histidine, and (2) a burst of several new mutants occurred in a different mei-3 stock, including a partial revertant to mei-3. Mei-3 has previously been shown to cause frequent complete loss of a terminal duplicate segment, beginning exactly at the original rearrangement breakpoint. Possible mechanisms are discussed by which a uv-sensitive mutant could cause such precise deletions

  20. Melting of Domain Wall in Charge Ordered Dirac Electron of Organic Conductor α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohki, Daigo; Matsuno, Genki; Omori, Yukiko; Kobayashi, Akito

    2018-05-01

    The origin of charge order melting is identified by using the real space dependent mean-field theory in the extended Hubbard model describing an organic Dirac electron system α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3. In this model, the width of a domain wall which arises between different types of the charge ordered phase exhibits a divergent increase with decreasing the strength of electron-electron correlations. By analyzing the finite-size effect carefully, it is shown that the divergence coincides with a topological transition where a pair of Dirac cones merges in keeping with a finite gap. It is also clarified that the gap opening point and the topological transition point are different, which leads to the existence of an exotic massive Dirac electron phase with melted-type domain wall and gapless edge states. The present result also indicated that multiple metastable states are emerged in massive Dirac Electron phase. In the trivial charge ordered phase, the gapless domain-wall bound state takes place instead of the gapless edge states, accompanying with a form change of the domain wall from melted-type into hyperbolic-tangent-type.

  1. Fenestrations and Various Duplications of the Posterior Communicating Artery in the Prenatal and Postnatal Periods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trandafilović, Milena; Vasović, Ljiljana; Vlajković, Slobodan; Đorđević, Gordana; Stojanović, Borisav; Mladenović, Marija

    2016-07-01

    The 2 paired arteries-the posterior communicating arteries (PCoAs) and the precommunicating parts of the posterior cerebral arteries-form the so-called posterior segment of the cerebral arterial circle on the base of the brain. A number of (ab)normal morphologic features were described in the literature (e.g., unusual kinking, or extreme elongations, hypoplasia, duplications, fenestrations, the infundibular widening, or aplasia of the PCoA in the prenatal and/or postnatal periods). The aim of this study was to analyze an incidence of various fenestrations and duplications of the PCoA, and describe their general features and their association with other vascular abnormalities. The research was performed on the brains of 200 human fetuses and 377 adult cadavers of both genders and different ages using microdissection and macrodissection methods. There were 0.34% cases with PCoA fenestrations and 3.12% cases with various PCoA duplications. Their morphologic features were described and compared with the similar PCoA abnormalities recorded in the scientific literature. There was no association between the PCoA and either duplication or aneurysm in adult cases. After thorough examination, the fenestrations and duplications of the PCoA are distinguished as 2 special forms of vascular abnormalities, and the PCoA duplications are characterized as partial and total. Furthermore, whereas the low incidence of a fenestration of the PCoA suggests it to be a sufficiently rare phenomenon, the duplications of the PCoA trunk are fairly frequent, especially concerning its terminal segment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Xq28 duplications including MECP2 in five females: Expanding the phenotype to severe mental retardation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bijlsma, E K; Collins, A; Papa, F T; Tejada, M I; Wheeler, P; Peeters, E A J; Gijsbers, A C J; van de Kamp, J M; Kriek, M; Losekoot, M; Broekma, A J; Crolla, J A; Pollazzon, M; Mucciolo, M; Katzaki, E; Disciglio, V; Ferreri, M I; Marozza, A; Mencarelli, M A; Castagnini, C; Dosa, L; Ariani, F; Mari, F; Canitano, R; Hayek, G; Botella, M P; Gener, B; Mínguez, M; Renieri, A; Ruivenkamp, C A L

    2012-06-01

    Duplications leading to functional disomy of chromosome Xq28, including MECP2 as the critical dosage-sensitive gene, are associated with a distinct clinical phenotype in males, characterized by severe mental retardation, infantile hypotonia, progressive neurologic impairment, recurrent infections, bladder dysfunction, and absent speech. Female patients with Xq duplications including MECP2 are rare. Only recently submicroscopic duplications of this region on Xq28 have been recognized in four females, and a triplication in a fifth, all in combination with random X-chromosome inactivation (XCI). Based on this small series, it was concluded that in females with MECP2 duplication and random XCI, the typical symptoms of affected boys are not present. We present clinical and molecular data on a series of five females with an Xq28 duplication including the MECP2 gene, both isolated and as the result of a translocation, and compare them with the previously reported cases of small duplications in females. The collected data indicate that the associated phenotype in females is distinct from males with similar duplications, but the clinical effects may be as severe as seen in males. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  3. Counterpoint as a principle of creativity: Extracting divergent modifiers from 'The Art of Fugue' by Johann Sebastian Bach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni Emanuele Corazza

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The main message carried by this article is that counterpoint can be taken as a model approach for the introduction of contrasting elements, not only in musical composition but also in the generation of ideas in any domain of knowledge. We start by an interdisciplinary review about the power of opposite concepts as constituting elements in nature. This is followed by the description of the DIMAI model for creative thinking, which is founded upon the dual forces of convergent and divergent thinking modalities. The main body of our work is an extraction of divergent modifiers from the Contrapunctus composed by Bach and collected in the Art of Fugue, with simple examples of application to the diversified fields of education and computer science.

  4. Noninvasive method using multidetector CT for calculating the relative blood supply ratio of duplicated renal arteries in renal donors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuwabara, Masatomo; Kim, Tonsok; Nakamura, Hironobu; Narumi, Yoshifumi; Takahashi, Satoru; Sato, Yoshinobu; Murakami, Takamichi

    2006-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the renal artery cross-sectional area measured by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and the nephrogram area calculated by renal arteriography in potential living renal donors with duplicated renal arteries. Medical records of 18 patients with duplicated renal arteries who underwent both MDCT angiography and renal arteriography between 2001 and 2003 were retrospectively reviewed. All 20 kidneys were evaluated. Renal artery cross-sectional areas were measured using the workstation to which the CT data were transferred; the nephrogram areas on the digitized angiographic images were calculated using public domain software. Bland-Altman analysis was performed to compare the cross-sectional area ratio of the accessory arteries to the main renal arteries, with the ratios obtained from the nephrogram areas calculated from the arteriograms. The mean cross-sectional areas of the accessory and main renal arteries were 6.78 and 20.9 mm 2 , respectively. The ratio of the nephrogram areas calculated from the arteriograms ranged from 0.094 to 0.809. Bland-Altman analysis showed no significant difference. It is possible to predict the supply volume of accessory renal arteries by measuring the cross-sectional area of the accessory and main renal arteries in potential living renal donors. (author)

  5. Recurrent duplications of 17q12 associated with variable phenotypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mitchell, Elyse; Douglas, Andrew; Kjaegaard, Susanne

    2015-01-01

    The ability to identify the clinical nature of the recurrent duplication of chromosome 17q12 has been limited by its rarity and the diverse range of phenotypes associated with this genomic change. In order to further define the clinical features of affected patients, detailed clinical information......, potentially contributory copy number changes in a subset of patients, including one patient each with 16p11.2 deletion and 15q13.3 deletion. Our data further define and expand the clinical spectrum associated with duplications of 17q12 and provide support for the role of genomic modifiers contributing...... to phenotypic variability....

  6. Duplication of the Hindgut and Lower Urinary. Tract. Case Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia, Vanessa; Tamayo, Margarita; Montoya, Claudia; Acosta, Federico; Cano, Julian; Mejia, Francisco

    2010-01-01

    A 13 year female consulted to Heatup Pad's surgery department with a history of pelvic malformations since she was born and complaining about a colostomy done five years ago. On clinical examination an anal fistula was seen as well as perineal organs duplicated including: vulva - four labia, clitoris, vaginal canal, urethra, also double gluteal cleft. Several diagnostic modalities were performed (voiding cystourethrography, urodynamic, renal scan, CT and MRI) having a diagnosis of complete duplication of the hindgut and lower urinary tract, a rare congenital anomaly that has fewer than 50 cases reported in the literature. During hospitalization she underwent successful abdominopelvic surgical Correction.

  7. Defining the Effect of the 16p11.2 Duplication on Cognition, Behavior, and Medical Comorbidities

    Science.gov (United States)

    D’Angelo, Debra; Lebon, Sébastien; Chen, Qixuan; Martin-Brevet, Sandra; Snyder, LeeAnne Green; Hippolyte, Loyse; Hanson, Ellen; Maillard, Anne M.; Faucett, W. Andrew; Macé, Aurélien; Pain, Aurélie; Bernier, Raphael; Chawner, Samuel J. R. A.; David, Albert; Andrieux, Joris; Aylward, Elizabeth; Baujat, Genevieve; Caldeira, Ines; Conus, Philippe; Ferrari, Carrina; Forzano, Francesca; Gérard, Marion; Goin-Kochel, Robin P.; Grant, Ellen; Hunter, Jill V.; Isidor, Bertrand; Jacquette, Aurélia; Jønch, Aia E.; Keren, Boris; Lacombe, Didier; Caignec, Cédric Le; Martin, Christa Lese; Männik, Katrin; Metspalu, Andres; Mignot, Cyril; Mukherjee, Pratik; Owen, Michael J.; Passeggeri, Marzia; Rooryck-Thambo, Caroline; Rosenfeld, Jill A.; Spence, Sarah J.; Steinman, Kyle J.; Tjernagel, Jennifer; Van Haelst, Mieke; Shen, Yiping; Draganski, Bogdan; Sherr, Elliott H.; Ledbetter, David H.; van den Bree, Marianne B. M.; Beckmann, Jacques S.; Spiro, John E.; Reymond, Alexandre; Jacquemont, Sébastien; Chung, Wendy K.

    2018-01-01

    IMPORTANCE The 16p11.2 BP4-BP5 duplication is the copy number variant most frequently associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, and comorbidities such as decreased body mass index (BMI). OBJECTIVES To characterize the effects of the 16p11.2 duplication on cognitive, behavioral, medical, and anthropometric traits and to understand the specificity of these effects by systematically comparing results in duplication carriers and reciprocal deletion carriers, who are also at risk for ASD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This international cohort study of 1006 study participants compared 270 duplication carriers with their 102 intrafamilial control individuals, 390 reciprocal deletion carriers, and 244 deletion controls from European and North American cohorts. Data were collected from August 1, 2010, to May 31, 2015 and analyzed from January 1 to August 14, 2015. Linear mixed models were used to estimate the effect of the duplication and deletion on clinical traits by comparison with noncarrier relatives. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Findings on the Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ), Nonverbal IQ, and Verbal IQ; the presence of ASD or other DSM-IV diagnoses; BMI; head circumference; and medical data. RESULTS Among the 1006 study participants, the duplication was associated with a mean FSIQ score that was lower by 26.3 points between proband carriers and noncarrier relatives and a lower mean FSIQ score (16.2-11.4 points) in nonproband carriers. The mean overall effect of the deletion was similar (−22.1 points; P 100) compared with the deletion group (P < .001). Parental FSIQ predicted part of this variation (approximately 36.0% in hereditary probands). Although the frequency of ASD was similar in deletion and duplication proband carriers (16.0% and 20.0%, respectively), the FSIQ was significantly lower (by 26.3 points) in the duplication probands with ASD. There also were lower head circumference and BMI measurements among duplication carriers, which is

  8. Host specificity and genealogy of the louse Polyplax serrata on field mice, Apodemus species: a case of parasite duplication or colonisation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefka, Jan; Hypsa, Václav

    2008-05-01

    The genealogy, population structure and population dynamics of the sucking louse Polyplax serrata were analysed across four host species of the genus Apodemus. An analysis of 126 sequences of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I using phylogenetic approaches and haplotype networking revealed a clear structure of European samples, forming three distinct and genetically distant clades with different host specificities. Although a clear connection was detected between the host and parasite genealogies/phylogenies, a uniform pattern of co-speciation was not found. For example, a dramatic shift in the degree of host specificity was demonstrated for two related louse lineages living in sympatry and sharing one of their host species. While one of the louse lineages frequently parasitised two different host taxa (Apodemus sylvaticus and Apodemus flavicollis), the other louse lineage was strictly specific to A. flavicollis. The estimate of divergence time between the two louse lineages indicates that they may have arisen due to parasite duplication on A. flavicollis.

  9. Identifying Tracks Duplicates via Neural Network

    CERN Document Server

    Sunjerga, Antonio; CERN. Geneva. EP Department

    2017-01-01

    The goal of the project is to study feasibility of state of the art machine learning techniques in track reconstruction. Machine learning techniques provide promising ways to speed up the pattern recognition of tracks by adding more intelligence in the algorithms. Implementation of neural network to process of track duplicates identifying will be discussed. Different approaches are shown and results are compared to method that is currently in use.

  10. Distal Esophageal Duplication Cyst with Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease: A Rare Association and a Management Challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jan, Iftikhar Ahmad; Al Nuaimi, Asma; Al Hamoudi, Basma; Al Naqbi, Khalid; Bilal, Mohammad

    2016-02-01

    Esophageal duplication cysts are rare congenital abnormalities of the foregut and may be associated with other conditions. Association of esophageal duplication with Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) has not been reported in children. We are reporting a case of a 16 months baby who had antenatal diagnosis of diaphragmatic hernia. Postnatal CTchest, however, suggested a distal esophageal duplication cyst and a contrast esophagogram showed grade-IV GER. A thoracoscopy in another hospital excluded esophageal duplication at that time. Later, he presented with hematemesis in our department and was re-evaluated. Repeat CTconfirmed a persistent 2.5 x 1.3 cm cyst in distal esophagus. Upper GI endoscopy suggested grade-II esophagitis with a wide patent gastro-esophageal junction. The child was treated with left thoracotomy, excision of the duplication cyst and thoracic fundoplication. He had an uneventful post-operative recovery and is doing well at 6 months follow-up.

  11. The conversion of centrioles to centrosomes: essential coupling of duplication with segregation

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Won-Jing; Soni, Rajesh Kumar; Uryu, Kunihiro; Bryan Tsou, Meng-Fu

    2011-01-01

    Centrioles are self-reproducing organelles that form the core structure of centrosomes or microtubule-organizing centers (MTOCs). However, whether duplication and MTOC organization reflect innate activities of centrioles or activities acquired conditionally is unclear. In this paper, we show that newly formed full-length centrioles had no inherent capacity to duplicate or to organize pericentriolar material (PCM) but acquired both after mitosis through a Plk1-dependent modification that occur...

  12. Concomitant urethral triplication, bladder, and colon duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tourchi, Ali; Kajbafzadeh, Abdol-Mohammad; Khakpour, Mahshid; Mohammadi Nejad, Payam; Mousavian, Amir-Abbas; Kalantary, Mahdi

    2012-02-01

    The concomitant presence of urethral triplication and caudal duplication is extremely rare with no previous reported cases. We report a case of urethral triplication associated with bladder, sigmoid, and rectum duplication. The patient was initially referred with a history of fecaluria and recurrent urinary tract infection. Physical examination revealed 2 meatal opening on the glans penis. Further investigation revealed three distinct urinary streams, two terminating on the glans penis, and one in the rectum in voiding cystourethrography and retrograde urethrography. Computed tomography demonstrated the bladder divided into two compartments by a complete sagittal septum. The patient was managed by the excision of the rectal ending urethra and removal of the bladder sagittal septum during which, two sigmoidal and rectal segments (the right one filled with fecal) were revealed. The right sigmoid and rectum was resected. The two ventral urethras were kept intact. The postoperative course was uneventful. At his 4 month readmission for colostomy closure, the patient reported good urethral voiding with no complication and recurrence of urinary tract infection and the colostomy was closed with no major complication.

  13. Cancellation of soft and collinear divergences in noncommutative QED

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirza, B.; Zarei, M.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the behavior of noncommutative IR divergences and will also discuss their cancellation in the physical cross sections. The commutative IR (soft) divergences existing in the nonplanar diagrams will be examined in order to prove an all-order cancellation of these divergences using the Weinberg's method. In noncommutative QED, collinear divergences due to triple photon splitting vertex, were encountered, which are shown to be canceled out by the noncommutative version of KLN theorem. This guarantees that there is no mixing between the Collinear, soft divergences and noncommutative IR divergences

  14. The prevalence of gene duplications and their ancient origin in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cho Hyuk

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 is a metabolically versatile organism that belongs to α-3 subdivision of Proteobacteria. The present study was to identify the extent, history, and role of gene duplications in R. sphaeroides 2.4.1, an organism that possesses two chromosomes. Results A protein similarity search (BLASTP identified 1247 orfs (~29.4% of the total protein coding orfs that are present in 2 or more copies, 37.5% (234 gene-pairs of which exist in duplicate copies. The distribution of the duplicate gene-pairs in all Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs differed significantly when compared to the COG distribution across the whole genome. Location plots revealed clusters of gene duplications that possessed the same COG classification. Phylogenetic analyses were performed to determine a tree topology predicting either a Type-A or Type-B phylogenetic relationship. A Type-A phylogenetic relationship shows that a copy of the protein-pair matches more with an ortholog from a species closely related to R. sphaeroides while a Type-B relationship predicts the highest match between both copies of the R. sphaeroides protein-pair. The results revealed that ~77% of the proteins exhibited a Type-A phylogenetic relationship demonstrating the ancient origin of these gene duplications. Additional analyses on three other strains of R. sphaeroides revealed varying levels of gene loss and retention in these strains. Also, analyses on common gene pairs among the four strains revealed that these genes experience similar functional constraints and undergo purifying selection. Conclusions Although the results suggest that the level of gene duplication in organisms with complex genome structuring (more than one chromosome seems to be not markedly different from that in organisms with only a single chromosome, these duplications may have aided in genome reorganization in this group of eubacteria prior to the formation of R. sphaeroides as gene

  15. Analysis of high-identity segmental duplications in the grapevine genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carelli Francesco N

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Segmental duplications (SDs are blocks of genomic sequence of 1-200 kb that map to different loci in a genome and share a sequence identity > 90%. SDs show at the sequence level the same characteristics as other regions of the human genome: they contain both high-copy repeats and gene sequences. SDs play an important role in genome plasticity by creating new genes and modeling genome structure. Although data is plentiful for mammals, not much was known about the representation of SDs in plant genomes. In this regard, we performed a genome-wide analysis of high-identity SDs on the sequenced grapevine (Vitis vinifera genome (PN40024. Results We demonstrate that recent SDs (> 94% identity and >= 10 kb in size are a relevant component of the grapevine genome (85 Mb, 17% of the genome sequence. We detected mitochondrial and plastid DNA and genes (10% of gene annotation in segmentally duplicated regions of the nuclear genome. In particular, the nine highest copy number genes have a copy in either or both organelle genomes. Further we showed that several duplicated genes take part in the biosynthesis of compounds involved in plant response to environmental stress. Conclusions These data show the great influence of SDs and organelle DNA transfers in modeling the Vitis vinifera nuclear DNA structure as well as the impact of SDs in contributing to the adaptive capacity of grapevine and the nutritional content of grape products through genome variation. This study represents a step forward in the full characterization of duplicated genes important for grapevine cultural needs and human health.

  16. A case of de novo duplication of 15q24-q26.3

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hye Ran Kim

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Distal duplication, or trisomy 15q, is an extremely rare chromosomal disorder characterized by prenatal and postnatal overgrowth, mental retardation, and craniofacial malformations. Additional abnormalities typically include an unusually short neck, malformations of the fingers and toes, scoliosis and skeletal malformations, genital abnormalities, particularly in affected males, and, in some cases, cardiac defects. The range and severity of symptoms and physical findings may vary from case to case, depending upon the length and location of the duplicated portion of chromosome 15q. Most reported cases of duplication of the long arm of chromosome 15 frequently have more than one segmental imbalance resulting from unbalanced translocations involving chromosome 15 and deletions in another chromosome, as well as other structural chromosomal abnormalities. We report a female newborn with a de novo duplication, 15q24- q26.3, showing intrauterine overgrowth, a narrow asymmetric face with down-slanting palpebral fissures, a large, prominent nose, and micrognathia, arachnodactyly, camptodactyly, congenital heart disease, hydronephrosis, and hydroureter. Chromosomal analysis showed a 46,XX,inv(9(p12q13,dup(15(q24q26.3. Array comparative genomic hybridization analysis revealed a gain of 42 clones on 15q24-q26.3. This case represents the only reported patient with a de novo 15q24-q26.3 duplication that did not result from an unbalanced translocation and did not have a concomitant monosomic component in Korea.

  17. Evolutionary patterns of RNA-based duplication in non-mammalian chordates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ming Chen

    Full Text Available The role of RNA-based duplication, or retroposition, in the evolution of new gene functions in mammals, plants, and Drosophila has been widely reported. However, little is known about RNA-based duplication in non-mammalian chordates. In this study, we screened ten non-mammalian chordate genomes for retrocopies and investigated their evolutionary patterns. We identified numerous retrocopies in these species. Examination of the age distribution of these retrocopies revealed no burst of young retrocopies in ancient chordate species. Upon comparing these non-mammalian chordate species to the mammalian species, we observed that a larger fraction of the non-mammalian retrocopies was under strong evolutionary constraints than mammalian retrocopies are, as evidenced by signals of purifying selection and expression profiles. For the Western clawed frog, Medaka, and Sea squirt, many retrogenes have evolved gonad and brain expression patterns, similar to what was observed in human. Testing of retrogene movement in the Medaka genome, where the nascent sex chrosomes have been well assembled, did not reveal any significant gene movement. Taken together, our analyses demonstrate that RNA-based duplication generates many functional genes and can make a significant contribution to the evolution of non-mammalian genomes.

  18. Cep63 and cep152 cooperate to ensure centriole duplication.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicola J Brown

    Full Text Available Centrosomes consist of two centrioles embedded in pericentriolar material and function as the main microtubule organising centres in dividing animal cells. They ensure proper formation and orientation of the mitotic spindle and are therefore essential for the maintenance of genome stability. Centrosome function is crucial during embryonic development, highlighted by the discovery of mutations in genes encoding centrosome or spindle pole proteins that cause autosomal recessive primary microcephaly, including Cep63 and Cep152. In this study we show that Cep63 functions to ensure that centriole duplication occurs reliably in dividing mammalian cells. We show that the interaction between Cep63 and Cep152 can occur independently of centrosome localisation and that the two proteins are dependent on one another for centrosomal localisation. Further, both mouse and human Cep63 and Cep152 cooperate to ensure efficient centriole duplication by promoting the accumulation of essential centriole duplication factors upstream of SAS-6 recruitment and procentriole formation. These observations describe the requirement for Cep63 in maintaining centriole number in dividing mammalian cells and further establish the order of events in centriole formation.

  19. Duplication of the transverse colon in an adult: case report and review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banchini, Filippo; Delfanti, Rocco; Begnini, Evelina; Tripodi, Maria Candida; Capelli, Patrizio

    2013-01-28

    Tubular duplication of the colon is very rare especially in adulthood, because it is frequently symptomatic earlier in newborn life, so only few cases are reported in literature. Several theories are proposed to explain the onset and the evolution of gut malformations as the aberrant lumen recanalization or the diverticular theory, the alteration of the lateral closure of the embryonal disk or finally the dorsal protrusion of the yolk-sac for herniation or adhesion to the ectoderm for an abnormality of the longitudinal line, but none clarifies the exact genesis of duplication. We present a case of "Y-shaped" tubular duplication of the transverse colon in a 21-year-old adult, with a history of chronic pain and constipation, referred to our department for abdominal pain with retrosternal irradiation, treated with the resection of the aberrant bowel.

  20. Evolution dynamics of a model for gene duplication under adaptive conflict

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ancliff, Mark; Park, Jeong-Man

    2014-06-01

    We present and solve the dynamics of a model for gene duplication showing escape from adaptive conflict. We use a Crow-Kimura quasispecies model of evolution where the fitness landscape is a function of Hamming distances from two reference sequences, which are assumed to optimize two different gene functions, to describe the dynamics of a mixed population of individuals with single and double copies of a pleiotropic gene. The evolution equations are solved through a spin coherent state path integral, and we find two phases: one is an escape from an adaptive conflict phase, where each copy of a duplicated gene evolves toward subfunctionalization, and the other is a duplication loss of function phase, where one copy maintains its pleiotropic form and the other copy undergoes neutral mutation. The phase is determined by a competition between the fitness benefits of subfunctionalization and the greater mutational load associated with maintaining two gene copies. In the escape phase, we find a dynamics of an initial population of single gene sequences only which escape adaptive conflict through gene duplication and find that there are two time regimes: until a time t* single gene sequences dominate, and after t* double gene sequences outgrow single gene sequences. The time t* is identified as the time necessary for subfunctionalization to evolve and spread throughout the double gene sequences, and we show that there is an optimum mutation rate which minimizes this time scale.