WorldWideScience

Sample records for gene order conservation

  1. The constancy of gene conservation across divergent bacterial orders

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    Ackermann Martin

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Orthologous genes are frequently presumed to perform similar functions. However, outside of model organisms, this is rarely tested. One means of inferring changes in function is if there are changes in the level of gene conservation and selective constraint. Here we compare levels of gene conservation across three bacterial groups to test for changes in gene functionality. Findings The level of gene conservation for different orthologous genes is highly correlated across clades, even for highly divergent groups of bacteria. These correlations do not arise from broad differences in gene functionality (e.g. informational genes vs. metabolic genes, but instead seem to result from very specific differences in gene function. Furthermore, these functional differences appear to be maintained over very long periods of time. Conclusion These results suggest that even over broad time scales, most bacterial genes are under a nearly constant level of purifying selection, and that bacterial evolution is thus dominated by selective and functional stasis.

  2. Single-copy genes define a conserved order between rice and wheat for understanding differences caused by duplication, deletion, and transposition of genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Nagendra K; Dalal, Vivek; Batra, Kamlesh; Singh, Binay K; Chitra, G; Singh, Archana; Ghazi, Irfan A; Yadav, Mahavir; Pandit, Awadhesh; Dixit, Rekha; Singh, Pradeep K; Singh, Harvinder; Koundal, Kirpa R; Gaikwad, Kishor; Mohapatra, Trilochan; Sharma, Tilak R

    2007-01-01

    The high-quality rice genome sequence is serving as a reference for comparative genome analysis in crop plants, especially cereals. However, early comparisons with bread wheat showed complex patterns of conserved synteny (gene content) and colinearity (gene order). Here, we show the presence of ancient duplicated segments in the progenitor of wheat, which were first identified in the rice genome. We also show that single-copy (SC) rice genes, those representing unique matches with wheat expressed sequence tag (EST) unigene contigs in the whole rice genome, show more than twice the proportion of genes mapping to syntenic wheat chromosome as compared to the multicopy (MC) or duplicated rice genes. While 58.7% of the 1,244 mapped SC rice genes were located in single syntenic wheat chromosome groups, the remaining 41.3% were distributed randomly to the other six non-syntenic wheat groups. This could only be explained by a background dispersal of genes in the genome through transposition or other unknown mechanism. The breakdown of rice-wheat synteny due to such transpositions was much greater near the wheat centromeres. Furthermore, the SC rice genes revealed a conserved primordial gene order that gives clues to the origin of rice and wheat chromosomes from a common ancestor through polyploidy, aneuploidy, centromeric fusions, and translocations. Apart from the bin-mapped wheat EST contigs, we also compared 56,298 predicted rice genes with 39,813 wheat EST contigs assembled from 409,765 EST sequences and identified 7,241 SC rice gene homologs of wheat. Based on the conserved colinearity of 1,063 mapped SC rice genes across the bins of individual wheat chromosomes, we predicted the wheat bin location of 6,178 unmapped SC rice gene homologs and validated the location of 213 of these in the telomeric bins of 21 wheat chromosomes with 35.4% initial success. This opens up the possibility of directed mapping of a large number of conserved SC rice gene homologs in wheat

  3. Unusual conservation of mitochondrial gene order in Crassostrea oysters: evidence for recent speciation in Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Background Oysters are morphologically plastic and hence difficult subjects for taxonomic and evolutionary studies. It is long been suspected, based on the extraordinary species diversity observed, that Asia Pacific is the epicenter of oyster speciation. To understand the species diversity and its evolutionary history, we collected five Crassostrea species from Asia and sequenced their complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes in addition to two newly released Asian oysters (C. iredalei and Saccostrea mordax) for a comprehensive analysis. Results The six Asian Crassostrea mt genomes ranged from 18,226 to 22,446 bp in size, and all coded for 39 genes (12 proteins, 2 rRNAs and 25 tRNAs) on the same strand. Their genomes contained a split of the rrnL gene and duplication of trnM, trnK and trnQ genes. They shared the same gene order that differed from an Atlantic sister species by as many as nine tRNA changes (6 transpositions and 3 duplications) and even differed significantly from S. mordax in protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the six Asian Crassostrea species emerged between 3 and 43 Myr ago, while the Atlantic species evolved 83 Myr ago. Conclusions The complete conservation of gene order in the six Asian Crassostrea species over 43 Myr is highly unusual given the remarkable rate of rearrangements in their sister species and other bivalves. It provides strong evidence for the recent speciation of the six Crassostrea species in Asia. It further indicates that changes in mt gene order may not be strictly a function of time but subject to other constraints that are presently not well understood. PMID:21189147

  4. Conservation of gene co-regulation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Snel, B.; Bork, P.; Huynen, M.A.

    2002-01-01

    We raise some issues in detecting the conservation (or absence thereof) of co-regulation using gene order; how we think the variations in the cellular network in various species can be studied; and how to determine and interpret the higher order structure in networks of functional relations.

  5. Analysis of 90 Mb of the potato genome reveals conservation of gene structures and order with tomato but divergence in repetitive sequence composition

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    O'Brien Kimberly

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Solanaceae family contains a number of important crop species including potato (Solanum tuberosum which is grown for its underground storage organ known as a tuber. Albeit the 4th most important food crop in the world, other than a collection of ~220,000 Expressed Sequence Tags, limited genomic sequence information is currently available for potato and advances in potato yield and nutrition content would be greatly assisted through access to a complete genome sequence. While morphologically diverse, Solanaceae species such as potato, tomato, pepper, and eggplant share not only genes but also gene order thereby permitting highly informative comparative genomic analyses. Results In this study, we report on analysis 89.9 Mb of potato genomic sequence representing 10.2% of the genome generated through end sequencing of a potato bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC clone library (87 Mb and sequencing of 22 potato BAC clones (2.9 Mb. The GC content of potato is very similar to Solanum lycopersicon (tomato and other dicotyledonous species yet distinct from the monocotyledonous grass species, Oryza sativa. Parallel analyses of repetitive sequences in potato and tomato revealed substantial differences in their abundance, 34.2% in potato versus 46.3% in tomato, which is consistent with the increased genome size per haploid genome of these two Solanum species. Specific classes and types of repetitive sequences were also differentially represented between these two species including a telomeric-related repetitive sequence, ribosomal DNA, and a number of unclassified repetitive sequences. Comparative analyses between tomato and potato at the gene level revealed a high level of conservation of gene content, genic feature, and gene order although discordances in synteny were observed. Conclusion Genomic level analyses of potato and tomato confirm that gene sequence and gene order are conserved between these solanaceous species and that

  6. Unusual Gene Order and Organization of the Sea Urchin HoxCluster

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    Richardson, Paul M.; Lucas, Susan; Cameron, R. Andrew; Rowen,Lee; Nesbitt, Ryan; Bloom, Scott; Rast, Jonathan P.; Berney, Kevin; Arenas-Mena, Cesar; Martinez, Pedro; Davidson, Eric H.; Peterson, KevinJ.; Hood, Leroy

    2005-05-10

    The highly consistent gene order and axial colinear expression patterns found in vertebrate hox gene clusters are less well conserved across the rest of bilaterians. We report the first deuterostome instance of an intact hox cluster with a unique gene order where the paralog groups are not expressed in a sequential manner. The finished sequence from BAC clones from the genome of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, reveals a gene order wherein the anterior genes (Hox1, Hox2 and Hox3) lie nearest the posterior genes in the cluster such that the most 3' gene is Hox5. (The gene order is : 5'-Hox1,2, 3, 11/13c, 11/13b, '11/13a, 9/10, 8, 7, 6, 5 - 3)'. The finished sequence result is corroborated by restriction mapping evidence and BAC-end scaffold analyses. Comparisons with a putative ancestral deuterostome Hox gene cluster suggest that the rearrangements leading to the sea urchin gene order were many and complex.

  7. Doublesex: a conserved downstream gene controlled by diverse ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The Drosophila doublesex (dsx) gene at the bottom of the sex-determination cascade is the best characterized candidate so far, and is conserved from worms (mab3 of Caenorhabditis elegans) to mammals (Dmrt-1). Studies of dsx homologues from insect species belonging to different orders position them at the bottom of ...

  8. The drug target genes show higher evolutionary conservation than non-target genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Wenhua; Xu, Yongdeng; Guo, Yiying; Yu, Ziqi; Feng, Guanglong; Liu, Panpan; Luan, Meiwei; Zhu, Hongjie; Liu, Guiyou; Zhang, Mingming; Lv, Hongchao; Duan, Lian; Shang, Zhenwei; Li, Jin; Jiang, Yongshuai; Zhang, Ruijie

    2016-01-26

    Although evidence indicates that drug target genes share some common evolutionary features, there have been few studies analyzing evolutionary features of drug targets from an overall level. Therefore, we conducted an analysis which aimed to investigate the evolutionary characteristics of drug target genes. We compared the evolutionary conservation between human drug target genes and non-target genes by combining both the evolutionary features and network topological properties in human protein-protein interaction network. The evolution rate, conservation score and the percentage of orthologous genes of 21 species were included in our study. Meanwhile, four topological features including the average shortest path length, betweenness centrality, clustering coefficient and degree were considered for comparison analysis. Then we got four results as following: compared with non-drug target genes, 1) drug target genes had lower evolutionary rates; 2) drug target genes had higher conservation scores; 3) drug target genes had higher percentages of orthologous genes and 4) drug target genes had a tighter network structure including higher degrees, betweenness centrality, clustering coefficients and lower average shortest path lengths. These results demonstrate that drug target genes are more evolutionarily conserved than non-drug target genes. We hope that our study will provide valuable information for other researchers who are interested in evolutionary conservation of drug targets.

  9. Gene pool conservation of teak in Myanmar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tin-Tun

    1995-01-01

    Myanmar with an area of 261, 228 Sq. miles is endowed with various types of forests which occupied nearly 50% of the country. Teak (Tectona grandis Linn. f.) is one of the most valuable timber species for its excellent wood quality and properties which are not observed with other timbers. Gene pool can be defined as a group of individual trees growing over a wide range of environmental conditions, and constituting different genetic complexes which can be transmitted to the offsprings. Topics such as: objectives of gene pool conservation, genetically improved seeds for large scale forest plantations, methodology of conservation, are discussed in the article. Myanmar teak dominates the world's teak market, and thus it is crucial to maintain the superiority in the conservation of gene complexes of teak. To some extent, the conservation of gene pools of teak and tree improvements are being undertaken by the Forest Research Institute of Myanmar. It is felt that the dissemination of the philosophy and concept of gene conservation to the personal involved in the forestry activities of the country are still inadequate

  10. Gene family size conservation is a good indicator of evolutionary rates.

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    Chen, Feng-Chi; Chen, Chiuan-Jung; Li, Wen-Hsiung; Chuang, Trees-Juen

    2010-08-01

    The evolution of duplicate genes has been a topic of broad interest. Here, we propose that the conservation of gene family size is a good indicator of the rate of sequence evolution and some other biological properties. By comparing the human-chimpanzee-macaque orthologous gene families with and without family size conservation, we demonstrate that genes with family size conservation evolve more slowly than those without family size conservation. Our results further demonstrate that both family expansion and contraction events may accelerate gene evolution, resulting in elevated evolutionary rates in the genes without family size conservation. In addition, we show that the duplicate genes with family size conservation evolve significantly more slowly than those without family size conservation. Interestingly, the median evolutionary rate of singletons falls in between those of the above two types of duplicate gene families. Our results thus suggest that the controversy on whether duplicate genes evolve more slowly than singletons can be resolved when family size conservation is taken into consideration. Furthermore, we also observe that duplicate genes with family size conservation have the highest level of gene expression/expression breadth, the highest proportion of essential genes, and the lowest gene compactness, followed by singletons and then by duplicate genes without family size conservation. Such a trend accords well with our observations of evolutionary rates. Our results thus point to the importance of family size conservation in the evolution of duplicate genes.

  11. G-NEST: a gene neighborhood scoring tool to identify co-conserved, co-expressed genes

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    Lemay Danielle G

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In previous studies, gene neighborhoods—spatial clusters of co-expressed genes in the genome—have been defined using arbitrary rules such as requiring adjacency, a minimum number of genes, a fixed window size, or a minimum expression level. In the current study, we developed a Gene Neighborhood Scoring Tool (G-NEST which combines genomic location, gene expression, and evolutionary sequence conservation data to score putative gene neighborhoods across all possible window sizes simultaneously. Results Using G-NEST on atlases of mouse and human tissue expression data, we found that large neighborhoods of ten or more genes are extremely rare in mammalian genomes. When they do occur, neighborhoods are typically composed of families of related genes. Both the highest scoring and the largest neighborhoods in mammalian genomes are formed by tandem gene duplication. Mammalian gene neighborhoods contain highly and variably expressed genes. Co-localized noisy gene pairs exhibit lower evolutionary conservation of their adjacent genome locations, suggesting that their shared transcriptional background may be disadvantageous. Genes that are essential to mammalian survival and reproduction are less likely to occur in neighborhoods, although neighborhoods are enriched with genes that function in mitosis. We also found that gene orientation and protein-protein interactions are partially responsible for maintenance of gene neighborhoods. Conclusions Our experiments using G-NEST confirm that tandem gene duplication is the primary driver of non-random gene order in mammalian genomes. Non-essentiality, co-functionality, gene orientation, and protein-protein interactions are additional forces that maintain gene neighborhoods, especially those formed by tandem duplicates. We expect G-NEST to be useful for other applications such as the identification of core regulatory modules, common transcriptional backgrounds, and chromatin domains. The

  12. Conservation of transcription factor binding events predicts gene expression across species

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    Hemberg, Martin; Kreiman, Gabriel

    2011-01-01

    Recent technological advances have made it possible to determine the genome-wide binding sites of transcription factors (TFs). Comparisons across species have suggested a relatively low degree of evolutionary conservation of experimentally defined TF binding events (TFBEs). Using binding data for six different TFs in hepatocytes and embryonic stem cells from human and mouse, we demonstrate that evolutionary conservation of TFBEs within orthologous proximal promoters is closely linked to function, defined as expression of the target genes. We show that (i) there is a significantly higher degree of conservation of TFBEs when the target gene is expressed in both species; (ii) there is increased conservation of binding events for groups of TFs compared to individual TFs; and (iii) conserved TFBEs have a greater impact on the expression of their target genes than non-conserved ones. These results link conservation of structural elements (TFBEs) to conservation of function (gene expression) and suggest a higher degree of functional conservation than implied by previous studies. PMID:21622661

  13. Evolutionary conservation of regulatory elements in vertebrate HOX gene clusters

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    Santini, Simona; Boore, Jeffrey L.; Meyer, Axel

    2003-12-31

    Due to their high degree of conservation, comparisons of DNA sequences among evolutionarily distantly-related genomes permit to identify functional regions in noncoding DNA. Hox genes are optimal candidate sequences for comparative genome analyses, because they are extremely conserved in vertebrates and occur in clusters. We aligned (Pipmaker) the nucleotide sequences of HoxA clusters of tilapia, pufferfish, striped bass, zebrafish, horn shark, human and mouse (over 500 million years of evolutionary distance). We identified several highly conserved intergenic sequences, likely to be important in gene regulation. Only a few of these putative regulatory elements have been previously described as being involved in the regulation of Hox genes, while several others are new elements that might have regulatory functions. The majority of these newly identified putative regulatory elements contain short fragments that are almost completely conserved and are identical to known binding sites for regulatory proteins (Transfac). The conserved intergenic regions located between the most rostrally expressed genes in the developing embryo are longer and better retained through evolution. We document that presumed regulatory sequences are retained differentially in either A or A clusters resulting from a genome duplication in the fish lineage. This observation supports both the hypothesis that the conserved elements are involved in gene regulation and the Duplication-Deletion-Complementation model.

  14. Ubiquitin--conserved protein or selfish gene?

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    Catic, André; Ploegh, Hidde L

    2005-11-01

    The posttranslational modifier ubiquitin is encoded by a multigene family containing three primary members, which yield the precursor protein polyubiquitin and two ubiquitin moieties, Ub(L40) and Ub(S27), that are fused to the ribosomal proteins L40 and S27, respectively. The gene encoding polyubiquitin is highly conserved and, until now, those encoding Ub(L40) and Ub(S27) have been generally considered to be equally invariant. The evolution of the ribosomal ubiquitin moieties is, however, proving to be more dynamic. It seems that the genes encoding Ub(L40) and Ub(S27) are actively maintained by homologous recombination with the invariant polyubiquitin locus. Failure to recombine leads to deterioration of the sequence of the ribosomal ubiquitin moieties in several phyla, although this deterioration is evidently constrained by the structural requirements of the ubiquitin fold. Only a few amino acids in ubiquitin are vital for its function, and we propose that conservation of all three ubiquitin genes is driven not only by functional properties of the ubiquitin protein, but also by the propensity of the polyubiquitin locus to act as a 'selfish gene'.

  15. Paradoxical DNA repair and peroxide resistance gene conservation in Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032.

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    Jason Gioia

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Bacillus spores are notoriously resistant to unfavorable conditions such as UV radiation, gamma-radiation, H2O2, desiccation, chemical disinfection, or starvation. Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 survives standard decontamination procedures of the Jet Propulsion Lab spacecraft assembly facility, and both spores and vegetative cells of this strain exhibit elevated resistance to UV radiation and H2O2 compared to other Bacillus species. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The genome of B. pumilus SAFR-032 was sequenced and annotated. Lists of genes relevant to DNA repair and the oxidative stress response were generated and compared to B. subtilis and B. licheniformis. Differences in conservation of genes, gene order, and protein sequences are highlighted because they potentially explain the extreme resistance phenotype of B. pumilus. The B. pumilus genome includes genes not found in B. subtilis or B. licheniformis and conserved genes with sequence divergence, but paradoxically lacks several genes that function in UV or H2O2 resistance in other Bacillus species. SIGNIFICANCE: This study identifies several candidate genes for further research into UV and H2O2 resistance. These findings will help explain the resistance of B. pumilus and are applicable to understanding sterilization survival strategies of microbes.

  16. Similarity-based gene detection: using COGs to find evolutionarily-conserved ORFs.

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    Powell, Bradford C; Hutchison, Clyde A

    2006-01-19

    Experimental verification of gene products has not kept pace with the rapid growth of microbial sequence information. However, existing annotations of gene locations contain sufficient information to screen for probable errors. Furthermore, comparisons among genomes become more informative as more genomes are examined. We studied all open reading frames (ORFs) of at least 30 codons from the genomes of 27 sequenced bacterial strains. We grouped the potential peptide sequences encoded from the ORFs by forming Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs). We used this grouping in order to find homologous relationships that would not be distinguishable from noise when using simple BLAST searches. Although COG analysis was initially developed to group annotated genes, we applied it to the task of grouping anonymous DNA sequences that may encode proteins. "Mixed COGs" of ORFs (clusters in which some sequences correspond to annotated genes and some do not) are attractive targets when seeking errors of gene prediction. Examination of mixed COGs reveals some situations in which genes appear to have been missed in current annotations and a smaller number of regions that appear to have been annotated as gene loci erroneously. This technique can also be used to detect potential pseudogenes or sequencing errors. Our method uses an adjustable parameter for degree of conservation among the studied genomes (stringency). We detail results for one level of stringency at which we found 83 potential genes which had not previously been identified, 60 potential pseudogenes, and 7 sequences with existing gene annotations that are probably incorrect. Systematic study of sequence conservation offers a way to improve existing annotations by identifying potentially homologous regions where the annotation of the presence or absence of a gene is inconsistent among genomes.

  17. Similarity-based gene detection: using COGs to find evolutionarily-conserved ORFs

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    Hutchison Clyde A

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Experimental verification of gene products has not kept pace with the rapid growth of microbial sequence information. However, existing annotations of gene locations contain sufficient information to screen for probable errors. Furthermore, comparisons among genomes become more informative as more genomes are examined. We studied all open reading frames (ORFs of at least 30 codons from the genomes of 27 sequenced bacterial strains. We grouped the potential peptide sequences encoded from the ORFs by forming Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs. We used this grouping in order to find homologous relationships that would not be distinguishable from noise when using simple BLAST searches. Although COG analysis was initially developed to group annotated genes, we applied it to the task of grouping anonymous DNA sequences that may encode proteins. Results "Mixed COGs" of ORFs (clusters in which some sequences correspond to annotated genes and some do not are attractive targets when seeking errors of gene predicion. Examination of mixed COGs reveals some situations in which genes appear to have been missed in current annotations and a smaller number of regions that appear to have been annotated as gene loci erroneously. This technique can also be used to detect potential pseudogenes or sequencing errors. Our method uses an adjustable parameter for degree of conservation among the studied genomes (stringency. We detail results for one level of stringency at which we found 83 potential genes which had not previously been identified, 60 potential pseudogenes, and 7 sequences with existing gene annotations that are probably incorrect. Conclusion Systematic study of sequence conservation offers a way to improve existing annotations by identifying potentially homologous regions where the annotation of the presence or absence of a gene is inconsistent among genomes.

  18. Universality of ordering dynamics in conserved multicomponent systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jeppesen, Claus; Mouritsen, Ole G.

    1993-01-01

    A comparative study is performed of the ordering dynamics and spinodal decomposition processes in two-dimensional two-state and three-state ferromagnetic Potts models with conserved order parameter. The models are investigated by Monte Carlo quenching simulations on both square and triangular...

  19. [Identification of new conserved and variable regions in the 16S rRNA gene of acetic acid bacteria and acetobacteraceae family].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakravorty, S; Sarkar, S; Gachhui, R

    2015-01-01

    The Acetobacteraceae family of the class Alpha Proteobacteria is comprised of high sugar and acid tolerant bacteria. The Acetic Acid Bacteria are the economically most significant group of this family because of its association with food products like vinegar, wine etc. Acetobacteraceae are often hard to culture in laboratory conditions and they also maintain very low abundances in their natural habitats. Thus identification of the organisms in such environments is greatly dependent on modern tools of molecular biology which require a thorough knowledge of specific conserved gene sequences that may act as primers and or probes. Moreover unconserved domains in genes also become markers for differentiating closely related genera. In bacteria, the 16S rRNA gene is an ideal candidate for such conserved and variable domains. In order to study the conserved and variable domains of the 16S rRNA gene of Acetic Acid Bacteria and the Acetobacteraceae family, sequences from publicly available databases were aligned and compared. Near complete sequences of the gene were also obtained from Kombucha tea biofilm, a known Acetobacteraceae family habitat, in order to corroborate the domains obtained from the alignment studies. The study indicated that the degree of conservation in the gene is significantly higher among the Acetic Acid Bacteria than the whole Acetobacteraceae family. Moreover it was also observed that the previously described hypervariable regions V1, V3, V5, V6 and V7 were more or less conserved in the family and the spans of the variable regions are quite distinct as well.

  20. Genes with stable DNA methylation levels show higher evolutionary conservation than genes with fluctuant DNA methylation levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ruijie; Lv, Wenhua; Luan, Meiwei; Zheng, Jiajia; Shi, Miao; Zhu, Hongjie; Li, Jin; Lv, Hongchao; Zhang, Mingming; Shang, Zhenwei; Duan, Lian; Jiang, Yongshuai

    2015-11-24

    Different human genes often exhibit different degrees of stability in their DNA methylation levels between tissues, samples or cell types. This may be related to the evolution of human genome. Thus, we compared the evolutionary conservation between two types of genes: genes with stable DNA methylation levels (SM genes) and genes with fluctuant DNA methylation levels (FM genes). For long-term evolutionary characteristics between species, we compared the percentage of the orthologous genes, evolutionary rate dn/ds and protein sequence identity. We found that the SM genes had greater percentages of the orthologous genes, lower dn/ds, and higher protein sequence identities in all the 21 species. These results indicated that the SM genes were more evolutionarily conserved than the FM genes. For short-term evolutionary characteristics among human populations, we compared the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) density, and the linkage disequilibrium (LD) degree in HapMap populations and 1000 genomes project populations. We observed that the SM genes had lower SNP densities, and higher degrees of LD in all the 11 HapMap populations and 13 1000 genomes project populations. These results mean that the SM genes had more stable chromosome genetic structures, and were more conserved than the FM genes.

  1. Conservative fourth-order time integration of non-linear dynamic systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krenk, Steen

    2015-01-01

    An energy conserving time integration algorithm with fourth-order accuracy is developed for dynamic systems with nonlinear stiffness. The discrete formulation is derived by integrating the differential state-space equations of motion over the integration time increment, and then evaluating...... the resulting time integrals of the inertia and stiffness terms via integration by parts. This process introduces the time derivatives of the state space variables, and these are then substituted from the original state-space differential equations. The resulting discrete form of the state-space equations...... is a direct fourth-order accurate representation of the original differential equations. This fourth-order form is energy conserving for systems with force potential in the form of a quartic polynomial in the displacement components. Energy conservation for a force potential of general form is obtained...

  2. Conserved genomic organisation of Group B Sox genes in insects.

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    Woerfel Gertrud

    2005-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sox domain containing genes are important metazoan transcriptional regulators implicated in a wide rage of developmental processes. The vertebrate B subgroup contains the Sox1, Sox2 and Sox3 genes that have early functions in neural development. Previous studies show that Drosophila Group B genes have been functionally conserved since they play essential roles in early neural specification and mutations in the Drosophila Dichaete and SoxN genes can be rescued with mammalian Sox genes. Despite their importance, the extent and organisation of the Group B family in Drosophila has not been fully characterised, an important step in using Drosophila to examine conserved aspects of Group B Sox gene function. Results We have used the directed cDNA sequencing along with the output from the publicly-available genome sequencing projects to examine the structure of Group B Sox domain genes in Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila pseudoobscura, Anopheles gambiae and Apis mellifora. All of the insect genomes contain four genes encoding Group B proteins, two of which are intronless, as is the case with vertebrate group B genes. As has been previously reported and unusually for Group B genes, two of the insect group B genes, Sox21a and Sox21b, contain introns within their DNA-binding domains. We find that the highly unusual multi-exon structure of the Sox21b gene is common to the insects. In addition, we find that three of the group B Sox genes are organised in a linked cluster in the insect genomes. By in situ hybridisation we show that the pattern of expression of each of the four group B genes during embryogenesis is conserved between D. melanogaster and D. pseudoobscura. Conclusion The DNA-binding domain sequences and genomic organisation of the group B genes have been conserved over 300 My of evolution since the last common ancestor of the Hymenoptera and the Diptera. Our analysis suggests insects have two Group B1 genes, SoxN and

  3. Operon Gene Order Is Optimized for Ordered Protein Complex Assembly

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    Wells, Jonathan N.; Bergendahl, L. Therese; Marsh, Joseph A.

    2016-01-01

    Summary The assembly of heteromeric protein complexes is an inherently stochastic process in which multiple genes are expressed separately into proteins, which must then somehow find each other within the cell. Here, we considered one of the ways by which prokaryotic organisms have attempted to maximize the efficiency of protein complex assembly: the organization of subunit-encoding genes into operons. Using structure-based assembly predictions, we show that operon gene order has been optimized to match the order in which protein subunits assemble. Exceptions to this are almost entirely highly expressed proteins for which assembly is less stochastic and for which precisely ordered translation offers less benefit. Overall, these results show that ordered protein complex assembly pathways are of significant biological importance and represent a major evolutionary constraint on operon gene organization. PMID:26804901

  4. Gene order data from a model amphibian (Ambystoma: new perspectives on vertebrate genome structure and evolution

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    Voss S Randal

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Because amphibians arise from a branch of the vertebrate evolutionary tree that is juxtaposed between fishes and amniotes, they provide important comparative perspective for reconstructing character changes that have occurred during vertebrate evolution. Here, we report the first comparative study of vertebrate genome structure that includes a representative amphibian. We used 491 transcribed sequences from a salamander (Ambystoma genetic map and whole genome assemblies for human, mouse, rat, dog, chicken, zebrafish, and the freshwater pufferfish Tetraodon nigroviridis to compare gene orders and rearrangement rates. Results Ambystoma has experienced a rate of genome rearrangement that is substantially lower than mammalian species but similar to that of chicken and fish. Overall, we found greater conservation of genome structure between Ambystoma and tetrapod vertebrates, nevertheless, 57% of Ambystoma-fish orthologs are found in conserved syntenies of four or more genes. Comparisons between Ambystoma and amniotes reveal extensive conservation of segmental homology for 57% of the presumptive Ambystoma-amniote orthologs. Conclusion Our analyses suggest relatively constant interchromosomal rearrangement rates from the euteleost ancestor to the origin of mammals and illustrate the utility of amphibian mapping data in establishing ancestral amniote and tetrapod gene orders. Comparisons between Ambystoma and amniotes reveal some of the key events that have structured the human genome since diversification of the ancestral amniote lineage.

  5. Conservation in Mammals of Genes Associated with Aggression-Related Behavioral Phenotypes in Honey Bees.

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    Hui Liu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The emerging field of sociogenomics explores the relations between social behavior and genome structure and function. An important question is the extent to which associations between social behavior and gene expression are conserved among the Metazoa. Prior experimental work in an invertebrate model of social behavior, the honey bee, revealed distinct brain gene expression patterns in African and European honey bees, and within European honey bees with different behavioral phenotypes. The present work is a computational study of these previous findings in which we analyze, by orthology determination, the extent to which genes that are socially regulated in honey bees are conserved across the Metazoa. We found that the differentially expressed gene sets associated with alarm pheromone response, the difference between old and young bees, and the colony influence on soldier bees, are enriched in widely conserved genes, indicating that these differences have genomic bases shared with many other metazoans. By contrast, the sets of differentially expressed genes associated with the differences between African and European forager and guard bees are depleted in widely conserved genes, indicating that the genomic basis for this social behavior is relatively specific to honey bees. For the alarm pheromone response gene set, we found a particularly high degree of conservation with mammals, even though the alarm pheromone itself is bee-specific. Gene Ontology identification of human orthologs to the strongly conserved honey bee genes associated with the alarm pheromone response shows overrepresentation of protein metabolism, regulation of protein complex formation, and protein folding, perhaps associated with remodeling of critical neural circuits in response to alarm pheromone. We hypothesize that such remodeling may be an adaptation of social animals to process and respond appropriately to the complex patterns of conspecific communication essential for

  6. Conservation in Mammals of Genes Associated with Aggression-Related Behavioral Phenotypes in Honey Bees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hui; Robinson, Gene E; Jakobsson, Eric

    2016-06-01

    The emerging field of sociogenomics explores the relations between social behavior and genome structure and function. An important question is the extent to which associations between social behavior and gene expression are conserved among the Metazoa. Prior experimental work in an invertebrate model of social behavior, the honey bee, revealed distinct brain gene expression patterns in African and European honey bees, and within European honey bees with different behavioral phenotypes. The present work is a computational study of these previous findings in which we analyze, by orthology determination, the extent to which genes that are socially regulated in honey bees are conserved across the Metazoa. We found that the differentially expressed gene sets associated with alarm pheromone response, the difference between old and young bees, and the colony influence on soldier bees, are enriched in widely conserved genes, indicating that these differences have genomic bases shared with many other metazoans. By contrast, the sets of differentially expressed genes associated with the differences between African and European forager and guard bees are depleted in widely conserved genes, indicating that the genomic basis for this social behavior is relatively specific to honey bees. For the alarm pheromone response gene set, we found a particularly high degree of conservation with mammals, even though the alarm pheromone itself is bee-specific. Gene Ontology identification of human orthologs to the strongly conserved honey bee genes associated with the alarm pheromone response shows overrepresentation of protein metabolism, regulation of protein complex formation, and protein folding, perhaps associated with remodeling of critical neural circuits in response to alarm pheromone. We hypothesize that such remodeling may be an adaptation of social animals to process and respond appropriately to the complex patterns of conspecific communication essential for social organization.

  7. The gsdf gene locus harbors evolutionary conserved and clustered genes preferentially expressed in fish previtellogenic oocytes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gautier, Aude; Le Gac, Florence; Lareyre, Jean-Jacques

    2011-02-01

    The gonadal soma-derived factor (GSDF) belongs to the transforming growth factor-β superfamily and is conserved in teleostean fish species. Gsdf is specifically expressed in the gonads, and gene expression is restricted to the granulosa and Sertoli cells in trout and medaka. The gsdf gene expression is correlated to early testis differentiation in medaka and was shown to stimulate primordial germ cell and spermatogonia proliferation in trout. In the present study, we show that the gsdf gene localizes to a syntenic chromosomal fragment conserved among vertebrates although no gsdf-related gene is detected on the corresponding genomic region in tetrapods. We demonstrate using quantitative RT-PCR that most of the genes localized in the synteny are specifically expressed in medaka gonads. Gsdf is the only gene of the synteny with a much higher expression in the testis compared to the ovary. In contrast, gene expression pattern analysis of the gsdf surrounding genes (nup54, aff1, klhl8, sdad1, and ptpn13) indicates that these genes are preferentially expressed in the female gonads. The tissue distribution of these genes is highly similar in medaka and zebrafish, two teleostean species that have diverged more than 110 million years ago. The cellular localization of these genes was determined in medaka gonads using the whole-mount in situ hybridization technique. We confirm that gsdf gene expression is restricted to Sertoli and granulosa cells in contact with the premeiotic and meiotic cells. The nup54 gene is expressed in spermatocytes and previtellogenic oocytes. Transcripts corresponding to the ovary-specific genes (aff1, klhl8, and sdad1) are detected only in previtellogenic oocytes. No expression was detected in the gonocytes in 10 dpf embryos. In conclusion, we show that the gsdf gene localizes to a syntenic chromosomal fragment harboring evolutionary conserved genes in vertebrates. These genes are preferentially expressed in previtelloogenic oocytes, and thus, they

  8. Characterization of Conserved and Non-conserved Imprinted Genes in Swine

    Science.gov (United States)

    In order to increase our understanding of the role of imprinted genes in swine reproduction we used two complementary approaches, analysis of imprinting by pyrosequencing, and expression profiling of parthenogenetic fetuses, to carry out a comprehensive analysis of this gene family in swine. Using A...

  9. Conformal conservation laws for second-order scalar fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blakeskee, J.S.; Logan, J.D.

    1976-01-01

    It is considered an action integral over space-time whose Lagrangian depends upon a scalar field an upon derivatives of the field function up to second order. From invariance identities obtained by the authors in an earlier work it is shown how a new proof of Noether's theorem for this second-order problem follows in the multiple integral case. Finally, conservation laws are written down in the case that the given action integral be invariant under the fifteen-parameter special conformal group

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  11. Effects of using coding potential, sequence conservation and mRNA structure conservation for predicting pyrroly-sine containing genes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Have, Christian Theil; Zambach, Sine; Christiansen, Henning

    2013-01-01

    for prediction of pyrrolysine incorporating genes in genomes of bacteria and archaea leading to insights about the factors driving pyrrolysine translation and identification of new gene candidates. The method predicts known conserved genes with high recall and predicts several other promising candidates...... for experimental verification. The method is implemented as a computational pipeline which is available on request....

  12. Conservation of gene cassettes among diverse viruses of the human gut.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel Minot

    Full Text Available Viruses are a crucial component of the human microbiome, but large population sizes, high sequence diversity, and high frequencies of novel genes have hindered genomic analysis by high-throughput sequencing. Here we investigate approaches to metagenomic assembly to probe genome structure in a sample of 5.6 Gb of gut viral DNA sequence from six individuals. Tests showed that a new pipeline based on DeBruijn graph assembly yielded longer contigs that were able to recruit more reads than the equivalent non-optimized, single-pass approach. To characterize gene content, the database of viral RefSeq proteins was compared to the assembled viral contigs, generating a bipartite graph with functional cassettes linking together viral contigs, which revealed a high degree of connectivity between diverse genomes involving multiple genes of the same functional class. In a second step, open reading frames were grouped by their co-occurrence on contigs in a database-independent manner, revealing conserved cassettes of co-oriented ORFs. These methods reveal that free-living bacteriophages, while usually dissimilar at the nucleotide level, often have significant similarity at the level of encoded amino acid motifs, gene order, and gene orientation. These findings thus connect contemporary metagenomic analysis with classical studies of bacteriophage genomic cassettes. Software is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/optitdba/.

  13. Patterns of evolutionary conservation of essential genes correlate with their compensability.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tobias Bergmiller

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Essential genes code for fundamental cellular functions required for the viability of an organism. For this reason, essential genes are often highly conserved across organisms. However, this is not always the case: orthologues of genes that are essential in one organism are sometimes not essential in other organisms or are absent from their genomes. This suggests that, in the course of evolution, essential genes can be rendered nonessential. How can a gene become non-essential? Here we used genetic manipulation to deplete the products of 26 different essential genes in Escherichia coli. This depletion results in a lethal phenotype, which could often be rescued by the overexpression of a non-homologous, non-essential gene, most likely through replacement of the essential function. We also show that, in a smaller number of cases, the essential genes can be fully deleted from the genome, suggesting that complete functional replacement is possible. Finally, we show that essential genes whose function can be replaced in the laboratory are more likely to be non-essential or not present in other taxa. These results are consistent with the notion that patterns of evolutionary conservation of essential genes are influenced by their compensability-that is, by how easily they can be functionally replaced, for example through increased expression of other genes.

  14. Waves, conservation laws and symmetries of a third-order nonlinear ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    order is under consideration. Important properties concerning advanced character such like conservation laws and the equation of continuity are given. Characteristic wave properties such like dispersion relations and both the group and phase ...

  15. Conservation in the residential sector: two alternatives as strategies for ordering the market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lins, M.E.

    1990-01-01

    This work purposes an economic flow analysis in order to be driven conservation strategies by the electric sector. Two strategies for three conservation measures are considered here in the residential sector. The results obtained increase the reliability of an action plan to be elaborated for the electric energy conservation in the residential sector. (author)

  16. Identification of a conserved set of upregulated genes in mouse skeletal muscle hypertrophy and regrowth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaillou, Thomas; Jackson, Janna R; England, Jonathan H; Kirby, Tyler J; Richards-White, Jena; Esser, Karyn A; Dupont-Versteegden, Esther E; McCarthy, John J

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the gene expression profile of mouse skeletal muscle undergoing two forms of growth (hypertrophy and regrowth) with the goal of identifying a conserved set of differentially expressed genes. Expression profiling by microarray was performed on the plantaris muscle subjected to 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 days of hypertrophy or regrowth following 2 wk of hind-limb suspension. We identified 97 differentially expressed genes (≥2-fold increase or ≥50% decrease compared with control muscle) that were conserved during the two forms of muscle growth. The vast majority (∼90%) of the differentially expressed genes was upregulated and occurred at a single time point (64 out of 86 genes), which most often was on the first day of the time course. Microarray analysis from the conserved upregulated genes showed a set of genes related to contractile apparatus and stress response at day 1, including three genes involved in mechanotransduction and four genes encoding heat shock proteins. Our analysis further identified three cell cycle-related genes at day and several genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) at both days 3 and 10. In conclusion, we have identified a core set of genes commonly upregulated in two forms of muscle growth that could play a role in the maintenance of sarcomere stability, ECM remodeling, cell proliferation, fast-to-slow fiber type transition, and the regulation of skeletal muscle growth. These findings suggest conserved regulatory mechanisms involved in the adaptation of skeletal muscle to increased mechanical loading. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  17. 50 CFR 21.60 - Conservation order for light geese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... under the following conditions: (1) Activities conducted under the conservation order may not affect... § 13.28 of this subchapter. Upon appeal, final decisions to revoke authority will be made by the... no longer poses a threat to habitats, agricultural crops, or other interests, or is within Flyway...

  18. Constraints on genes shape long-term conservation of macro-synteny in metazoan genomes

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    Putnam Nicholas H

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many metazoan genomes conserve chromosome-scale gene linkage relationships (“macro-synteny” from the common ancestor of multicellular animal life 1234, but the biological explanation for this conservation is still unknown. Double cut and join (DCJ is a simple, well-studied model of neutral genome evolution amenable to both simulation and mathematical analysis 5, but as we show here, it is not sufficent to explain long-term macro-synteny conservation. Results We examine a family of simple (one-parameter extensions of DCJ to identify models and choices of parameters consistent with the levels of macro- and micro-synteny conservation observed among animal genomes. Our software implements a flexible strategy for incorporating genomic context into the DCJ model to incorporate various types of genomic context (“DCJ-[C]”, and is available as open source software from http://github.com/putnamlab/dcj-c. Conclusions A simple model of genome evolution, in which DCJ moves are allowed only if they maintain chromosomal linkage among a set of constrained genes, can simultaneously account for the level of macro-synteny conservation and for correlated conservation among multiple pairs of species. Simulations under this model indicate that a constraint on approximately 7% of metazoan genes is sufficient to constrain genome rearrangement to an average rate of 25 inversions and 1.7 translocations per million years.

  19. Gene pool conservation and tree improvement in Serbia

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    Isajev Vasilije

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the concepts applied in the gene pool conservation and tree improvement in Serbia. Gene pool conservation of tree species in Serbia includes a series of activities aiming at the sustainability and protection of genetic and species variability. This implies the investigation of genetic resources and their identification through the research of the genetic structure and the breeding system of individual species. Paper also includes the study of intra- and inter-population variability in experiments - provenance tests, progeny tests, half- and full-sib lines, etc. The increased use of the genetic potential in tree improvement in Serbia should be intensified by the following activities: improvement of production of normal forest seed, application of the concept of new selections directed primarily to the improvement of only one character, because in that case the result would be certain, establishment and management of seed orchards as specialized plantations for long-term production of genetically good-quality forest seeds, and the shortening of the improvement process by introducing new techniques and methods (molecular markers, somaclonal variation, genetic engineering, protoplast fusion, micropropagation, etc..

  20. Seed storage protein gene promoters contain conserved DNA motifs in Brassicaceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fauteux, François; Strömvik, Martina V

    2009-01-01

    Background Accurate computational identification of cis-regulatory motifs is difficult, particularly in eukaryotic promoters, which typically contain multiple short and degenerate DNA sequences bound by several interacting factors. Enrichment in combinations of rare motifs in the promoter sequence of functionally or evolutionarily related genes among several species is an indicator of conserved transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. This provides a basis for the computational identification of cis-regulatory motifs. Results We have used a discriminative seeding DNA motif discovery algorithm for an in-depth analysis of 54 seed storage protein (SSP) gene promoters from three plant families, namely Brassicaceae (mustards), Fabaceae (legumes) and Poaceae (grasses) using backgrounds based on complete sets of promoters from a representative species in each family, namely Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.) respectively. We have identified three conserved motifs (two RY-like and one ACGT-like) in Brassicaceae and Fabaceae SSP gene promoters that are similar to experimentally characterized seed-specific cis-regulatory elements. Fabaceae SSP gene promoter sequences are also enriched in a novel, seed-specific E2Fb-like motif. Conserved motifs identified in Poaceae SSP gene promoters include a GCN4-like motif, two prolamin-box-like motifs and an Skn-1-like motif. Evidence of the presence of a variant of the TATA-box is found in the SSP gene promoters from the three plant families. Motifs discovered in SSP gene promoters were used to score whole-genome sets of promoters from Arabidopsis, soybean and rice. The highest-scoring promoters are associated with genes coding for different subunits or precursors of seed storage proteins. Conclusion Seed storage protein gene promoter motifs are conserved in diverse species, and different plant families are characterized by a distinct combination of conserved motifs

  1. Seed storage protein gene promoters contain conserved DNA motifs in Brassicaceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fauteux François

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate computational identification of cis-regulatory motifs is difficult, particularly in eukaryotic promoters, which typically contain multiple short and degenerate DNA sequences bound by several interacting factors. Enrichment in combinations of rare motifs in the promoter sequence of functionally or evolutionarily related genes among several species is an indicator of conserved transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. This provides a basis for the computational identification of cis-regulatory motifs. Results We have used a discriminative seeding DNA motif discovery algorithm for an in-depth analysis of 54 seed storage protein (SSP gene promoters from three plant families, namely Brassicaceae (mustards, Fabaceae (legumes and Poaceae (grasses using backgrounds based on complete sets of promoters from a representative species in each family, namely Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana (L. Heynh., soybean (Glycine max (L. Merr. and rice (Oryza sativa L. respectively. We have identified three conserved motifs (two RY-like and one ACGT-like in Brassicaceae and Fabaceae SSP gene promoters that are similar to experimentally characterized seed-specific cis-regulatory elements. Fabaceae SSP gene promoter sequences are also enriched in a novel, seed-specific E2Fb-like motif. Conserved motifs identified in Poaceae SSP gene promoters include a GCN4-like motif, two prolamin-box-like motifs and an Skn-1-like motif. Evidence of the presence of a variant of the TATA-box is found in the SSP gene promoters from the three plant families. Motifs discovered in SSP gene promoters were used to score whole-genome sets of promoters from Arabidopsis, soybean and rice. The highest-scoring promoters are associated with genes coding for different subunits or precursors of seed storage proteins. Conclusion Seed storage protein gene promoter motifs are conserved in diverse species, and different plant families are characterized by a distinct combination

  2. Preferential transcription of conserved rif genes in two phenotypically distinct Plasmodium falciparum parasite lines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Christian W; Magistrado, Pamela A; Nielsen, Morten A

    2009-01-01

    transcribed in the VAR2CSA-expressing parasite line. In addition, two rif genes were found transcribed at early and late intra-erythrocyte stages independently of var gene transcription. Rif genes are organised in groups and inter-genomic conserved gene families, suggesting that RIFIN sub-groups may have......Plasmodium falciparum variant surface antigens (VSA) are targets of protective immunity to malaria. Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) and repetitive interspersed family (RIFIN) proteins are encoded by the two variable multigene families, var and rif genes, respectively...... novel rif gene groups, rifA1 and rifA2, containing inter-genomic conserved rif genes, were identified. All rifA1 genes were orientated head-to-head with a neighbouring Group A var gene whereas rifA2 was present in all parasite genomes as a single copy gene with a unique 5' untranslated region. Rif...

  3. Identifying human disease genes through cross-species gene mapping of evolutionary conserved processes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Poot

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Understanding complex networks that modulate development in humans is hampered by genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity within and between populations. Here we present a method that exploits natural variation in highly diverse mouse genetic reference panels in which genetic and environmental factors can be tightly controlled. The aim of our study is to test a cross-species genetic mapping strategy, which compares data of gene mapping in human patients with functional data obtained by QTL mapping in recombinant inbred mouse strains in order to prioritize human disease candidate genes.We exploit evolutionary conservation of developmental phenotypes to discover gene variants that influence brain development in humans. We studied corpus callosum volume in a recombinant inbred mouse panel (C57BL/6J×DBA/2J, BXD strains using high-field strength MRI technology. We aligned mouse mapping results for this neuro-anatomical phenotype with genetic data from patients with abnormal corpus callosum (ACC development.From the 61 syndromes which involve an ACC, 51 human candidate genes have been identified. Through interval mapping, we identified a single significant QTL on mouse chromosome 7 for corpus callosum volume with a QTL peak located between 25.5 and 26.7 Mb. Comparing the genes in this mouse QTL region with those associated with human syndromes (involving ACC and those covered by copy number variations (CNV yielded a single overlap, namely HNRPU in humans and Hnrpul1 in mice. Further analysis of corpus callosum volume in BXD strains revealed that the corpus callosum was significantly larger in BXD mice with a B genotype at the Hnrpul1 locus than in BXD mice with a D genotype at Hnrpul1 (F = 22.48, p<9.87*10(-5.This approach that exploits highly diverse mouse strains provides an efficient and effective translational bridge to study the etiology of human developmental disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia.

  4. Evidence for intron length conservation in a set of mammalian genes associated with embryonic development

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    2011-10-05

    Abstract Background We carried out an analysis of intron length conservation across a diverse group of nineteen mammalian species. Motivated by recent research suggesting a role for time delays associated with intron transcription in gene expression oscillations required for early embryonic patterning, we searched for examples of genes that showed the most extreme conservation of total intron content in mammals. Results Gene sets annotated as being involved in pattern specification in the early embryo or containing the homeobox DNA-binding domain, were significantly enriched among genes with highly conserved intron content. We used ancestral sequences reconstructed with probabilistic models that account for insertion and deletion mutations to distinguish insertion and deletion events on lineages leading to human and mouse from their last common ancestor. Using a randomization procedure, we show that genes containing the homeobox domain show less change in intron content than expected, given the number of insertion and deletion events within their introns. Conclusions Our results suggest selection for gene expression precision or the existence of additional development-associated genes for which transcriptional delay is functionally significant.

  5. Genes involved in complex adaptive processes tend to have highly conserved upstream regions in mammalian genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kohane Isaac

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent advances in genome sequencing suggest a remarkable conservation in gene content of mammalian organisms. The similarity in gene repertoire present in different organisms has increased interest in studying regulatory mechanisms of gene expression aimed at elucidating the differences in phenotypes. In particular, a proximal promoter region contains a large number of regulatory elements that control the expression of its downstream gene. Although many studies have focused on identification of these elements, a broader picture on the complexity of transcriptional regulation of different biological processes has not been addressed in mammals. The regulatory complexity may strongly correlate with gene function, as different evolutionary forces must act on the regulatory systems under different biological conditions. We investigate this hypothesis by comparing the conservation of promoters upstream of genes classified in different functional categories. Results By conducting a rank correlation analysis between functional annotation and upstream sequence alignment scores obtained by human-mouse and human-dog comparison, we found a significantly greater conservation of the upstream sequence of genes involved in development, cell communication, neural functions and signaling processes than those involved in more basic processes shared with unicellular organisms such as metabolism and ribosomal function. This observation persists after controlling for G+C content. Considering conservation as a functional signature, we hypothesize a higher density of cis-regulatory elements upstream of genes participating in complex and adaptive processes. Conclusion We identified a class of functions that are associated with either high or low promoter conservation in mammals. We detected a significant tendency that points to complex and adaptive processes were associated with higher promoter conservation, despite the fact that they have emerged

  6. Patterns of intron gain and conservation in eukaryotic genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolf Yuri I

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background: The presence of introns in protein-coding genes is a universal feature of eukaryotic genome organization, and the genes of multicellular eukaryotes, typically, contain multiple introns, a substantial fraction of which share position in distant taxa, such as plants and animals. Depending on the methods and data sets used, researchers have reached opposite conclusions on the causes of the high fraction of shared introns in orthologous genes from distant eukaryotes. Some studies conclude that shared intron positions reflect, almost entirely, a remarkable evolutionary conservation, whereas others attribute it to parallel gain of introns. To resolve these contradictions, it is crucial to analyze the evolution of introns by using a model that minimally relies on arbitrary assumptions. Results: We developed a probabilistic model of evolution that allows for variability of intron gain and loss rates over branches of the phylogenetic tree, individual genes, and individual sites. Applying this model to an extended set of conserved eukaryotic genes, we find that parallel gain, on average, accounts for only ~8% of the shared intron positions. However, the distribution of parallel gains over the phylogenetic tree of eukaryotes is highly non-uniform. There are, practically, no parallel gains in closely related lineages, whereas for distant lineages, such as animals and plants, parallel gains appear to contribute up to 20% of the shared intron positions. In accord with these findings, we estimated that ancestral introns have a high probability to be retained in extant genomes, and conversely, that a substantial fraction of extant introns have retained their positions since the early stages of eukaryotic evolution. In addition, the density of sites that are available for intron insertion is estimated to be, approximately, one in seven basepairs. Conclusion: We obtained robust estimates of the contribution of parallel gain to the observed

  7. CORECLUST: identification of the conserved CRM grammar together with prediction of gene regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikulova, Anna A; Favorov, Alexander V; Sutormin, Roman A; Makeev, Vsevolod J; Mironov, Andrey A

    2012-07-01

    Identification of transcriptional regulatory regions and tracing their internal organization are important for understanding the eukaryotic cell machinery. Cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) of higher eukaryotes are believed to possess a regulatory 'grammar', or preferred arrangement of binding sites, that is crucial for proper regulation and thus tends to be evolutionarily conserved. Here, we present a method CORECLUST (COnservative REgulatory CLUster STructure) that predicts CRMs based on a set of positional weight matrices. Given regulatory regions of orthologous and/or co-regulated genes, CORECLUST constructs a CRM model by revealing the conserved rules that describe the relative location of binding sites. The constructed model may be consequently used for the genome-wide prediction of similar CRMs, and thus detection of co-regulated genes, and for the investigation of the regulatory grammar of the system. Compared with related methods, CORECLUST shows better performance at identification of CRMs conferring muscle-specific gene expression in vertebrates and early-developmental CRMs in Drosophila.

  8. Cytogenetics, conserved synteny and evolution of chicken fucosyltransferase genes compared to human

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Coullin, P.; Crooijmans, R.P.M.A.; Fillon, V.; Mollicone, R.; Groenen, M.A.M.; Adrien-Dehais, C.; Bernheim, A.; Zoorob, R.; Oriol, R.; Candelier, J.J.

    2003-01-01

    Fucosyltransferases appeared early in evolution, since they are present from bacteria to primates and the genes are well conserved. The aim of this work was to study these genes in the bird group, which is particularly attractive for the comprehension of the evolution of the vertebrate genome.

  9. Conservation of gene linkage in dispersed vertebrate NK homeobox clusters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wotton, Karl R; Weierud, Frida K; Juárez-Morales, José L; Alvares, Lúcia E; Dietrich, Susanne; Lewis, Katharine E

    2009-10-01

    Nk homeobox genes are important regulators of many different developmental processes including muscle, heart, central nervous system and sensory organ development. They are thought to have arisen as part of the ANTP megacluster, which also gave rise to Hox and ParaHox genes, and at least some NK genes remain tightly linked in all animals examined so far. The protostome-deuterostome ancestor probably contained a cluster of nine Nk genes: (Msx)-(Nk4/tinman)-(Nk3/bagpipe)-(Lbx/ladybird)-(Tlx/c15)-(Nk7)-(Nk6/hgtx)-(Nk1/slouch)-(Nk5/Hmx). Of these genes, only NKX2.6-NKX3.1, LBX1-TLX1 and LBX2-TLX2 remain tightly linked in humans. However, it is currently unclear whether this is unique to the human genome as we do not know which of these Nk genes are clustered in other vertebrates. This makes it difficult to assess whether the remaining linkages are due to selective pressures or because chance rearrangements have "missed" certain genes. In this paper, we identify all of the paralogs of these ancestrally clustered NK genes in several distinct vertebrates. We demonstrate that tight linkages of Lbx1-Tlx1, Lbx2-Tlx2 and Nkx3.1-Nkx2.6 have been widely maintained in both the ray-finned and lobe-finned fish lineages. Moreover, the recently duplicated Hmx2-Hmx3 genes are also tightly linked. Finally, we show that Lbx1-Tlx1 and Hmx2-Hmx3 are flanked by highly conserved noncoding elements, suggesting that shared regulatory regions may have resulted in evolutionary pressure to maintain these linkages. Consistent with this, these pairs of genes have overlapping expression domains. In contrast, Lbx2-Tlx2 and Nkx3.1-Nkx2.6, which do not seem to be coexpressed, are also not associated with conserved noncoding sequences, suggesting that an alternative mechanism may be responsible for the continued clustering of these genes.

  10. Evolutionary conservation and network structure characterize genes of phenotypic relevance for mitosis in human.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marek Ostaszewski

    Full Text Available The impact of gene silencing on cellular phenotypes is difficult to establish due to the complexity of interactions in the associated biological processes and pathways. A recent genome-wide RNA knock-down study both identified and phenotypically characterized a set of important genes for the cell cycle in HeLa cells. Here, we combine a molecular interaction network analysis, based on physical and functional protein interactions, in conjunction with evolutionary information, to elucidate the common biological and topological properties of these key genes. Our results show that these genes tend to be conserved with their corresponding protein interactions across several species and are key constituents of the evolutionary conserved molecular interaction network. Moreover, a group of bistable network motifs is found to be conserved within this network, which are likely to influence the network stability and therefore the robustness of cellular functioning. They form a cluster, which displays functional homogeneity and is significantly enriched in genes phenotypically relevant for mitosis. Additional results reveal a relationship between specific cellular processes and the phenotypic outcomes induced by gene silencing. This study introduces new ideas regarding the relationship between genotype and phenotype in the context of the cell cycle. We show that the analysis of molecular interaction networks can result in the identification of genes relevant to cellular processes, which is a promising avenue for future research.

  11. Approaches to gene pool conservation of medicinal plant Oxytropis lanata (Pall. DC. (Fabaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. B. Kholina

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available In order to preserve the gene pool of medicinal plant Oxytropis lanata (Pall. DC. we analyzed allozyme polymorphism and identified reliable and informative marker enzyme systems of this species; also we studied the response of seeds to deep freezing in liquid nitrogen (–196 ºС. Population has an average level of polymorphism (P95 = 41,2 %, P99 = 52,9 %, A = 1,58, Ho = 0,158, He = 0,171 in general typical for herbaceous legumes, and can serve as a source of material for gene pool conservation of the species. Deep freezing has not led to the death of the seeds; it was marked stimulatory effect of ultralow temperatures, expressed as an acceleration of germination and sharp increase of germinability (98,6 ± 2,3 % compared to the control (12,0 ± 3,5 % that is associated with overcoming physical dormancy. There were no abnormalities in the development of seedlings from seeds passed cryopreservation.

  12. High-Order Entropy Stable Finite Difference Schemes for Nonlinear Conservation Laws: Finite Domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Travis C.; Carpenter, Mark H.

    2013-01-01

    Developing stable and robust high-order finite difference schemes requires mathematical formalism and appropriate methods of analysis. In this work, nonlinear entropy stability is used to derive provably stable high-order finite difference methods with formal boundary closures for conservation laws. Particular emphasis is placed on the entropy stability of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. A newly derived entropy stable weighted essentially non-oscillatory finite difference method is used to simulate problems with shocks and a conservative, entropy stable, narrow-stencil finite difference approach is used to approximate viscous terms.

  13. Identification of conserved drought-adaptive genes using a cross-species meta-analysis approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaar-Moshe, Lidor; Hübner, Sariel; Peleg, Zvi

    2015-05-03

    Drought is the major environmental stress threatening crop-plant productivity worldwide. Identification of new genes and metabolic pathways involved in plant adaptation to progressive drought stress at the reproductive stage is of great interest for agricultural research. We developed a novel Cross-Species meta-Analysis of progressive Drought stress at the reproductive stage (CSA:Drought) to identify key drought adaptive genes and mechanisms and to test their evolutionary conservation. Empirically defined filtering criteria were used to facilitate a robust integration of 17 deposited microarray experiments (148 arrays) of Arabidopsis, rice, wheat and barley. By prioritizing consistency over intensity, our approach was able to identify 225 differentially expressed genes shared across studies and taxa. Gene ontology enrichment and pathway analyses classified the shared genes into functional categories involved predominantly in metabolic processes (e.g. amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism), regulatory function (e.g. protein degradation and transcription) and response to stimulus. We further investigated drought related cis-acting elements in the shared gene promoters, and the evolutionary conservation of shared genes. The universal nature of the identified drought-adaptive genes was further validated in a fifth species, Brachypodium distachyon that was not included in the meta-analysis. qPCR analysis of 27, randomly selected, shared orthologs showed similar expression pattern as was found by the CSA:Drought.In accordance, morpho-physiological characterization of progressive drought stress, in B. distachyon, highlighted the key role of osmotic adjustment as evolutionary conserved drought-adaptive mechanism. Our CSA:Drought strategy highlights major drought-adaptive genes and metabolic pathways that were only partially, if at all, reported in the original studies included in the meta-analysis. These genes include a group of unclassified genes that could be involved

  14. Entropy Viscosity Method for High-Order Approximations of Conservation Laws

    KAUST Repository

    Guermond, J. L.

    2010-09-17

    A stabilization technique for conservation laws is presented. It introduces in the governing equations a nonlinear dissipation function of the residual of the associated entropy equation and bounded from above by a first order viscous term. Different two-dimensional test cases are simulated - a 2D Burgers problem, the "KPP rotating wave" and the Euler system - using high order methods: spectral elements or Fourier expansions. Details on the tuning of the parameters controlling the entropy viscosity are given. © 2011 Springer.

  15. Entropy Viscosity Method for High-Order Approximations of Conservation Laws

    KAUST Repository

    Guermond, J. L.; Pasquetti, R.

    2010-01-01

    A stabilization technique for conservation laws is presented. It introduces in the governing equations a nonlinear dissipation function of the residual of the associated entropy equation and bounded from above by a first order viscous term. Different two-dimensional test cases are simulated - a 2D Burgers problem, the "KPP rotating wave" and the Euler system - using high order methods: spectral elements or Fourier expansions. Details on the tuning of the parameters controlling the entropy viscosity are given. © 2011 Springer.

  16. Inferring Phylogenetic Networks from Gene Order Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexey Anatolievich Morozov

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Existing algorithms allow us to infer phylogenetic networks from sequences (DNA, protein or binary, sets of trees, and distance matrices, but there are no methods to build them using the gene order data as an input. Here we describe several methods to build split networks from the gene order data, perform simulation studies, and use our methods for analyzing and interpreting different real gene order datasets. All proposed methods are based on intermediate data, which can be generated from genome structures under study and used as an input for network construction algorithms. Three intermediates are used: set of jackknife trees, distance matrix, and binary encoding. According to simulations and case studies, the best intermediates are jackknife trees and distance matrix (when used with Neighbor-Net algorithm. Binary encoding can also be useful, but only when the methods mentioned above cannot be used.

  17. Metazoan Remaining Genes for Essential Amino Acid Biosynthesis: Sequence Conservation and Evolutionary Analyses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor R. Costa

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Essential amino acids (EAA consist of a group of nine amino acids that animals are unable to synthesize via de novo pathways. Recently, it has been found that most metazoans lack the same set of enzymes responsible for the de novo EAA biosynthesis. Here we investigate the sequence conservation and evolution of all the metazoan remaining genes for EAA pathways. Initially, the set of all 49 enzymes responsible for the EAA de novo biosynthesis in yeast was retrieved. These enzymes were used as BLAST queries to search for similar sequences in a database containing 10 complete metazoan genomes. Eight enzymes typically attributed to EAA pathways were found to be ubiquitous in metazoan genomes, suggesting a conserved functional role. In this study, we address the question of how these genes evolved after losing their pathway partners. To do this, we compared metazoan genes with their fungal and plant orthologs. Using phylogenetic analysis with maximum likelihood, we found that acetolactate synthase (ALS and betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT diverged from the expected Tree of Life (ToL relationships. High sequence conservation in the paraphyletic group Plant-Fungi was identified for these two genes using a newly developed Python algorithm. Selective pressure analysis of ALS and BHMT protein sequences showed higher non-synonymous mutation ratios in comparisons between metazoans/fungi and metazoans/plants, supporting the hypothesis that these two genes have undergone non-ToL evolution in animals.

  18. Structural and functional analysis of mouse Msx1 gene promoter: sequence conservation with human MSX1 promoter points at potential regulatory elements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, S M; Ferland, L H; Robert, B; Abdelhay, E

    1998-06-01

    Vertebrate Msx genes are related to one of the most divergent homeobox genes of Drosophila, the muscle segment homeobox (msh) gene, and are expressed in a well-defined pattern at sites of tissue interactions. This pattern of expression is conserved in vertebrates as diverse as quail, zebrafish, and mouse in a range of sites including neural crest, appendages, and craniofacial structures. In the present work, we performed structural and functional analyses in order to identify potential cis-acting elements that may be regulating Msx1 gene expression. To this end, a 4.9-kb segment of the 5'-flanking region was sequenced and analyzed for transcription-factor binding sites. Four regions showing a high concentration of these sites were identified. Transfection assays with fragments of regulatory sequences driving the expression of the bacterial lacZ reporter gene showed that a region of 4 kb upstream of the transcription start site contains positive and negative elements responsible for controlling gene expression. Interestingly, a fragment of 130 bp seems to contain the minimal elements necessary for gene expression, as its removal completely abolishes gene expression in cultured cells. These results are reinforced by comparison of this region with the human Msx1 gene promoter, which shows extensive conservation, including many consensus binding sites, suggesting a regulatory role for them.

  19. Isolation of BAC Clones Containing Conserved Genes from Libraries of Three Distantly Related Moths: A Useful Resource for Comparative Genomics of Lepidoptera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuji Yasukochi

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, is the second largest animal order and includes numerous agricultural pests. To facilitate comparative genomics in Lepidoptera, we isolated BAC clones containing conserved and putative single-copy genes from libraries of three pests, Heliothis virescens, Ostrinia nubilalis, and Plutella xylostella, harboring the haploid chromosome number, =31, which are not closely related with each other or with the silkworm, Bombyx mori, (=28, the sequenced model lepidopteran. A total of 108–184 clones representing 101–182 conserved genes were isolated for each species. For 79 genes, clones were isolated from more than two species, which will be useful as common markers for analysis using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH, as well as for comparison of genome sequence among multiple species. The PCR-based clone isolation method presented here is applicable to species which lack a sequenced genome but have a significant collection of cDNA or EST sequences.

  20. Gene co-regulation is highly conserved in the evolution of eukaryotes and prokaryotes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Snel, B.; Noort, V. van; Huynen, M.A.

    2004-01-01

    Differences between species have been suggested to largely reside in the network of connections among the genes. Nevertheless, the rate at which these connections evolve has not been properly quantified. Here, we measure the extent to which co-regulation between pairs of genes is conserved over

  1. Late replication domains are evolutionary conserved in the Drosophila genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreyenkova, Natalya G; Kolesnikova, Tatyana D; Makunin, Igor V; Pokholkova, Galina V; Boldyreva, Lidiya V; Zykova, Tatyana Yu; Zhimulev, Igor F; Belyaeva, Elena S

    2013-01-01

    Drosophila chromosomes are organized into distinct domains differing in their predominant chromatin composition, replication timing and evolutionary conservation. We show on a genome-wide level that genes whose order has remained unaltered across 9 Drosophila species display late replication timing and frequently map to the regions of repressive chromatin. This observation is consistent with the existence of extensive domains of repressive chromatin that replicate extremely late and have conserved gene order in the Drosophila genome. We suggest that such repressive chromatin domains correspond to a handful of regions that complete replication at the very end of S phase. We further demonstrate that the order of genes in these regions is rarely altered in evolution. Substantial proportion of such regions significantly coincide with large synteny blocks. This indicates that there are evolutionary mechanisms maintaining the integrity of these late-replicating chromatin domains. The synteny blocks corresponding to the extremely late-replicating regions in the D. melanogaster genome consistently display two-fold lower gene density across different Drosophila species.

  2. Essentiality, conservation, evolutionary pressure and codon bias in bacterial genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dilucca, Maddalena; Cimini, Giulio; Giansanti, Andrea

    2018-07-15

    Essential genes constitute the core of genes which cannot be mutated too much nor lost along the evolutionary history of a species. Natural selection is expected to be stricter on essential genes and on conserved (highly shared) genes, than on genes that are either nonessential or peculiar to a single or a few species. In order to further assess this expectation, we study here how essentiality of a gene is connected with its degree of conservation among several unrelated bacterial species, each one characterised by its own codon usage bias. Confirming previous results on E. coli, we show the existence of a universal exponential relation between gene essentiality and conservation in bacteria. Moreover, we show that, within each bacterial genome, there are at least two groups of functionally distinct genes, characterised by different levels of conservation and codon bias: i) a core of essential genes, mainly related to cellular information processing; ii) a set of less conserved nonessential genes with prevalent functions related to metabolism. In particular, the genes in the first group are more retained among species, are subject to a stronger purifying conservative selection and display a more limited repertoire of synonymous codons. The core of essential genes is close to the minimal bacterial genome, which is in the focus of recent studies in synthetic biology, though we confirm that orthologs of genes that are essential in one species are not necessarily essential in other species. We also list a set of highly shared genes which, reasonably, could constitute a reservoir of targets for new anti-microbial drugs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Transcriptional dynamics of a conserved gene expression network associated with craniofacial divergence in Arctic charr.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahi, Ehsan Pashay; Kapralova, Kalina Hristova; Pálsson, Arnar; Maier, Valerie Helene; Gudbrandsson, Jóhannes; Snorrason, Sigurdur S; Jónsson, Zophonías O; Franzdóttir, Sigrídur Rut

    2014-01-01

    Understanding the molecular basis of craniofacial variation can provide insights into key developmental mechanisms of adaptive changes and their role in trophic divergence and speciation. Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) is a polymorphic fish species, and, in Lake Thingvallavatn in Iceland, four sympatric morphs have evolved distinct craniofacial structures. We conducted a gene expression study on candidates from a conserved gene coexpression network, focusing on the development of craniofacial elements in embryos of two contrasting Arctic charr morphotypes (benthic and limnetic). Four Arctic charr morphs were studied: one limnetic and two benthic morphs from Lake Thingvallavatn and a limnetic reference aquaculture morph. The presence of morphological differences at developmental stages before the onset of feeding was verified by morphometric analysis. Following up on our previous findings that Mmp2 and Sparc were differentially expressed between morphotypes, we identified a network of genes with conserved coexpression across diverse vertebrate species. A comparative expression study of candidates from this network in developing heads of the four Arctic charr morphs verified the coexpression relationship of these genes and revealed distinct transcriptional dynamics strongly correlated with contrasting craniofacial morphologies (benthic versus limnetic). A literature review and Gene Ontology analysis indicated that a significant proportion of the network genes play a role in extracellular matrix organization and skeletogenesis, and motif enrichment analysis of conserved noncoding regions of network candidates predicted a handful of transcription factors, including Ap1 and Ets2, as potential regulators of the gene network. The expression of Ets2 itself was also found to associate with network gene expression. Genes linked to glucocorticoid signalling were also studied, as both Mmp2 and Sparc are responsive to this pathway. Among those, several transcriptional

  4. Comparative Annotation of Viral Genomes with Non-Conserved Gene Structure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    de Groot, Saskia; Mailund, Thomas; Hein, Jotun

    2007-01-01

    Motivation: Detecting genes in viral genomes is a complex task. Due to the biological necessity of them being constrained in length, RNA viruses in particular tend to code in overlapping reading frames. Since one amino acid is encoded by a triplet of nucleic acids, up to three genes may be coded...... allows for coding in unidirectional nested and overlapping reading frames, to annotate two homologous aligned viral genomes. Our method does not insist on conserved gene structure between the two sequences, thus making it applicable for the pairwise comparison of more distantly related sequences. Results...... and HIV2, as well as of two different Hepatitis Viruses, attaining results of ~87% sensitivity and ~98.5% specificity. We subsequently incorporate prior knowledge by "knowing" the gene structure of one sequence and annotating the other conditional on it. Boosting accuracy close to perfect we demonstrate...

  5. Comprehensive analysis of coding-lncRNA gene co-expression network uncovers conserved functional lncRNAs in zebrafish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wen; Zhang, Xuan; Li, Jing; Huang, Shulan; Xiang, Shuanglin; Hu, Xiang; Liu, Changning

    2018-05-09

    Zebrafish is a full-developed model system for studying development processes and human disease. Recent studies of deep sequencing had discovered a large number of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in zebrafish. However, only few of them had been functionally characterized. Therefore, how to take advantage of the mature zebrafish system to deeply investigate the lncRNAs' function and conservation is really intriguing. We systematically collected and analyzed a series of zebrafish RNA-seq data, then combined them with resources from known database and literatures. As a result, we obtained by far the most complete dataset of zebrafish lncRNAs, containing 13,604 lncRNA genes (21,128 transcripts) in total. Based on that, a co-expression network upon zebrafish coding and lncRNA genes was constructed and analyzed, and used to predict the Gene Ontology (GO) and the KEGG annotation of lncRNA. Meanwhile, we made a conservation analysis on zebrafish lncRNA, identifying 1828 conserved zebrafish lncRNA genes (1890 transcripts) that have their putative mammalian orthologs. We also found that zebrafish lncRNAs play important roles in regulation of the development and function of nervous system; these conserved lncRNAs present a significant sequential and functional conservation, with their mammalian counterparts. By integrative data analysis and construction of coding-lncRNA gene co-expression network, we gained the most comprehensive dataset of zebrafish lncRNAs up to present, as well as their systematic annotations and comprehensive analyses on function and conservation. Our study provides a reliable zebrafish-based platform to deeply explore lncRNA function and mechanism, as well as the lncRNA commonality between zebrafish and human.

  6. Seed collection success and failure in fraxinus gene conservation efforts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph D. Zeleznik; Andrew J. David

    2017-01-01

    National seed collection and gene conservation programs have expanded in recent years, especially in response to pressure from non-native pests such as the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis). Since 2008, we have been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) and USDA Forest Service (USDA FS) leading seed collection...

  7. Symmetries and conservation laws for a sixth-order Boussinesq equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Recio, E.; Gandarias, M.L.; Bruzón, M.S.

    2016-01-01

    This paper considers a generalization depending on an arbitrary function f(u) of a sixth-order Boussinesq equation which arises in shallow water waves theory. Interestingly, this equation admits a Hamiltonian formulation when written as a system. A classification of point symmetries and conservation laws in terms of the function f(u) is presented for both, the generalized Boussinesq equation and the equivalent Hamiltonian system.

  8. Evolutionary conservation of essential and highly expressed genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scharfe Maren

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The constant increase in development and spread of bacterial resistance to antibiotics poses a serious threat to human health. New sequencing technologies are now on the horizon that will yield massive increases in our capacity for DNA sequencing and will revolutionize the drug discovery process. Since essential genes are promising novel antibiotic targets, the prediction of gene essentiality based on genomic information has become a major focus. Results In this study we demonstrate that pooled sequencing is applicable for the analysis of sequence variations of strain collections with more than 10 individual isolates. Pooled sequencing of 36 clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates revealed that essential and highly expressed proteins evolve at lower rates, whereas extracellular proteins evolve at higher rates. We furthermore refined the list of experimentally essential P. aeruginosa genes, and identified 980 genes that show no sequence variation at all. Among the conserved nonessential genes we found several that are involved in regulation, motility and virulence, indicating that they represent factors of evolutionary importance for the lifestyle of a successful environmental bacterium and opportunistic pathogen. Conclusion The detailed analysis of a comprehensive set of P. aeruginosa genomes in this study clearly disclosed detailed information of the genomic makeup and revealed a large set of highly conserved genes that play an important role for the lifestyle of this microorganism. Sequencing strain collections enables for a detailed and extensive identification of sequence variations as potential bacterial adaptation processes, e.g., during the development of antibiotic resistance in the clinical setting and thus may be the basis to uncover putative targets for novel treatment strategies.

  9. Phylogenetic analysis reveals conservation and diversification of micro RNA166 genes among diverse plant species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barik, Suvakanta; SarkarDas, Shabari; Singh, Archita; Gautam, Vibhav; Kumar, Pramod; Majee, Manoj; Sarkar, Ananda K

    2014-01-01

    Similar to the majority of the microRNAs, mature miR166s are derived from multiple members of MIR166 genes (precursors) and regulate various aspects of plant development by negatively regulating their target genes (Class III HD-ZIP). The evolutionary conservation or functional diversification of miRNA166 family members remains elusive. Here, we show the phylogenetic relationships among MIR166 precursor and mature sequences from three diverse model plant species. Despite strong conservation, some mature miR166 sequences, such as ppt-miR166m, have undergone sequence variation. Critical sequence variation in ppt-miR166m has led to functional diversification, as it targets non-HD-ZIPIII gene transcript (s). MIR166 precursor sequences have diverged in a lineage specific manner, and both precursors and mature osa-miR166i/j are highly conserved. Interestingly, polycistronic MIR166s were present in Physcomitrella and Oryza but not in Arabidopsis. The nature of cis-regulatory motifs on the upstream promoter sequences of MIR166 genes indicates their possible contribution to the functional variation observed among miR166 species. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. How conserved are the conserved 16S-rRNA regions?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcel Martinez-Porchas

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The 16S rRNA gene has been used as master key for studying prokaryotic diversity in almost every environment. Despite the claim of several researchers to have the best universal primers, the reality is that no primer has been demonstrated to be truly universal. This suggests that conserved regions of the gene may not be as conserved as expected. The aim of this study was to evaluate the conservation degree of the so-called conserved regions flanking the hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Data contained in SILVA database (release 123 were used for the study. Primers reported as matches of each conserved region were assembled to form contigs; sequences sizing 12 nucleotides (12-mers were extracted from these contigs and searched into the entire set of SILVA sequences. Frequency analysis shown that extreme regions, 1 and 10, registered the lowest frequencies. 12-mer frequencies revealed segments of contigs that were not as conserved as expected (≤90%. Fragments corresponding to the primer contigs 3, 4, 5b and 6a were recovered from all sequences in SILVA database. Nucleotide frequency analysis in each consensus demonstrated that only a small fraction of these so-called conserved regions is truly conserved in non-redundant sequences. It could be concluded that conserved regions of the 16S rRNA gene exhibit considerable variation that has to be considered when using this gene as biomarker.

  11. Evolutionary conservation of vertebrate notochord genes in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kugler, Jamie E; Passamaneck, Yale J; Feldman, Taya G; Beh, Jeni; Regnier, Todd W; Di Gregorio, Anna

    2008-11-01

    To reconstruct a minimum complement of notochord genes evolutionarily conserved across chordates, we scanned the Ciona intestinalis genome using the sequences of 182 genes reported to be expressed in the notochord of different vertebrates and identified 139 candidate notochord genes. For 66 of these Ciona genes expression data were already available, hence we analyzed the expression of the remaining 73 genes and found notochord expression for 20. The predicted products of the newly identified notochord genes range from the transcription factors Ci-XBPa and Ci-miER1 to extracellular matrix proteins. We examined the expression of the newly identified notochord genes in embryos ectopically expressing Ciona Brachyury (Ci-Bra) and in embryos expressing a repressor form of this transcription factor in the notochord, and we found that while a subset of the genes examined are clearly responsive to Ci-Bra, other genes are not affected by alterations in its levels. We provide a first description of notochord genes that are not evidently influenced by the ectopic expression of Ci-Bra and we propose alternative regulatory mechanisms that might control their transcription. Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  12. Fanconi anemia core complex gene promoters harbor conserved transcription regulatory elements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Daniel; Schindler, Detlev

    2011-01-01

    The Fanconi anemia (FA) gene family is a recent addition to the complex network of proteins that respond to and repair certain types of DNA damage in the human genome. Since little is known about the regulation of this novel group of genes at the DNA level, we characterized the promoters of the eight genes (FANCA, B, C, E, F, G, L and M) that compose the FA core complex. The promoters of these genes show the characteristic attributes of housekeeping genes, such as a high GC content and CpG islands, a lack of TATA boxes and a low conservation. The promoters functioned in a monodirectional way and were, in their most active regions, comparable in strength to the SV40 promoter in our reporter plasmids. They were also marked by a distinctive transcriptional start site (TSS). In the 5' region of each promoter, we identified a region that was able to negatively regulate the promoter activity in HeLa and HEK 293 cells in isolation. The central and 3' regions of the promoter sequences harbor binding sites for several common and rare transcription factors, including STAT, SMAD, E2F, AP1 and YY1, which indicates that there may be cross-connections to several established regulatory pathways. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and siRNA experiments confirmed the shared regulatory responses between the prominent members of the TGF-β and JAK/STAT pathways and members of the FA core complex. Although the promoters are not well conserved, they share region and sequence specific regulatory motifs and transcription factor binding sites (TBFs), and we identified a bi-partite nature to these promoters. These results support a hypothesis based on the co-evolution of the FA core complex genes that was expanded to include their promoters.

  13. Fanconi anemia core complex gene promoters harbor conserved transcription regulatory elements.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Meier

    Full Text Available The Fanconi anemia (FA gene family is a recent addition to the complex network of proteins that respond to and repair certain types of DNA damage in the human genome. Since little is known about the regulation of this novel group of genes at the DNA level, we characterized the promoters of the eight genes (FANCA, B, C, E, F, G, L and M that compose the FA core complex. The promoters of these genes show the characteristic attributes of housekeeping genes, such as a high GC content and CpG islands, a lack of TATA boxes and a low conservation. The promoters functioned in a monodirectional way and were, in their most active regions, comparable in strength to the SV40 promoter in our reporter plasmids. They were also marked by a distinctive transcriptional start site (TSS. In the 5' region of each promoter, we identified a region that was able to negatively regulate the promoter activity in HeLa and HEK 293 cells in isolation. The central and 3' regions of the promoter sequences harbor binding sites for several common and rare transcription factors, including STAT, SMAD, E2F, AP1 and YY1, which indicates that there may be cross-connections to several established regulatory pathways. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and siRNA experiments confirmed the shared regulatory responses between the prominent members of the TGF-β and JAK/STAT pathways and members of the FA core complex. Although the promoters are not well conserved, they share region and sequence specific regulatory motifs and transcription factor binding sites (TBFs, and we identified a bi-partite nature to these promoters. These results support a hypothesis based on the co-evolution of the FA core complex genes that was expanded to include their promoters.

  14. Systems of conservation laws with third-order Hamiltonian structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferapontov, Evgeny V.; Pavlov, Maxim V.; Vitolo, Raffaele F.

    2018-02-01

    We investigate n-component systems of conservation laws that possess third-order Hamiltonian structures of differential-geometric type. The classification of such systems is reduced to the projective classification of linear congruences of lines in P^{n+2} satisfying additional geometric constraints. Algebraically, the problem can be reformulated as follows: for a vector space W of dimension n+2 , classify n-tuples of skew-symmetric 2-forms A^{α } \\in Λ ^2(W) such that φ _{β γ }A^{β }\\wedge A^{γ }=0, for some non-degenerate symmetric φ.

  15. Short-range order and local conservation of quantum numbers in multiparticle production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Le Bellac, M.

    1976-01-01

    These lectures discuss the implications of the hypotheses of short-range order (SRO) and local conservation of quantum numbers (LCQN) for multiple production of elementary particles at high energies. The consequences of SRO for semi-inclusive correlations and the distribution of rapidity gaps are derived, essentially in the framework of the cluster model. Then the experimental status of local conservation of charge and transverse momentum is reviewed. Finally, by making use of the unitarity relation, it is shown that LCQN has important consequences for the elastic amplitude. The derivation is given both in a model-independent way, and in specific multiperiheral models. (Author)

  16. Scaffold filling, contig fusion and comparative gene order inference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rounsley Steve

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There has been a trend in increasing the phylogenetic scope of genome sequencing without finishing the sequence of the genome. Increasing numbers of genomes are being published in scaffold or contig form. Rearrangement algorithms, however, including gene order-based phylogenetic tools, require whole genome data on gene order or syntenic block order. How then can we use rearrangement algorithms to compare genomes available in scaffold form only? Can the comparative evidence predict the location of unsequenced genes? Results Our method involves optimally filling in genes missing from the scaffolds, while incorporating the augmented scaffolds directly into the rearrangement algorithms as if they were chromosomes. This is accomplished by an exact, polynomial-time algorithm. We then correct for the number of extra fusion/fission operations required to make scaffolds comparable to full assemblies. We model the relationship between the ratio of missing genes actually absent from the genome versus merely unsequenced ones, on one hand, and the increase of genomic distance after scaffold filling, on the other. We estimate the parameters of this model through simulations and by comparing the angiosperm genomes Ricinus communis and Vitis vinifera. Conclusions The algorithm solves the comparison of genomes with 18,300 genes, including 4500 missing from one genome, in less than a minute on a MacBook, putting virtually all genomes within range of the method.

  17. Scaffold filling, contig fusion and comparative gene order inference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muñoz, Adriana; Zheng, Chunfang; Zhu, Qian; Albert, Victor A; Rounsley, Steve; Sankoff, David

    2010-06-04

    There has been a trend in increasing the phylogenetic scope of genome sequencing without finishing the sequence of the genome. Increasing numbers of genomes are being published in scaffold or contig form. Rearrangement algorithms, however, including gene order-based phylogenetic tools, require whole genome data on gene order or syntenic block order. How then can we use rearrangement algorithms to compare genomes available in scaffold form only? Can the comparative evidence predict the location of unsequenced genes? Our method involves optimally filling in genes missing from the scaffolds, while incorporating the augmented scaffolds directly into the rearrangement algorithms as if they were chromosomes. This is accomplished by an exact, polynomial-time algorithm. We then correct for the number of extra fusion/fission operations required to make scaffolds comparable to full assemblies. We model the relationship between the ratio of missing genes actually absent from the genome versus merely unsequenced ones, on one hand, and the increase of genomic distance after scaffold filling, on the other. We estimate the parameters of this model through simulations and by comparing the angiosperm genomes Ricinus communis and Vitis vinifera. The algorithm solves the comparison of genomes with 18,300 genes, including 4500 missing from one genome, in less than a minute on a MacBook, putting virtually all genomes within range of the method.

  18. Computational fitness landscape for all gene-order permutations of an RNA virus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kwang-il Lim

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available How does the growth of a virus depend on the linear arrangement of genes in its genome? Answering this question may enhance our basic understanding of virus evolution and advance applications of viruses as live attenuated vaccines, gene-therapy vectors, or anti-tumor therapeutics. We used a mathematical model for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV, a prototype RNA virus that encodes five genes (N-P-M-G-L, to simulate the intracellular growth of all 120 possible gene-order variants. Simulated yields of virus infection varied by 6,000-fold and were found to be most sensitive to gene-order permutations that increased levels of the L gene transcript or reduced levels of the N gene transcript, the lowest and highest expressed genes of the wild-type virus, respectively. Effects of gene order on virus growth also depended upon the host-cell environment, reflecting different resources for protein synthesis and different cell susceptibilities to infection. Moreover, by computationally deleting intergenic attenuations, which define a key mechanism of transcriptional regulation in VSV, the variation in growth associated with the 120 gene-order variants was drastically narrowed from 6,000- to 20-fold, and many variants produced higher progeny yields than wild-type. These results suggest that regulation by intergenic attenuation preceded or co-evolved with the fixation of the wild type gene order in the evolution of VSV. In summary, our models have begun to reveal how gene functions, gene regulation, and genomic organization of viruses interact with their host environments to define processes of viral growth and evolution.

  19. 78 FR 65629 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-01

    ... representative of consumer behavior. For example, if the number of annual cycles results in greater than a 3-day... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to Whirlpool Corporation From... Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles, a program covering most major household...

  20. Clusters of conserved beta cell marker genes for assessment of beta cell phenotype

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martens, Geert A; Jiang, Lei; Hellemans, Karine H

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to establish a gene expression blueprint of pancreatic beta cells conserved from rodents to humans and to evaluate its applicability to assess shifts in the beta cell differentiated state. Genome-wide mRNA expression profiles of isolated beta cells were compared to those...... of a large panel of other tissue and cell types, and transcripts with beta cell-abundant and -selective expression were identified. Iteration of this analysis in mouse, rat and human tissues generated a panel of conserved beta cell biomarkers. This panel was then used to compare isolated versus laser capture...... microdissected beta cells, monitor adaptations of the beta cell phenotype to fasting, and retrieve possible conserved transcriptional regulators....

  1. Human Intellectual Disability Genes Form Conserved Functional Modules in Drosophila

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oortveld, Merel A. W.; Keerthikumar, Shivakumar; Oti, Martin; Nijhof, Bonnie; Fernandes, Ana Clara; Kochinke, Korinna; Castells-Nobau, Anna; van Engelen, Eva; Ellenkamp, Thijs; Eshuis, Lilian; Galy, Anne; van Bokhoven, Hans; Habermann, Bianca; Brunner, Han G.; Zweier, Christiane; Verstreken, Patrik; Huynen, Martijn A.; Schenck, Annette

    2013-01-01

    Intellectual Disability (ID) disorders, defined by an IQ below 70, are genetically and phenotypically highly heterogeneous. Identification of common molecular pathways underlying these disorders is crucial for understanding the molecular basis of cognition and for the development of therapeutic intervention strategies. To systematically establish their functional connectivity, we used transgenic RNAi to target 270 ID gene orthologs in the Drosophila eye. Assessment of neuronal function in behavioral and electrophysiological assays and multiparametric morphological analysis identified phenotypes associated with knockdown of 180 ID gene orthologs. Most of these genotype-phenotype associations were novel. For example, we uncovered 16 genes that are required for basal neurotransmission and have not previously been implicated in this process in any system or organism. ID gene orthologs with morphological eye phenotypes, in contrast to genes without phenotypes, are relatively highly expressed in the human nervous system and are enriched for neuronal functions, suggesting that eye phenotyping can distinguish different classes of ID genes. Indeed, grouping genes by Drosophila phenotype uncovered 26 connected functional modules. Novel links between ID genes successfully predicted that MYCN, PIGV and UPF3B regulate synapse development. Drosophila phenotype groups show, in addition to ID, significant phenotypic similarity also in humans, indicating that functional modules are conserved. The combined data indicate that ID disorders, despite their extreme genetic diversity, are caused by disruption of a limited number of highly connected functional modules. PMID:24204314

  2. Two fundamentally different classes of microbial genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Yuri I; Makarova, Kira S; Lobkovsky, Alexander E; Koonin, Eugene V

    2016-11-07

    The evolution of bacterial and archaeal genomes is highly dynamic and involves extensive horizontal gene transfer and gene loss 1-4 . Furthermore, many microbial species appear to have open pangenomes, where each newly sequenced genome contains more than 10% ORFans, that is, genes without detectable homologues in other species 5,6 . Here, we report a quantitative analysis of microbial genome evolution by fitting the parameters of a simple, steady-state evolutionary model to the comparative genomic data on the gene content and gene order similarity between archaeal genomes. The results reveal two sharply distinct classes of microbial genes, one of which is characterized by effectively instantaneous gene replacement, and the other consists of genes with finite, distributed replacement rates. These findings imply a conservative estimate of the size of the prokaryotic genomic universe, which appears to consist of at least a billion distinct genes. Furthermore, the same distribution of constraints is shown to govern the evolution of gene complement and gene order, without the need to invoke long-range conservation or the selfish operon concept 7 .

  3. Evolutionary dynamics of a conserved sequence motif in the ribosomal genes of the ciliate Paramecium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catania, Francesco; Lynch, Michael

    2010-05-04

    In protozoa, the identification of preserved motifs by comparative genomics is often impeded by difficulties to generate reliable alignments for non-coding sequences. Moreover, the evolutionary dynamics of regulatory elements in 3' untranslated regions (both in protozoa and metazoa) remains a virtually unexplored issue. By screening Paramecium tetraurelia's 3' untranslated regions for 8-mers that were previously found to be preserved in mammalian 3' UTRs, we detect and characterize a motif that is distinctly conserved in the ribosomal genes of this ciliate. The motif appears to be conserved across Paramecium aurelia species but is absent from the ribosomal genes of four additional non-Paramecium species surveyed, including another ciliate, Tetrahymena thermophila. Motif-free ribosomal genes retain fewer paralogs in the genome and appear to be lost more rapidly relative to motif-containing genes. Features associated with the discovered preserved motif are consistent with this 8-mer playing a role in post-transcriptional regulation. Our observations 1) shed light on the evolution of a putative regulatory motif across large phylogenetic distances; 2) are expected to facilitate the understanding of the modulation of ribosomal genes expression in Paramecium; and 3) reveal a largely unexplored--and presumably not restricted to Paramecium--association between the presence/absence of a DNA motif and the evolutionary fate of its host genes.

  4. Organization of plastid genomes in the freshwater red algal order Batrachospermales (Rhodophyta).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paiano, Monica Orlandi; Del Cortona, Andrea; Costa, Joana F; Liu, Shao-Lun; Verbruggen, Heroen; De Clerck, Olivier; Necchi, Orlando

    2018-02-01

    Little is known about genome organization in members of the order Batrachospermales, and the infra-ordinal relationship remains unresolved. Plastid (cp) genomes of seven members of the freshwater red algal order Batrachospermales were sequenced, with the following aims: (i) to describe the characteristics of cp genomes and compare these with other red algal groups; (ii) to infer the phylogenetic relationships among these members to better understand the infra-ordinal classification. Cp genomes of Batrachospermales are large, with several cases of gene loss, they are gene-dense (high gene content for the genome size and short intergenic regions) and have highly conserved gene order. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated nucleotide genome data roughly supports the current taxonomic system for the order. Comparative analyses confirm data for members of the class Florideophyceae that cp genomes in Batrachospermales is highly conserved, with little variation in gene composition. However, relevant new features were revealed in our study: genome sizes in members of Batrachospermales are close to the lowest values reported for Florideophyceae; differences in cp genome size within the order are large in comparison with other orders (Ceramiales, Gelidiales, Gracilariales, Hildenbrandiales, and Nemaliales); and members of Batrachospermales have the lowest number of protein-coding genes among the Florideophyceae. In terms of gene loss, apcF, which encodes the allophycocyanin beta subunit, is absent in all sequenced taxa of Batrachospermales. We reinforce that the interordinal relationships between the freshwater orders Batrachospermales and Thoreales within the Nemaliophycidae is not well resolved due to limited taxon sampling. © 2017 Phycological Society of America.

  5. Divergent gene expression in the conserved dauer stage of the nematodes Pristionchus pacificus and Caenorhabditis elegans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinha Amit

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background An organism can respond to changing environmental conditions by adjusting gene regulation and by forming alternative phenotypes. In nematodes, these mechanisms are coupled because many species will form dauer larvae, a stress-resistant and non-aging developmental stage, when exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions, and execute gene expression programs that have been selected for the survival of the animal in the wild. These dauer larvae represent an environmentally induced, homologous developmental stage across many nematode species, sharing conserved morphological and physiological properties. Hence it can be expected that some core components of the associated transcriptional program would be conserved across species, while others might diverge over the course of evolution. However, transcriptional and metabolic analysis of dauer development has been largely restricted to Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we use a transcriptomic approach to compare the dauer stage in the evolutionary model system Pristionchus pacificus with the dauer stage in C. elegans. Results We have employed Agilent microarrays, which represent 20,446 P. pacificus and 20,143 C. elegans genes to show an unexpected divergence in the expression profiles of these two nematodes in dauer and dauer exit samples. P. pacificus and C. elegans differ in the dynamics and function of genes that are differentially expressed. We find that only a small number of orthologous gene pairs show similar expression pattern in the dauers of the two species, while the non-orthologous fraction of genes is a major contributor to the active transcriptome in dauers. Interestingly, many of the genes acquired by horizontal gene transfer and orphan genes in P. pacificus, are differentially expressed suggesting that these genes are of evolutionary and functional importance. Conclusion Our data set provides a catalog for future functional investigations and indicates novel insight

  6. Highly conserved non-coding sequences are associated with vertebrate development.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Woolfe

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available In addition to protein coding sequence, the human genome contains a significant amount of regulatory DNA, the identification of which is proving somewhat recalcitrant to both in silico and functional methods. An approach that has been used with some success is comparative sequence analysis, whereby equivalent genomic regions from different organisms are compared in order to identify both similarities and differences. In general, similarities in sequence between highly divergent organisms imply functional constraint. We have used a whole-genome comparison between humans and the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes, to identify nearly 1,400 highly conserved non-coding sequences. Given the evolutionary divergence between these species, it is likely that these sequences are found in, and furthermore are essential to, all vertebrates. Most, and possibly all, of these sequences are located in and around genes that act as developmental regulators. Some of these sequences are over 90% identical across more than 500 bases, being more highly conserved than coding sequence between these two species. Despite this, we cannot find any similar sequences in invertebrate genomes. In order to begin to functionally test this set of sequences, we have used a rapid in vivo assay system using zebrafish embryos that allows tissue-specific enhancer activity to be identified. Functional data is presented for highly conserved non-coding sequences associated with four unrelated developmental regulators (SOX21, PAX6, HLXB9, and SHH, in order to demonstrate the suitability of this screen to a wide range of genes and expression patterns. Of 25 sequence elements tested around these four genes, 23 show significant enhancer activity in one or more tissues. We have identified a set of non-coding sequences that are highly conserved throughout vertebrates. They are found in clusters across the human genome, principally around genes that are implicated in the regulation of development

  7. The invasive MED/Q Bemisia tabaci genome: a tale of gene loss and gene gain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteflies are a group of invasive crop pests that impact global agriculture. An analysis was conducted to compare draft genomes of two whitefly strains, which demonstrated the relative conserved gene order, but a number of genes were either novel (added) or omitted (deleted) between genomes. This...

  8. Comparative genome analysis of PHB gene family reveals deep evolutionary origins and diverse gene function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di, Chao; Xu, Wenying; Su, Zhen; Yuan, Joshua S

    2010-10-07

    PHB (Prohibitin) gene family is involved in a variety of functions important for different biological processes. PHB genes are ubiquitously present in divergent species from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. Human PHB genes have been found to be associated with various diseases. Recent studies by our group and others have shown diverse function of PHB genes in plants for development, senescence, defence, and others. Despite the importance of the PHB gene family, no comprehensive gene family analysis has been carried to evaluate the relatedness of PHB genes across different species. In order to better guide the gene function analysis and understand the evolution of the PHB gene family, we therefore carried out the comparative genome analysis of the PHB genes across different kingdoms. The relatedness, motif distribution, and intron/exon distribution all indicated that PHB genes is a relatively conserved gene family. The PHB genes can be classified into 5 classes and each class have a very deep evolutionary origin. The PHB genes within the class maintained the same motif patterns during the evolution. With Arabidopsis as the model species, we found that PHB gene intron/exon structure and domains are also conserved during the evolution. Despite being a conserved gene family, various gene duplication events led to the expansion of the PHB genes. Both segmental and tandem gene duplication were involved in Arabidopsis PHB gene family expansion. However, segmental duplication is predominant in Arabidopsis. Moreover, most of the duplicated genes experienced neofunctionalization. The results highlighted that PHB genes might be involved in important functions so that the duplicated genes are under the evolutionary pressure to derive new function. PHB gene family is a conserved gene family and accounts for diverse but important biological functions based on the similar molecular mechanisms. The highly diverse biological function indicated that more research needs to be carried out

  9. A second-order iterative implicit-explicit hybrid scheme for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dai, Wenlong; Woodward, P.R.

    1996-01-01

    An iterative implicit-explicit hybrid scheme is proposed for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Each wave in a system may be implicitly, or explicitly, or partially implicitly and partially explicitly treated depending on its associated Courant number in each numerical cell, and the scheme is able to smoothly switch between implicit and explicit calculations. The scheme is of Godunov-type in both explicit and implicit regimes, is in a strict conservation form, and is accurate to second-order in both space and time for all Courant numbers. The computer code for the scheme is easy to vectorize. Multicolors proposed in this paper may reduce the number of iterations required to reach a converged solution by several orders for a large time step. The feature of the scheme is shown through numerical examples. 38 refs., 12 figs

  10. Lie symmetry analysis and conservation laws for the time fractional fourth-order evolution equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Li

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we study Lie symmetry analysis and conservation laws for the time fractional nonlinear fourth-order evolution equation. Using the method of Lie point symmetry, we provide the associated vector fields, and derive the similarity reductions of the equation, respectively. The method can be applied wisely and efficiently to get the reduced fractional ordinary differential equations based on the similarity reductions. Finally, by using the nonlinear self-adjointness method and Riemann-Liouville time-fractional derivative operator as well as Euler-Lagrange operator, the conservation laws of the equation are obtained.

  11. Evolutionary dynamics of a conserved sequence motif in the ribosomal genes of the ciliate Paramecium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lynch Michael

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In protozoa, the identification of preserved motifs by comparative genomics is often impeded by difficulties to generate reliable alignments for non-coding sequences. Moreover, the evolutionary dynamics of regulatory elements in 3' untranslated regions (both in protozoa and metazoa remains a virtually unexplored issue. Results By screening Paramecium tetraurelia's 3' untranslated regions for 8-mers that were previously found to be preserved in mammalian 3' UTRs, we detect and characterize a motif that is distinctly conserved in the ribosomal genes of this ciliate. The motif appears to be conserved across Paramecium aurelia species but is absent from the ribosomal genes of four additional non-Paramecium species surveyed, including another ciliate, Tetrahymena thermophila. Motif-free ribosomal genes retain fewer paralogs in the genome and appear to be lost more rapidly relative to motif-containing genes. Features associated with the discovered preserved motif are consistent with this 8-mer playing a role in post-transcriptional regulation. Conclusions Our observations 1 shed light on the evolution of a putative regulatory motif across large phylogenetic distances; 2 are expected to facilitate the understanding of the modulation of ribosomal genes expression in Paramecium; and 3 reveal a largely unexplored--and presumably not restricted to Paramecium--association between the presence/absence of a DNA motif and the evolutionary fate of its host genes.

  12. An evolutionarily conserved gene, FUWA, plays a role in determining panicle architecture, grain shape and grain weight in rice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jun; Gao, He; Zheng, Xiao-Ming; Jin, Mingna; Weng, Jian-Feng; Ma, Jin; Ren, Yulong; Zhou, Kunneng; Wang, Qi; Wang, Jie; Wang, Jiu-Lin; Zhang, Xin; Cheng, Zhijun; Wu, Chuanyin; Wang, Haiyang; Wan, Jian-Min

    2015-08-01

    Plant breeding relies on creation of novel allelic combinations for desired traits. Identification and utilization of beneficial alleles, rare alleles and evolutionarily conserved genes in the germplasm (referred to as 'hidden' genes) provide an effective approach to achieve this goal. Here we show that a chemically induced null mutation in an evolutionarily conserved gene, FUWA, alters multiple important agronomic traits in rice, including panicle architecture, grain shape and grain weight. FUWA encodes an NHL domain-containing protein, with preferential expression in the root meristem, shoot apical meristem and inflorescences, where it restricts excessive cell division. Sequence analysis revealed that FUWA has undergone a bottleneck effect, and become fixed in landraces and modern cultivars during domestication and breeding. We further confirm a highly conserved role of FUWA homologs in determining panicle architecture and grain development in rice, maize and sorghum through genetic transformation. Strikingly, knockdown of the FUWA transcription level by RNA interference results in an erect panicle and increased grain size in both indica and japonica genetic backgrounds. This study illustrates an approach to create new germplasm with improved agronomic traits for crop breeding by tapping into evolutionary conserved genes. © 2015 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Remarkable sequence conservation of the last intron in the PKD1 gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodova, Marianna; Islam, M Rafiq; Peterson, Kenneth R; Calvet, James P

    2003-10-01

    The last intron of the PKD1 gene (intron 45) was found to have exceptionally high sequence conservation across four mammalian species: human, mouse, rat, and dog. This conservation did not extend to the comparable intron in pufferfish. Pairwise comparisons for intron 45 showed 91% identity (human vs. dog) to 100% identity (mouse vs. rat) for an average for all four species of 94% identity. In contrast, introns 43 and 44 of the PKD1 gene had average pairwise identities of 57% and 54%, and exons 43, 44, and 45 and the coding region of exon 46 had average pairwise identities of 80%, 84%, 82%, and 80%. Intron 45 is 90 to 95 bp in length, with the major region of sequence divergence being in a central 4-bp to 9-bp variable region. RNA secondary structure analysis of intron 45 predicts a branching stem-loop structure in which the central variable region lies in one loop and the putative branch point sequence lies in another loop, suggesting that the intron adopts a specific stem-loop structure that may be important for its removal. Although intron 45 appears to conform to the class of small, G-triplet-containing introns that are spliced by a mechanism utilizing intron definition, its high sequence conservation may be a reflection of constraints imposed by a unique mechanism that coordinates splicing of this last PKD1 intron with polyadenylation.

  14. Functional conservation of the Drosophila gooseberry gene and its evolutionary alleles.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Liu

    Full Text Available The Drosophila Pax gene gooseberry (gsb is required for development of the larval cuticle and CNS, survival to adulthood, and male fertility. These functions can be rescued in gsb mutants by two gsb evolutionary alleles, gsb-Prd and gsb-Pax3, which express the Drosophila Paired and mouse Pax3 proteins under the control of gooseberry cis-regulatory region. Therefore, both Paired and Pax3 proteins have conserved all the Gsb functions that are required for survival of embryos to fertile adults, despite the divergent primary sequences in their C-terminal halves. As gsb-Prd and gsb-Pax3 uncover a gsb function involved in male fertility, construction of evolutionary alleles may provide a powerful strategy to dissect hitherto unknown gene functions. Our results provide further evidence for the essential role of cis-regulatory regions in the functional diversification of duplicated genes during evolution.

  15. Analysis of the conservation of synteny between Fugu and human chromosome 12

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koop Ben F

    2003-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The pufferfish Fugu rubripes (Fugu with its compact genome is increasingly recognized as an important vertebrate model for comparative genomic studies. In particular, large regions of conserved synteny between human and Fugu genomes indicate its utility to identify disease-causing genes. The human chromosome 12p12 is frequently deleted in various hematological malignancies and solid tumors, but the actual tumor suppressor gene remains unidentified. Results We investigated approximately 200 kb of the genomic region surrounding the ETV6 locus in Fugu (fETV6 in order to find conserved functional features, such as genes or regulatory regions, that could give insight into the nature of the genes targeted by deletions in human cancer cells. Seven genes were identified near the fETV6 locus. We found that the synteny with human chromosome 12 was conserved, but extensive genomic rearrangements occurred between the Fugu and human ETV6 loci. Conclusion This comparative analysis led to the identification of previously uncharacterized genes in the human genome and some potentially important regulatory sequences as well. This is a good indication that the analysis of the compact Fugu genome will be valuable to identify functional features that have been conserved throughout the evolution of vertebrates.

  16. Clusters of conserved beta cell marker genes for assessment of beta cell phenotype

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martens, Geert A; Jiang, Lei; Hellemans, Karine H

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to establish a gene expression blueprint of pancreatic beta cells conserved from rodents to humans and to evaluate its applicability to assess shifts in the beta cell differentiated state. Genome-wide mRNA expression profiles of isolated beta cells were compared to those...... of a large panel of other tissue and cell types, and transcripts with beta cell-abundant and -selective expression were identified. Iteration of this analysis in mouse, rat and human tissues generated a panel of conserved beta cell biomarkers. This panel was then used to compare isolated versus laser capture...

  17. 75 FR 13120 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-18

    ... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to Samsung Electronics America... (Case No. RF-011) that grants to Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (Samsung) a waiver from the DOE... humidity sensors and adaptive control anti-sweat heaters. Under today's decision and order, Samsung shall...

  18. 75 FR 45623 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-03

    ... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to Samsung Electronics America...-014) that grants to Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (Samsung) a waiver from the DOE electric... decision and order, Samsung shall be required to test and rate these refrigerator- freezers equipped with...

  19. Discovery of Conservation and Diversification of miR171 Genes by Phylogenetic Analysis based on Global Genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xudong Zhu

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The microRNA171 (miR171 family is widely distributed and highly conserved in a range of species and plays critical roles in regulating plant growth and development through repressing expression of ( transcription factors. However, information on the evolutionary conservation and functional diversification of the miRNA171 family members remains scanty. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships among miR171 precursor and mature sequences so as to investigate the extent and degree of evolutionary conservation of miR171 in (L. Heynh. (ath, grape ( L. (vvi, poplar ( Torr. & A.Gray ex Hook. (ptc, and rice ( L. (osa. Despite strong conservation of over 80%, some mature miR171 sequences, such as , and and , -, and -, have undergone critical sequence variation, leading to functional diversification, since they target non gene transcript(s. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a combination of old ancestral relationships and recent lineage-specific diversification in the miR171 family within the four model plants. The -regulatory motifs on the upstream promoter sequences of genes were highly divergent and shared some similar elements, indicating their possible contribution to the functional variation observed within the miR171 family. This study will buttress our understanding of the functional differentiation of miRNAs and the relationships of miRNA–target pairs based on the evolutionary history of genes.

  20. High-order conservative discretizations for some cases of the rigid body motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kozlov, Roman

    2008-01-01

    Modified vector fields can be used to construct high-order structure-preserving numerical integrators for ordinary differential equations. In the present Letter we consider high-order integrators based on the implicit midpoint rule, which conserve quadratic first integrals. It is shown that these integrators are particularly suitable for the rigid body motion with an additional quadratic first integral. In this case high-order integrators preserve all four first integrals of motion. The approach is illustrated on the Lagrange top (a rotationally symmetric rigid body with a fixed point on the symmetry axis). The equations of motion are considered in the space fixed frame because in this frame Lagrange top admits a neat description. The Lagrange top motion includes the spherical pendulum and the planar pendulum, which swings in a vertical plane, as particular cases

  1. The third order correction on Hawking radiation and entropy conservation during black hole evaporation process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yan, Hao-Peng; Liu, Wen-Biao, E-mail: wbliu@bnu.edu.cn

    2016-08-10

    Using Parikh–Wilczek tunneling framework, we calculate the tunneling rate from a Schwarzschild black hole under the third order WKB approximation, and then obtain the expressions for emission spectrum and black hole entropy to the third order correction. The entropy contains four terms including the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy, the logarithmic term, the inverse area term, and the square of inverse area term. In addition, we analyse the correlation between sequential emissions under this approximation. It is shown that the entropy is conserved during the process of black hole evaporation, which consists with the request of quantum mechanics and implies the information is conserved during this process. We also compare the above result with that of pure thermal spectrum case, and find that the non-thermal correction played an important role.

  2. Lie symmetry analysis, conservation laws and exact solutions of the seventh-order time fractional Sawada–Kotera–Ito equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emrullah Yaşar

    Full Text Available In this paper Lie symmetry analysis of the seventh-order time fractional Sawada–Kotera–Ito (FSKI equation with Riemann–Liouville derivative is performed. Using the Lie point symmetries of FSKI equation, it is shown that it can be transformed into a nonlinear ordinary differential equation of fractional order with a new dependent variable. In the reduced equation the derivative is in Erdelyi–Kober sense. Furthermore, adapting the Ibragimov’s nonlocal conservation method to time fractional partial differential equations, we obtain conservation laws of the underlying equation. In addition, we construct some exact travelling wave solutions for the FSKI equation using the sub-equation method. Keywords: Fractional Sawada–Kotera–Ito equation, Lie symmetry, Riemann–Liouville fractional derivative, Conservation laws, Exact solutions

  3. Multi-species sequence comparison reveals conservation of ghrelin gene-derived splice variants encoding a truncated ghrelin peptide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seim, Inge; Jeffery, Penny L; Thomas, Patrick B; Walpole, Carina M; Maugham, Michelle; Fung, Jenny N T; Yap, Pei-Yi; O'Keeffe, Angela J; Lai, John; Whiteside, Eliza J; Herington, Adrian C; Chopin, Lisa K

    2016-06-01

    The peptide hormone ghrelin is a potent orexigen produced predominantly in the stomach. It has a number of other biological actions, including roles in appetite stimulation, energy balance, the stimulation of growth hormone release and the regulation of cell proliferation. Recently, several ghrelin gene splice variants have been described. Here, we attempted to identify conserved alternative splicing of the ghrelin gene by cross-species sequence comparisons. We identified a novel human exon 2-deleted variant and provide preliminary evidence that this splice variant and in1-ghrelin encode a C-terminally truncated form of the ghrelin peptide, termed minighrelin. These variants are expressed in humans and mice, demonstrating conservation of alternative splicing spanning 90 million years. Minighrelin appears to have similar actions to full-length ghrelin, as treatment with exogenous minighrelin peptide stimulates appetite and feeding in mice. Forced expression of the exon 2-deleted preproghrelin variant mirrors the effect of the canonical preproghrelin, stimulating cell proliferation and migration in the PC3 prostate cancer cell line. This is the first study to characterise an exon 2-deleted preproghrelin variant and to demonstrate sequence conservation of ghrelin gene-derived splice variants that encode a truncated ghrelin peptide. This adds further impetus for studies into the alternative splicing of the ghrelin gene and the function of novel ghrelin peptides in vertebrates.

  4. Integrating gene flow, crop biology, and farm management in on-farm conservation of avocado (Persea americana, Lauraceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birnbaum, Kenneth; Desalle, Rob; Peters, Charles M; Benfey, Philip N

    2003-11-01

    Maintaining crop diversity on farms where cultivars can evolve is a conservation goal, but few tools are available to assess the long-term maintenance of genetic diversity on farms. One important issue for on-farm conservation is gene flow from crops with a narrow genetic base into related populations that are genetically diverse. In a case study of avocado (Persea americana var. americana) in one of its centers of diversity (San Jerónimo, Costa Rica), we used 10 DNA microsatellite markers in a parentage analysis to estimate gene flow from commercialized varieties into a traditional crop population. Five commercialized genotypes comprised nearly 40% of orchard trees, but they contributed only about 14.5% of the gametes to the youngest cohort of trees. Although commercialized varieties and the diverse population were often planted on the same farm, planting patterns appeared to keep the two types of trees separated on small scales, possibly explaining the limited gene flow. In a simulation that combined gene flow estimates, crop biology, and graft tree management, loss of allelic diversity was less than 10% over 150 yr, and selection was effective in retaining desirable alleles in the diverse subpopulation. Simulations also showed that, in addition to gene flow, managing the genetic makeup and life history traits of the invasive commercialized varieties could have a significant impact on genetic diversity in the target population. The results support the feasibility of on-farm crop conservation, but simulations also showed that higher levels of gene flow could lead to severe losses of genetic diversity even if farmers continue to plant diverse varieties.

  5. Structure of genes for dermaseptins B, antimicrobial peptides from frog skin. Exon 1-encoded prepropeptide is conserved in genes for peptides of highly different structures and activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vouille, V; Amiche, M; Nicolas, P

    1997-09-01

    We cloned the genes of two members of the dermaseptin family, broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides isolated from the skin of the arboreal frog Phyllomedusa bicolor. The dermaseptin gene Drg2 has a 2-exon coding structure interrupted by a small 137-bp intron, wherein exon 1 encoded a 22-residue hydrophobic signal peptide and the first three amino acids of the acidic propiece; exon 2 contained the 18 additional acidic residues of the propiece plus a typical prohormone processing signal Lys-Arg and a 32-residue dermaseptin progenitor sequence. The dermaseptin genes Drg2 and Drg1g2 have conserved sequences at both untranslated ends and in the first and second coding exons. In contrast, Drg1g2 comprises a third coding exon for a short version of the acidic propiece and a second dermaseptin progenitor sequence. Structural conservation between the two genes suggests that Drg1g2 arose recently from an ancestral Drg2-like gene through amplification of part of the second coding exon and 3'-untranslated region. Analysis of the cDNAs coding precursors for several frog skin peptides of highly different structures and activities demonstrates that the signal peptides and part of the acidic propieces are encoded by conserved nucleotides encompassed by the first coding exon of the dermaseptin genes. The organization of the genes that belong to this family, with the signal peptide and the progenitor sequence on separate exons, permits strikingly different peptides to be directed into the secretory pathway. The recruitment of such a homologous 'secretory' exon by otherwise non-homologous genes may have been an early event in the evolution of amphibian.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. A high-order relaxation method with projective integration for solving nonlinear systems of hyperbolic conservation laws

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lafitte, Pauline; Melis, Ward; Samaey, Giovanni

    2017-07-01

    We present a general, high-order, fully explicit relaxation scheme which can be applied to any system of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws in multiple dimensions. The scheme consists of two steps. In a first (relaxation) step, the nonlinear hyperbolic conservation law is approximated by a kinetic equation with stiff BGK source term. Then, this kinetic equation is integrated in time using a projective integration method. After taking a few small (inner) steps with a simple, explicit method (such as direct forward Euler) to damp out the stiff components of the solution, the time derivative is estimated and used in an (outer) Runge-Kutta method of arbitrary order. We show that, with an appropriate choice of inner step size, the time step restriction on the outer time step is similar to the CFL condition for the hyperbolic conservation law. Moreover, the number of inner time steps is also independent of the stiffness of the BGK source term. We discuss stability and consistency, and illustrate with numerical results (linear advection, Burgers' equation and the shallow water and Euler equations) in one and two spatial dimensions.

  8. Conserved loci of leaf and stem rust fungi of wheat share synteny interrupted by lineage-specific influx of repeat elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fellers John P

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Wheat leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks; Pt and stem rust fungi (P. graminis f.sp. tritici; Pgt are significant economic pathogens having similar host ranges and life cycles, but different alternate hosts. The Pt genome, currently estimated at 135 Mb, is significantly larger than Pgt, at 88 Mb, but the reason for the expansion is unknown. Three genomic loci of Pt conserved proteins were characterized to gain insight into gene content, genome complexity and expansion. Results A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC library was made from P. triticina race 1, BBBD and probed with Pt homologs of genes encoding two predicted Pgt secreted effectors and a DNA marker mapping to a region of avirulence. Three BACs, 103 Kb, 112 Kb, and 166 Kb, were sequenced, assembled, and open reading frames were identified. Orthologous genes were identified in Pgt and local conservation of gene order (microsynteny was observed. Pairwise protein identities ranged from 26 to 99%. One Pt BAC, containing a RAD18 ortholog, shares syntenic regions with two Pgt scaffolds, which could represent both haplotypes of Pgt. Gene sequence is diverged between the species as well as within the two haplotypes. In all three BAC clones, gene order is locally conserved, however, gene shuffling has occurred relative to Pgt. These regions are further diverged by differing insertion loci of LTR-retrotransposon, Gypsy, Copia, Mutator, and Harbinger mobile elements. Uncharacterized Pt open reading frames were also found; these proteins are high in lysine and similar to multiple proteins in Pgt. Conclusions The three Pt loci are conserved in gene order, with a range of gene sequence divergence. Conservation of predicted haustoria expressed secreted protein genes between Pt and Pgt is extended to the more distant poplar rust, Melampsora larici-populina. The loci also reveal that genome expansion in Pt is in part due to higher occurrence of repeat-elements in this species.

  9. Evolutionary history of the recruitment of conserved developmental genes in association to the formation and diversification of a novel trait

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirai Leila T

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The origin and modification of novel traits are important aspects of biological diversification. Studies combining concepts and approaches of developmental genetics and evolutionary biology have uncovered many examples of the recruitment, or co-option, of genes conserved across lineages for the formation of novel, lineage-restricted traits. However, little is known about the evolutionary history of the recruitment of those genes, and of the relationship between them -for example, whether the co-option involves whole or parts of existing networks, or whether it occurs by redeployment of individual genes with de novo rewiring. We use a model novel trait, color pattern elements on butterfly wings called eyespots, to explore these questions. Eyespots have greatly diversified under natural and sexual selection, and their formation involves genetic circuitries shared across insects. Results We investigated the evolutionary history of the recruitment and co-recruitment of four conserved transcription regulators to the larval wing disc region where circular pattern elements develop. The co-localization of Antennapedia, Notch, Distal-less, and Spalt with presumptive (eyespot organizers was examined in 13 butterfly species, providing the largest comparative dataset available for the system. We found variation between families, between subfamilies, and between tribes. Phylogenetic reconstructions by parsimony and maximum likelihood methods revealed an unambiguous evolutionary history only for Antennapedia, with a resolved single origin of eyespot-associated expression, and many homoplastic events for Notch, Distal-less, and Spalt. The flexibility in the (co-recruitment of the targeted genes includes cases where different gene combinations are associated with morphologically similar eyespots, as well as cases where identical protein combinations are associated with very different phenotypes. Conclusions The evolutionary history of gene

  10. Inversions and the dynamics of eukaryotic gene order.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huynen, M.A.; Snel, B.; Bork, P.

    2001-01-01

    Comparisons of the gene order in closely related genomes reveal a major role for inversions in the genome shuffling process. In contrast to prokaryotes, where the inversions are predominantly large, half of the inversions between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans appear to be small,

  11. An evolutionarily conserved gene family encodes proton-selective ion channels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Yu-Hsiang; Cooper, Alexander J; Teng, Bochuan; Chang, Rui B; Artiga, Daniel J; Turner, Heather N; Mulhall, Eric M; Ye, Wenlei; Smith, Andrew D; Liman, Emily R

    2018-03-02

    Ion channels form the basis for cellular electrical signaling. Despite the scores of genetically identified ion channels selective for other monatomic ions, only one type of proton-selective ion channel has been found in eukaryotic cells. By comparative transcriptome analysis of mouse taste receptor cells, we identified Otopetrin1 (OTOP1), a protein required for development of gravity-sensing otoconia in the vestibular system, as forming a proton-selective ion channel. We found that murine OTOP1 is enriched in acid-detecting taste receptor cells and is required for their zinc-sensitive proton conductance. Two related murine genes, Otop2 and Otop3 , and a Drosophila ortholog also encode proton channels. Evolutionary conservation of the gene family and its widespread tissue distribution suggest a broad role for proton channels in physiology and pathophysiology. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

  12. Conservation and gene banking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plant conservation has several objectives the main ones include safeguarding our food supply, preserving crop wild relatives for breeding and selection of new cultivars, providing material for industrial and pharmaceutical uses and preserving the beauty and diversity of our flora for generations to ...

  13. An evolutionary conserved region (ECR in the human dopamine receptor D4 gene supports reporter gene expression in primary cultures derived from the rat cortex

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    Haddley Kate

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Detecting functional variants contributing to diversity of behaviour is crucial for dissecting genetics of complex behaviours. At a molecular level, characterisation of variation in exons has been studied as they are easily identified in the current genome annotation although the functional consequences are less well understood; however, it has been difficult to prioritise regions of non-coding DNA in which genetic variation could also have significant functional consequences. Comparison of multiple vertebrate genomes has allowed the identification of non-coding evolutionary conserved regions (ECRs, in which the degree of conservation can be comparable with exonic regions suggesting functional significance. Results We identified ECRs at the dopamine receptor D4 gene locus, an important gene for human behaviours. The most conserved non-coding ECR (D4ECR1 supported high reporter gene expression in primary cultures derived from neonate rat frontal cortex. Computer aided analysis of the sequence of the D4ECR1 indicated the potential transcription factors that could modulate its function. D4ECR1 contained multiple consensus sequences for binding the transcription factor Sp1, a factor previously implicated in DRD4 expression. Co-transfection experiments demonstrated that overexpression of Sp1 significantly decreased the activity of the D4ECR1 in vitro. Conclusion Bioinformatic analysis complemented by functional analysis of the DRD4 gene locus has identified a a strong enhancer that functions in neurons and b a transcription factor that may modulate the function of that enhancer.

  14. Characterization of Conserved and Nonconserved Imprinted Genes in Swine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genomic imprinting results in the silencing of a subset of mammalian alleles due to parent-of-origin inheritance. Due to the nature of their expression patterns they play a critical role in placental and early embryonic development. In order to increase our understanding of imprinted genes specifi...

  15. Species-specific evolution of class I MHC genes in iguanas (order: Squamata; subfamily: Iguaninae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaberman, Scott; Caccone, Adalgisa

    2008-07-01

    Over the last few decades, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has emerged as a model for understanding the influence of natural selection on genetic diversity in populations as well as for investigating the genetic basis of host resistance to pathogens. However, many vertebrate taxa remain underrepresented in the field of MHC research, preventing its application to studies of disease, evolution, and conservation genetics in these groups. This is particularly true for squamates, which are by far the most diversified order of non-avian reptiles but have not been the subject of any recent MHC studies. In this paper, we present MHC class I complementary DNA data from three squamate species in the subfamily Iguaninae (iguanas): the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), the Galápagos land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus), and the green iguana (Iguana iguana). All sequences obtained are related to the few published class I genes from other squamates. There is evidence for multiple loci in each species, and the conserved alpha-3 domain appears to be evolving in a species-specific manner. Conversely, there is some indication of shared polymorphism between species in the peptide-binding alpha-1 and alpha-2 domains, suggesting that these two regions have different phylogenetic histories. The great similarity between alpha-3 sequences in marine iguanas in particular suggests that concerted evolution is acting to homogenize class I loci within species. However, while less likely, the data are also compatible with a birth and death model of evolution.

  16. Conserved-peptide upstream open reading frames (CPuORFs are associated with regulatory genes in angiosperms

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    Richard A Jorgensen

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Upstream open reading frames (uORFs are common in eukaryotic transcripts, but those that encode conserved peptides (CPuORFs occur in less than 1% of transcripts. The peptides encoded by three plant CPuORF families are known to control translation of the downstream ORF in response to a small signal molecule (sucrose, polyamines and phosphocholine. In flowering plants, transcription factors are statistically over-represented among genes that possess CPuORFs, and in general it appeared that many CPuORF genes also had other regulatory functions, though the significance of this suggestion was uncertain (Hayden and Jorgensen, 2007. Five years later the literature provides much more information on the functions of many CPuORF genes. Here we reassess the functions of 27 known CPuORF gene families and find that 22 of these families play a variety of different regulatory roles, from transcriptional control to protein turnover, and from small signal molecules to signal transduction kinases. Clearly then, there is indeed a strong association of CPuORFs with regulatory genes. In addition, 16 of these families play key roles in a variety of different biological processes. Most strikingly, the core sucrose response network includes three different CPuORFs, creating the potential for sophisticated balancing of the network in response to three different molecular inputs. We propose that the function of most CPuORFs is to modulate translation of a downstream major ORF (mORF in response to a signal molecule recognized by the conserved peptide and that because the mORFs of CPuORF genes generally encode regulatory proteins, many of them centrally important in the biology of plants, CPuORFs play key roles in balancing such regulatory networks.

  17. Landscape genetics as a tool for conservation planning: predicting the effects of landscape change on gene flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Strien, Maarten J; Keller, Daniela; Holderegger, Rolf; Ghazoul, Jaboury; Kienast, Felix; Bolliger, Janine

    2014-03-01

    For conservation managers, it is important to know whether landscape changes lead to increasing or decreasing gene flow. Although the discipline of landscape genetics assesses the influence of landscape elements on gene flow, no studies have yet used landscape-genetic models to predict gene flow resulting from landscape change. A species that has already been severely affected by landscape change is the large marsh grasshopper (Stethophyma grossum), which inhabits moist areas in fragmented agricultural landscapes in Switzerland. From transects drawn between all population pairs within maximum dispersal distance (landscape composition as well as some measures of habitat configuration. Additionally, a complete sampling of all populations in our study area allowed incorporating measures of population topology. These measures together with the landscape metrics formed the predictor variables in linear models with gene flow as response variable (F(ST) and mean pairwise assignment probability). With a modified leave-one-out cross-validation approach, we selected the model with the highest predictive accuracy. With this model, we predicted gene flow under several landscape-change scenarios, which simulated construction, rezoning or restoration projects, and the establishment of a new population. For some landscape-change scenarios, significant increase or decrease in gene flow was predicted, while for others little change was forecast. Furthermore, we found that the measures of population topology strongly increase model fit in landscape genetic analysis. This study demonstrates the use of predictive landscape-genetic models in conservation and landscape planning.

  18. A Second-Order Maximum Principle Preserving Lagrange Finite Element Technique for Nonlinear Scalar Conservation Equations

    KAUST Repository

    Guermond, Jean-Luc; Nazarov, Murtazo; Popov, Bojan; Yang, Yong

    2014-01-01

    © 2014 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. This paper proposes an explicit, (at least) second-order, maximum principle satisfying, Lagrange finite element method for solving nonlinear scalar conservation equations. The technique is based on a new viscous bilinear form introduced in Guermond and Nazarov [Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg., 272 (2014), pp. 198-213], a high-order entropy viscosity method, and the Boris-Book-Zalesak flux correction technique. The algorithm works for arbitrary meshes in any space dimension and for all Lipschitz fluxes. The formal second-order accuracy of the method and its convergence properties are tested on a series of linear and nonlinear benchmark problems.

  19. A high-order finite-volume method for hyperbolic conservation laws on locally-refined grids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCorquodale, Peter; Colella, Phillip

    2011-01-28

    We present a fourth-order accurate finite-volume method for solving time-dependent hyperbolic systems of conservation laws on Cartesian grids with multiple levels of refinement. The underlying method is a generalization of that in [5] to nonlinear systems, and is based on using fourth-order accurate quadratures for computing fluxes on faces, combined with fourth-order accurate Runge?Kutta discretization in time. To interpolate boundary conditions at refinement boundaries, we interpolate in time in a manner consistent with the individual stages of the Runge-Kutta method, and interpolate in space by solving a least-squares problem over a neighborhood of each target cell for the coefficients of a cubic polynomial. The method also uses a variation on the extremum-preserving limiter in [8], as well as slope flattening and a fourth-order accurate artificial viscosity for strong shocks. We show that the resulting method is fourth-order accurate for smooth solutions, and is robust in the presence of complex combinations of shocks and smooth flows.

  20. Conservation, Divergence, and Genome-Wide Distribution of PAL and POX A Gene Families in Plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawal, H C; Singh, N K; Sharma, T R

    2013-01-01

    Genome-wide identification and phylogenetic and syntenic comparison were performed for the genes responsible for phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and peroxidase A (POX A) enzymes in nine plant species representing very diverse groups like legumes (Glycine max and Medicago truncatula), fruits (Vitis vinifera), cereals (Sorghum bicolor, Zea mays, and Oryza sativa), trees (Populus trichocarpa), and model dicot (Arabidopsis thaliana) and monocot (Brachypodium distachyon) species. A total of 87 and 1045 genes in PAL and POX A gene families, respectively, have been identified in these species. The phylogenetic and syntenic comparison along with motif distributions shows a high degree of conservation of PAL genes, suggesting that these genes may predate monocot/eudicot divergence. The POX A family genes, present in clusters at the subtelomeric regions of chromosomes, might be evolving and expanding with higher rate than the PAL gene family. Our analysis showed that during the expansion of POX A gene family, many groups and subgroups have evolved, resulting in a high level of functional divergence among monocots and dicots. These results will act as a first step toward the understanding of monocot/eudicot evolution and functional characterization of these gene families in the future.

  1. Conservation, Divergence, and Genome-Wide Distribution of PAL and POX A Gene Families in Plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. C. Rawal

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Genome-wide identification and phylogenetic and syntenic comparison were performed for the genes responsible for phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL and peroxidase A (POX A enzymes in nine plant species representing very diverse groups like legumes (Glycine max and Medicago truncatula, fruits (Vitis vinifera, cereals (Sorghum bicolor, Zea mays, and Oryza sativa, trees (Populus trichocarpa, and model dicot (Arabidopsis thaliana and monocot (Brachypodium distachyon species. A total of 87 and 1045 genes in PAL and POX A gene families, respectively, have been identified in these species. The phylogenetic and syntenic comparison along with motif distributions shows a high degree of conservation of PAL genes, suggesting that these genes may predate monocot/eudicot divergence. The POX A family genes, present in clusters at the subtelomeric regions of chromosomes, might be evolving and expanding with higher rate than the PAL gene family. Our analysis showed that during the expansion of POX A gene family, many groups and subgroups have evolved, resulting in a high level of functional divergence among monocots and dicots. These results will act as a first step toward the understanding of monocot/eudicot evolution and functional characterization of these gene families in the future.

  2. New Genome Similarity Measures based on Conserved Gene Adjacencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doerr, Daniel; Kowada, Luis Antonio B; Araujo, Eloi; Deshpande, Shachi; Dantas, Simone; Moret, Bernard M E; Stoye, Jens

    2017-06-01

    Many important questions in molecular biology, evolution, and biomedicine can be addressed by comparative genomic approaches. One of the basic tasks when comparing genomes is the definition of measures of similarity (or dissimilarity) between two genomes, for example, to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships between species. The power of different genome comparison methods varies with the underlying formal model of a genome. The simplest models impose the strong restriction that each genome under study must contain the same genes, each in exactly one copy. More realistic models allow several copies of a gene in a genome. One speaks of gene families, and comparative genomic methods that allow this kind of input are called gene family-based. The most powerful-but also most complex-models avoid this preprocessing of the input data and instead integrate the family assignment within the comparative analysis. Such methods are called gene family-free. In this article, we study an intermediate approach between family-based and family-free genomic similarity measures. Introducing this simpler model, called gene connections, we focus on the combinatorial aspects of gene family-free genome comparison. While in most cases, the computational costs to the general family-free case are the same, we also find an instance where the gene connections model has lower complexity. Within the gene connections model, we define three variants of genomic similarity measures that have different expression powers. We give polynomial-time algorithms for two of them, while we show NP-hardness for the third, most powerful one. We also generalize the measures and algorithms to make them more robust against recent local disruptions in gene order. Our theoretical findings are supported by experimental results, proving the applicability and performance of our newly defined similarity measures.

  3. Analysis of gene evolution and metabolic pathways using the Candida Gene Order Browser

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Fitzpatrick, David A

    2010-05-10

    Abstract Background Candida species are the most common cause of opportunistic fungal infection worldwide. Recent sequencing efforts have provided a wealth of Candida genomic data. We have developed the Candida Gene Order Browser (CGOB), an online tool that aids comparative syntenic analyses of Candida species. CGOB incorporates all available Candida clade genome sequences including two Candida albicans isolates (SC5314 and WO-1) and 8 closely related species (Candida dubliniensis, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Lodderomyces elongisporus, Debaryomyces hansenii, Pichia stipitis, Candida guilliermondii and Candida lusitaniae). Saccharomyces cerevisiae is also included as a reference genome. Results CGOB assignments of homology were manually curated based on sequence similarity and synteny. In total CGOB includes 65617 genes arranged into 13625 homology columns. We have also generated improved Candida gene sets by merging\\/removing partial genes in each genome. Interrogation of CGOB revealed that the majority of tandemly duplicated genes are under strong purifying selection in all Candida species. We identified clusters of adjacent genes involved in the same metabolic pathways (such as catabolism of biotin, galactose and N-acetyl glucosamine) and we showed that some clusters are species or lineage-specific. We also identified one example of intron gain in C. albicans. Conclusions Our analysis provides an important resource that is now available for the Candida community. CGOB is available at http:\\/\\/cgob.ucd.ie.

  4. 75 FR 62127 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-07

    ... requirements for covered consumer products when (1) the petitioner's basic model for which the petition for... petition, discussed below. Whirlpool claims that water softeners can prevent consumer behaviors that... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to Whirlpool Corporation From...

  5. Conserved syntenic clusters of protein coding genes are missing in birds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lovell, Peter V; Wirthlin, Morgan; Wilhelm, Larry; Minx, Patrick; Lazar, Nathan H; Carbone, Lucia; Warren, Wesley C; Mello, Claudio V

    2014-01-01

    Birds are one of the most highly successful and diverse groups of vertebrates, having evolved a number of distinct characteristics, including feathers and wings, a sturdy lightweight skeleton and unique respiratory and urinary/excretion systems. However, the genetic basis of these traits is poorly understood. Using comparative genomics based on extensive searches of 60 avian genomes, we have found that birds lack approximately 274 protein coding genes that are present in the genomes of most vertebrate lineages and are for the most part organized in conserved syntenic clusters in non-avian sauropsids and in humans. These genes are located in regions associated with chromosomal rearrangements, and are largely present in crocodiles, suggesting that their loss occurred subsequent to the split of dinosaurs/birds from crocodilians. Many of these genes are associated with lethality in rodents, human genetic disorders, or biological functions targeting various tissues. Functional enrichment analysis combined with orthogroup analysis and paralog searches revealed enrichments that were shared by non-avian species, present only in birds, or shared between all species. Together these results provide a clearer definition of the genetic background of extant birds, extend the findings of previous studies on missing avian genes, and provide clues about molecular events that shaped avian evolution. They also have implications for fields that largely benefit from avian studies, including development, immune system, oncogenesis, and brain function and cognition. With regards to the missing genes, birds can be considered ‘natural knockouts’ that may become invaluable model organisms for several human diseases.

  6. TOPAZ1, a novel germ cell-specific expressed gene conserved during evolution across vertebrates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrienne Baillet

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We had previously reported that the Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH approach was relevant for the isolation of new mammalian genes involved in oogenesis and early follicle development. Some of these transcripts might be potential new oocyte and granulosa cell markers. We have now characterized one of them, named TOPAZ1 for the Testis and Ovary-specific PAZ domain gene. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Sheep and mouse TOPAZ1 mRNA have 4,803 bp and 4,962 bp open reading frames (20 exons, respectively, and encode putative TOPAZ1 proteins containing 1,600 and 1653 amino acids. They possess PAZ and CCCH domains. In sheep, TOPAZ1 mRNA is preferentially expressed in females during fetal life with a peak during prophase I of meiosis, and in males during adulthood. In the mouse, Topaz1 is a germ cell-specific gene. TOPAZ1 protein is highly conserved in vertebrates and specifically expressed in mouse and sheep gonads. It is localized in the cytoplasm of germ cells from the sheep fetal ovary and mouse adult testis. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified a novel PAZ-domain protein that is abundantly expressed in the gonads during germ cell meiosis. The expression pattern of TOPAZ1, and its high degree of conservation, suggests that it may play an important role in germ cell development. Further characterization of TOPAZ1 may elucidate the mechanisms involved in gametogenesis, and particularly in the RNA silencing process in the germ line.

  7. The complete mitochondrial genome of the common sea slater, Ligia oceanica (Crustacea, Isopoda bears a novel gene order and unusual control region features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Podsiadlowski Lars

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sequence data and other characters from mitochondrial genomes (gene translocations, secondary structure of RNA molecules are useful in phylogenetic studies among metazoan animals from population to phylum level. Moreover, the comparison of complete mitochondrial sequences gives valuable information about the evolution of small genomes, e.g. about different mechanisms of gene translocation, gene duplication and gene loss, or concerning nucleotide frequency biases. The Peracarida (gammarids, isopods, etc. comprise about 21,000 species of crustaceans, living in many environments from deep sea floor to arid terrestrial habitats. Ligia oceanica is a terrestrial isopod living at rocky seashores of the european North Sea and Atlantic coastlines. Results The study reveals the first complete mitochondrial DNA sequence from a peracarid crustacean. The mitochondrial genome of Ligia oceanica is a circular double-stranded DNA molecule, with a size of 15,289 bp. It shows several changes in mitochondrial gene order compared to other crustacean species. An overview about mitochondrial gene order of all crustacean taxa yet sequenced is also presented. The largest non-coding part (the putative mitochondrial control region of the mitochondrial genome of Ligia oceanica is unexpectedly not AT-rich compared to the remainder of the genome. It bears two repeat regions (4× 10 bp and 3× 64 bp, and a GC-rich hairpin-like secondary structure. Some of the transfer RNAs show secondary structures which derive from the usual cloverleaf pattern. While some tRNA genes are putative targets for RNA editing, trnR could not be localized at all. Conclusion Gene order is not conserved among Peracarida, not even among isopods. The two isopod species Ligia oceanica and Idotea baltica show a similarly derived gene order, compared to the arthropod ground pattern and to the amphipod Parhyale hawaiiensis, suggesting that most of the translocation events were already

  8. Conservation and Sex-Specific Splicing of the transformer Gene in the Calliphorids Cochliomyia hominivorax, Cochliomyia macellaria and Lucilia sericata

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Fang; Vensko, Steven P.; Belikoff, Esther J.; Scott, Maxwell J.

    2013-01-01

    Transformer (TRA) promotes female development in several dipteran species including the Australian sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina, the Mediterranean fruit fly, housefly and Drosophila melanogaster. tra transcripts are sex-specifically spliced such that only the female form encodes full length functional protein. The presence of six predicted TRA/TRA2 binding sites in the sex-specific female intron of the L. cuprina gene suggested that tra splicing is auto-regulated as in medfly and housefly. With the aim of identifying conserved motifs that may play a role in tra sex-specific splicing, here we have isolated and characterized the tra gene from three additional blowfly species, L. sericata, Cochliomyia hominivorax and C. macellaria. The blowfly adult male and female transcripts differ in the choice of splice donor site in the first intron, with males using a site downstream of the site used in females. The tra genes all contain a single TRA/TRA2 site in the male exon and a cluster of four to five sites in the male intron. However, overall the sex-specific intron sequences are poorly conserved in closely related blowflies. The most conserved regions are around the exon/intron junctions, the 3′ end of the intron and near the cluster of TRA/TRA2 sites. We propose a model for sex specific regulation of tra splicing that incorporates the conserved features identified in this study. In L. sericata embryos, the male tra transcript was first detected at around the time of cellular blastoderm formation. RNAi experiments showed that tra is required for female development in L. sericata and C. macellaria. The isolation of the tra gene from the New World screwworm fly C. hominivorax, a major livestock pest, will facilitate the development of a “male-only” strain for genetic control programs. PMID:23409170

  9. Differential conservation and divergence of fertility genes boule and dazl in the rainbow trout.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingyou Li

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The genes boule and dazl are members of the DAZ (Deleted in Azoospermia family encoding RNA binding proteins essential for germ cell development. Although dazl exhibits bisexual expression in mitotic and meiotic germ cells in diverse animals, boule shows unisexual meiotic expression in invertebrates and mammals but a bisexual mitotic and meiotic expression in medaka. How boule and dazl have evolved different expression patterns in diverse organisms has remained unknown. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we chose the fish rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss as a second lower vertebrate model to investigate the expression of boule and dazl. By molecular cloning and sequence comparison, we identified cDNAs encoding the trout Boule and Dazl proteins, which have a conserved RNA-recognition motif and a maximal similarity to their homologs. By RT-PCR analysis, adult RNA expression of trout boule and dazl is restricted to the gonads of both sexes. By chromogenic and two-color fluorescence in situ hybridization, we revealed bisexual and germline-specific expression of boule and dazl. We found that dazl displays conserved expression throughout gametogenesis and concentrates in the Balbinani's body of early oocytes and the chromatoid body of sperm. Surprisingly, boule exhibits mitotic and meiotic expression in the male but meiosis-specific expression in the female. CONCLUSIONS: Our data underscores differential conservation and divergence of DAZ family genes during vertebrate evolution. We propose a model in which the diversity of boule expression in sex and stage specificity might have resulted from selective loss or gain of its expression in one sex and mitotic germ cells.

  10. Transcriptome profiling in conifers and the PiceaGenExpress database show patterns of diversification within gene families and interspecific conservation in vascular gene expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raherison Elie

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Conifers have very large genomes (13 to 30 Gigabases that are mostly uncharacterized although extensive cDNA resources have recently become available. This report presents a global overview of transcriptome variation in a conifer tree and documents conservation and diversity of gene expression patterns among major vegetative tissues. Results An oligonucleotide microarray was developed from Picea glauca and P. sitchensis cDNA datasets. It represents 23,853 unique genes and was shown to be suitable for transcriptome profiling in several species. A comparison of secondary xylem and phelloderm tissues showed that preferential expression in these vascular tissues was highly conserved among Picea spp. RNA-Sequencing strongly confirmed tissue preferential expression and provided a robust validation of the microarray design. A small database of transcription profiles called PiceaGenExpress was developed from over 150 hybridizations spanning eight major tissue types. In total, transcripts were detected for 92% of the genes on the microarray, in at least one tissue. Non-annotated genes were predominantly expressed at low levels in fewer tissues than genes of known or predicted function. Diversity of expression within gene families may be rapidly assessed from PiceaGenExpress. In conifer trees, dehydrins and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA osmotic regulation proteins occur in large gene families compared to angiosperms. Strong contrasts and low diversity was observed in the dehydrin family, while diverse patterns suggested a greater degree of diversification among LEAs. Conclusion Together, the oligonucleotide microarray and the PiceaGenExpress database represent the first resource of this kind for gymnosperm plants. The spruce transcriptome analysis reported here is expected to accelerate genetic studies in the large and important group comprised of conifer trees.

  11. 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.

  12. 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

  13. Evolutionary novelty in gravity sensing through horizontal gene transfer and high-order protein assembly.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tu Anh Nguyen

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Horizontal gene transfer (HGT can promote evolutionary adaptation by transforming a species' relationship to the environment. In most well-understood cases of HGT, acquired and donor functions appear to remain closely related. Thus, the degree to which HGT can lead to evolutionary novelties remains unclear. Mucorales fungi sense gravity through the sedimentation of vacuolar protein crystals. Here, we identify the octahedral crystal matrix protein (OCTIN. Phylogenetic analysis strongly supports acquisition of octin by HGT from bacteria. A bacterial OCTIN forms high-order periplasmic oligomers, and inter-molecular disulphide bonds are formed by both fungal and bacterial OCTINs, suggesting that they share elements of a conserved assembly mechanism. However, estimated sedimentation velocities preclude a gravity-sensing function for the bacterial structures. Together, our data suggest that HGT from bacteria into the Mucorales allowed a dramatic increase in assembly scale and emergence of the gravity-sensing function. We conclude that HGT can lead to evolutionary novelties that emerge depending on the physiological and cellular context of protein assembly.

  14. Gene expression in chicken reveals correlation with structural genomic features and conserved patterns of transcription in the terrestrial vertebrates.

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    Haisheng Nie

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The chicken is an important agricultural and avian-model species. A survey of gene expression in a range of different tissues will provide a benchmark for understanding expression levels under normal physiological conditions in birds. With expression data for birds being very scant, this benchmark is of particular interest for comparative expression analysis among various terrestrial vertebrates. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We carried out a gene expression survey in eight major chicken tissues using whole genome microarrays. A global picture of gene expression is presented for the eight tissues, and tissue specific as well as common gene expression were identified. A Gene Ontology (GO term enrichment analysis showed that tissue-specific genes are enriched with GO terms reflecting the physiological functions of the specific tissue, and housekeeping genes are enriched with GO terms related to essential biological functions. Comparisons of structural genomic features between tissue-specific genes and housekeeping genes show that housekeeping genes are more compact. Specifically, coding sequence and particularly introns are shorter than genes that display more variation in expression between tissues, and in addition intergenic space was also shorter. Meanwhile, housekeeping genes are more likely to co-localize with other abundantly or highly expressed genes on the same chromosomal regions. Furthermore, comparisons of gene expression in a panel of five common tissues between birds, mammals and amphibians showed that the expression patterns across tissues are highly similar for orthologous genes compared to random gene pairs within each pair-wise comparison, indicating a high degree of functional conservation in gene expression among terrestrial vertebrates. CONCLUSIONS: The housekeeping genes identified in this study have shorter gene length, shorter coding sequence length, shorter introns, and shorter intergenic regions, there seems

  15. 76 FR 19902 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting 180-Day Extension...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-11

    ... Furnace Company; (16) New Yorker Residential Heating Boilers; (17) Nordyne; (18) NY Thermal Inc.; (19... Products LLC; (24) Trane; (25) Triangle Tube; (26) US Boiler Company; and (27) Weil-McLain. In the same... Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting 180-Day Extension of Compliance Date...

  16. Conservation of the rad21 Schizosaccharomyces pombe DNA double-strand break repair gene in mammals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKay, Michael J.; Spek, Peter van der; Kanaar, Roland; Smit, Bep; Bootsma, Dirk; Hoeijmakers, Jan H. J.

    1996-01-01

    Purpose/Objective: Genetic factors are likely to be major determinants of human cellular ionizing radiation sensitivity. DNA double strand breaks (dsbs) are significant ionizing radiation-induced lesions; cellular DNA dsb processing is also important in a number of other contexts. To further the understanding of DNA dsb processing in mammalian cells, we cloned and sequenced mammalian homologs of the rad21 Schizosaccharomyces pombe DNA dsb repair gene. Materials and Methods: The genes were cloned by evolutionary walking, exploiting sequence homology between the yeast and mammalian genes. Results: No major motifs indicative of a particular function were present in the predicted amino acid sequences of the mammalian genes. Alignment of the Rad21 amino acid sequence with its putative homologs showed that similarity was distributed across the length of the proteins, with more highly conserved regions at both termini. The mHR21 sp (mouse homolog ofR ad21, S. pombe) and hHR21 sp (humanh omolog of Rad21, S. pombe) predicted proteins were 96% identical, whereas the human and S. pombe proteins were 25% identical and 47% similar. RNA blot analysis showed that mHR21 sp mRNA was abundant in all adult mouse tissues examined, with highest expression in testis and thymus. In addition to a 3.1kb mRNA transcript in all tissues, an additional 2.2kb transcript was present at a high level in post-meiotic spermatids, white expression of the 3.1kb mRNA in testis was confined to the meiotic compartment. hHR21 sp mRNA was cell cycle regulated in human cells, increasing in late S phase to a peak in G2 phase. The level of hHR21 sp transcripts was not altered by exposure of normal diploid fibroblasts to 10 Gy ionizing radiation. In situ hybridization showed mHR21 sp resided on chromosome 15D3, whereashHR21 sp localized to the syntenic 8q24 region. Conclusion: Cloning these novel mammalian genes and characterization of their protein products should contribute to the understanding of cellular

  17. The First Myriapod Genome Sequence Reveals Conservative Arthropod Gene Content and Genome Organisation in the Centipede Strigamia maritima

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chipman, Ariel D.; Ferrier, David E. K.; Brena, Carlo; Qu, Jiaxin; Hughes, Daniel S. T.; Schröder, Reinhard; Torres-Oliva, Montserrat; Znassi, Nadia; Jiang, Huaiyang; Almeida, Francisca C.; Alonso, Claudio R.; Apostolou, Zivkos; Aqrawi, Peshtewani; Arthur, Wallace; Barna, Jennifer C. J.; Blankenburg, Kerstin P.; Brites, Daniela; Capella-Gutiérrez, Salvador; Coyle, Marcus; Dearden, Peter K.; Du Pasquier, Louis; Duncan, Elizabeth J.; Ebert, Dieter; Eibner, Cornelius; Erikson, Galina; Evans, Peter D.; Extavour, Cassandra G.; Francisco, Liezl; Gabaldón, Toni; Gillis, William J.; Goodwin-Horn, Elizabeth A.; Green, Jack E.; Griffiths-Jones, Sam; Grimmelikhuijzen, Cornelis J. P.; Gubbala, Sai; Guigó, Roderic; Han, Yi; Hauser, Frank; Havlak, Paul; Hayden, Luke; Helbing, Sophie; Holder, Michael; Hui, Jerome H. L.; Hunn, Julia P.; Hunnekuhl, Vera S.; Jackson, LaRonda; Javaid, Mehwish; Jhangiani, Shalini N.; Jiggins, Francis M.; Jones, Tamsin E.; Kaiser, Tobias S.; Kalra, Divya; Kenny, Nathan J.; Korchina, Viktoriya; Kovar, Christie L.; Kraus, F. Bernhard; Lapraz, François; Lee, Sandra L.; Lv, Jie; Mandapat, Christigale; Manning, Gerard; Mariotti, Marco; Mata, Robert; Mathew, Tittu; Neumann, Tobias; Newsham, Irene; Ngo, Dinh N.; Ninova, Maria; Okwuonu, Geoffrey; Ongeri, Fiona; Palmer, William J.; Patil, Shobha; Patraquim, Pedro; Pham, Christopher; Pu, Ling-Ling; Putman, Nicholas H.; Rabouille, Catherine; Ramos, Olivia Mendivil; Rhodes, Adelaide C.; Robertson, Helen E.; Robertson, Hugh M.; Ronshaugen, Matthew; Rozas, Julio; Saada, Nehad; Sánchez-Gracia, Alejandro; Scherer, Steven E.; Schurko, Andrew M.; Siggens, Kenneth W.; Simmons, DeNard; Stief, Anna; Stolle, Eckart; Telford, Maximilian J.; Tessmar-Raible, Kristin; Thornton, Rebecca; van der Zee, Maurijn; von Haeseler, Arndt; Williams, James M.; Willis, Judith H.; Wu, Yuanqing; Zou, Xiaoyan; Lawson, Daniel; Muzny, Donna M.; Worley, Kim C.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Akam, Michael; Richards, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    Myriapods (e.g., centipedes and millipedes) display a simple homonomous body plan relative to other arthropods. All members of the class are terrestrial, but they attained terrestriality independently of insects. Myriapoda is the only arthropod class not represented by a sequenced genome. We present an analysis of the genome of the centipede Strigamia maritima. It retains a compact genome that has undergone less gene loss and shuffling than previously sequenced arthropods, and many orthologues of genes conserved from the bilaterian ancestor that have been lost in insects. Our analysis locates many genes in conserved macro-synteny contexts, and many small-scale examples of gene clustering. We describe several examples where S. maritima shows different solutions from insects to similar problems. The insect olfactory receptor gene family is absent from S. maritima, and olfaction in air is likely effected by expansion of other receptor gene families. For some genes S. maritima has evolved paralogues to generate coding sequence diversity, where insects use alternate splicing. This is most striking for the Dscam gene, which in Drosophila generates more than 100,000 alternate splice forms, but in S. maritima is encoded by over 100 paralogues. We see an intriguing linkage between the absence of any known photosensory proteins in a blind organism and the additional absence of canonical circadian clock genes. The phylogenetic position of myriapods allows us to identify where in arthropod phylogeny several particular molecular mechanisms and traits emerged. For example, we conclude that juvenile hormone signalling evolved with the emergence of the exoskeleton in the arthropods and that RR-1 containing cuticle proteins evolved in the lineage leading to Mandibulata. We also identify when various gene expansions and losses occurred. The genome of S. maritima offers us a unique glimpse into the ancestral arthropod genome, while also displaying many adaptations to its specific

  18. Genes of the most conserved WOX clade in plants affect root and flower development in Arabidopsis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moreau Hervé

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Wuschel related homeobox (WOX family proteins are key regulators implicated in the determination of cell fate in plants by preventing cell differentiation. A recent WOX phylogeny, based on WOX homeodomains, showed that all of the Physcomitrella patens and Selaginella moellendorffii WOX proteins clustered into a single orthologous group. We hypothesized that members of this group might preferentially share a significant part of their function in phylogenetically distant organisms. Hence, we first validated the limits of the WOX13 orthologous group (WOX13 OG using the occurrence of other clade specific signatures and conserved intron insertion sites. Secondly, a functional analysis using expression data and mutants was undertaken. Results The WOX13 OG contained the most conserved plant WOX proteins including the only WOX detected in the highly proliferating basal unicellular and photosynthetic organism Ostreococcus tauri. A large expansion of the WOX family was observed after the separation of mosses from other land plants and before monocots and dicots have arisen. In Arabidopsis thaliana, AtWOX13 was dynamically expressed during primary and lateral root initiation and development, in gynoecium and during embryo development. AtWOX13 appeared to affect the floral transition. An intriguing clade, represented by the functional AtWOX14 gene inside the WOX13 OG, was only found in the Brassicaceae. Compared to AtWOX13, the gene expression profile of AtWOX14 was restricted to the early stages of lateral root formation and specific to developing anthers. A mutational insertion upstream of the AtWOX14 homeodomain sequence led to abnormal root development, a delay in the floral transition and premature anther differentiation. Conclusion Our data provide evidence in favor of the WOX13 OG as the clade containing the most conserved WOX genes and established a functional link to organ initiation and development in Arabidopsis, most

  19. The mitochondrial genome of the stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini: sequence, gene organization and a unique tRNA translocation event conserved across the tribe Meliponini

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Silvestre

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available At present a complete mtDNA sequence has been reported for only two hymenopterans, the Old World honey bee, Apis mellifera and the sawfly Perga condei. Among the bee group, the tribe Meliponini (stingless bees has some distinction due to its Pantropical distribution, great number of species and large importance as main pollinators in several ecosystems, including the Brazilian rain forest. However few molecular studies have been conducted on this group of bees and few sequence data from mitochondrial genomes have been described. In this project, we PCR amplified and sequenced 78% of the mitochondrial genome of the stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Apidae, Meliponini. The sequenced region contains all of the 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes, 18 of 22 tRNA genes, and both rRNA genes (one of them was partially sequenced. We also report the genome organization (gene content and order, gene translation, genetic code, and other molecular features, such as base frequencies, codon usage, gene initiation and termination. We compare these characteristics of M. bicolor to those of the mitochondrial genome of A. mellifera and other insects. A highly biased A+T content is a typical characteristic of the A. mellifera mitochondrial genome and it was even more extreme in that of M. bicolor. Length and compositional differences between M. bicolor and A. mellifera genes were detected and the gene order was compared. Eleven tRNA gene translocations were observed between these two species. This latter finding was surprising, considering the taxonomic proximity of these two bee tribes. The tRNA Lys gene translocation was investigated within Meliponini and showed high conservation across the Pantropical range of the tribe.

  20. Pathogenicity gene variations within the order Entomophthorales

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grell, Morten Nedergaard; Jensen, Annette Bruun; Lange, Lene

    Fungi within the order Entomophthorales (subphylum Entomophthoromycotina) are obligate biotrophic pathogens of arthropods with a remarkable narrow host range. Infection takes place through the cuticle when conidia hit a susceptible host, facilitated by enzymatic and mechanical mechanisms. In the ...... pathogenicity genes within genera Entomophthora and Pandora, using fungal genomic DNA originating from field-collected, infected insect host species of dipteran (flies, mosquitoes) or hemipteran (aphid) origin.......Fungi within the order Entomophthorales (subphylum Entomophthoromycotina) are obligate biotrophic pathogens of arthropods with a remarkable narrow host range. Infection takes place through the cuticle when conidia hit a susceptible host, facilitated by enzymatic and mechanical mechanisms......, conidia are produced and discharged when humidity gets high—usually during night. In an earlier secretome study of field-collected grain aphids (Sitobion avenae) infected with entomophthoralean fungi, a number of pathogenesis-related, secreted enzymes were discovered (Fungal Genetics and Biology 2011, vol...

  1. Ancient Exaptation of a CORE-SINE Retroposon into a Highly Conserved Mammalian Neuronal Enhancer of the Proopiomelanocortin Gene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bumaschny, Viviana F; Low, Malcolm J; Rubinstein, Marcelo

    2007-01-01

    The proopiomelanocortin gene (POMC) is expressed in the pituitary gland and the ventral hypothalamus of all jawed vertebrates, producing several bioactive peptides that function as peripheral hormones or central neuropeptides, respectively. We have recently determined that mouse and human POMC expression in the hypothalamus is conferred by the action of two 5′ distal and unrelated enhancers, nPE1 and nPE2. To investigate the evolutionary origin of the neuronal enhancer nPE2, we searched available vertebrate genome databases and determined that nPE2 is a highly conserved element in placentals, marsupials, and monotremes, whereas it is absent in nonmammalian vertebrates. Following an in silico paleogenomic strategy based on genome-wide searches for paralog sequences, we discovered that opossum and wallaby nPE2 sequences are highly similar to members of the superfamily of CORE-short interspersed nucleotide element (SINE) retroposons, in particular to MAR1 retroposons that are widely present in marsupial genomes. Thus, the neuronal enhancer nPE2 originated from the exaptation of a CORE-SINE retroposon in the lineage leading to mammals and remained under purifying selection in all mammalian orders for the last 170 million years. Expression studies performed in transgenic mice showed that two nonadjacent nPE2 subregions are essential to drive reporter gene expression into POMC hypothalamic neurons, providing the first functional example of an exapted enhancer derived from an ancient CORE-SINE retroposon. In addition, we found that this CORE-SINE family of retroposons is likely to still be active in American and Australian marsupial genomes and that several highly conserved exonic, intronic and intergenic sequences in the human genome originated from the exaptation of CORE-SINE retroposons. Together, our results provide clear evidence of the functional novelties that transposed elements contributed to their host genomes throughout evolution. PMID:17922573

  2. Ancient exaptation of a CORE-SINE retroposon into a highly conserved mammalian neuronal enhancer of the proopiomelanocortin gene.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea M Santangelo

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available The proopiomelanocortin gene (POMC is expressed in the pituitary gland and the ventral hypothalamus of all jawed vertebrates, producing several bioactive peptides that function as peripheral hormones or central neuropeptides, respectively. We have recently determined that mouse and human POMC expression in the hypothalamus is conferred by the action of two 5' distal and unrelated enhancers, nPE1 and nPE2. To investigate the evolutionary origin of the neuronal enhancer nPE2, we searched available vertebrate genome databases and determined that nPE2 is a highly conserved element in placentals, marsupials, and monotremes, whereas it is absent in nonmammalian vertebrates. Following an in silico paleogenomic strategy based on genome-wide searches for paralog sequences, we discovered that opossum and wallaby nPE2 sequences are highly similar to members of the superfamily of CORE-short interspersed nucleotide element (SINE retroposons, in particular to MAR1 retroposons that are widely present in marsupial genomes. Thus, the neuronal enhancer nPE2 originated from the exaptation of a CORE-SINE retroposon in the lineage leading to mammals and remained under purifying selection in all mammalian orders for the last 170 million years. Expression studies performed in transgenic mice showed that two nonadjacent nPE2 subregions are essential to drive reporter gene expression into POMC hypothalamic neurons, providing the first functional example of an exapted enhancer derived from an ancient CORE-SINE retroposon. In addition, we found that this CORE-SINE family of retroposons is likely to still be active in American and Australian marsupial genomes and that several highly conserved exonic, intronic and intergenic sequences in the human genome originated from the exaptation of CORE-SINE retroposons. Together, our results provide clear evidence of the functional novelties that transposed elements contributed to their host genomes throughout evolution.

  3. An evolutionarily conserved sexual signature in the primate brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Björn Reinius

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The question of a potential biological sexual signature in the human brain is a heavily disputed subject. In order to provide further insight into this issue, we used an evolutionary approach to identify genes with sex differences in brain expression level among primates. We reasoned that expression patterns important to uphold key male and female characteristics may be conserved during evolution. We selected cortex for our studies because this specific brain region is responsible for many higher behavioral functions. We compared gene expression profiles in the occipital cortex of male and female humans (Homo sapiens, a great ape and cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis, an old world monkey, two catarrhine species that show abundant morphological sexual dimorphism, as well as in common marmosets (Callithrix Jacchus, a new world monkey which are relatively sexually monomorphic. We identified hundreds of genes with sex-biased expression patterns in humans and macaques, while fewer than ten were differentially expressed between the sexes in marmosets. In primates, a general rule is that many of the morphological and behavioral sexual dimorphisms seen in polygamous species, such as macaques, are typically less pronounced in monogamous species such as the marmosets. Our observations suggest that this correlation may also be reflected in the extent of sex-biased gene expression in the brain. We identified 85 genes with common sex-biased expression, in both human and macaque and 2 genes, X inactivation-specific transcript (XIST and Heat shock factor binding protein 1 (HSBP1, that were consistently sex-biased in the female direction in human, macaque, and marmoset. These observations imply a conserved signature of sexual gene expression dimorphism in cortex of primates. Further, we found that the coding region of female-biased genes is more evolutionarily constrained compared to the coding region of both male-biased and non sex-biased brain

  4. Phylogenetic distribution and evolutionary dynamics of the sex determination genes doublesex and transformer in insects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geuverink, E; Beukeboom, L W

    2014-01-01

    Sex determination in insects is characterized by a gene cascade that is conserved at the bottom but contains diverse primary signals at the top. The bottom master switch gene doublesex is found in all insects. Its upstream regulator transformer is present in the orders Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera, but has thus far not been found in Lepidoptera and in the basal lineages of Diptera. transformer is presumed to be ancestral to the holometabolous insects based on its shared domains and conserved features of autoregulation and sex-specific splicing. We interpret that its absence in basal lineages of Diptera and its order-specific conserved domains indicate multiple independent losses or recruitments into the sex determination cascade. Duplications of transformer are found in derived families within the Hymenoptera, characterized by their complementary sex determination mechanism. As duplications are not found in any other insect order, they appear linked to the haplodiploid reproduction of the Hymenoptera. Further phylogenetic analyses combined with functional studies are needed to understand the evolutionary history of the transformer gene among insects. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  5. Comparative genome analysis and resistance gene mapping in grain legumes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Young, N.D.

    1998-01-01

    Using, DNA markers and genome organization, several important disease resistance genes have been analyzed in mungbean (Vigna radiata), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), and soybean (Glycine max). In the process, medium-density linkage maps consisting of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers were constructed for both mungbean and cowpea. Comparisons between these maps, as well as the maps of soybean and common bean, indicate that there is significant conservation of DNA marker order, though the conserved blocks in soybean are much shorter than in the others. DNA mapping results also indicate that a gene for seed weight may be conserved between mungbean and cowpea. Using the linkage maps, genes that control bruchid (genus Callosobruchus) and powdery mildew (Erysiphe polygoni) resistance in mungbean, aphid resistance in cowpea (Aphis craccivora), and cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines) resistance in soybean have all been mapped and characterized. For some of these traits resistance was found to be oligogenic and DNA mapping uncovered multiple genes involved in the phenotype. (author)

  6. Functional conservation of coenzyme Q biosynthetic genes among yeasts, plants, and humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuhiro Hayashi

    Full Text Available Coenzyme Q (CoQ is an essential factor for aerobic growth and oxidative phosphorylation in the electron transport system. The biosynthetic pathway for CoQ has been proposed mainly from biochemical and genetic analyses of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; however, the biosynthetic pathway in higher eukaryotes has been explored in only a limited number of studies. We previously reported the roles of several genes involved in CoQ synthesis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Here, we expand these findings by identifying ten genes (dps1, dlp1, ppt1, and coq3-9 that are required for CoQ synthesis. CoQ10-deficient S. pombe coq deletion strains were generated and characterized. All mutant fission yeast strains were sensitive to oxidative stress, produced a large amount of sulfide, required an antioxidant to grow on minimal medium, and did not survive at the stationary phase. To compare the biosynthetic pathway of CoQ in fission yeast with that in higher eukaryotes, the ability of CoQ biosynthetic genes from humans and plants (Arabidopsis thaliana to functionally complement the S. pombe coq deletion strains was determined. With the exception of COQ9, expression of all other human and plant COQ genes recovered CoQ10 production by the fission yeast coq deletion strains, although the addition of a mitochondrial targeting sequence was required for human COQ3 and COQ7, as well as A. thaliana COQ6. In summary, this study describes the functional conservation of CoQ biosynthetic genes between yeasts, humans, and plants.

  7. 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.

  8. Tumor Classification Using High-Order Gene Expression Profiles Based on Multilinear ICA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ming-gang Du

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Motivation. Independent Components Analysis (ICA maximizes the statistical independence of the representational components of a training gene expression profiles (GEP ensemble, but it cannot distinguish relations between the different factors, or different modes, and it is not available to high-order GEP Data Mining. In order to generalize ICA, we introduce Multilinear-ICA and apply it to tumor classification using high order GEP. Firstly, we introduce the basis conceptions and operations of tensor and recommend Support Vector Machine (SVM classifier and Multilinear-ICA. Secondly, the higher score genes of original high order GEP are selected by using t-statistics and tabulate tensors. Thirdly, the tensors are performed by Multilinear-ICA. Finally, the SVM is used to classify the tumor subtypes. Results. To show the validity of the proposed method, we apply it to tumor classification using high order GEP. Though we only use three datasets, the experimental results show that the method is effective and feasible. Through this survey, we hope to gain some insight into the problem of high order GEP tumor classification, in aid of further developing more effective tumor classification algorithms.

  9. Primary structure and promoter analysis of leghemoglobin genes of the stem-nodulated tropical legume Sesbania rostrata: conserved coding sequences, cis-elements and trans-acting factors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Metz, B A; Welters, P; Hoffmann, H J

    1988-01-01

    The primary structure of a leghemoglobin (lb) gene from the stem-nodulated, tropical legume Sesbania rostrata and two lb gene promoter regions was analysed. The S. rostrata lb gene structure and Lb amino acid composition were found to be highly conserved with previously described lb genes and Lb ...

  10. Conservation and diversification of Msx protein in metazoan evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Hirokazu; Kamiya, Akiko; Ishiguro, Akira; Suzuki, Atsushi C; Saitou, Naruya; Toyoda, Atsushi; Aruga, Jun

    2008-01-01

    Msx (/msh) family genes encode homeodomain (HD) proteins that control ontogeny in many animal species. We compared the structures of Msx genes from a wide range of Metazoa (Porifera, Cnidaria, Nematoda, Arthropoda, Tardigrada, Platyhelminthes, Mollusca, Brachiopoda, Annelida, Echiura, Echinodermata, Hemichordata, and Chordata) to gain an understanding of the role of these genes in phylogeny. Exon-intron boundary analysis suggested that the position of the intron located N-terminally to the HDs was widely conserved in all the genes examined, including those of cnidarians. Amino acid (aa) sequence comparison revealed 3 new evolutionarily conserved domains, as well as very strong conservation of the HDs. Two of the three domains were associated with Groucho-like protein binding in both a vertebrate and a cnidarian Msx homolog, suggesting that the interaction between Groucho-like proteins and Msx proteins was established in eumetazoan ancestors. Pairwise comparison among the collected HDs and their C-flanking aa sequences revealed that the degree of sequence conservation varied depending on the animal taxa from which the sequences were derived. Highly conserved Msx genes were identified in the Vertebrata, Cephalochordata, Hemichordata, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Brachiopoda, and Anthozoa. The wide distribution of the conserved sequences in the animal phylogenetic tree suggested that metazoan ancestors had already acquired a set of conserved domains of the current Msx family genes. Interestingly, although strongly conserved sequences were recovered from the Vertebrata, Cephalochordata, and Anthozoa, the sequences from the Urochordata and Hydrozoa showed weak conservation. Because the Vertebrata-Cephalochordata-Urochordata and Anthozoa-Hydrozoa represent sister groups in the Chordata and Cnidaria, respectively, Msx sequence diversification may have occurred differentially in the course of evolution. We speculate that selective loss of the conserved domains in Msx family

  11. Relativistic dissipative hydrodynamic equations at the second order for multi-component systems with multiple conserved currents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monnai, Akihiko; Hirano, Tetsufumi

    2010-01-01

    We derive the second order hydrodynamic equations for the relativistic system of multi-components with multiple conserved currents by generalizing the Israel-Stewart theory and Grad's moment method. We find that, in addition to the conventional moment equations, extra moment equations associated with conserved currents should be introduced to consistently match the number of equations with that of unknowns and to satisfy the Onsager reciprocal relations. Consistent expansion of the entropy current leads to constitutive equations which involve the terms not appearing in the original Israel-Stewart theory even in the single component limit. We also find several terms which exhibit thermal diffusion such as Soret and Dufour effects. We finally compare our results with those of other existing formalisms.

  12. Identification of the conserved hypothetical protein BPSL0317 in Burkholderia pseudomallei K96243

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yusoff, Nur Syamimi; Damiri, Nadzirah; Firdaus-Raih, Mohd

    2014-09-01

    Burkholderia pseudomallei K96243 is the causative agent of melioidosis, a disease which is endemic in Northern Australia and Southeastern Asia. The genome encodes several essential proteins including those currently annotated as hypothetical proteins. We studied the conservation and the essentiality of expressed hypothetical proteins in normal and different stress conditions. Based on the comparative genomics, we identified a hypothetical protein, BPSL0317, a potential essential gene that is being expressed in all normal and stress conditions. BPSL0317 is also phylogenetically conserved in the Burkholderiales order suggesting that this protein is crucial for survival among the order's members. BPSL0317 therefore has a potential to be a candidate antimicrobial drug target for this group of bacteria.

  13. Genome-wide identification of coding and non-coding conserved sequence tags in human and mouse genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maggi Giorgio P

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The accurate detection of genes and the identification of functional regions is still an open issue in the annotation of genomic sequences. This problem affects new genomes but also those of very well studied organisms such as human and mouse where, despite the great efforts, the inventory of genes and regulatory regions is far from complete. Comparative genomics is an effective approach to address this problem. Unfortunately it is limited by the computational requirements needed to perform genome-wide comparisons and by the problem of discriminating between conserved coding and non-coding sequences. This discrimination is often based (thus dependent on the availability of annotated proteins. Results In this paper we present the results of a comprehensive comparison of human and mouse genomes performed with a new high throughput grid-based system which allows the rapid detection of conserved sequences and accurate assessment of their coding potential. By detecting clusters of coding conserved sequences the system is also suitable to accurately identify potential gene loci. Following this analysis we created a collection of human-mouse conserved sequence tags and carefully compared our results to reliable annotations in order to benchmark the reliability of our classifications. Strikingly we were able to detect several potential gene loci supported by EST sequences but not corresponding to as yet annotated genes. Conclusion Here we present a new system which allows comprehensive comparison of genomes to detect conserved coding and non-coding sequences and the identification of potential gene loci. Our system does not require the availability of any annotated sequence thus is suitable for the analysis of new or poorly annotated genomes.

  14. Comparative genomics of Mycoplasma: analysis of conserved essential genes and diversity of the pan-genome.

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    Wei Liu

    Full Text Available Mycoplasma, the smallest self-replicating organism with a minimal metabolism and little genomic redundancy, is expected to be a close approximation to the minimal set of genes needed to sustain bacterial life. This study employs comparative evolutionary analysis of twenty Mycoplasma genomes to gain an improved understanding of essential genes. By analyzing the core genome of mycoplasmas, we finally revealed the conserved essential genes set for mycoplasma survival. Further analysis showed that the core genome set has many characteristics in common with experimentally identified essential genes. Several key genes, which are related to DNA replication and repair and can be disrupted in transposon mutagenesis studies, may be critical for bacteria survival especially over long period natural selection. Phylogenomic reconstructions based on 3,355 homologous groups allowed robust estimation of phylogenetic relatedness among mycoplasma strains. To obtain deeper insight into the relative roles of molecular evolution in pathogen adaptation to their hosts, we also analyzed the positive selection pressures on particular sites and lineages. There appears to be an approximate correlation between the divergence of species and the level of positive selection detected in corresponding lineages.

  15. Geographies of Conservation I: De-extinction and Precision Conservation

    OpenAIRE

    Adams, William Mark

    2016-01-01

    Extinction has long been a central concern in biodiversity conservation. Today, de-extinction offers interesting possibilities of restoring charismatic species and ecosystem function, but also risks and costs. Most de-extinction depends on genetic engineering and synthetic biology. These technologies are also proposed for use in ‘gene tweaking’ in wild species to enhance their chance of survival. Within conservation, the resulting debates pit an optimistic world of high-tech ‘precision con...

  16. Sponge non-metastatic Group I Nme gene/protein - structure and function is conserved from sponges to humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Nucleoside diphosphate kinases NDPK are evolutionarily conserved enzymes present in Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya, with human Nme1 the most studied representative of the family and the first identified metastasis suppressor. Sponges (Porifera) are simple metazoans without tissues, closest to the common ancestor of all animals. They changed little during evolution and probably provide the best insight into the metazoan ancestor's genomic features. Recent studies show that sponges have a wide repertoire of genes many of which are involved in diseases in more complex metazoans. The original function of those genes and the way it has evolved in the animal lineage is largely unknown. Here we report new results on the metastasis suppressor gene/protein homolog from the marine sponge Suberites domuncula, NmeGp1Sd. The purpose of this study was to investigate the properties of the sponge Group I Nme gene and protein, and compare it to its human homolog in order to elucidate the evolution of the structure and function of Nme. Results We found that sponge genes coding for Group I Nme protein are intron-rich. Furthermore, we discovered that the sponge NmeGp1Sd protein has a similar level of kinase activity as its human homolog Nme1, does not cleave negatively supercoiled DNA and shows nonspecific DNA-binding activity. The sponge NmeGp1Sd forms a hexamer, like human Nme1, and all other eukaryotic Nme proteins. NmeGp1Sd interacts with human Nme1 in human cells and exhibits the same subcellular localization. Stable clones expressing sponge NmeGp1Sd inhibited the migratory potential of CAL 27 cells, as already reported for human Nme1, which suggests that Nme's function in migratory processes was engaged long before the composition of true tissues. Conclusions This study suggests that the ancestor of all animals possessed a NmeGp1 protein with properties and functions similar to evolutionarily recent versions of the protein, even before the appearance of true tissues

  17. Conserved gene regulatory module specifies lateral neural borders across bilaterians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yongbin; Zhao, Di; Horie, Takeo; Chen, Geng; Bao, Hongcun; Chen, Siyu; Liu, Weihong; Horie, Ryoko; Liang, Tao; Dong, Biyu; Feng, Qianqian; Tao, Qinghua; Liu, Xiao

    2017-08-01

    The lateral neural plate border (NPB), the neural part of the vertebrate neural border, is composed of central nervous system (CNS) progenitors and peripheral nervous system (PNS) progenitors. In invertebrates, PNS progenitors are also juxtaposed to the lateral boundary of the CNS. Whether there are conserved molecular mechanisms determining vertebrate and invertebrate lateral neural borders remains unclear. Using single-cell-resolution gene-expression profiling and genetic analysis, we present evidence that orthologs of the NPB specification module specify the invertebrate lateral neural border, which is composed of CNS and PNS progenitors. First, like in vertebrates, the conserved neuroectoderm lateral border specifier Msx/vab-15 specifies lateral neuroblasts in Caenorhabditis elegans Second, orthologs of the vertebrate NPB specification module ( Msx/vab-15 , Pax3/7/pax-3 , and Zic/ref-2 ) are significantly enriched in worm lateral neuroblasts. In addition, like in other bilaterians, the expression domain of Msx/vab-15 is more lateral than those of Pax3/7/pax-3 and Zic/ref- 2 in C. elegans Third, we show that Msx/vab-15 regulates the development of mechanosensory neurons derived from lateral neural progenitors in multiple invertebrate species, including C. elegans , Drosophila melanogaster , and Ciona intestinalis We also identify a novel lateral neural border specifier, ZNF703/tlp-1 , which functions synergistically with Msx/vab- 15 in both C. elegans and Xenopus laevis These data suggest a common origin of the molecular mechanism specifying lateral neural borders across bilaterians.

  18. Ex situ conservation of Holstein-Friesian cattle: Comparing the Dutch, French and USA germplasm collections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holstein-Friesian (HF) gene bank collections were established in France, the Netherlands and USA in order to conserve genetic diversity for this breed. Genetic diversity of HF collections within and between countries was assessed and compared with active HF bulls in each country by using pedigree da...

  19. Conservation of lipid metabolic gene transcriptional regulatory networks in fish and mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carmona-Antoñanzas, Greta; Tocher, Douglas R; Martinez-Rubio, Laura; Leaver, Michael J

    2014-01-15

    Lipid content and composition in aquafeeds have changed rapidly as a result of the recent drive to replace ecologically limited marine ingredients, fishmeal and fish oil (FO). Terrestrial plant products are the most economic and sustainable alternative; however, plant meals and oils are devoid of physiologically important cholesterol and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA), docosahexaenoic (DHA) and arachidonic (ARA) acids. Although replacement of dietary FO with vegetable oil (VO) has little effect on growth in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), several studies have shown major effects on the activity and expression of genes involved in lipid homeostasis. In vertebrates, sterols and LC-PUFA play crucial roles in lipid metabolism by direct interaction with lipid-sensing transcription factors (TFs) and consequent regulation of target genes. The primary aim of the present study was to elucidate the role of key TFs in the transcriptional regulation of lipid metabolism in fish by transfection and overexpression of TFs. The results show that the expression of genes of LC-PUFA biosynthesis (elovl and fads2) and cholesterol metabolism (abca1) are regulated by Lxr and Srebp TFs in salmon, indicating highly conserved regulatory mechanism across vertebrates. In addition, srebp1 and srebp2 mRNA respond to replacement of dietary FO with VO. Thus, Atlantic salmon adjust lipid metabolism in response to dietary lipid composition through the transcriptional regulation of gene expression. It may be possible to further increase efficient and effective use of sustainable alternatives to marine products in aquaculture by considering these important molecular interactions when formulating diets. © 2013.

  20. Cloning of the cDNA for murine von Willebrand factor and identification of orthologous genes reveals the extent of conservation among diverse species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chitta, Mohan S; Duhé, Roy J; Kermode, John C

    2007-05-01

    Interaction of von Willebrand factor (VWF) with circulating platelets promotes hemostasis when a blood vessel is injured. The A1 domain of VWF is responsible for the initial interaction with platelets and is well conserved among species. Knowledge of the cDNA and genomic DNA sequences for human VWF allowed us to predict the cDNA sequence for murine VWF in silico and amplify its entire coding region by RT-PCR. The murine VWF cDNA has an open reading frame of 8,442 bp, encoding a protein of 2,813 amino acid residues with 83% identity to human pre-pro-VWF. The same strategy was used to predict in silico the cDNA sequence for the ortholog of VWF in a further six species. Many of these predictions diverged substantially from the putative Reference Sequences derived by ab initio methods. Our predicted sequences indicated that the VWF gene has a conserved structure of 52 exons in all seven mammalian species examined, as well as in the chicken. There is a minor structural variation in the pufferfish Takifugu rubripes insofar as the VWF gene in this species has 53 exons. Comparison of the translated amino acid sequences also revealed a high degree of conservation. In particular, the cysteine residues are conserved precisely throughout both the pro-peptide and the mature VWF sequence in all species, with a minor exception in the pufferfish VWF ortholog where two adjacent cysteine residues are omitted. The marked conservation of cysteine residues emphasizes the importance of the intricate pattern of disulfide bonds in governing the structure of pro-VWF and regulating the function of the mature VWF protein. It should also be emphasized that many of the conserved features of the VWF gene and protein were obscured when the comparison among species was based on the putative Reference Sequences instead of our predicted cDNA sequences.

  1. Functional conservation and divergence of four ginger AP1/AGL9 MADS-box genes revealed by analysis of their expression and protein-protein interaction, and ectopic expression of AhFUL gene in Arabidopsis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiumei Li

    Full Text Available Alpinia genus are known generally as ginger-lilies for showy flowers in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, and their floral morphology diverges from typical monocotyledon flowers. However, little is known about the functions of ginger MADS-box genes in floral identity. In this study, four AP1/AGL9 MADS-box genes were cloned from Alpinia hainanensis, and protein-protein interactions (PPIs and roles of the four genes in floral homeotic conversion and in floral evolution are surveyed for the first time. AhFUL is clustered to the AP1 lineage, AhSEP4 and AhSEP3b to the SEP lineage, and AhAGL6-like to the AGL6 lineage. The four genes showed conserved and divergent expression patterns, and their encoded proteins were localized in the nucleus. Seven combinations of PPI (AhFUL-AhSEP4, AhFUL-AhAGL6-like, AhFUL-AhSEP3b, AhSEP4-AhAGL6-like, AhSEP4-AhSEP3b, AhAGL6-like-AhSEP3b, and AhSEP3b-AhSEP3b were detected, and the PPI patterns in the AP1/AGL9 lineage revealed that five of the 10 possible combinations are conserved and three are variable, while conclusions cannot yet be made regarding the other two. Ectopic expression of AhFUL in Arabidopsis thaliana led to early flowering and floral organ homeotic conversion to sepal-like or leaf-like. Therefore, we conclude that the four A. hainanensis AP1/AGL9 genes show functional conservation and divergence in the floral identity from other MADS-box genes.

  2. Development of a multiplex assay for genus- and species-specific detection of Phytophthora based on differences in mitochondrial gene order.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilodeau, Guillaume J; Martin, Frank N; Coffey, Michael D; Blomquist, Cheryl L

    2014-07-01

    A molecular diagnostic assay for Phytophthora spp. that is specific, sensitive, has both genus- and species-specific detection capabilities multiplexed, and can be used to systematically develop markers for detection of a wide range of species would facilitate research and regulatory efforts. To address this need, a marker system was developed based on the high copy sequences of the mitochondrial DNA utilizing gene orders that were highly conserved in the genus Phytophthora but different in the related genus Pythium and plants to reduce the importance of highly controlled annealing temperatures for specificity. An amplification primer pair designed from conserved regions of the atp9 and nad9 genes produced an amplicon of ≈340 bp specific for the Phytophthora spp. tested. The TaqMan probe for the genus-specific Phytophthora test was designed from a conserved portion of the atp9 gene whereas variable intergenic spacer sequences were used for designing the species-specific TaqMan probes. Specific probes were developed for 13 species and the P. citricola species complex. In silico analysis suggests that species-specific probes could be developed for at least 70 additional described and provisional species; the use of locked nucleic acids in TaqMan probes should expand this list. A second locus spanning three tRNAs (trnM-trnP-trnM) was also evaluated for genus-specific detection capabilities. At 206 bp, it was not as useful for systematic development of a broad range of species-specific probes as the larger 340-bp amplicon. All markers were validated against a test panel that included 87 Phytophthora spp., 14 provisional Phytophthora spp., 29 Pythium spp., 1 Phytopythium sp., and 39 plant species. Species-specific probes were validated further against a range of geographically diverse isolates to ensure uniformity of detection at an intraspecific level, as well as with other species having high levels of sequence similarity to ensure specificity. Both diagnostic

  3. Nuclear cGMP-dependent kinase regulates gene expression via activity-dependent recruitment of a conserved histone deacetylase complex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan Hao

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Elevation of the second messenger cGMP by nitric oxide (NO activates the cGMP-dependent protein kinase PKG, which is key in regulating cardiovascular, intestinal, and neuronal functions in mammals. The NO-cGMP-PKG signaling pathway is also a major therapeutic target for cardiovascular and male reproductive diseases. Despite widespread effects of PKG activation, few molecular targets of PKG are known. We study how EGL-4, the Caenorhabditis elegans PKG ortholog, modulates foraging behavior and egg-laying and seeks the downstream effectors of EGL-4 activity. Using a combination of unbiased forward genetic screen and proteomic analysis, we have identified a conserved SAEG-1/SAEG-2/HDA-2 histone deacetylase complex that is specifically recruited by activated nuclear EGL-4. Gene expression profiling by microarrays revealed >40 genes that are sensitive to EGL-4 activity in a SAEG-1-dependent manner. We present evidence that EGL-4 controls egg laying via one of these genes, Y45F10C.2, which encodes a novel protein that is expressed exclusively in the uterine epithelium. Our results indicate that, in addition to cytoplasmic functions, active EGL-4/PKG acts in the nucleus via a conserved Class I histone deacetylase complex to regulate gene expression pertinent to behavioral and physiological responses to cGMP. We also identify transcriptional targets of EGL-4 that carry out discrete components of the physiological response.

  4. Patterns of genetic differentiation at MHC class I genes and microsatellites identify conservation units in the giant panda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Ying; Wan, Qiu-Hong; Yu, Bin; Ge, Yun-Fa; Fang, Sheng-Guo

    2013-10-22

    Evaluating patterns of genetic variation is important to identify conservation units (i.e., evolutionarily significant units [ESUs], management units [MUs], and adaptive units [AUs]) in endangered species. While neutral markers could be used to infer population history, their application in the estimation of adaptive variation is limited. The capacity to adapt to various environments is vital for the long-term survival of endangered species. Hence, analysis of adaptive loci, such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, is critical for conservation genetics studies. Here, we investigated 4 classical MHC class I genes (Aime-C, Aime-F, Aime-I, and Aime-L) and 8 microsatellites to infer patterns of genetic variation in the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and to further define conservation units. Overall, we identified 24 haplotypes (9 for Aime-C, 1 for Aime-F, 7 for Aime-I, and 7 for Aime-L) from 218 individuals obtained from 6 populations of giant panda. We found that the Xiaoxiangling population had the highest genetic variation at microsatellites among the 6 giant panda populations and higher genetic variation at Aime-MHC class I genes than other larger populations (Qinling, Qionglai, and Minshan populations). Differentiation index (FST)-based phylogenetic and Bayesian clustering analyses for Aime-MHC-I and microsatellite loci both supported that most populations were highly differentiated. The Qinling population was the most genetically differentiated. The giant panda showed a relatively higher level of genetic diversity at MHC class I genes compared with endangered felids. Using all of the loci, we found that the 6 giant panda populations fell into 2 ESUs: Qinling and non-Qinling populations. We defined 3 MUs based on microsatellites: Qinling, Minshan-Qionglai, and Daxiangling-Xiaoxiangling-Liangshan. We also recommended 3 possible AUs based on MHC loci: Qinling, Minshan-Qionglai, and Daxiangling-Xiaoxiangling-Liangshan. Furthermore, we recommend

  5. A higher-order conservation element solution element method for solving hyperbolic differential equations on unstructured meshes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilyeu, David

    This dissertation presents an extension of the Conservation Element Solution Element (CESE) method from second- to higher-order accuracy. The new method retains the favorable characteristics of the original second-order CESE scheme, including (i) the use of the space-time integral equation for conservation laws, (ii) a compact mesh stencil, (iii) the scheme will remain stable up to a CFL number of unity, (iv) a fully explicit, time-marching integration scheme, (v) true multidimensionality without using directional splitting, and (vi) the ability to handle two- and three-dimensional geometries by using unstructured meshes. This algorithm has been thoroughly tested in one, two and three spatial dimensions and has been shown to obtain the desired order of accuracy for solving both linear and non-linear hyperbolic partial differential equations. The scheme has also shown its ability to accurately resolve discontinuities in the solutions. Higher order unstructured methods such as the Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method and the Spectral Volume (SV) methods have been developed for one-, two- and three-dimensional application. Although these schemes have seen extensive development and use, certain drawbacks of these methods have been well documented. For example, the explicit versions of these two methods have very stringent stability criteria. This stability criteria requires that the time step be reduced as the order of the solver increases, for a given simulation on a given mesh. The research presented in this dissertation builds upon the work of Chang, who developed a fourth-order CESE scheme to solve a scalar one-dimensional hyperbolic partial differential equation. The completed research has resulted in two key deliverables. The first is a detailed derivation of a high-order CESE methods on unstructured meshes for solving the conservation laws in two- and three-dimensional spaces. The second is the code implementation of these numerical methods in a computer code. For

  6. Pleiotropic Regulation of Virulence Genes in Streptococcus mutans by the Conserved Small Protein SprV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shankar, Manoharan; Hossain, Mohammad S; Biswas, Indranil

    2017-04-15

    Streptococcus mutans , an oral pathogen associated with dental caries, colonizes tooth surfaces as polymicrobial biofilms known as dental plaque. S. mutans expresses several virulence factors that allow the organism to tolerate environmental fluctuations and compete with other microorganisms. We recently identified a small hypothetical protein (90 amino acids) essential for the normal growth of the bacterium. Inactivation of the gene, SMU.2137, encoding this protein caused a significant growth defect and loss of various virulence-associated functions. An S. mutans strain lacking this gene was more sensitive to acid, temperature, osmotic, oxidative, and DNA damage-inducing stresses. In addition, we observed an altered protein profile and defects in biofilm formation, bacteriocin production, and natural competence development, possibly due to the fitness defect associated with SMU.2137 deletion. Transcriptome sequencing revealed that nearly 20% of the S. mutans genes were differentially expressed upon SMU.2137 deletion, thereby suggesting a pleiotropic effect. Therefore, we have renamed this hitherto uncharacterized gene as sprV ( s treptococcal p leiotropic r egulator of v irulence). The transcript levels of several relevant genes in the sprV mutant corroborated the phenotypes observed upon sprV deletion. Owing to its highly conserved nature, inactivation of the sprV ortholog in Streptococcus gordonii also resulted in poor growth and defective UV tolerance and competence development as in the case of S. mutans Our experiments suggest that SprV is functionally distinct from its homologs identified by structure and sequence homology. Nonetheless, our current work is aimed at understanding the importance of SprV in the S. mutans biology. IMPORTANCE Streptococcus mutans employs several virulence factors and stress resistance mechanisms to colonize tooth surfaces and cause dental caries. Bacterial pathogenesis is generally controlled by regulators of fitness that are

  7. Higher order Godunov methods for general systems of hyperbolic conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bell, J.B.; Colella, P.; Trangenstein, J.A.

    1989-01-01

    We describe an extension of higher order Godunov methods to general systems of hyperbolic conservation laws. This extension allow the method to be applied to problems that are not strictly hyperbolic and exhibit local linear degeneracies in the wave fields. The method constructs an approximation of the Riemann problem from local wave information. A generalization of the Engquist--Osher flux for systems is then used to compute a numerical flux based on this approximation. This numerical flux replaces the Godunov numerical flux in the algorithm, thereby eliminating the need for a global Riemann problem solution. The additional modifications to the Godunov methodology that are needed to treat loss of strict hyperbolicity are described in detail. The method is applied to some simple model problems for which the glocal analytic structure is known. The method is also applied to the black-oil model for multiphase flow in petroleum reservoirs. copyright 1989 Academic Press, Inc

  8. Combining Human Epigenetics and Sleep Studies in Caenorhabditis elegans: A Cross-Species Approach for Finding Conserved Genes Regulating Sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Huiyan; Zhu, Yong; Eliot, Melissa N; Knopik, Valerie S; McGeary, John E; Carskadon, Mary A; Hart, Anne C

    2017-06-01

    We aimed to test a combined approach to identify conserved genes regulating sleep and to explore the association between DNA methylation and sleep length. We identified candidate genes associated with shorter versus longer sleep duration in college students based on DNA methylation using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip arrays. Orthologous genes in Caenorhabditis elegans were identified, and we examined whether their loss of function affected C. elegans sleep. For genes whose perturbation affected C. elegans sleep, we subsequently undertook a small pilot study to re-examine DNA methylation in an independent set of human participants with shorter versus longer sleep durations. Eighty-seven out of 485,577 CpG sites had significant differential methylation in young adults with shorter versus longer sleep duration, corresponding to 52 candidate genes. We identified 34 C. elegans orthologs, including NPY/flp-18 and flp-21, which are known to affect sleep. Loss of five additional genes alters developmentally timed C. elegans sleep (B4GALT6/bre-4, DOCK180/ced-5, GNB2L1/rack-1, PTPRN2/ida-1, ZFYVE28/lst-2). For one of these genes, ZFYVE28 (also known as hLst2), the pilot replication study again found decreased DNA methylation associated with shorter sleep duration at the same two CpG sites in the first intron of ZFYVE28. Using an approach that combines human epigenetics and C. elegans sleep studies, we identified five genes that play previously unidentified roles in C. elegans sleep. We suggest sleep duration in humans may be associated with differential DNA methylation at specific sites and that the conserved genes identified here likely play roles in C. elegans sleep and in other species. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Conservation Value

    OpenAIRE

    Tisdell, Clement A.

    2010-01-01

    This paper outlines the significance of the concept of conservation value and discusses ways in which it is determined paying attention to views stemming from utilitarian ethics and from deontological ethics. The importance of user costs in relation to economic decisions about the conservation and use of natural resources is emphasised. Particular attention is given to competing views about the importance of conserving natural resources in order to achieve economic sustainability. This then l...

  10. RNA expression in a cartilaginous fish cell line reveals ancient 3′ noncoding regions highly conserved in vertebrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forest, David; Nishikawa, Ryuhei; Kobayashi, Hiroshi; Parton, Angela; Bayne, Christopher J.; Barnes, David W.

    2007-01-01

    We have established a cartilaginous fish cell line [Squalus acanthias embryo cell line (SAE)], a mesenchymal stem cell line derived from the embryo of an elasmobranch, the spiny dogfish shark S. acanthias. Elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) first appeared >400 million years ago, and existing species provide useful models for comparative vertebrate cell biology, physiology, and genomics. Comparative vertebrate genomics among evolutionarily distant organisms can provide sequence conservation information that facilitates identification of critical coding and noncoding regions. Although these genomic analyses are informative, experimental verification of functions of genomic sequences depends heavily on cell culture approaches. Using ESTs defining mRNAs derived from the SAE cell line, we identified lengthy and highly conserved gene-specific nucleotide sequences in the noncoding 3′ UTRs of eight genes involved in the regulation of cell growth and proliferation. Conserved noncoding 3′ mRNA regions detected by using the shark nucleotide sequences as a starting point were found in a range of other vertebrate orders, including bony fish, birds, amphibians, and mammals. Nucleotide identity of shark and human in these regions was remarkably well conserved. Our results indicate that highly conserved gene sequences dating from the appearance of jawed vertebrates and representing potential cis-regulatory elements can be identified through the use of cartilaginous fish as a baseline. Because the expression of genes in the SAE cell line was prerequisite for their identification, this cartilaginous fish culture system also provides a physiologically valid tool to test functional hypotheses on the role of these ancient conserved sequences in comparative cell biology. PMID:17227856

  11. A conserved gene family encodes transmembrane proteins with fibronectin, immunoglobulin and leucine-rich repeat domains (FIGLER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haga Christopher L

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In mouse the cytokine interleukin-7 (IL-7 is required for generation of B lymphocytes, but human IL-7 does not appear to have this function. A bioinformatics approach was therefore used to identify IL-7 receptor related genes in the hope of identifying the elusive human cytokine. Results Our database search identified a family of nine gene candidates, which we have provisionally named fibronectin immunoglobulin leucine-rich repeat (FIGLER. The FIGLER 1–9 genes are predicted to encode type I transmembrane glycoproteins with 6–12 leucine-rich repeats (LRR, a C2 type Ig domain, a fibronectin type III domain, a hydrophobic transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic domain containing one to four tyrosine residues. Members of this multichromosomal gene family possess 20–47% overall amino acid identity and are differentially expressed in cell lines and primary hematopoietic lineage cells. Genes for FIGLER homologs were identified in macaque, orangutan, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog, chicken, toad, and puffer fish databases. The non-human FIGLER homologs share 38–99% overall amino acid identity with their human counterpart. Conclusion The extracellular domain structure and absence of recognizable cytoplasmic signaling motifs in members of the highly conserved FIGLER gene family suggest a trophic or cell adhesion function for these molecules.

  12. Blueprint for a minimal photoautotrophic cell: conserved and variable genes in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peretó Juli

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Simpler biological systems should be easier to understand and to engineer towards pre-defined goals. One way to achieve biological simplicity is through genome minimization. Here we looked for genomic islands in the fresh water cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (genome size 2.7 Mb that could be used as targets for deletion. We also looked for conserved genes that might be essential for cell survival. Results By using a combination of methods we identified 170 xenologs, 136 ORFans and 1401 core genes in the genome of S. elongatus PCC 7942. These represent 6.5%, 5.2% and 53.6% of the annotated genes respectively. We considered that genes in genomic islands could be found if they showed a combination of: a unusual G+C content; b unusual phylogenetic similarity; and/or c a small number of the highly iterated palindrome 1 (HIP1 motif plus an unusual codon usage. The origin of the largest genomic island by horizontal gene transfer (HGT could be corroborated by lack of coverage among metagenomic sequences from a fresh water microbialite. Evidence is also presented that xenologous genes tend to cluster in operons. Interestingly, most genes coding for proteins with a diguanylate cyclase domain are predicted to be xenologs, suggesting a role for horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of Synechococcus sensory systems. Conclusions Our estimates of genomic islands in PCC 7942 are larger than those predicted by other published methods like SIGI-HMM. Our results set a guide to non-essential genes in S. elongatus PCC 7942 indicating a path towards the engineering of a model photoautotrophic bacterial cell.

  13. Mapping cis-Regulatory Domains in the Human Genome UsingMulti-Species Conservation of Synteny

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahituv, Nadav; Prabhakar, Shyam; Poulin, Francis; Rubin, EdwardM.; Couronne, Olivier

    2005-06-13

    Our inability to associate distant regulatory elements with the genes that they regulate has largely precluded their examination for sequence alterations contributing to human disease. One major obstacle is the large genomic space surrounding targeted genes in which such elements could potentially reside. In order to delineate gene regulatory boundaries we used whole-genome human-mouse-chicken (HMC) and human-mouse-frog (HMF) multiple alignments to compile conserved blocks of synteny (CBS), under the hypothesis that these blocks have been kept intact throughout evolution at least in part by the requirement of regulatory elements to stay linked to the genes that they regulate. A total of 2,116 and 1,942 CBS>200 kb were assembled for HMC and HMF respectively, encompassing 1.53 and 0.86 Gb of human sequence. To support the existence of complex long-range regulatory domains within these CBS we analyzed the prevalence and distribution of chromosomal aberrations leading to position effects (disruption of a genes regulatory environment), observing a clear bias not only for mapping onto CBS but also for longer CBS size. Our results provide a genome wide data set characterizing the regulatory domains of genes and the conserved regulatory elements within them.

  14. Comparative Bioinformatics Analysis of Transcription Factor Genes Indicates Conservation of Key Regulatory Domains among Babesia bovis, Babesia microti, and Theileria equi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alzan, Heba F; Knowles, Donald P; Suarez, Carlos E

    2016-11-01

    Apicomplexa tick-borne hemoparasites, including Babesia bovis, Babesia microti, and Theileria equi are responsible for bovine and human babesiosis and equine theileriosis, respectively. These parasites of vast medical, epidemiological, and economic impact have complex life cycles in their vertebrate and tick hosts. Large gaps in knowledge concerning the mechanisms used by these parasites for gene regulation remain. Regulatory genes coding for DNA binding proteins such as members of the Api-AP2, HMG, and Myb families are known to play crucial roles as transcription factors. Although the repertoire of Api-AP2 has been defined and a HMG gene was previously identified in the B. bovis genome, these regulatory genes have not been described in detail in B. microti and T. equi. In this study, comparative bioinformatics was used to: (i) identify and map genes encoding for these transcription factors among three parasites' genomes; (ii) identify a previously unreported HMG gene in B. microti; (iii) define a repertoire of eight conserved Myb genes; and (iv) identify AP2 correlates among B. bovis and the better-studied Plasmodium parasites. Searching the available transcriptome of B. bovis defined patterns of transcription of these three gene families in B. bovis erythrocyte stage parasites. Sequence comparisons show conservation of functional domains and general architecture in the AP2, Myb, and HMG proteins, which may be significant for the regulation of common critical parasite life cycle transitions in B. bovis, B. microti, and T. equi. A detailed understanding of the role of gene families encoding DNA binding proteins will provide new tools for unraveling regulatory mechanisms involved in B. bovis, B. microti, and T. equi life cycles and environmental adaptive responses and potentially contributes to the development of novel convergent strategies for improved control of babesiosis and equine piroplasmosis.

  15. Comparative Bioinformatics Analysis of Transcription Factor Genes Indicates Conservation of Key Regulatory Domains among Babesia bovis, Babesia microti, and Theileria equi.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heba F Alzan

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Apicomplexa tick-borne hemoparasites, including Babesia bovis, Babesia microti, and Theileria equi are responsible for bovine and human babesiosis and equine theileriosis, respectively. These parasites of vast medical, epidemiological, and economic impact have complex life cycles in their vertebrate and tick hosts. Large gaps in knowledge concerning the mechanisms used by these parasites for gene regulation remain. Regulatory genes coding for DNA binding proteins such as members of the Api-AP2, HMG, and Myb families are known to play crucial roles as transcription factors. Although the repertoire of Api-AP2 has been defined and a HMG gene was previously identified in the B. bovis genome, these regulatory genes have not been described in detail in B. microti and T. equi. In this study, comparative bioinformatics was used to: (i identify and map genes encoding for these transcription factors among three parasites' genomes; (ii identify a previously unreported HMG gene in B. microti; (iii define a repertoire of eight conserved Myb genes; and (iv identify AP2 correlates among B. bovis and the better-studied Plasmodium parasites. Searching the available transcriptome of B. bovis defined patterns of transcription of these three gene families in B. bovis erythrocyte stage parasites. Sequence comparisons show conservation of functional domains and general architecture in the AP2, Myb, and HMG proteins, which may be significant for the regulation of common critical parasite life cycle transitions in B. bovis, B. microti, and T. equi. A detailed understanding of the role of gene families encoding DNA binding proteins will provide new tools for unraveling regulatory mechanisms involved in B. bovis, B. microti, and T. equi life cycles and environmental adaptive responses and potentially contributes to the development of novel convergent strategies for improved control of babesiosis and equine piroplasmosis.

  16. Identification of Putative Ortholog Gene Blocks Involved in Gestant and Lactating Mammary Gland Development: A Rodent Cross-Species Microarray Transcriptomics Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Cruz, Maricela; Coral-Vázquez, Ramón M.; Hernández-Stengele, Gabriel; Sánchez, Raúl; Salazar, Emmanuel; Sanchez-Muñoz, Fausto; Encarnación-Guevara, Sergio; Ramírez-Salcedo, Jorge

    2013-01-01

    The mammary gland (MG) undergoes functional and metabolic changes during the transition from pregnancy to lactation, possibly by regulation of conserved genes. The objective was to elucidate orthologous genes, chromosome clusters and putative conserved transcriptional modules during MG development. We analyzed expression of 22,000 transcripts using murine microarrays and RNA samples of MG from virgin, pregnant, and lactating rats by cross-species hybridization. We identified 521 transcripts differentially expressed; upregulated in early (78%) and midpregnancy (89%) and early lactation (64%), but downregulated in mid-lactation (61%). Putative orthologous genes were identified. We mapped the altered genes to orthologous chromosomal locations in human and mouse. Eighteen sets of conserved genes associated with key cellular functions were revealed and conserved transcription factor binding site search entailed possible coregulation among all eight block sets of genes. This study demonstrates that the use of heterologous array hybridization for screening of orthologous gene expression from rat revealed sets of conserved genes arranged in chromosomal order implicated in signaling pathways and functional ontology. Results demonstrate the utilization power of comparative genomics and prove the feasibility of using rodent microarrays to identification of putative coexpressed orthologous genes involved in the control of human mammary gland development. PMID:24288657

  17. Comparative genome sequencing of drosophila pseudoobscura: Chromosomal, gene and cis-element evolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richards, Stephen; Liu, Yue; Bettencourt, Brian R.; Hradecky, Pavel; Letovsky, Stan; Nielsen, Rasmus; Thornton, Kevin; Todd, Melissa J.; Chen, Rui; Meisel, Richard P.; Couronne, Olivier; Hua, Sujun; Smith, Mark A.; Bussemaker, Harmen J.; van Batenburg, Marinus F.; Howells, Sally L.; Scherer, Steven E.; Sodergren, Erica; Matthews, Beverly B.; Crosby, Madeline A.; Schroeder, Andrew J.; Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel; Rives, Catherine M.; Metzker, Michael L.; Muzny, Donna M.; Scott, Graham; Steffen, David; Wheeler, David A.; Worley, Kim C.; Havlak, Paul; Durbin, K. James; Egan, Amy; Gill, Rachel; Hume, Jennifer; Morgan, Margaret B.; Miner, George; Hamilton, Cerissa; Huang, Yanmei; Waldron, Lenee; Verduzco, Daniel; Blankenburg, Kerstin P.; Dubchak, Inna; Noor, Mohamed A.F.; Anderson, Wyatt; White, Kevin P.; Clark, Andrew G.; Schaeffer, Stephen W.; Gelbart, William; Weinstock, George M.; Gibbs, Richard A.

    2004-04-01

    The genome sequence of a second fruit fly, D. pseudoobscura, presents an opportunity for comparative analysis of a primary model organism D. melanogaster. The vast majority of Drosophila genes have remained on the same arm, but within each arm gene order has been extensively reshuffled leading to the identification of approximately 1300 syntenic blocks. A repetitive sequence is found in the D. pseudoobscura genome at many junctions between adjacent syntenic blocks. Analysis of this novel repetitive element family suggests that recombination between offset elements may have given rise to many paracentric inversions, thereby contributing to the shuffling of gene order in the D. pseudoobscura lineage. Based on sequence similarity and synteny, 10,516 putative orthologs have been identified as a core gene set conserved over 35 My since divergence. Genes expressed in the testes had higher amino acid sequence divergence than the genome wide average consistent with the rapid evolution of sex-specific proteins. Cis-regulatory sequences are more conserved than control sequences between the species but the difference is slight, suggesting that the evolution of cis-regulatory elements is flexible. Overall, a picture of repeat mediated chromosomal rearrangement, and high co-adaptation of both male genes and cis-regulatory sequences emerges as important themes of genome divergence between these species of Drosophila.

  18. Unusual evolutionary conservation and further species-specific adaptations of a large family of nonclassical MHC class Ib genes across different degrees of genome ploidy in the amphibian subfamily Xenopodinae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edholm, Eva-Stina; Goyos, Ana; Taran, Joseph; De Jesús Andino, Francisco; Ohta, Yuko; Robert, Jacques

    2014-06-01

    Nonclassical MHC class Ib (class Ib) genes are a family of highly diverse and rapidly evolving genes wherein gene numbers, organization, and expression markedly differ even among closely related species rendering class Ib phylogeny difficult to establish. Whereas among mammals there are few unambiguous class Ib gene orthologs, different amphibian species belonging to the anuran subfamily Xenopodinae exhibit an unusually high degree of conservation among multiple class Ib gene lineages. Comparative genomic analysis of class Ib gene loci of two divergent (~65 million years) Xenopodinae subfamily members Xenopus laevis (allotetraploid) and Xenopus tropicalis (diploid) shows that both species possess a large cluster of class Ib genes denoted as Xenopus/Silurana nonclassical (XNC/SNC). Our study reveals two distinct phylogenetic patterns among these genes: some gene lineages display a high degree of flexibility, as demonstrated by species-specific expansion and contractions, whereas other class Ib gene lineages have been maintained as monogenic subfamilies with very few changes in their nucleotide sequence across divergent species. In this second category, we further investigated the XNC/SNC10 gene lineage that in X. laevis is required for the development of a distinct semi-invariant T cell population. We report compelling evidence of the remarkable high degree of conservation of this gene lineage that is present in all 12 species of the Xenopodinae examined, including species with different degrees of ploidy ranging from 2, 4, 8 to 12 N. This suggests that the critical role of XNC10 during early T cell development is conserved in amphibians.

  19. Subtle variation within conserved effector operon gene products contributes to T6SS-mediated killing and immunity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alteri, Christopher J; Himpsl, Stephanie D; Zhu, Kevin; Hershey, Haley L; Musili, Ninette; Miller, Jessa E; Mobley, Harry L T

    2017-11-01

    Type VI secretion systems (T6SS) function to deliver lethal payloads into target cells. Many studies have shown that protection against a single, lethal T6SS effector protein requires a cognate antidote immunity protein, both of which are often encoded together in a two-gene operon. The T6SS and an effector-immunity pair is sufficient for both killing and immunity. HereIn this paper we describe a T6SS effector operon that differs from conventional effector-immunity pairs in that eight genes are necessary for lethal effector function, yet can be countered by a single immunity protein. In this study, we investigated the role that the PefE T6SS immunity protein plays in recognition between two strains harboring nearly identical effector operons. Interestingly, despite containing seven of eight identical effector proteins, the less conserved immunity proteins only provided protection against their native effectors, suggesting that specificity and recognition could be dependent on variation within an immunity protein and one effector gene product. The variable effector gene product, PefD, is encoded upstream from pefE, and displays toxic activity that can be countered by PefE independent of T6SS-activity. Interestingly, while the entire pef operon was necessary to exert toxic activity via the T6SS in P. mirabilis, production of PefD and PefE alone was unable to exert this effector activity. Chimeric PefE proteins constructed from two P. mirabilis strains were used to localize immunity function to three amino acids. A promiscuous immunity protein was created using site-directed mutagenesis to change these residues from one variant to another. These findings support the notion that subtle differences between conserved effectors are sufficient for T6SS-mediated kin discrimination and that PefD requires additional factors to function as a T6SS-dependent effector.

  20. In Vivo Characterization of a Vertebrate Ultra-conserved Enhancer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Poulin, Francis; Nobrega, Marcelo A.; Plajzer-Frick, Ingrid; Holt, Amy; Afzal, Veena; Rubin, Edward M.; Pennacchio, Len

    2004-10-01

    Genomic sequence comparisons between human, mouse and pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes (Fugu))have revealed a set of extremely conserved noncoding sequences. While this high degree of sequence conservation suggests severe evolutionary constraint and predicts a lack of tolerance to change in order to retain in vivo functionality, such elements have been minimally explored experimentally. In this study, we describe the in-depth characterization of an ancient conserved enhancer, Dc2 located near the dachshund gene, which displays a human-Fugu identity of 84 percent over 424 basepairs (bp). In addition to this large overall conservation, we find that Dc2 is characterized by the presence of a large block of sequence (144 bp) that is completely identical between human, mouse, chicken, zebrafish and Fugu. Through the testing of reporter vector constructs in transgenic mice, we observed that the 424 bp Dc2 conserved element is necessary and sufficient for brain tissue enhancer activity. In vivo analyses also revealed that the 144 bp 100 percent conserved sequence is necessary, but not sufficient, to replicate Dc2 enhancer function. However, the introduction of two separate 16 bp insertions into the highly conserved enhancer core did not cause any detectable modification of its in vivo activity. Our observations indicate that the 144 bp 100 percent conserved element is tolerant of change at least at the resolution of this transgenic mouse assay and suggest that purifying selection on Dc2 sequence might not be as strong as we predicted or that some unknown property also constrains this highly conserved enhancer sequence.

  1. Stochastic fluctuations and distributed control of gene expression impact cellular memory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillaume Corre

    Full Text Available Despite the stochastic noise that characterizes all cellular processes the cells are able to maintain and transmit to their daughter cells the stable level of gene expression. In order to better understand this phenomenon, we investigated the temporal dynamics of gene expression variation using a double reporter gene model. We compared cell clones with transgenes coding for highly stable mRNA and fluorescent proteins with clones expressing destabilized mRNA-s and proteins. Both types of clones displayed strong heterogeneity of reporter gene expression levels. However, cells expressing stable gene products produced daughter cells with similar level of reporter proteins, while in cell clones with short mRNA and protein half-lives the epigenetic memory of the gene expression level was completely suppressed. Computer simulations also confirmed the role of mRNA and protein stability in the conservation of constant gene expression levels over several cell generations. These data indicate that the conservation of a stable phenotype in a cellular lineage may largely depend on the slow turnover of mRNA-s and proteins.

  2. Forest gene conservation from the perspective of the international community

    Science.gov (United States)

    M. Hosny El-Lakany

    2017-01-01

    conservation of forest genetic resources (FGR). After presenting internationally adopted definitions of some terms related to FGR, the characteristics of the current state of FGR conservation from a global perspective are summarized. Many international and regional organizations and institutions are engaged in the conservation of FGR at degrees ranging from...

  3. The distribution, diversity, and importance of 16S rRNA gene introns in the order Thermoproteales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jay, Zackary J; Inskeep, William P

    2015-07-09

    Intron sequences are common in 16S rRNA genes of specific thermophilic lineages of Archaea, specifically the Thermoproteales (phylum Crenarchaeota). Environmental sequencing (16S rRNA gene and metagenome) from geothermal habitats in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) has expanded the available datasets for investigating 16S rRNA gene introns. The objectives of this study were to characterize and curate archaeal 16S rRNA gene introns from high-temperature habitats, evaluate the conservation and distribution of archaeal 16S rRNA introns in geothermal systems, and determine which "universal" archaeal 16S rRNA gene primers are impacted by the presence of intron sequences. Several new introns were identified and their insertion loci were constrained to thirteen locations across the 16S rRNA gene. Many of these introns encode homing endonucleases, although some introns were short or partial sequences. Pyrobaculum, Thermoproteus, and Caldivirga 16S rRNA genes contained the most abundant and diverse intron sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of introns revealed that sequences within the same locus are distributed biogeographically. The most diverse set of introns were observed in a high-temperature, circumneutral (pH 6) sulfur sediment environment, which also contained the greatest diversity of different Thermoproteales phylotypes. The widespread presence of introns in the Thermoproteales indicates a high probability of misalignments using different "universal" 16S rRNA primers employed in environmental microbial community analysis.

  4. EST analysis in Ginkgo biloba: an assessment of conserved developmental regulators and gymnosperm specific genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Runko Suzan J

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Ginkgo biloba L. is the only surviving member of one of the oldest living seed plant groups with medicinal, spiritual and horticultural importance worldwide. As an evolutionary relic, it displays many characters found in the early, extinct seed plants and extant cycads. To establish a molecular base to understand the evolution of seeds and pollen, we created a cDNA library and EST dataset from the reproductive structures of male (microsporangiate, female (megasporangiate, and vegetative organs (leaves of Ginkgo biloba. Results RNA from newly emerged male and female reproductive organs and immature leaves was used to create three distinct cDNA libraries from which 6,434 ESTs were generated. These 6,434 ESTs from Ginkgo biloba were clustered into 3,830 unigenes. A comparison of our Ginkgo unigene set against the fully annotated genomes of rice and Arabidopsis, and all available ESTs in Genbank revealed that 256 Ginkgo unigenes match only genes among the gymnosperms and non-seed plants – many with multiple matches to genes in non-angiosperm plants. Conversely, another group of unigenes in Gingko had highly significant homology to transcription factors in angiosperms involved in development, including MADS box genes as well as post-transcriptional regulators. Several of the conserved developmental genes found in Ginkgo had top BLAST homology to cycad genes. We also note here the presence of ESTs in G. biloba similar to genes that to date have only been found in gymnosperms and an additional 22 Ginkgo genes common only to genes from cycads. Conclusion Our analysis of an EST dataset from G. biloba revealed genes potentially unique to gymnosperms. Many of these genes showed homology to fully sequenced clones from our cycad EST dataset found in common only with gymnosperms. Other Ginkgo ESTs are similar to developmental regulators in higher plants. This work sets the stage for future studies on Ginkgo to better understand seed and

  5. MADS-box gene evolution - structure and transcription patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansen, Bo; Pedersen, Louise Buchholt; Skipper, Martin

    2002-01-01

    Mads-box genes, ABC model, Evolution, Phylogeny, Transcription patterns, Gene structure, Conserved motifs......Mads-box genes, ABC model, Evolution, Phylogeny, Transcription patterns, Gene structure, Conserved motifs...

  6. Lactobacillus plantarum gene clusters encoding putative cell-surface protein complexes for carbohydrate utilization are conserved in specific gram-positive bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muscariello Lidia

    2006-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genomes of gram-positive bacteria encode many putative cell-surface proteins, of which the majority has no known function. From the rapidly increasing number of available genome sequences it has become apparent that many cell-surface proteins are conserved, and frequently encoded in gene clusters or operons, suggesting common functions, and interactions of multiple components. Results A novel gene cluster encoding exclusively cell-surface proteins was identified, which is conserved in a subgroup of gram-positive bacteria. Each gene cluster generally has one copy of four new gene families called cscA, cscB, cscC and cscD. Clusters encoding these cell-surface proteins were found only in complete genomes of Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus sakei, Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria innocua, Listeria monocytogenes, Lactococcus lactis ssp lactis and Bacillus cereus and in incomplete genomes of L. lactis ssp cremoris, Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillius brevis, Oenococcus oeni, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, and Bacillus thuringiensis. These genes are neither present in the genomes of streptococci, staphylococci and clostridia, nor in the Lactobacillus acidophilus group, suggesting a niche-specific distribution, possibly relating to association with plants. All encoded proteins have a signal peptide for secretion by the Sec-dependent pathway, while some have cell-surface anchors, novel WxL domains, and putative domains for sugar binding and degradation. Transcriptome analysis in L. plantarum shows that the cscA-D genes are co-expressed, supporting their operon organization. Many gene clusters are significantly up-regulated in a glucose-grown, ccpA-mutant derivative of L. plantarum, suggesting catabolite control. This is supported by the presence of predicted CRE-sites upstream or inside the up-regulated cscA-D gene clusters. Conclusion We propose that the CscA, CscB, CscC and Csc

  7. Gene2Function: An Integrated Online Resource for Gene Function Discovery

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    Yanhui Hu

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available One of the most powerful ways to develop hypotheses regarding the biological functions of conserved genes in a given species, such as humans, is to first look at what is known about their function in another species. Model organism databases and other resources are rich with functional information but difficult to mine. Gene2Function addresses a broad need by integrating information about conserved genes in a single online resource.

  8. Mitochondrial tRNA gene translocations in highly eusocial bees

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Silvestre

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Mitochondrial gene rearrangement events, especially involving tRNA genes, have been described more frequently as more complete mitochondrial genome sequences are becoming available. In the present work, we analyzed mitochondrial tRNA gene rearrangements between two bee species belonging to the tribes Apini and Meliponini within the "corbiculate Apidae". Eleven tRNA genes are in different genome positions or strands. The molecular events responsible for each translocation are explained. Considering the high number of rearrangements observed, the data presented here contradict the general rule of high gene order conservation among closely related organisms, and also represent a powerful molecular tool to help solve questions about phylogeny and evolution in bees.

  9. Conservation of forest genetic resources in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    B. St. Clair; S. Lipow; K. Vance-Borland; R. Johnson

    2007-01-01

    Conservation of genetic diversity is recognized as an important requirement of sustainable forest management. Gene conservation activities include in situ conservation of native stands in reserves and ex situ conservation in seed banks, genetic tests, seed and breeding orchards, and other plantations of known identity. We present an example from Oregon and Washington...

  10. Visualizing conserved gene location across microbe genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Chris D.

    2009-01-01

    This paper introduces an analysis-based zoomable visualization technique for displaying the location of genes across many related species of microbes. The purpose of this visualizatiuon is to enable a biologist to examine the layout of genes in the organism of interest with respect to the gene organization of related organisms. During the genomic annotation process, the ability to observe gene organization in common with previously annotated genomes can help a biologist better confirm the structure and function of newly analyzed microbe DNA sequences. We have developed a visualization and analysis tool that enables the biologist to observe and examine gene organization among genomes, in the context of the primary sequence of interest. This paper describes the visualization and analysis steps, and presents a case study using a number of Rickettsia genomes.

  11. Analysis of tomato plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase gene family suggests a mycorrhiza-mediated regulatory mechanism conserved in diverse plant species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Junli; Liu, Jianjian; Chen, Aiqun; Ji, Minjie; Chen, Jiadong; Yang, Xiaofeng; Gu, Mian; Qu, Hongye; Xu, Guohua

    2016-10-01

    In plants, the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase (HA) is considered to play a crucial role in regulating plant growth and respoding to environment stresses. Multiple paralogous genes encoding different isozymes of HA have been identified and characterized in several model plants, while limited information of the HA gene family is available to date for tomato. Here, we describe the molecular and expression features of eight HA-encoding genes (SlHA1-8) from tomato. All these genes are interrupted by multiple introns with conserved positions. SlHA1, 2, and 4 were widely expressed in all tissues, while SlHA5, 6, and 7 were almost only expressed in flowers. SlHA8, the transcripts of which were barely detectable under normal or nutrient-/salt-stress growth conditions, was strongly activated in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal-colonized roots. Extreme lack of SlHA8 expression in M161, a mutant defective to AM fungal colonization, provided genetic evidence towards the dependence of its expression on AM symbiosis. A 1521-bp SlHA8 promoter could direct the GUS reporter expression specifically in colonized cells of transgenic tobacco, soybean, and rice mycorrhizal roots. Promoter deletion assay revealed a 223-bp promoter fragment of SlHA8 containing a variant of AM-specific cis-element MYCS (vMYCS) sufficient to confer the AM-induced activity. Targeted deletion of this motif in the corresponding promoter region causes complete abolishment of GUS staining in mycorrhizal roots. Together, these results lend cogent evidence towards the evolutionary conservation of a potential regulatory mechanism mediating the activation of AM-responsive HA genes in diverse mycorrhizal plant species.

  12. Phylogeny and mitochondrial gene order variation in Lophotrochozoa in the light of new mitogenomic data from Nemertea

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    von Döhren Jörn

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The new animal phylogeny established several taxa which were not identified by morphological analyses, most prominently the Ecdysozoa (arthropods, roundworms, priapulids and others and Lophotrochozoa (molluscs, annelids, brachiopods and others. Lophotrochozoan interrelationships are under discussion, e.g. regarding the position of Nemertea (ribbon worms, which were discussed to be sister group to e.g. Mollusca, Brachiozoa or Platyhelminthes. Mitochondrial genomes contributed well with sequence data and gene order characters to the deep metazoan phylogeny debate. Results In this study we present the first complete mitochondrial genome record for a member of the Nemertea, Lineus viridis. Except two trnP and trnT, all genes are located on the same strand. While gene order is most similar to that of the brachiopod Terebratulina retusa, sequence based analyses of mitochondrial genes place nemerteans close to molluscs, phoronids and entoprocts without clear preference for one of these taxa as sister group. Conclusion Almost all recent analyses with large datasets show good support for a taxon comprising Annelida, Mollusca, Brachiopoda, Phoronida and Nemertea. But the relationships among these taxa vary between different studies. The analysis of gene order differences gives evidence for a multiple independent occurrence of a large inversion in the mitochondrial genome of Lophotrochozoa and a re-inversion of the same part in gastropods. We hypothesize that some regions of the genome have a higher chance for intramolecular recombination than others and gene order data have to be analysed carefully to detect convergent rearrangement events.

  13. Spatially conserved regulatory elements identified within human and mouse Cd247 gene using high-throughput sequencing data from the ENCODE project

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pundhir, Sachin; Hannibal, Tine Dahlbæk; Bang-Berthelsen, Claus Heiner

    2014-01-01

    . In this study, we have utilized the wealth of high-throughput sequencing data produced during the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project to identify spatially conserved regulatory elements within the Cd247 gene from human and mouse. We show the presence of two transcription factor binding sites...

  14. RNA-seq of the aging brain in the short-lived fish N. furzeri - conserved pathways and novel genes associated with neurogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumgart, Mario; Groth, Marco; Priebe, Steffen; Savino, Aurora; Testa, Giovanna; Dix, Andreas; Ripa, Roberto; Spallotta, Francesco; Gaetano, Carlo; Ori, Michela; Terzibasi Tozzini, Eva; Guthke, Reinhard; Platzer, Matthias; Cellerino, Alessandro

    2014-12-01

    The brains of teleost fish show extensive adult neurogenesis and neuronal regeneration. The patterns of gene regulation during fish brain aging are unknown. The short-lived teleost fish Nothobranchius furzeri shows markers of brain aging including reduced learning performances, gliosis, and reduced adult neurogenesis. We used RNA-seq to quantify genome-wide transcript regulation and sampled five different time points to characterize whole-genome transcript regulation during brain aging of N. furzeri. Comparison with human datasets revealed conserved up-regulation of ribosome, lysosome, and complement activation and conserved down-regulation of synapse, mitochondrion, proteasome, and spliceosome. Down-regulated genes differ in their temporal profiles: neurogenesis and extracellular matrix genes showed rapid decay, synaptic and axonal genes a progressive decay. A substantial proportion of differentially expressed genes (~40%) showed inversion of their temporal profiles in the last time point: spliceosome and proteasome showed initial down-regulation and stress-response genes initial up-regulation. Extensive regulation was detected for chromatin remodelers of the DNMT and CBX families as well as members of the polycomb complex and was mirrored by an up-regulation of the H3K27me3 epigenetic mark. Network analysis showed extensive coregulation of cell cycle/DNA synthesis genes with the uncharacterized zinc-finger protein ZNF367 as central hub. In situ hybridization showed that ZNF367 is expressed in neuronal stem cell niches of both embryonic zebrafish and adult N. furzeri. Other genes down-regulated with age, not previously associated with adult neurogenesis and with similar patterns of expression are AGR2, DNMT3A, KRCP, MEX3A, SCML4, and CBX1. CBX7, on the other hand, was up-regulated with age. © 2014 The Authors. Aging cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Conserved repertoire of orthologous vomeronasal type 1 receptor genes in ruminant species

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    Okamura Hiroaki

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In mammals, pheromones play an important role in social and innate reproductive behavior within species. In rodents, vomeronasal receptor type 1 (V1R, which is specifically expressed in the vomeronasal organ, is thought to detect pheromones. The V1R gene repertoire differs dramatically between mammalian species, and the presence of species-specific V1R subfamilies in mouse and rat suggests that V1R plays a profound role in species-specific recognition of pheromones. In ruminants, however, the molecular mechanism(s for pheromone perception is not well understood. Interestingly, goat male pheromone, which can induce out-of-season ovulation in anestrous females, causes the same pheromone response in sheep, and vice versa, suggesting that there may be mechanisms for detecting "inter-species" pheromones among ruminant species. Results We isolated 23 goat and 21 sheep intact V1R genes based on sequence similarity with 32 cow V1R genes in the cow genome database. We found that all of the goat and sheep V1R genes have orthologs in their cross-species counterparts among these three ruminant species and that the sequence identity of V1R orthologous pairs among these ruminants is much higher than that of mouse-rat V1R orthologous pairs. Furthermore, all goat V1Rs examined thus far are expressed not only in the vomeronasal organ but also in the main olfactory epithelium. Conclusion Our results suggest that, compared with rodents, the repertoire of orthologous V1R genes is remarkably conserved among the ruminants cow, sheep and goat. We predict that these orthologous V1Rs can detect the same or closely related chemical compound(s within each orthologous set/pair. Furthermore, all identified goat V1Rs are expressed in the vomeronasal organ and the main olfactory epithelium, suggesting that V1R-mediated ligand information can be detected and processed by both the main and accessory olfactory systems. The fact that ruminant and rodent V1Rs

  16. Duplication of the IGFBP-2 gene in teleost fish: protein structure and functionality conservation and gene expression divergence.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianfeng Zhou

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2 is a secreted protein that binds and regulates IGF actions in controlling growth, development, reproduction, and aging. Elevated expression of IGFBP-2 is often associated with progression of many types of cancers. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report the identification and characterization of two IGFBP-2 genes in zebrafish and four other teleost fish. Comparative genomics and structural analyses suggest that they are co-orthologs of the human IGFBP-2 gene. Biochemical assays show that both zebrafish igfbp-2a and -2b encode secreted proteins that bind IGFs. These two genes exhibit distinct spatiotemporal expression patterns. During embryogenesis, IGFBP-2a mRNA is initially detected in the lens, then in the brain boundary vasculature, and subsequently becomes highly expressed in the liver. In the adult stage, liver has the highest levels of IGFBP-2a mRNA, followed by the brain. Low levels of IGFBP-2a mRNA were detected in muscle and in the gonad in male adults only. IGFBP-2b mRNA is detected initially in all tissues at low levels, but later becomes abundant in the liver. In adult males, IGFBP-2b mRNA is only detected in the liver. In adult females, it is also found in the gut, kidney, ovary, and muscle. To gain insights into how the IGFBP-2 genes may have evolved through partitioning of ancestral functions, functional and mechanistic studies were carried out. Expression of zebrafish IGFBP-2a and -2b caused significant decreases in the growth and developmental rates and their effects are comparable to that of human IGFBP-2. IGFBP-2 mutants with altered IGF binding-, RGD-, and heparin-binding sites were generated and their actions examined. While mutating the RGD and heparin binding sites had little effect, altering the IGF binding site abolished its biological activity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that IGFBP-2 is a conserved regulatory protein and it inhibits

  17. The complete mitochondrial genomes of two rice planthoppers, Nilaparvata lugens and Laodelphax striatellus: conserved genome rearrangement in Delphacidae and discovery of new characteristics of atp8 and tRNA genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Kai-Jun; Zhu, Wen-Chao; Rong, Xia; Zhang, Yan-Kai; Ding, Xiu-Lei; Liu, Jing; Chen, Da-Song; Du, Yu; Hong, Xiao-Yue

    2013-06-22

    Nilaparvata lugens (the brown planthopper, BPH) and Laodelphax striatellus (the small brown planthopper, SBPH) are two of the most important pests of rice. Up to now, there was only one mitochondrial genome of rice planthopper has been sequenced and very few dependable information of mitochondria could be used for research on population genetics, phylogeographics and phylogenetic evolution of these pests. To get more valuable information from the mitochondria, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of BPH and SBPH. These two planthoppers were infected with two different functional Wolbachia (intracellular endosymbiont) strains (wLug and wStri). Since both mitochondria and Wolbachia are transmitted by cytoplasmic inheritance and it was difficult to separate them when purified the Wolbachia particles, concomitantly sequencing the genome of Wolbachia using next generation sequencing method, we also got nearly complete mitochondrial genome sequences of these two rice planthoppers. After gap closing, we present high quality and reliable complete mitochondrial genomes of these two planthoppers. The mitogenomes of N. lugens (BPH) and L. striatellus (SBPH) are 17, 619 bp and 16, 431 bp long with A + T contents of 76.95% and 77.17%, respectively. Both species have typical circular mitochondrial genomes that encode the complete set of 37 genes which are usually found in metazoans. However, the BPH mitogenome also possesses two additional copies of the trnC gene. In both mitochondrial genomes, the lengths of the atp8 gene were conspicuously shorter than that of all other known insect mitochondrial genomes (99 bp for BPH, 102 bp for SBPH). That two rearrangement regions (trnC-trnW and nad6-trnP-trnT) of mitochondrial genomes differing from other known insect were found in these two distantly related planthoppers revealed that the gene order of mitochondria might be conservative in Delphacidae. The large non-coding fragment (the A+T-rich region) putatively

  18. Sequence conservation between porcine and human LRRK2

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Knud; Madsen, Lone Bruhn

    2009-01-01

     Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a member of the ROCO protein superfamily (Ras of complex proteins (Roc) with a C-terminal Roc domain). Mutations in the LRRK2 gene lead to autosomal dominant Parkinsonism. We have cloned the porcine LRRK2 cDNA in an attempt to characterize conserved...... and expression patterns are conserved across species. The porcine LRRK2 gene was mapped to chromosome 5q25. The results obtained suggest that the LRRK2 gene might be of particular interest in our attempt to generate a transgenic porcine model for Parkinson's disease...

  19. Novel cancer gene variants and gene fusions of triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) reveal their molecular diversity conserved in the patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Jaeyun; Jang, Kiwon; Ju, Jung Min; Lee, Eunji; Lee, Jong Won; Kim, Hee Jung; Kim, Jisun; Lee, Sae Byul; Ko, Beom Seok; Son, Byung Ho; Lee, Hee Jin; Gong, Gyungyup; Ahn, Sei Yeon; Choi, Jung Kyoon; Singh, Shree Ram; Chang, Suhwan

    2018-04-20

    Despite the improved 5-year survival rate of breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains a challenge due to lack of effective targeted therapy and higher recurrence and metastasis than other subtypes. To identify novel druggable targets and to understand its unique biology, we tried to implement 24 patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) of TNBC. The overall success rate of PDX implantation was 45%, much higher than estrogen receptor (ER)-positive cases. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed conserved ER/PR/Her2 negativity (with two exceptions) between the original and PDX tumors. Genomic analysis of 10 primary tumor-PDX pairs with Ion AmpliSeq CCP revealed high degree of variant conservation (85.0% to 96.9%) between primary and PDXs. Further analysis showed 44 rare variants with a predicted high impact in 36 genes including Trp53, Pten, Notch1, and Col1a1. Among them, we confirmed frequent Notch1 variant. Furthermore, RNA-seq analysis of 24 PDXs revealed 594 gene fusions, of which 163 were in-frame, including AZGP1-GJC3 and NF1-AARSD1. Finally, western blot analysis of oncogenic signaling proteins supporting molecular diversity of TNBC PDXs. Overall, our report provides a molecular basis for the usefulness of the TNBC PDX model in preclinical study. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  20. Conservation: Toward firmer ground

    Science.gov (United States)

    1975-01-01

    The following aspects of energy conservation were reviewed in order to place the problems in proper perspective: history and goals, conservation accounting-criteria, and a method to overcome obstacles. The effect of changing prices and available supplies of energy sources and their causes on consumption levels during the last few decades were described. Some examples of attainable conservation goals were listed and justified. A number of specific criteria applicable to conservation accounting were given. Finally, a discussion was presented to relate together the following aspects of energy conservation: widespread impact, involvement of government, industry, politics, moral and ethical aspects, urgency and time element.

  1. Conserved Transcriptional Regulatory Programs Underlying Rice and Barley Germination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Li; Tian, Shulan; Kaeppler, Shawn; Liu, Zongrang; An, Yong-Qiang (Charles)

    2014-01-01

    Germination is a biological process important to plant development and agricultural production. Barley and rice diverged 50 million years ago, but share a similar germination process. To gain insight into the conservation of their underlying gene regulatory programs, we compared transcriptomes of barley and rice at start, middle and end points of germination, and revealed that germination regulated barley and rice genes (BRs) diverged significantly in expression patterns and/or protein sequences. However, BRs with higher protein sequence similarity tended to have more conserved expression patterns. We identified and characterized 316 sets of conserved barley and rice genes (cBRs) with high similarity in both protein sequences and expression patterns, and provided a comprehensive depiction of the transcriptional regulatory program conserved in barley and rice germination at gene, pathway and systems levels. The cBRs encoded proteins involved in a variety of biological pathways and had a wide range of expression patterns. The cBRs encoding key regulatory components in signaling pathways often had diverse expression patterns. Early germination up-regulation of cell wall metabolic pathway and peroxidases, and late germination up-regulation of chromatin structure and remodeling pathways were conserved in both barley and rice. Protein sequence and expression pattern of a gene change quickly if it is not subjected to a functional constraint. Preserving germination-regulated expression patterns and protein sequences of those cBRs for 50 million years strongly suggests that the cBRs are functionally significant and equivalent in germination, and contribute to the ancient characteristics of germination preserved in barley and rice. The functional significance and equivalence of the cBR genes predicted here can serve as a foundation to further characterize their biological functions and facilitate bridging rice and barley germination research with greater confidence. PMID

  2. A novel, highly conserved metallothionein family in basidiomycete fungi and characterization of two representative SlMTa and SlMTb genes in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Suillus luteus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Hoai; Rineau, François; Vangronsveld, Jaco; Cuypers, Ann; Colpaert, Jan V; Ruytinx, Joske

    2017-07-01

    The basidiomycete Suillus luteus is an important member of the ectomycorrhizal community that thrives in heavy metal polluted soils covered with pioneer pine forests. This study aimed to identify potential heavy metal chelators in S. luteus. Two metallothionein (MT) coding genes, SlMTa and SlMTb, were identified. When heterologously expressed in yeast, both SlMTa and SlMTb can rescue the Cu sensitive mutant from Cu toxicity. In S. luteus, transcription of both SlMTa and SlMTb is induced by Cu but not Cd or Zn. Several putative Cu-sensing and metal-response elements are present in the promoter sequences. These results indicate that SlMTa and SlMTb function as Cu-thioneins. Homologs of the S. luteus MTs are present in 49 species belonging to 10 different orders of the subphylum Agaricomycotina and are remarkably conserved. The length of the proteins, number and distribution of cysteine residues indicate a novel family of fungal MTs. The ubiquitous and highly conserved features of these MTs suggest that they are important for basic cellular functions in species in the subphylum Agaricomycotina. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Multi-species comparative analysis of the equine ACE gene identifies a highly conserved potential transcription factor binding site in intron 16.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natasha A Hamilton

    Full Text Available Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE is essential for control of blood pressure. The human ACE gene contains an intronic Alu indel (I/D polymorphism that has been associated with variation in serum enzyme levels, although the functional mechanism has not been identified. The polymorphism has also been associated with cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, renal disease and elite athleticism. We have characterized the ACE gene in horses of breeds selected for differing physical abilities. The equine gene has a similar structure to that of all known mammalian ACE genes. Nine common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs discovered in pooled DNA were found to be inherited in nine haplotypes. Three of these SNPs were located in intron 16, homologous to that containing the Alu polymorphism in the human. A highly conserved 18 bp sequence, also within that intron, was identified as being a potential binding site for the transcription factors Oct-1, HFH-1 and HNF-3β, and lies within a larger area of higher than normal homology. This putative regulatory element may contribute to regulation of the documented inter-individual variation in human circulating enzyme levels, for which a functional mechanism is yet to be defined. Two equine SNPs occurred within the conserved area in intron 16, although neither of them disrupted the putative binding site. We propose a possible regulatory mechanism of the ACE gene in mammalian species which was previously unknown. This advance will allow further analysis leading to a better understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the associations seen between the human Alu polymorphism and enzyme levels, cardiovascular disease states and elite athleticism.

  4. Multi-species comparative analysis of the equine ACE gene identifies a highly conserved potential transcription factor binding site in intron 16.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Natasha A; Tammen, Imke; Raadsma, Herman W

    2013-01-01

    Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is essential for control of blood pressure. The human ACE gene contains an intronic Alu indel (I/D) polymorphism that has been associated with variation in serum enzyme levels, although the functional mechanism has not been identified. The polymorphism has also been associated with cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, renal disease and elite athleticism. We have characterized the ACE gene in horses of breeds selected for differing physical abilities. The equine gene has a similar structure to that of all known mammalian ACE genes. Nine common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) discovered in pooled DNA were found to be inherited in nine haplotypes. Three of these SNPs were located in intron 16, homologous to that containing the Alu polymorphism in the human. A highly conserved 18 bp sequence, also within that intron, was identified as being a potential binding site for the transcription factors Oct-1, HFH-1 and HNF-3β, and lies within a larger area of higher than normal homology. This putative regulatory element may contribute to regulation of the documented inter-individual variation in human circulating enzyme levels, for which a functional mechanism is yet to be defined. Two equine SNPs occurred within the conserved area in intron 16, although neither of them disrupted the putative binding site. We propose a possible regulatory mechanism of the ACE gene in mammalian species which was previously unknown. This advance will allow further analysis leading to a better understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the associations seen between the human Alu polymorphism and enzyme levels, cardiovascular disease states and elite athleticism.

  5. Energy Conservation Guidebook : to be Used in Conjunction with the Energy Conservation Policies October 1993.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

    1993-11-01

    This guidebook is an instrument for implementing BPA`s Energy Conservation Policies established through the concensus of the four Area Office Managers and the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Energy Resources. As technical support for, and elaboration of, the Energy Conservation Policies, the Guidebook follows the format of the Policies themselves. The Guidebook tackles each section of the Policies in order, again assigning roles and responsibilities where appropriate, enlarging on policy issues and, where appropriate, outlining data considerations. The sections in order are: conservation load reduction, cost-effectiveness limits, BA management targets, consumer contributions, utility contribution, program verification, and program evaluation.

  6. The importance of immune gene variability (MHC in evolutionary ecology and conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sommer Simone

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Genetic studies have typically inferred the effects of human impact by documenting patterns of genetic differentiation and levels of genetic diversity among potentially isolated populations using selective neutral markers such as mitochondrial control region sequences, microsatellites or single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs. However, evolutionary relevant and adaptive processes within and between populations can only be reflected by coding genes. In vertebrates, growing evidence suggests that genetic diversity is particularly important at the level of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC. MHC variants influence many important biological traits, including immune recognition, susceptibility to infectious and autoimmune diseases, individual odours, mating preferences, kin recognition, cooperation and pregnancy outcome. These diverse functions and characteristics place genes of the MHC among the best candidates for studies of mechanisms and significance of molecular adaptation in vertebrates. MHC variability is believed to be maintained by pathogen-driven selection, mediated either through heterozygote advantage or frequency-dependent selection. Up to now, most of our knowledge has derived from studies in humans or from model organisms under experimental, laboratory conditions. Empirical support for selective mechanisms in free-ranging animal populations in their natural environment is rare. In this review, I first introduce general information about the structure and function of MHC genes, as well as current hypotheses and concepts concerning the role of selection in the maintenance of MHC polymorphism. The evolutionary forces acting on the genetic diversity in coding and non-coding markers are compared. Then, I summarise empirical support for the functional importance of MHC variability in parasite resistance with emphasis on the evidence derived from free-ranging animal populations investigated in their natural habitat. Finally, I

  7. MicroRNA genes preferentially expressed in dendritic cells contain sites for conserved transcription factor binding motifs in their promoters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huynen Martijn A

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs play a fundamental role in the regulation of gene expression by translational repression or target mRNA degradation. Regulatory elements in miRNA promoters are less well studied, but may reveal a link between their expression and a specific cell type. Results To explore this link in myeloid cells, miRNA expression profiles were generated from monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs. Differences in miRNA expression among monocytes, DCs and their stimulated progeny were observed. Furthermore, putative promoter regions of miRNAs that are significantly up-regulated in DCs were screened for Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBSs based on TFBS motif matching score, the degree to which those TFBSs are over-represented in the promoters of the up-regulated miRNAs, and the extent of conservation of the TFBSs in mammals. Conclusions Analysis of evolutionarily conserved TFBSs in DC promoters revealed preferential clustering of sites within 500 bp upstream of the precursor miRNAs and that many mRNAs of cognate TFs of the conserved TFBSs were indeed expressed in the DCs. Taken together, our data provide evidence that selected miRNAs expressed in DCs have evolutionarily conserved TFBSs relevant to DC biology in their promoters.

  8. Peptomics, identification of novel cationic Arabidopsis peptides with conserved sequence motifs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Addie Nina; Mundy, John; Skriver, Karen

    2002-01-01

    Arabidopsis family of 34 genes. The predicted peptides are characterized by a conserved C-terminal sequence motif and additional primary structure conservation in a core region. The majority of these genes had not previously been annotated. A subset of the predicted peptides show high overall sequence...... similarity to Rapid Alkalinization Factor (RALF), a peptide isolated from tobacco. We therefore refer to this peptide family as RALFL for RALF-Like. RT-PCR analysis confirmed that several of the Arabidopsis genes are expressed and that their expression patterns vary. The identification of a large gene family...

  9. Human developmental enhancers conserved between deuterostomes and protostomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shoa L Clarke

    Full Text Available The identification of homologies, whether morphological, molecular, or genetic, is fundamental to our understanding of common biological principles. Homologies bridging the great divide between deuterostomes and protostomes have served as the basis for current models of animal evolution and development. It is now appreciated that these two clades share a common developmental toolkit consisting of conserved transcription factors and signaling pathways. These patterning genes sometimes show common expression patterns and genetic interactions, suggesting the existence of similar or even conserved regulatory apparatus. However, previous studies have found no regulatory sequence conserved between deuterostomes and protostomes. Here we describe the first such enhancers, which we call bilaterian conserved regulatory elements (Bicores. Bicores show conservation of sequence and gene synteny. Sequence conservation of Bicores reflects conserved patterns of transcription factor binding sites. We predict that Bicores act as response elements to signaling pathways, and we show that Bicores are developmental enhancers that drive expression of transcriptional repressors in the vertebrate central nervous system. Although the small number of identified Bicores suggests extensive rewiring of cis-regulation between the protostome and deuterostome clades, additional Bicores may be revealed as our understanding of cis-regulatory logic and sample of bilaterian genomes continue to grow.

  10. Fourth-Order Conservative Vlasov-Maxwell Solver for Cartesian and Cylindrical Phase Space Coordinates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogman, Genia

    Plasmas are made up of charged particles whose short-range and long-range interactions give rise to complex behavior that can be difficult to fully characterize experimentally. One of the most complete theoretical descriptions of a plasma is that of kinetic theory, which treats each particle species as a probability distribution function in a six-dimensional position-velocity phase space. Drawing on statistical mechanics, these distribution functions mathematically represent a system of interacting particles without tracking individual ions and electrons. The evolution of the distribution function(s) is governed by the Boltzmann equation coupled to Maxwell's equations, which together describe the dynamics of the plasma and the associated electromagnetic fields. When collisions can be neglected, the Boltzmann equation is reduced to the Vlasov equation. High-fidelity simulation of the rich physics in even a subset of the full six-dimensional phase space calls for low-noise high-accuracy numerical methods. To that end, this dissertation investigates a fourth-order finite-volume discretization of the Vlasov-Maxwell equation system, and addresses some of the fundamental challenges associated with applying these types of computationally intensive enhanced-accuracy numerical methods to phase space simulations. The governing equations of kinetic theory are described in detail, and their conservation-law weak form is derived for Cartesian and cylindrical phase space coordinates. This formulation is well known when it comes to Cartesian geometries, as it is used in finite-volume and finite-element discretizations to guarantee local conservation for numerical solutions. By contrast, the conservation-law weak form of the Vlasov equation in cylindrical phase space coordinates is largely unexplored, and to the author's knowledge has never previously been solved numerically. Thereby the methods described in this dissertation for simulating plasmas in cylindrical phase space

  11. Conservation of AtTZF1, AtTZF2 and AtTZF3 homolog gene regulation by salt stress in evolutionarily distant plant species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio eD'Orso

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Arginine-rich tandem zinc-finger proteins (RR-TZF participate in a wide range of plant developmental processes and adaptive responses to abiotic stress, such as cold, salt and drought. This study investigates the conservation of the genes AtTZF1-5 at the level of their sequences and expression across plant species. The genomic sequences of the two RR-TZF genes TdTZF1-A and TdTZF1-B were isolated in durum wheat and assigned to chromosomes 3A and 3B, respectively. Sequence comparisons revealed that they encode proteins that are highly homologous to AtTZF1, AtTZF2 and AtTZF3. The expression profiles of these RR-TZF durum wheat and Arabidopsis proteins support a common function in the regulation of seed germination and responses to abiotic stress. In particular, analysis of plants with attenuated and overexpressed AtTZF3 indicate that AtTZF3 is a negative regulator of seed germination under conditions of salt stress. Finally, comparative sequence analyses establish that the RR-TZF genes are encoded by lower plants, including the bryophyte Physcomitrella patens and the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The regulation of the Physcomitrella AtTZF1-2-3-like genes by salt stress strongly suggests that a subgroup of the RR-TZF proteins has a function that has been conserved throughout evolution.

  12. Hormone-induced protection against mammary tumorigenesis is conserved in multiple rat strains and identifies a core gene expression signature induced by pregnancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blakely, Collin M; Stoddard, Alexander J; Belka, George K; Dugan, Katherine D; Notarfrancesco, Kathleen L; Moody, Susan E; D'Cruz, Celina M; Chodosh, Lewis A

    2006-06-15

    Women who have their first child early in life have a substantially lower lifetime risk of breast cancer. The mechanism for this is unknown. Similar to humans, rats exhibit parity-induced protection against mammary tumorigenesis. To explore the basis for this phenomenon, we identified persistent pregnancy-induced changes in mammary gene expression that are tightly associated with protection against tumorigenesis in multiple inbred rat strains. Four inbred rat strains that exhibit marked differences in their intrinsic susceptibilities to carcinogen-induced mammary tumorigenesis were each shown to display significant protection against methylnitrosourea-induced mammary tumorigenesis following treatment with pregnancy levels of estradiol and progesterone. Microarray expression profiling of parous and nulliparous mammary tissue from these four strains yielded a common 70-gene signature. Examination of the genes constituting this signature implicated alterations in transforming growth factor-beta signaling, the extracellular matrix, amphiregulin expression, and the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor I axis in pregnancy-induced alterations in breast cancer risk. Notably, related molecular changes have been associated with decreased mammographic density, which itself is strongly associated with decreased breast cancer risk. Our findings show that hormone-induced protection against mammary tumorigenesis is widely conserved among divergent rat strains and define a gene expression signature that is tightly correlated with reduced mammary tumor susceptibility as a consequence of a normal developmental event. Given the conservation of this signature, these pathways may contribute to pregnancy-induced protection against breast cancer.

  13. Vertebrate sex-determining genes play musical chairs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Qiaowei; Anderson, Jennifer; Bertho, Sylvain; Herpin, Amaury; Wilson, Catherine; Postlethwait, John H; Schartl, Manfred; Guiguen, Yann

    2016-01-01

    Sexual reproduction is one of the most highly conserved processes in evolution. However, the genetic and cellular mechanisms making the decision of whether the undifferentiated gonad of animal embryos develops either towards male or female are manifold and quite diverse. In vertebrates, sex-determining mechanisms range from environmental to simple or complex genetic mechanisms and different mechanisms have evolved repeatedly and independently. In species with simple genetic sex-determination, master sex-determining genes lying on sex chromosomes drive the gonadal differentiation process by switching on a developmental program, which ultimately leads to testicular or ovarian differentiation. So far, very few sex-determining genes have been identified in vertebrates and apart from mammals and birds, these genes are apparently not conserved over a larger number of related orders, families, genera, or even species. To fill this knowledge gap and to better explore genetic sex-determination, we propose a strategy (RAD-Sex) that makes use of next-generation sequencing technology to identify genetic markers that define sex-specific segments of the male or female genome. Copyright © 2016 Académie des sciences. All rights reserved.

  14. Chromosome-wide mapping of DNA methylation patterns in normal and malignant prostate cells reveals pervasive methylation of gene-associated and conserved intergenic sequences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    De Marzo Angelo M

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA methylation has been linked to genome regulation and dysregulation in health and disease respectively, and methods for characterizing genomic DNA methylation patterns are rapidly emerging. We have developed/refined methods for enrichment of methylated genomic fragments using the methyl-binding domain of the human MBD2 protein (MBD2-MBD followed by analysis with high-density tiling microarrays. This MBD-chip approach was used to characterize DNA methylation patterns across all non-repetitive sequences of human chromosomes 21 and 22 at high-resolution in normal and malignant prostate cells. Results Examining this data using computational methods that were designed specifically for DNA methylation tiling array data revealed widespread methylation of both gene promoter and non-promoter regions in cancer and normal cells. In addition to identifying several novel cancer hypermethylated 5' gene upstream regions that mediated epigenetic gene silencing, we also found several hypermethylated 3' gene downstream, intragenic and intergenic regions. The hypermethylated intragenic regions were highly enriched for overlap with intron-exon boundaries, suggesting a possible role in regulation of alternative transcriptional start sites, exon usage and/or splicing. The hypermethylated intergenic regions showed significant enrichment for conservation across vertebrate species. A sampling of these newly identified promoter (ADAMTS1 and SCARF2 genes and non-promoter (downstream or within DSCR9, C21orf57 and HLCS genes hypermethylated regions were effective in distinguishing malignant from normal prostate tissues and/or cell lines. Conclusions Comparison of chromosome-wide DNA methylation patterns in normal and malignant prostate cells revealed significant methylation of gene-proximal and conserved intergenic sequences. Such analyses can be easily extended for genome-wide methylation analysis in health and disease.

  15. The genome sequence of the commercially cultivated mushroom Agrocybe aegerita reveals a conserved repertoire of fruiting-related genes and a versatile suite of biopolymer-degrading enzymes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Deepak K; Rühl, Martin; Mishra, Bagdevi; Kleofas, Vanessa; Hofrichter, Martin; Herzog, Robert; Pecyna, Marek J; Sharma, Rahul; Kellner, Harald; Hennicke, Florian; Thines, Marco

    2018-01-15

    Agrocybe aegerita is an agaricomycete fungus with typical mushroom features, which is commercially cultivated for its culinary use. In nature, it is a saprotrophic or facultative pathogenic fungus causing a white-rot of hardwood in forests of warm and mild climate. The ease of cultivation and fructification on solidified media as well as its archetypal mushroom fruit body morphology render A. aegerita a well-suited model for investigating mushroom developmental biology. Here, the genome of the species is reported and analysed with respect to carbohydrate active genes and genes known to play a role during fruit body formation. In terms of fruit body development, our analyses revealed a conserved repertoire of fruiting-related genes, which corresponds well to the archetypal fruit body morphology of this mushroom. For some genes involved in fruit body formation, paralogisation was observed, but not all fruit body maturation-associated genes known from other agaricomycetes seem to be conserved in the genome sequence of A. aegerita. In terms of lytic enzymes, our analyses suggest a versatile arsenal of biopolymer-degrading enzymes that likely account for the flexible life style of this species. Regarding the amount of genes encoding CAZymes relevant for lignin degradation, A. aegerita shows more similarity to white-rot fungi than to litter decomposers, including 18 genes coding for unspecific peroxygenases and three dye-decolourising peroxidase genes expanding its lignocellulolytic machinery. The genome resource will be useful for developing strategies towards genetic manipulation of A. aegerita, which will subsequently allow functional genetics approaches to elucidate fundamentals of fruiting and vegetative growth including lignocellulolysis.

  16. Neuropeptide Y receptor genes on human chromosome 4q31-q32 map to conserved linkage groups on mouse chromosomes 3 and 8

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lutz, C.M.; Frankel, W.N. [Jackson Lab., Bar Harbor, ME (United States); Richards, J.E. [Univ. of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)] [and others

    1997-05-01

    Npy1r and Npy2r, the genes encoding mouse type 1 and type 2 neuropeptide Y receptors, have been mapped by interspecific backcross analysis. Previous studies have localized the human genes encoding these receptors to chromosome 4q31-q32. We have now assigned Npy1r and Npy2r to conserved linkage groups on mouse Chr 8 and Chr 3, respectively, which correspond to the distal region of human chromosome 4q. Using yeast artificial chromosomes, we have estimated the distance between the human genes to be approximately 6 cM. Although ancient tandem duplication events may account for some closely spaced G-protein-coupled receptor genes, the large genetic distance between the human type 1 and type 2 neuropeptide Y receptor genes raises questions about whether this mechanism accounts for their proximity. 20 refs., 1 fig.

  17. Genomic Imprinting Was Evolutionarily Conserved during Wheat Polyploidization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Guanghui; Liu, Zhenshan; Gao, Lulu; Yu, Kuohai; Feng, Man; Yao, Yingyin; Peng, Huiru; Hu, Zhaorong; Sun, Qixin; Ni, Zhongfu; Xin, Mingming

    2018-01-01

    Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that causes genes to be differentially expressed depending on their parent of origin. To evaluate the evolutionary conservation of genomic imprinting and the effects of ploidy on this process, we investigated parent-of-origin-specific gene expression patterns in the endosperm of diploid ( Aegilops spp), tetraploid, and hexaploid wheat ( Triticum spp) at various stages of development via high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. We identified 91, 135, and 146 maternally or paternally expressed genes (MEGs or PEGs, respectively) in diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid wheat, respectively, 52.7% of which exhibited dynamic expression patterns at different developmental stages. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis suggested that MEGs and PEGs were involved in metabolic processes and DNA-dependent transcription, respectively. Nearly half of the imprinted genes exhibited conserved expression patterns during wheat hexaploidization. In addition, 40% of the homoeolog pairs originating from whole-genome duplication were consistently maternally or paternally biased in the different subgenomes of hexaploid wheat. Furthermore, imprinted expression was found for 41.2% and 50.0% of homolog pairs that evolved by tandem duplication after genome duplication in tetraploid and hexaploid wheat, respectively. These results suggest that genomic imprinting was evolutionarily conserved between closely related Triticum and Aegilops species and in the face of polyploid hybridization between species in these genera. © 2018 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

  18. A gene-based radiation hybrid map of the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata refines and exploits conserved synteny with Tetraodon nigroviridis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tsalavouta Matina

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Comparative teleost studies are of great interest since they are important in aquaculture and in evolutionary issues. Comparing genomes of fully sequenced model fish species with those of farmed fish species through comparative mapping offers shortcuts for quantitative trait loci (QTL detections and for studying genome evolution through the identification of regions of conserved synteny in teleosts. Here a comparative mapping study is presented by radiation hybrid (RH mapping genes of the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata, a non-model teleost fish of commercial and evolutionary interest, as it represents the worldwide distributed species-rich family of Sparidae. Results An additional 74 microsatellite markers and 428 gene-based markers appropriate for comparative mapping studies were mapped on the existing RH map of Sparus aurata. The anchoring of the RH map to the genetic linkage map resulted in 24 groups matching the karyotype of Sparus aurata. Homologous sequences to Tetraodon were identified for 301 of the gene-based markers positioned on the RH map of Sparus aurata. Comparison between Sparus aurata RH groups and Tetraodon chromosomes (karyotype of Tetraodon consists of 21 chromosomes in this study reveals an unambiguous one-to-one relationship suggesting that three Tetraodon chromosomes correspond to six Sparus aurata radiation hybrid groups. The exploitation of this conserved synteny relationship is furthermore demonstrated by in silico mapping of gilthead sea bream expressed sequence tags (EST that give a significant similarity hit to Tetraodon. Conclusion The addition of primarily gene-based markers increased substantially the density of the existing RH map and facilitated comparative analysis. The anchoring of this gene-based radiation hybrid map to the genome maps of model species broadened the pool of candidate genes that mainly control growth, disease resistance, sex determination and reversal, reproduction as well

  19. Statistical analyses of conserved features of genomic islands in bacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, F-B; Xia, Z-K; Wei, W; Zhao, H-L

    2014-03-17

    We performed statistical analyses of five conserved features of genomic islands of bacteria. Analyses were made based on 104 known genomic islands, which were identified by comparative methods. Four of these features include sequence size, abnormal G+C content, flanking tRNA gene, and embedded mobility gene, which are frequently investigated. One relatively new feature, G+C homogeneity, was also investigated. Among the 104 known genomic islands, 88.5% were found to fall in the typical length of 10-200 kb and 80.8% had G+C deviations with absolute values larger than 2%. For the 88 genomic islands whose hosts have been sequenced and annotated, 52.3% of them were found to have flanking tRNA genes and 64.7% had embedded mobility genes. For the homogeneity feature, 85% had an h homogeneity index less than 0.1, indicating that their G+C content is relatively uniform. Taking all the five features into account, 87.5% of 88 genomic islands had three of them. Only one genomic island had only one conserved feature and none of the genomic islands had zero features. These statistical results should help to understand the general structure of known genomic islands. We found that larger genomic islands tend to have relatively small G+C deviations relative to absolute values. For example, the absolute G+C deviations of 9 genomic islands longer than 100,000 bp were all less than 5%. This is a novel but reasonable result given that larger genomic islands should have greater restrictions in their G+C contents, in order to maintain the stable G+C content of the recipient genome.

  20. Amphibian molecular ecology and how it has informed conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCartney-Melstad, Evan; Shaffer, H Bradley

    2015-10-01

    Molecular ecology has become one of the key tools in the modern conservationist's kit. Here we review three areas where molecular ecology has been applied to amphibian conservation: genes on landscapes, within-population processes, and genes that matter. We summarize relevant analytical methods, recent important studies from the amphibian literature, and conservation implications for each section. Finally, we include five in-depth examples of how molecular ecology has been successfully applied to specific amphibian systems. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. Crop-to-wild gene flow and its fitness consequences for a wild fruit tree: Towards a comprehensive conservation strategy of the wild apple in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feurtey, Alice; Cornille, Amandine; Shykoff, Jacqui A; Snirc, Alodie; Giraud, Tatiana

    2017-02-01

    Crop-to-wild gene flow can reduce the fitness and genetic integrity of wild species. Malus sylvestris , the European crab-apple fruit tree in particular, is threatened by the disappearance of its habitat and by gene flow from its domesticated relative , Malus domestica . With the aims of evaluating threats for M. sylvestris and of formulating recommendations for its conservation, we studied here, using microsatellite markers and growth experiments: (i) hybridization rates in seeds and trees from a French forest and in seeds used for replanting crab apples in agrosystems and in forests, (ii) the impact of the level of M. domestica ancestry on individual tree fitness and (iii) pollen dispersal abilities in relation to crop-to-wild gene flow. We found substantial contemporary crop-to-wild gene flow in crab-apple tree populations and superior fitness of hybrids compared to wild seeds and seedlings. Using paternity analyses, we showed that pollen dispersal could occur up to 4 km and decreased with tree density. The seed network furnishing the wild apple reintroduction agroforestry programmes was found to suffer from poor genetic diversity, introgressions and species misidentification. Overall, our findings indicate supported threats for the European wild apple steering us to provide precise recommendations for its conservation.

  2. Conservation and divergence of ADAM family proteins in the Xenopus genome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shah Anoop

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Members of the disintegrin metalloproteinase (ADAM family play important roles in cellular and developmental processes through their functions as proteases and/or binding partners for other proteins. The amphibian Xenopus has long been used as a model for early vertebrate development, but genome-wide analyses for large gene families were not possible until the recent completion of the X. tropicalis genome sequence and the availability of large scale expression sequence tag (EST databases. In this study we carried out a systematic analysis of the X. tropicalis genome and uncovered several interesting features of ADAM genes in this species. Results Based on the X. tropicalis genome sequence and EST databases, we identified Xenopus orthologues of mammalian ADAMs and obtained full-length cDNA clones for these genes. The deduced protein sequences, synteny and exon-intron boundaries are conserved between most human and X. tropicalis orthologues. The alternative splicing patterns of certain Xenopus ADAM genes, such as adams 22 and 28, are similar to those of their mammalian orthologues. However, we were unable to identify an orthologue for ADAM7 or 8. The Xenopus orthologue of ADAM15, an active metalloproteinase in mammals, does not contain the conserved zinc-binding motif and is hence considered proteolytically inactive. We also found evidence for gain of ADAM genes in Xenopus as compared to other species. There is a homologue of ADAM10 in Xenopus that is missing in most mammals. Furthermore, a single scaffold of X. tropicalis genome contains four genes encoding ADAM28 homologues, suggesting genome duplication in this region. Conclusions Our genome-wide analysis of ADAM genes in X. tropicalis revealed both conservation and evolutionary divergence of these genes in this amphibian species. On the one hand, all ADAMs implicated in normal development and health in other species are conserved in X. tropicalis. On the other hand, some

  3. Dynamic Gene-Resource Landscape Management of Norway Spruce: Combining Utilization and Conservation

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    Milan Lstibůrek

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Traditional gene-resource management programs for forest trees are long-term endeavors requiring sustained organizational commitment covering extensive landscapes. While successful in maintaining adaptation, genetic diversity and capturing traditional growth attributes gains, these programs are dependent on rigid methods requiring elaborate mating schemes, thus making them slow in coping with climate change challenges. Here, we review the significance of Norway spruce in the boreal region and its current management practices. Next, we discuss opportunities offered by novel technologies and, with the use of computer simulations, we propose and evaluate a dynamic landscape gene-resource management in Norway. Our suggested long-term management approach capitalizes on: (1 existing afforestation activities, natural crosses, and DNA-based pedigree assembly to create structured pedigree for evaluation, thus traditional laborious control crosses are avoided and (2 landscape level genetic evaluation, rather than localized traditional progeny trials, allowing for screening of adapted individuals across multiple environmental gradients under changing climate. These advantages lead to greater genetic response to selection in adaptive traits without the traditional breeding and testing scheme, facilitating conservation of genetic resources within the breeding population of the most important forest tree species in Norway. The use of in situ selection from proven material exposed to realistic conditions over vast territories has not been conducted in forestry before. Our proposed approach is in contrast to worldwide current programs, where genetic evaluation is constrained by the range of environments where testing is conducted, which may be insufficient to capture the broad environmental variation necessary to tackle adaptation under changing climate.

  4. Continuum Kinetic Plasma Modeling Using a Conservative 4th-Order Method with AMR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogman, Genia; Colella, Phillip

    2012-10-01

    When the number of particles in a Debye sphere is large, a plasma can be accurately represented by a distribution function, which can be treated as a continuous incompressible fluid in phase space. In the most general case the evolution of such a distribution function is described by the 6D Boltzmann-Maxwell partial differential equation system. To address the challenges associated with solving a 6D hyperbolic governing equation, a simpler 3D Vlasov-Poisson system is considered. A 4th-order accurate Vlasov-Poisson model has been developed in one spatial and two velocity dimensions. The governing equation is cast in conservation law form and is solved with a finite volume representation. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is used to allow for efficient use of computational resources while maintaining desired levels of resolution. The model employs a flux limiter to remedy non-physical effects such as numerical dispersion. The model is tested on the two-stream, beam-plasma, and Dory-Guest-Harris instabilities. All results are compared with linear theory.

  5. Identification and analysis of Eimeria nieschulzi gametocyte genes reveal splicing events of gam genes and conserved motifs in the wall-forming proteins within the genus Eimeria (Coccidia, Apicomplexa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wiedmer Stefanie

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The genus Eimeria (Apicomplexa, Coccidia provides a wide range of different species with different hosts to study common and variable features within the genus and its species. A common characteristic of all known Eimeria species is the oocyst, the infectious stage where its life cycle starts and ends. In our study, we utilized Eimeria nieschulzi as a model organism. This rat-specific parasite has complex oocyst morphology and can be transfected and even cultivated in vitro up to the oocyst stage. We wanted to elucidate how the known oocyst wall-forming proteins are preserved in this rodent Eimeria species compared to other Eimeria. In newly obtained genomics data, we were able to identify different gametocyte genes that are orthologous to already known gam genes involved in the oocyst wall formation of avian Eimeria species. These genes appeared putatively as single exon genes, but cDNA analysis showed alternative splicing events in the transcripts. The analysis of the translated sequence revealed different conserved motifs but also dissimilar regions in GAM proteins, as well as polymorphic regions. The occurrence of an underrepresented gam56 gene version suggests the existence of a second distinct E. nieschulzi genotype within the E. nieschulzi Landers isolate that we maintain.

  6. Identification and analysis of Eimeria nieschulzi gametocyte genes reveal splicing events of gam genes and conserved motifs in the wall-forming proteins within the genus Eimeria (Coccidia, Apicomplexa)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiedmer, Stefanie; Erdbeer, Alexander; Volke, Beate; Randel, Stephanie; Kapplusch, Franz; Hanig, Sacha; Kurth, Michael

    2017-01-01

    The genus Eimeria (Apicomplexa, Coccidia) provides a wide range of different species with different hosts to study common and variable features within the genus and its species. A common characteristic of all known Eimeria species is the oocyst, the infectious stage where its life cycle starts and ends. In our study, we utilized Eimeria nieschulzi as a model organism. This rat-specific parasite has complex oocyst morphology and can be transfected and even cultivated in vitro up to the oocyst stage. We wanted to elucidate how the known oocyst wall-forming proteins are preserved in this rodent Eimeria species compared to other Eimeria. In newly obtained genomics data, we were able to identify different gametocyte genes that are orthologous to already known gam genes involved in the oocyst wall formation of avian Eimeria species. These genes appeared putatively as single exon genes, but cDNA analysis showed alternative splicing events in the transcripts. The analysis of the translated sequence revealed different conserved motifs but also dissimilar regions in GAM proteins, as well as polymorphic regions. The occurrence of an underrepresented gam56 gene version suggests the existence of a second distinct E. nieschulzi genotype within the E. nieschulzi Landers isolate that we maintain. PMID:29210668

  7. Anxa4 Genes are Expressed in Distinct Organ Systems in Xenopus laevis and tropicalis But are Functionally Conserved

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massé, Karine L; Collins, Robert J; Bhamra, Surinder; Seville, Rachel A

    2007-01-01

    Anxa4 belongs to the multigenic annexin family of proteins which are characterized by their ability to interact with membranes in a calcium-dependent manner. Defined as a marker for polarized epithelial cells, Anxa4 is believed to be involved in many cellular processes but its functions in vivo are still poorly understood. Previously, we cloned Xanx4 in Xenopus laevis (now referred to as anxa4a) and demonstrated its role during organogenesis of the pronephros, providing the first evidence of a specific function for this protein during the development of a vertebrate. Here, we describe the strict conservation of protein sequence and functional domains of anxa4 during vertebrate evolution. We also identify the paralog of anxa4a, anxa4b and show its specific temporal and spatial expression pattern is different from anxa4a. We show that anxa4 orthologs in X. laevis and tropicalis display expression domains in different organ systems. Whilst the anxa4a gene is mainly expressed in the kidney, Xt anxa4 is expressed in the liver. Finally, we demonstrate Xt anxa4 and anxa4a can display conserved function during kidney organogenesis, despite the fact that Xt anxa4 transcripts are not expressed in this domain. This study highlights the divergence of expression of homologous genes during Xenopus evolution and raises the potential problems of using X. tropicalis promoters in X. laevis. PMID:19279706

  8. Wildlife Conservation Society: Myanmar Program Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-06-01

    The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is one of the world's leading NGOS involved in conserving wildlife and ecosystems throughout the world through research, training and education. WCS Myamar Program is trying its best to carry out wide-ranging activities in order to achieve the goal of effective conservation of the flora and fauna of the country

  9. An exactly conservative particle method for one dimensional scalar conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farjoun, Yossi; Seibold, Benjamin

    2009-01-01

    A particle scheme for scalar conservation laws in one space dimension is presented. Particles representing the solution are moved according to their characteristic velocities. Particle interaction is resolved locally, satisfying exact conservation of area. Shocks stay sharp and propagate at correct speeds, while rarefaction waves are created where appropriate. The method is variation diminishing, entropy decreasing, exactly conservative, and has no numerical dissipation away from shocks. Solutions, including the location of shocks, are approximated with second order accuracy. Source terms can be included. The method is compared to CLAWPACK in various examples, and found to yield a comparable or better accuracy for similar resolutions.

  10. What is a gene? From molecules to metaphysics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rolston, Holmes

    2006-01-01

    Mendelian genes have become molecular genes, with increasing puzzlement about locating them, due to increasing complexity in genomic webworks. Genome science finds modular and conserved units of inheritance, identified as homologous genes. Such genes are cybernetic, transmitting information over generations; this too requires multi-leveled analysis, from DNA transcription to development and reproduction of the whole organism. Genes are conserved; genes are also dynamic and creative in evolutionary speciation-most remarkably producing humans capable of wondering about what genes are.

  11. Analysis of the grape MYB R2R3 subfamily reveals expanded wine quality-related clades and conserved gene structure organization across Vitis and Arabidopsis genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matus, José Tomás; Aquea, Felipe; Arce-Johnson, Patricio

    2008-01-01

    Background The MYB superfamily constitutes the most abundant group of transcription factors described in plants. Members control processes such as epidermal cell differentiation, stomatal aperture, flavonoid synthesis, cold and drought tolerance and pathogen resistance. No genome-wide characterization of this family has been conducted in a woody species such as grapevine. In addition, previous analysis of the recently released grape genome sequence suggested expansion events of several gene families involved in wine quality. Results We describe and classify 108 members of the grape R2R3 MYB gene subfamily in terms of their genomic gene structures and similarity to their putative Arabidopsis thaliana orthologues. Seven gene models were derived and analyzed in terms of gene expression and their DNA binding domain structures. Despite low overall sequence homology in the C-terminus of all proteins, even in those with similar functions across Arabidopsis and Vitis, highly conserved motif sequences and exon lengths were found. The grape epidermal cell fate clade is expanded when compared with the Arabidopsis and rice MYB subfamilies. Two anthocyanin MYBA related clusters were identified in chromosomes 2 and 14, one of which includes the previously described grape colour locus. Tannin related loci were also detected with eight candidate homologues in chromosomes 4, 9 and 11. Conclusion This genome wide transcription factor analysis in Vitis suggests that clade-specific grape R2R3 MYB genes are expanded while other MYB genes could be well conserved compared to Arabidopsis. MYB gene abundance, homology and orientation within particular loci also suggests that expanded MYB clades conferring quality attributes of grapes and wines, such as colour and astringency, could possess redundant, overlapping and cooperative functions. PMID:18647406

  12. Divergent evolutionary rates in vertebrate and mammalian specific conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) in echolocating mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Kalina T J; Tsagkogeorga, Georgia; Rossiter, Stephen J

    2014-12-19

    The majority of DNA contained within vertebrate genomes is non-coding, with a certain proportion of this thought to play regulatory roles during development. Conserved Non-coding Elements (CNEs) are an abundant group of putative regulatory sequences that are highly conserved across divergent groups and thus assumed to be under strong selective constraint. Many CNEs may contain regulatory factor binding sites, and their frequent spatial association with key developmental genes - such as those regulating sensory system development - suggests crucial roles in regulating gene expression and cellular patterning. Yet surprisingly little is known about the molecular evolution of CNEs across diverse mammalian taxa or their role in specific phenotypic adaptations. We examined 3,110 vertebrate-specific and ~82,000 mammalian-specific CNEs across 19 and 9 mammalian orders respectively, and tested for changes in the rate of evolution of CNEs located in the proximity of genes underlying the development or functioning of auditory systems. As we focused on CNEs putatively associated with genes underlying the development/functioning of auditory systems, we incorporated echolocating taxa in our dataset because of their highly specialised and derived auditory systems. Phylogenetic reconstructions of concatenated CNEs broadly recovered accepted mammal relationships despite high levels of sequence conservation. We found that CNE substitution rates were highest in rodents and lowest in primates, consistent with previous findings. Comparisons of CNE substitution rates from several genomic regions containing genes linked to auditory system development and hearing revealed differences between echolocating and non-echolocating taxa. Wider taxonomic sampling of four CNEs associated with the homeobox genes Hmx2 and Hmx3 - which are required for inner ear development - revealed family-wise variation across diverse bat species. Specifically within one family of echolocating bats that utilise

  13. Conservation laws and rogue waves for a higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients in the inhomogeneous fiber

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Zhong; Tian, Bo; Wu, Xiao-Yu; Liu, Lei; Sun, Yan

    2017-07-01

    Subpicosecond or femtosecond optical pulse propagation in the inhomogeneous fiber can be described by a higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients, which is investigated in the paper. Via the Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur system and symbolic computation, the Lax pair and infinitely-many conservation laws are deduced. Based on the Lax pair and a modified Darboux transformation technique, the first- and second-order rogue wave solutions are constructed. Effects of the groupvelocity dispersion and third-order dispersion on the properties of the first- and second-order rouge waves are graphically presented and analyzed: The groupvelocity dispersion and third-order dispersion both affect the ranges and shapes of the first- and second-order rogue waves: The third-order dispersion can produce a skew angle of the first-order rogue wave and the skew angle rotates counterclockwise with the increase of the groupvelocity dispersion, when the groupvelocity dispersion and third-order dispersion are chosen as the constants; When the groupvelocity dispersion and third-order dispersion are taken as the functions of the propagation distance, the linear, X-shaped and parabolic trajectories of the rogue waves are obtained.

  14. Conserved intron positions in FGFR genes reflect the modular structure of FGFR and reveal stepwise addition of domains to an already complex ancestral FGFR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rebscher, Nicole; Deichmann, Christina; Sudhop, Stefanie; Fritzenwanker, Jens Holger; Green, Stephen; Hassel, Monika

    2009-10-01

    We have analyzed the evolution of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) tyrosine kinase genes throughout a wide range of animal phyla. No evidence for an FGFR gene was found in Porifera, but we tentatively identified an FGFR gene in the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens. The gene encodes a protein with three immunoglobulin-like domains, a single-pass transmembrane, and a split tyrosine kinase domain. By superimposing intron positions of 20 FGFR genes from Placozoa, Cnidaria, Protostomia, and Deuterostomia over the respective protein domain structure, we identified ten ancestral introns and three conserved intron groups. Our analysis shows (1) that the position of ancestral introns correlates to the modular structure of FGFRs, (2) that the acidic domain very likely evolved in the last common ancestor of triploblasts, (3) that splicing of IgIII was enabled by a triploblast-specific insertion, and (4) that IgI is subject to substantial loss or duplication particularly in quickly evolving genomes. Moreover, intron positions in the catalytic domain of FGFRs map to the borders of protein subdomains highly conserved in other serine/threonine kinases. Nevertheless, these introns were introduced in metazoan receptor tyrosine kinases exclusively. Our data support the view that protein evolution dating back to the Cambrian explosion took place in such a short time window that only subtle changes in the domain structure are detectable in extant representatives of animal phyla. We propose that the first multidomain FGFR originated in the last common ancestor of Placozoa, Cnidaria, and Bilateria. Additional domains were introduced mainly in the ancestor of triploblasts and in the Ecdysozoa.

  15. Identification of novel light-induced genes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piontkivska Helen

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The transmission of information about the photic environment to the circadian clock involves a complex array of neurotransmitters, receptors, and second messenger systems. Exposure of an animal to light during the subjective night initiates rapid transcription of a number of immediate-early genes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Some of these genes have known roles in entraining the circadian clock, while others have unknown functions. Using laser capture microscopy, microarray analysis, and quantitative real-time PCR, we performed a comprehensive screen for changes in gene expression immediately following a 30 minute light pulse in suprachiasmatic nucleus of mice. Results The results of the microarray screen successfully identified previously known light-induced genes as well as several novel genes that may be important in the circadian clock. Newly identified light-induced genes include early growth response 2, proviral integration site 3, growth-arrest and DNA-damage-inducible 45 beta, and TCDD-inducible poly(ADP-ribose polymerase. Comparative analysis of promoter sequences revealed the presence of evolutionarily conserved CRE and associated TATA box elements in most of the light-induced genes, while other core clock genes generally lack this combination of promoter elements. Conclusion The photic signalling cascade in the suprachiasmatic nucleus activates an array of immediate-early genes, most of which have unknown functions in the circadian clock. Detected evolutionary conservation of CRE and TATA box elements in promoters of light-induced genes suggest that the functional role of these elements has likely remained the same over evolutionary time across mammalian orders.

  16. An Approximation to the Temporal Order in Endogenous Circadian Rhythms of Genes Implicated in Human Adipose Tissue Metabolism

    Science.gov (United States)

    GARAULET, MARTA; ORDOVÁS, JOSÉ M.; GÓMEZ-ABELLÁN, PURIFICACIÓN; MARTÍNEZ, JOSE A.; MADRID, JUAN A.

    2015-01-01

    Although it is well established that human adipose tissue (AT) shows circadian rhythmicity, published studies have been discussed as if tissues or systems showed only one or few circadian rhythms at a time. To provide an overall view of the internal temporal order of circadian rhythms in human AT including genes implicated in metabolic processes such as energy intake and expenditure, insulin resistance, adipocyte differentiation, dyslipidemia, and body fat distribution. Visceral and subcutaneous abdominal AT biopsies (n = 6) were obtained from morbid obese women (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2). To investigate rhythmic expression pattern, AT explants were cultured during 24-h and gene expression was analyzed at the following times: 08:00, 14:00, 20:00, 02:00 h using quantitative real-time PCR. Clock genes, glucocorticoid metabolism-related genes, leptin, adiponectin and their receptors were studied. Significant differences were found both in achrophases and relative-amplitude among genes (P 30%). When interpreting the phase map of gene expression in both depots, data indicated that circadian rhythmicity of the genes studied followed a predictable physiological pattern, particularly for subcutaneous AT. Interesting are the relationships between adiponectin, leptin, and glucocorticoid metabolism-related genes circadian profiles. Their metabolic significance is discussed. Visceral AT behaved in a different way than subcutaneous for most of the genes studied. For every gene, protein mRNA levels fluctuated during the day in synchrony with its receptors. We have provided an overall view of the internal temporal order of circadian rhythms in human adipose tissue. PMID:21520059

  17. Discretely Conservative Finite-Difference Formulations for Nonlinear Conservation Laws in Split Form: Theory and Boundary Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Travis C.; Carpenter, Mark H.; Nordstroem, Jan; Yamaleev, Nail K.; Swanson, R. Charles

    2011-01-01

    Simulations of nonlinear conservation laws that admit discontinuous solutions are typically restricted to discretizations of equations that are explicitly written in divergence form. This restriction is, however, unnecessary. Herein, linear combinations of divergence and product rule forms that have been discretized using diagonal-norm skew-symmetric summation-by-parts (SBP) operators, are shown to satisfy the sufficient conditions of the Lax-Wendroff theorem and thus are appropriate for simulations of discontinuous physical phenomena. Furthermore, special treatments are not required at the points that are near physical boundaries (i.e., discrete conservation is achieved throughout the entire computational domain, including the boundaries). Examples are presented of a fourth-order, SBP finite-difference operator with second-order boundary closures. Sixth- and eighth-order constructions are derived, and included in E. Narrow-stencil difference operators for linear viscous terms are also derived; these guarantee the conservative form of the combined operator.

  18. G-NEST: A gene neighborhood scoring tool to identify co-conserved, co-expressed genes

    Science.gov (United States)

    In previous studies, gene neighborhoods--spatial clusters of co-expressed genes in the genome--have been defined using arbitrary rules such as requiring adjacency, a minimum number of genes, a fixed window size, or a minimum expression level. In the current study, we developed a Gene Neighborhood Sc...

  19. 10 CFR 430.56 - Decision and order.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY CONSERVATION PROGRAM FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS Small Business Exemptions § 430.56 Decision and order. (a) Upon consideration of the application and other relevant...) The order shall include a written statement setting forth the relevant facts and the legal basis of...

  20. Norrie disease and MAO genes: nearest neighbors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Z Y; Denney, R M; Breakefield, X O

    1995-01-01

    The Norrie disease and MAO genes are tandemly arranged in the p11.4-p11.3 region of the human X chromosome in the order tel-MAOA-MAOB-NDP-cent. This relationship is conserved in the mouse in the order tel-MAOB-MAOA-NDP-cent. The MAO genes appear to have arisen by tandem duplication of an ancestral MAO gene, but their positional relationship to NDP appears to be random. Distinctive X-linked syndromes have been described for mutations in the MAOA and NDP genes, and in addition, individuals have been identified with contiguous gene syndromes due to chromosomal deletions which encompass two or three of these genes. Loss of function of the NDP gene causes a syndrome of congenital blindness and progressive hearing loss, sometimes accompanied by signs of CNS dysfunction, including variable mental retardation and psychiatric symptoms. Other mutations in the NDP gene have been found to underlie another X-linked eye disease, exudative vitreo-retinopathy. An MAOA deficiency state has been described in one family to date, with features of altered amine and amine metabolite levels, low normal intelligence, apparent difficulty in impulse control and cardiovascular difficulty in affected males. A contiguous gene syndrome in which all three genes are lacking, as well as other as yet unidentified flanking genes, results in severe mental retardation, small stature, seizures and congenital blindness, as well as altered amine and amine metabolites. Issues that remain to be resolved are the function of the NDP gene product, the frequency and phenotype of the MAOA deficiency state, and the possible occurrence and phenotype of an MAOB deficiency state.

  1. Expression of interest: transcriptomics and the designation of conservation units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Michael M

    2010-05-01

    An important task within conservation genetics consists in defining intraspecific conservation units. Most conceptual frameworks involve two steps: (i) identifying demographically independent units, and (ii) evaluating their degree of adaptive divergence. Whereas a plethora of methods are available for delineating genetic population structure, assessment of functional genetic divergence remains a challenge. In this issue, Tymchuk et al. (2010) study Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations using both microsatellite markers and analysis of global gene expression. They show that important gene expression differences exist that can be interpreted in the context of different ecological conditions experienced by the populations, along with the populations' histories. This demonstrates an important potential role of transcriptomics for designating conservation units.

  2. Climate-Driven Reshuffling of Species and Genes: Potential Conservation Roles for Species Translocations and Recombinant Hybrid Genotypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scriber, Jon Mark

    2013-12-24

    Comprising 50%-75% of the world's fauna, insects are a prominent part of biodiversity in communities and ecosystems globally. Biodiversity across all levels of biological classifications is fundamentally based on genetic diversity. However, the integration of genomics and phylogenetics into conservation management may not be as rapid as climate change. The genetics of hybrid introgression as a source of novel variation for ecological divergence and evolutionary speciation (and resilience) may generate adaptive potential and diversity fast enough to respond to locally-altered environmental conditions. Major plant and herbivore hybrid zones with associated communities deserve conservation consideration. This review addresses functional genetics across multi-trophic-level interactions including "invasive species" in various ecosystems as they may become disrupted in different ways by rapid climate change. "Invasive genes" (into new species and populations) need to be recognized for their positive creative potential and addressed in conservation programs. "Genetic rescue" via hybrid translocations may provide needed adaptive flexibility for rapid adaptation to environmental change. While concerns persist for some conservationists, this review emphasizes the positive aspects of hybrids and hybridization. Specific implications of natural genetic introgression are addressed with a few examples from butterflies, including transgressive phenotypes and climate-driven homoploid recombinant hybrid speciation. Some specific examples illustrate these points using the swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae) with their long-term historical data base (phylogeographical diversity changes) and recent (3-decade) climate-driven temporal and genetic divergence in recombinant homoploid hybrids and relatively recent hybrid speciation of Papilio appalachiensis in North America. Climate-induced "reshuffling" (recombinations) of species composition, genotypes, and genomes may become

  3. Phylogenetic analysis and protein structure modelling identifies distinct Ca(2+)/Cation antiporters and conservation of gene family structure within Arabidopsis and rice species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittman, Jon K; Hirschi, Kendal D

    2016-12-01

    The Ca(2+)/Cation Antiporter (CaCA) superfamily is an ancient and widespread family of ion-coupled cation transporters found in nearly all kingdoms of life. In animals, K(+)-dependent and K(+)-indendent Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchangers (NCKX and NCX) are important CaCA members. Recently it was proposed that all rice and Arabidopsis CaCA proteins should be classified as NCX proteins. Here we performed phylogenetic analysis of CaCA genes and protein structure homology modelling to further characterise members of this transporter superfamily. Phylogenetic analysis of rice and Arabidopsis CaCAs in comparison with selected CaCA members from non-plant species demonstrated that these genes form clearly distinct families, with the H(+)/Cation exchanger (CAX) and cation/Ca(2+) exchanger (CCX) families dominant in higher plants but the NCKX and NCX families absent. NCX-related Mg(2+)/H(+) exchanger (MHX) and CAX-related Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger-like (NCL) proteins are instead present. Analysis of genomes of ten closely-related rice species and four Arabidopsis-related species found that CaCA gene family structures are highly conserved within related plants, apart from minor variation. Protein structures were modelled for OsCAX1a and OsMHX1. Despite exhibiting broad structural conservation, there are clear structural differences observed between the different CaCA types. Members of the CaCA superfamily form clearly distinct families with different phylogenetic, structural and functional characteristics, and therefore should not be simply classified as NCX proteins, which should remain as a separate gene family.

  4. Comparative anatomy of the human APRT gene and enzyme: nucleotide sequence divergence and conservation of a nonrandom CpG dinucleotide arrangement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Broderick, T.P.; Schaff, D.A.; Bertino, A.M.; Dush, M.K.; Tischfield, J.A.; Stambrook, P.J.

    1987-01-01

    The functional human adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) gene is <2.6 kilobases in length and contains five exons. The amino acid sequences of APRTs have been highly conserved throughout evolution. The human enzyme is 82%, 90%, and 40% identical to the mouse, hamster, and Escherichia coli enzymes, respectively. The promoter region of the human APRT gene, like that of several other housekeeping genes, lacks TATA and CCAAT boxes but contains five GC boxes that are potential binding sites for the Sp1 transcription factor. The distal three, however, are dispensable for gene expression. Comparison between human and mouse APRT gene nucleotide sequences reveals a high degree of homology within protein coding regions but an absence of significant homology in 5' flanking, 3' untranslated, and intron sequences, except for similarly positioned GC boxes in the promoter region and a 26-base-pair region in intron 3. This 26-base-pair sequence is 92% identical with a similarly positioned sequence in the mouse gene and is also found in intron 3 of the hamster gene, suggesting that its retention may be a consequence of stringent selection. The positions of all introns have been precisely retained in the human and both rodent genes. Retention of an elevated CpG dinucleotide content, despite loss of sequence homology, suggests that there may be selection for CpG dinucleotides in these regions and that their maintenance may be important for APRT gene function

  5. Analysis of the grape MYB R2R3 subfamily reveals expanded wine quality-related clades and conserved gene structure organization across Vitis and Arabidopsis genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arce-Johnson Patricio

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The MYB superfamily constitutes the most abundant group of transcription factors described in plants. Members control processes such as epidermal cell differentiation, stomatal aperture, flavonoid synthesis, cold and drought tolerance and pathogen resistance. No genome-wide characterization of this family has been conducted in a woody species such as grapevine. In addition, previous analysis of the recently released grape genome sequence suggested expansion events of several gene families involved in wine quality. Results We describe and classify 108 members of the grape R2R3 MYB gene subfamily in terms of their genomic gene structures and similarity to their putative Arabidopsis thaliana orthologues. Seven gene models were derived and analyzed in terms of gene expression and their DNA binding domain structures. Despite low overall sequence homology in the C-terminus of all proteins, even in those with similar functions across Arabidopsis and Vitis, highly conserved motif sequences and exon lengths were found. The grape epidermal cell fate clade is expanded when compared with the Arabidopsis and rice MYB subfamilies. Two anthocyanin MYBA related clusters were identified in chromosomes 2 and 14, one of which includes the previously described grape colour locus. Tannin related loci were also detected with eight candidate homologues in chromosomes 4, 9 and 11. Conclusion This genome wide transcription factor analysis in Vitis suggests that clade-specific grape R2R3 MYB genes are expanded while other MYB genes could be well conserved compared to Arabidopsis. MYB gene abundance, homology and orientation within particular loci also suggests that expanded MYB clades conferring quality attributes of grapes and wines, such as colour and astringency, could possess redundant, overlapping and cooperative functions.

  6. Conservation, spillover and gene flow within a network of Northern European marine protected areas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mats Brockstedt Olsen Huserbråten

    Full Text Available To ensure that marine protected areas (MPAs benefit conservation and fisheries, the effectiveness of MPA designs has to be evaluated in field studies. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we empirically assessed the design of a network of northern MPAs where fishing for European lobster (Homarusgammarus is prohibited. First, we demonstrate a high level of residency and survival (50% for almost a year (363 days within MPAs, despite small MPA sizes (0.5-1 km(2. Second, we demonstrate limited export (4.7% of lobsters tagged within MPAs (N = 1810 to neighbouring fished areas, over a median distance of 1.6 km out to maximum 21 km away from MPA centres. In comparison, median movement distance of lobsters recaptured within MPAs was 164 m, and recapture rate was high (40%. Third, we demonstrate a high level of gene flow within the study region, with an estimated F ST of less than 0.0001 over a ≈ 400 km coastline. Thus, the restricted movement of older life stages, combined with a high level of gene flow suggests that connectivity is primarily driven by larval drift. Larval export from the MPAs can most likely affect areas far beyond their borders. Our findings are of high importance for the design of MPA networks for sedentary species with pelagic early life stages.

  7. Functional Potential of Bacterial Communities using Gene Context Information

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    Anwesha Mohapatra

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Estimation of the functional potential of a bacterial genome can be determined by accurate annotation of its metabolic pathways. Existing homology based methods for pathway annotation fail to account for homologous genes that participate in multiple pathways, causing overestimation of gene copy number. Mere presence of constituent genes of a candidate pathway which are dispersed on a genome often results in incorrect annotation, thereby leading to erroneous gene abundance and pathway estimation. Clusters of evolutionarily conserved coregulated genes are characteristic features in bacterial genomes and their spatial arrangement in the genome is constrained by the pathway encoded by them. Thus, in order to improve the accuracy of pathway prediction, it is important to augment homology based annotation with gene organization information. In this communication, we present a methodology considering prioritization of gene context for improved pathway annotation. Extensive literature mining was performed to confirm conserved juxtaposed arrangement of gene components of various pathways. Our method was utilized to identify and analyse the functional potential of all available completely sequenced bacterial genomes. The accuracy of the predicted gene clusters and their importance in metabolic pathways will be demonstrated using a few case studies. One of such case study corresponds to butyrate production pathways in gut bacteria where it was observed that gut pathogens and commensals possess a distinct set of pathway components. In another example, we will demonstrate how our methodology improves the prediction accuracy of carbohydrate metabolic potential in human microbial communities. Applicability of our method for estimation of functional potential in bacterial communities present in diverse environments will also be illustrated.

  8. Comparative genomics reveals conservative evolution of the xylem transcriptome in vascular plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xinguo; Wu, Harry X; Southerton, Simon G

    2010-06-21

    Wood is a valuable natural resource and a major carbon sink. Wood formation is an important developmental process in vascular plants which played a crucial role in plant evolution. Although genes involved in xylem formation have been investigated, the molecular mechanisms of xylem evolution are not well understood. We use comparative genomics to examine evolution of the xylem transcriptome to gain insights into xylem evolution. The xylem transcriptome is highly conserved in conifers, but considerably divergent in angiosperms. The functional domains of genes in the xylem transcriptome are moderately to highly conserved in vascular plants, suggesting the existence of a common ancestral xylem transcriptome. Compared to the total transcriptome derived from a range of tissues, the xylem transcriptome is relatively conserved in vascular plants. Of the xylem transcriptome, cell wall genes, ancestral xylem genes, known proteins and transcription factors are relatively more conserved in vascular plants. A total of 527 putative xylem orthologs were identified, which are unevenly distributed across the Arabidopsis chromosomes with eight hot spots observed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that evolution of the xylem transcriptome has paralleled plant evolution. We also identified 274 conifer-specific xylem unigenes, all of which are of unknown function. These xylem orthologs and conifer-specific unigenes are likely to have played a crucial role in xylem evolution. Conifers have highly conserved xylem transcriptomes, while angiosperm xylem transcriptomes are relatively diversified. Vascular plants share a common ancestral xylem transcriptome. The xylem transcriptomes of vascular plants are more conserved than the total transcriptomes. Evolution of the xylem transcriptome has largely followed the trend of plant evolution.

  9. Eucaryotic operon genes can define highly conserved syntenies

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Trachtulec, Zdeněk

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 50, - (2004), s. 1-6 ISSN 0015-5500 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA204/01/0997; GA MŠk LN00A079 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5052915 Keywords : eukaryotic operon * conserved synteny Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 0.507, year: 2004

  10. Educating Astronauts About Conservation Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Julie A.

    2001-01-01

    This article reviews the training of astronauts in the interdisciplinary work of conservation biology. The primary responsibility of the conservation biologist at NASA is directing and supporting the photography of the Earth and maintaining the complete database of the photographs. In order to perform this work, the astronauts who take the pictures must be educated in ecological issues.

  11. Identifying gene coexpression networks underlying the dynamic regulation of wood-forming tissues in Populus under diverse environmental conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zinkgraf, Matthew; Liu, Lijun; Groover, Andrew; Filkov, Vladimir

    2017-06-01

    Trees modify wood formation through integration of environmental and developmental signals in complex but poorly defined transcriptional networks, allowing trees to produce woody tissues appropriate to diverse environmental conditions. In order to identify relationships among genes expressed during wood formation, we integrated data from new and publically available datasets in Populus. These datasets were generated from woody tissue and include transcriptome profiling, transcription factor binding, DNA accessibility and genome-wide association mapping experiments. Coexpression modules were calculated, each of which contains genes showing similar expression patterns across experimental conditions, genotypes and treatments. Conserved gene coexpression modules (four modules totaling 8398 genes) were identified that were highly preserved across diverse environmental conditions and genetic backgrounds. Functional annotations as well as correlations with specific experimental treatments associated individual conserved modules with distinct biological processes underlying wood formation, such as cell-wall biosynthesis, meristem development and epigenetic pathways. Module genes were also enriched for DNase I hypersensitivity footprints and binding from four transcription factors associated with wood formation. The conserved modules are excellent candidates for modeling core developmental pathways common to wood formation in diverse environments and genotypes, and serve as testbeds for hypothesis generation and testing for future studies. No claim to original US government works. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

  12. Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources in the Danubian Valley

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pal Hajas

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The overall aim of gene conservation is the preservation of animal genetic resources (AnGR. Since the well balanced, diverse and healthy supply of food is a major element of the national food sovereignty, hence successful animal production is not possible without preservation of AnGR. Moreover, local breeds are considered as part of national treasures, cultural values, and pre-requisit for a landscape-friendly, biologically diverse and ecologically sensitive agriculture. In thematic gene conservation, our primary concerns are economically important traits, adaptability and biological diversity of breeds. Beside these, aesthetic and ethical issues to be considered as well.

  13. language as a culture and biodiversity conservation

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Guest

    biodiversity conservation because life in a particular human environment is ... communication ,by language, by word expression as cultural genes, stories, legends and ..... for expressing individual identity, preserve culture, understanding the ...

  14. Enrichment of conserved synaptic activity-responsive element in neuronal genes predicts a coordinated response of MEF2, CREB and SRF.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda M Rodríguez-Tornos

    Full Text Available A unique synaptic activity-responsive element (SARE sequence, composed of the consensus binding sites for SRF, MEF2 and CREB, is necessary for control of transcriptional upregulation of the Arc gene in response to synaptic activity. We hypothesize that this sequence is a broad mechanism that regulates gene expression in response to synaptic activation and during plasticity; and that analysis of SARE-containing genes could identify molecular mechanisms involved in brain disorders. To search for conserved SARE sequences in the mammalian genome, we used the SynoR in silico tool, and found the SARE cluster predominantly in the regulatory regions of genes expressed specifically in the nervous system; most were related to neural development and homeostatic maintenance. Two of these SARE sequences were tested in luciferase assays and proved to promote transcription in response to neuronal activation. Supporting the predictive capacity of our candidate list, up-regulation of several SARE containing genes in response to neuronal activity was validated using external data and also experimentally using primary cortical neurons and quantitative real time RT-PCR. The list of SARE-containing genes includes several linked to mental retardation and cognitive disorders, and is significantly enriched in genes that encode mRNA targeted by FMRP (fragile X mental retardation protein. Our study thus supports the idea that SARE sequences are relevant transcriptional regulatory elements that participate in plasticity. In addition, it offers a comprehensive view of how activity-responsive transcription factors coordinate their actions and increase the selectivity of their targets. Our data suggest that analysis of SARE-containing genes will reveal yet-undescribed pathways of synaptic plasticity and additional candidate genes disrupted in mental disease.

  15. WeederH: an algorithm for finding conserved regulatory motifs and regions in homologous sequences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pesole Graziano

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background This work addresses the problem of detecting conserved transcription factor binding sites and in general regulatory regions through the analysis of sequences from homologous genes, an approach that is becoming more and more widely used given the ever increasing amount of genomic data available. Results We present an algorithm that identifies conserved transcription factor binding sites in a given sequence by comparing it to one or more homologs, adapting a framework we previously introduced for the discovery of sites in sequences from co-regulated genes. Differently from the most commonly used methods, the approach we present does not need or compute an alignment of the sequences investigated, nor resorts to descriptors of the binding specificity of known transcription factors. The main novel idea we introduce is a relative measure of conservation, assuming that true functional elements should present a higher level of conservation with respect to the rest of the sequence surrounding them. We present tests where we applied the algorithm to the identification of conserved annotated sites in homologous promoters, as well as in distal regions like enhancers. Conclusion Results of the tests show how the algorithm can provide fast and reliable predictions of conserved transcription factor binding sites regulating the transcription of a gene, with better performances than other available methods for the same task. We also show examples on how the algorithm can be successfully employed when promoter annotations of the genes investigated are missing, or when regulatory sites and regions are located far away from the genes.

  16. Molecular conservation of estrogen-response associated with cell cycle regulation, hormonal carcinogenesis and cancer in zebrafish and human cancer cell lines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Govindarajan Kunde R

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The zebrafish is recognized as a versatile cancer and drug screening model. However, it is not known whether the estrogen-responsive genes and signaling pathways that are involved in estrogen-dependent carcinogenesis and human cancer are operating in zebrafish. In order to determine the potential of zebrafish model for estrogen-related cancer research, we investigated the molecular conservation of estrogen responses operating in both zebrafish and human cancer cell lines. Methods Microarray experiment was performed on zebrafish exposed to estrogen (17β-estradiol; a classified carcinogen and an anti-estrogen (ICI 182,780. Zebrafish estrogen-responsive genes sensitive to both estrogen and anti-estrogen were identified and validated using real-time PCR. Human homolog mapping and knowledge-based data mining were performed on zebrafish estrogen responsive genes followed by estrogen receptor binding site analysis and comparative transcriptome analysis with estrogen-responsive human cancer cell lines (MCF7, T47D and Ishikawa. Results Our transcriptome analysis captured multiple estrogen-responsive genes and signaling pathways that increased cell proliferation, promoted DNA damage and genome instability, and decreased tumor suppressing effects, suggesting a common mechanism for estrogen-induced carcinogenesis. Comparative analysis revealed a core set of conserved estrogen-responsive genes that demonstrate enrichment of estrogen receptor binding sites and cell cycle signaling pathways. Knowledge-based and network analysis led us to propose that the mechanism involving estrogen-activated estrogen receptor mediated down-regulation of human homolog HES1 followed by up-regulation cell cycle-related genes (human homologs E2F4, CDK2, CCNA, CCNB, CCNE, is highly conserved, and this mechanism may involve novel crosstalk with basal AHR. We also identified mitotic roles of polo-like kinase as a conserved signaling pathway with multiple entry

  17. Characterization of the bovine pregnancy-associated glycoprotein gene family – analysis of gene sequences, regulatory regions within the promoter and expression of selected genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walker Angela M

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs belong to a large family of aspartic peptidases expressed exclusively in the placenta of species in the Artiodactyla order. In cattle, the PAG gene family is comprised of at least 22 transcribed genes, as well as some variants. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that the PAG family segregates into 'ancient' and 'modern' groupings. Along with sequence differences between family members, there are clear distinctions in their spatio-temporal distribution and in their relative level of expression. In this report, 1 we performed an in silico analysis of the bovine genome to further characterize the PAG gene family, 2 we scrutinized proximal promoter sequences of the PAG genes to evaluate the evolution pressures operating on them and to identify putative regulatory regions, 3 we determined relative transcript abundance of selected PAGs during pregnancy and, 4 we performed preliminary characterization of the putative regulatory elements for one of the candidate PAGs, bovine (bo PAG-2. Results From our analysis of the bovine genome, we identified 18 distinct PAG genes and 14 pseudogenes. We observed that the first 500 base pairs upstream of the translational start site contained multiple regions that are conserved among all boPAGs. However, a preponderance of conserved regions, that harbor recognition sites for putative transcriptional factors (TFs, were found to be unique to the modern boPAG grouping, but not the ancient boPAGs. We gathered evidence by means of Q-PCR and screening of EST databases to show that boPAG-2 is the most abundant of all boPAG transcripts. Finally, we provided preliminary evidence for the role of ETS- and DDVL-related TFs in the regulation of the boPAG-2 gene. Conclusion PAGs represent a relatively large gene family in the bovine genome. The proximal promoter regions of these genes display differences in putative TF binding sites, likely contributing to observed

  18. CWRML: representing crop wild relative conservation and use data in XML.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Jonathan D; Kell, Shelagh P; Iriondo, Jose M; Ford-Lloyd, Brian V; Maxted, Nigel

    2008-02-25

    Crop wild relatives are wild species that are closely related to crops. They are valuable as potential gene donors for crop improvement and may help to ensure food security for the future. However, they are becoming increasingly threatened in the wild and are inadequately conserved, both in situ and ex situ. Information about the conservation status and utilisation potential of crop wild relatives is diverse and dispersed, and no single agreed standard exists for representing such information; yet, this information is vital to ensure these species are effectively conserved and utilised. The European Community-funded project, European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum, determined the minimum information requirements for the conservation and utilisation of crop wild relatives and created the Crop Wild Relative Information System, incorporating an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema to aid data sharing and exchange. Crop Wild Relative Markup Language (CWRML) was developed to represent the data necessary for crop wild relative conservation and ensure that they can be effectively utilised for crop improvement. The schema partitions data into taxon-, site-, and population-specific elements, to allow for integration with other more general conservation biology schemata which may emerge as accepted standards in the future. These elements are composed of sub-elements, which are structured in order to facilitate the use of the schema in a variety of crop wild relative conservation and use contexts. Pre-existing standards for data representation in conservation biology were reviewed and incorporated into the schema as restrictions on element data contents, where appropriate. CWRML provides a flexible data communication format for representing in situ and ex situ conservation status of individual taxa as well as their utilisation potential. The development of the schema highlights a number of instances where additional standards-development may

  19. IL26 gene inactivation in Equidae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakhsi-Niaei, M; Drögemüller, M; Jagannathan, V; Gerber, V; Leeb, T

    2013-12-01

    Interleukin-26 (IL26) is a member of the IL10 cytokine family. The IL26 gene is located between two other well-known cytokines genes of this family encoding interferon-gamma (IFNG) and IL22 in an evolutionary conserved gene cluster. In contrast to humans and most other mammals, mice lack a functional Il26 gene. We analyzed the genome sequences of other vertebrates for the presence or absence of functional IL26 orthologs and found that the IL26 gene has also become inactivated in several equid species. We detected a one-base pair frameshift deletion in exon 2 of the IL26 gene in the domestic horse (Equus caballus), Przewalski horse (Equus przewalskii) and donkey (Equus asinus). The remnant IL26 gene in the horse is still transcribed and gives rise to at least five alternative transcripts. None of these transcripts share a conserved open reading frame with the human IL26 gene. A comparative analysis across diverse vertebrates revealed that the IL26 gene has also independently been inactivated in a few other mammals, including the African elephant and the European hedgehog. The IL26 gene thus appears to be highly variable, and the conserved open reading frame has been lost several times during mammalian evolution. © 2013 The Authors, Animal Genetics © 2013 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.

  20. Conservation genetics and genomics of amphibians and reptiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaffer, H Bradley; Gidiş, Müge; McCartney-Melstad, Evan; Neal, Kevin M; Oyamaguchi, Hilton M; Tellez, Marisa; Toffelmier, Erin M

    2015-01-01

    Amphibians and reptiles as a group are often secretive, reach their greatest diversity often in remote tropical regions, and contain some of the most endangered groups of organisms on earth. Particularly in the past decade, genetics and genomics have been instrumental in the conservation biology of these cryptic vertebrates, enabling work ranging from the identification of populations subject to trade and exploitation, to the identification of cryptic lineages harboring critical genetic variation, to the analysis of genes controlling key life history traits. In this review, we highlight some of the most important ways that genetic analyses have brought new insights to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles. Although genomics has only recently emerged as part of this conservation tool kit, several large-scale data sources, including full genomes, expressed sequence tags, and transcriptomes, are providing new opportunities to identify key genes, quantify landscape effects, and manage captive breeding stocks of at-risk species.

  1. Natural killer cell receptor genes in the family Equidae: not only Ly49.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Futas

    Full Text Available Natural killer (NK cells have important functions in immunity. NK recognition in mammals can be mediated through killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR and/or killer cell lectin-like Ly49 receptors. Genes encoding highly variable NK cell receptors (NKR represent rapidly evolving genomic regions. No single conservative model of NKR genes was observed in mammals. Single-copy low polymorphic NKR genes present in one mammalian species may expand into highly polymorphic multigene families in other species. In contrast to other non-rodent mammals, multiple Ly49-like genes appear to exist in the horse, while no functional KIR genes were observed in this species. In this study, Ly49 and KIR were sought and their evolution was characterized in the entire family Equidae. Genomic sequences retrieved showed the presence of at least five highly conserved polymorphic Ly49 genes in horses, asses and zebras. These findings confirmed that the expansion of Ly49 occurred in the entire family. Several KIR-like sequences were also identified in the genome of Equids. Besides a previously identified non-functional KIR-Immunoglobulin-like transcript fusion gene (KIR-ILTA and two putative pseudogenes, a KIR3DL-like sequence was analyzed. In contrast to previous observations made in the horse, the KIR3DL sequence, genomic organization and mRNA expression suggest that all Equids might produce a functional KIR receptor protein molecule with a single non-mutated immune tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM domain. No evidence for positive selection in the KIR3DL gene was found. Phylogenetic analysis including rhinoceros and tapir genomic DNA and deduced amino acid KIR-related sequences showed differences between families and even between species within the order Perissodactyla. The results suggest that the order Perissodactyla and its family Equidae with expanded Ly49 genes and with a potentially functional KIR gene may represent an interesting model for

  2. Natural Killer Cell Receptor Genes in the Family Equidae: Not only Ly49

    Science.gov (United States)

    Futas, Jan; Horin, Petr

    2013-01-01

    Natural killer (NK) cells have important functions in immunity. NK recognition in mammals can be mediated through killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and/or killer cell lectin-like Ly49 receptors. Genes encoding highly variable NK cell receptors (NKR) represent rapidly evolving genomic regions. No single conservative model of NKR genes was observed in mammals. Single-copy low polymorphic NKR genes present in one mammalian species may expand into highly polymorphic multigene families in other species. In contrast to other non-rodent mammals, multiple Ly49-like genes appear to exist in the horse, while no functional KIR genes were observed in this species. In this study, Ly49 and KIR were sought and their evolution was characterized in the entire family Equidae. Genomic sequences retrieved showed the presence of at least five highly conserved polymorphic Ly49 genes in horses, asses and zebras. These findings confirmed that the expansion of Ly49 occurred in the entire family. Several KIR-like sequences were also identified in the genome of Equids. Besides a previously identified non-functional KIR-Immunoglobulin-like transcript fusion gene (KIR-ILTA) and two putative pseudogenes, a KIR3DL-like sequence was analyzed. In contrast to previous observations made in the horse, the KIR3DL sequence, genomic organization and mRNA expression suggest that all Equids might produce a functional KIR receptor protein molecule with a single non-mutated immune tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM) domain. No evidence for positive selection in the KIR3DL gene was found. Phylogenetic analysis including rhinoceros and tapir genomic DNA and deduced amino acid KIR-related sequences showed differences between families and even between species within the order Perissodactyla. The results suggest that the order Perissodactyla and its family Equidae with expanded Ly49 genes and with a potentially functional KIR gene may represent an interesting model for evolutionary biology of

  3. Evolutionary plasticity of habenular asymmetry with a conserved efferent connectivity pattern.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aldo Villalón

    Full Text Available The vertebrate habenulae (Hb is an evolutionary conserved dorsal diencephalic nuclear complex that relays information from limbic and striatal forebrain regions to the ventral midbrain. One key feature of this bilateral nucleus is the presence of left-right differences in size, cytoarchitecture, connectivity, neurochemistry and/or gene expression. In teleosts, habenular asymmetry has been associated with preferential innervation of left-right habenular efferents into dorso-ventral domains of the midbrain interpeduncular nucleus (IPN. However, the degree of conservation of this trait and its relation to the structural asymmetries of the Hb are currently unknown. To address these questions, we performed the first systematic comparative analysis of structural and connectional asymmetries of the Hb in teleosts. We found striking inter-species variability in the overall shape and cytoarchitecture of the Hb, and in the frequency, strength and to a lesser degree, laterality of habenular volume at the population level. Directional asymmetry of the Hb was either to the left in D. rerio, E. bicolor, O. latipes, P. reticulata, B. splendens, or to the right in F. gardneri females. In contrast, asymmetry was absent in P. scalare and F. gardneri males at the population level, although in these species the Hb displayed volumetric asymmetries at the individual level. Inter-species variability was more pronounced across orders than within a single order, and coexisted with an overall conserved laterotopic representation of left-right habenular efferents into dorso-ventral domains of the IPN. These results suggest that the circuit design involving the Hb of teleosts promotes structural flexibility depending on developmental, cognitive and/or behavioural pressures, without affecting the main midbrain connectivity output, thus unveiling a key conserved role of this connectivity trait in the function of the circuit. We propose that ontogenic plasticity in habenular

  4. Implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum to Improve Graduates’ Quality to be Competence and Conservation-Minded

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asrori Asrori

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to analyze the implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum in order to improve the quality of graduates of Economics Faculty of Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES. The goal of this study was to provide information, policy,  and recommendations to improve the quality of graduates based on lectures behavior. The respondents of this research were lecturers of Faculty of Economics. Research data were collected by using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical multiple linear regression were employed to analyze data. This study provided empirical support that lecturers’ ability and commitment positively contributed to the implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum to improve the quality of graduates to be competence and conservation-minded. This study also proved that while lecturers’ ability and commitment play an important role, their commitments do not affect the implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that lecturers’ ability to implement the Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum needs to be improved. Workshops and training should be given to lecturers in order to help them to create learning apparatus such as syllabus, lesson plans and teaching materials, as well as the evaluation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum.

  5. Extensive gene rearrangements in the mitochondrial genomes of two egg parasitoids, Trichogramma japonicum and Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Long; Chen, Peng-Yan; Xue, Xiao-Feng; Hua, Hai-Qing; Li, Yuan-Xi; Zhang, Fan; Wei, Shu-Jun

    2018-05-04

    Animal mitochondrial genomes usually exhibit conserved gene arrangement across major lineages, while those in the Hymenoptera are known to possess frequent rearrangements, as are those of several other orders of insects. Here, we sequenced two complete mitochondrial genomes of Trichogramma japonicum and Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Trichogrammatidae). In total, 37 mitochondrial genes were identified in both species. The same gene arrangement pattern was found in the two species, with extensive gene rearrangement compared with the ancestral insect mitochondrial genome. Most tRNA genes and all protein-coding genes were encoded on the minority strand. In total, 15 tRNA genes and seven protein-coding genes were rearranged. The rearrangements of cox1 and nad2 as well as most tRNA genes were novel. Phylogenetic analysis based on nucleotide sequences of protein-coding genes and on gene arrangement patterns produced identical topologies that support the relationship of (Agaonidae + Pteromalidae) + Trichogrammatidae in Chalcidoidea. CREx analysis revealed eight rearrangement operations occurred from presumed ancestral gene order of Chalcidoidea to form the derived gene order of Trichogramma. Our study shows that gene rearrangement information in Chalcidoidea can potentially contribute to the phylogeny of Chalcidoidea when more mitochondrial genome sequences are available.

  6. Molecular characterisation of the nucleocapsid protein gene, glycoprotein gene and gene junctions of rhabdovirus 903/87, a novel fish pathogenic rhabdovirus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansson, Tove; Nylund, S.; Olesen, Niels Jørgen

    2001-01-01

    , M, G and L genes it was determined that transcription start and stop codons were conserved between virus 903/87 and the vesiculo viruses. Virus 903/87 has no open reading frame coding for a non-virion gene between the glycoprotein and the polymerase gene. Phylogenetic studies based on rhabdovirus...

  7. Conservation of transcription factor binding events predicts gene expression across species

    OpenAIRE

    Hemberg, Martin; Kreiman, Gabriel

    2011-01-01

    Recent technological advances have made it possible to determine the genome-wide binding sites of transcription factors (TFs). Comparisons across species have suggested a relatively low degree of evolutionary conservation of experimentally defined TF binding events (TFBEs). Using binding data for six different TFs in hepatocytes and embryonic stem cells from human and mouse, we demonstrate that evolutionary conservation of TFBEs within orthologous proximal promoters is closely linked to funct...

  8. Expression conservation within the circadian clock of a monocot: natural variation at barley Ppd-H1 affects circadian expression of flowering time genes, but not clock orthologs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campoli, Chiara; Shtaya, Munqez; Davis, Seth J; von Korff, Maria

    2012-06-21

    The circadian clock is an endogenous mechanism that coordinates biological processes with daily changes in the environment. In plants, circadian rhythms contribute to both agricultural productivity and evolutionary fitness. In barley, the photoperiod response regulator and flowering-time gene Ppd-H1 is orthologous to the Arabidopsis core-clock gene PRR7. However, relatively little is known about the role of Ppd-H1 and other components of the circadian clock in temperate crop species. In this study, we identified barley clock orthologs and tested the effects of natural genetic variation at Ppd-H1 on diurnal and circadian expression of clock and output genes from the photoperiod-response pathway. Barley clock orthologs HvCCA1, HvGI, HvPRR1, HvPRR37 (Ppd-H1), HvPRR73, HvPRR59 and HvPRR95 showed a high level of sequence similarity and conservation of diurnal and circadian expression patterns, when compared to Arabidopsis. The natural mutation at Ppd-H1 did not affect diurnal or circadian cycling of barley clock genes. However, the Ppd-H1 mutant was found to be arrhythmic under free-running conditions for the photoperiod-response genes HvCO1, HvCO2, and the MADS-box transcription factor and vernalization responsive gene Vrn-H1. We suggest that the described eudicot clock is largely conserved in the monocot barley. However, genetic differentiation within gene families and differences in the function of Ppd-H1 suggest evolutionary modification in the angiosperm clock. Our data indicates that natural variation at Ppd-H1 does not affect the expression level of clock genes, but controls photoperiodic output genes. Circadian control of Vrn-H1 in barley suggests that this vernalization responsive gene is also controlled by the photoperiod-response pathway. Structural and functional characterization of the barley circadian clock will set the basis for future studies of the adaptive significance of the circadian clock in Triticeae species.

  9. A second-order, unconditionally positive, mass-conserving integration scheme for biochemical systems.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    F.J. Bruggeman (Frank); H. Burchard; B. Kooi; B.P. Sommeijer (Ben)

    2006-01-01

    textabstractBiochemical systems are bound by two mathematically-relevant restrictions. First, state variables in such systems represent non-negative quantities, such as concentrations of chemical compounds. Second, biochemical systems conserve mass and energy. Both properties must be reflected in

  10. Comparisons of Copy Number, Genomic Structure, and Conserved Motifs for α-Amylase Genes from Barley, Rice, and Wheat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qisen Zhang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Barley is an important crop for the production of malt and beer. However, crops such as rice and wheat are rarely used for malting. α-amylase is the key enzyme that degrades starch during malting. In this study, we compared the genomic properties, gene copies, and conserved promoter motifs of α-amylase genes in barley, rice, and wheat. In all three crops, α-amylase consists of four subfamilies designated amy1, amy2, amy3, and amy4. In wheat and barley, members of amy1 and amy2 genes are localized on chromosomes 6 and 7, respectively. In rice, members of amy1 genes are found on chromosomes 1 and 2, and amy2 genes on chromosome 6. The barley genome has six amy1 members and three amy2 members. The wheat B genome contains four amy1 members and three amy2 members, while the rice genome has three amy1 members and one amy2 member. The B genome has mostly amy1 and amy2 members among the three wheat genomes. Amy1 promoters from all three crop genomes contain a GA-responsive complex consisting of a GA-responsive element (CAATAAA, pyrimidine box (CCTTTT and TATCCAT/C box. This study has shown that amy1 and amy2 from both wheat and barley have similar genomic properties, including exon/intron structures and GA-responsive elements on promoters, but these differ in rice. Like barley, wheat should have sufficient amy activity to degrade starch completely during malting. Other factors, such as high protein with haze issues and the lack of husk causing Lauting difficulty, may limit the use of wheat for brewing.

  11. Hojman's theorem of the third-order ordinary differential equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong-Sheng, Lü; Hong-Bin, Zhang; Shu-Long, Gu

    2009-01-01

    This paper extends Hojman's conservation law to the third-order differential equation. A new conserved quantity is constructed based on the Lie group of transformation generators of the equations of motion. The generators contain variations of the time and generalized coordinates. Two independent non-trivial conserved quantities of the third-order ordinary differential equation are obtained. A simple example is presented to illustrate the applications of the results. (general)

  12. Properties of Sequence Conservation in Upstream Regulatory and Protein Coding Sequences among Paralogs in Arabidopsis thaliana

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Dale N.; Wiehe, Thomas

    Whole genome duplication (WGD) has catalyzed the formation of new species, genes with novel functions, altered expression patterns, complexified signaling pathways and has provided organisms a level of genetic robustness. We studied the long-term evolution and interrelationships of 5’ upstream regulatory sequences (URSs), protein coding sequences (CDSs) and expression correlations (EC) of duplicated gene pairs in Arabidopsis. Three distinct methods revealed significant evolutionary conservation between paralogous URSs and were highly correlated with microarray-based expression correlation of the respective gene pairs. Positional information on exact matches between sequences unveiled the contribution of micro-chromosomal rearrangements on expression divergence. A three-way rank analysis of URS similarity, CDS divergence and EC uncovered specific gene functional biases. Transcription factor activity was associated with gene pairs exhibiting conserved URSs and divergent CDSs, whereas a broad array of metabolic enzymes was found to be associated with gene pairs showing diverged URSs but conserved CDSs.

  13. Mouse transgenesis identifies conserved functional enhancers and cis-regulatory motif in the vertebrate LIM homeobox gene Lhx2 locus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alison P Lee

    Full Text Available The vertebrate Lhx2 is a member of the LIM homeobox family of transcription factors. It is essential for the normal development of the forebrain, eye, olfactory system and liver as well for the differentiation of lymphoid cells. However, despite the highly restricted spatio-temporal expression pattern of Lhx2, nothing is known about its transcriptional regulation. In mammals and chicken, Crb2, Dennd1a and Lhx2 constitute a conserved linkage block, while the intervening Dennd1a is lost in the fugu Lhx2 locus. To identify functional enhancers of Lhx2, we predicted conserved noncoding elements (CNEs in the human, mouse and fugu Crb2-Lhx2 loci and assayed their function in transgenic mouse at E11.5. Four of the eight CNE constructs tested functioned as tissue-specific enhancers in specific regions of the central nervous system and the dorsal root ganglia (DRG, recapitulating partial and overlapping expression patterns of Lhx2 and Crb2 genes. There was considerable overlap in the expression domains of the CNEs, which suggests that the CNEs are either redundant enhancers or regulating different genes in the locus. Using a large set of CNEs (810 CNEs associated with transcription factor-encoding genes that express predominantly in the central nervous system, we predicted four over-represented 8-mer motifs that are likely to be associated with expression in the central nervous system. Mutation of one of them in a CNE that drove reporter expression in the neural tube and DRG abolished expression in both domains indicating that this motif is essential for expression in these domains. The failure of the four functional enhancers to recapitulate the complete expression pattern of Lhx2 at E11.5 indicates that there must be other Lhx2 enhancers that are either located outside the region investigated or divergent in mammals and fishes. Other approaches such as sequence comparison between multiple mammals are required to identify and characterize such enhancers.

  14. Next generation sequencing and analysis of a conserved transcriptome of New Zealand's kiwi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subramanian, Sankar; Huynen, Leon; Millar, Craig D; Lambert, David M

    2010-12-15

    Kiwi is a highly distinctive, flightless and endangered ratite bird endemic to New Zealand. To understand the patterns of molecular evolution of the nuclear protein-coding genes in brown kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli) and to determine the timescale of avian history we sequenced a transcriptome obtained from a kiwi embryo using next generation sequencing methods. We then assembled the conserved protein-coding regions using the chicken proteome as a scaffold. Using 1,543 conserved protein coding genes we estimated the neutral evolutionary divergence between the kiwi and chicken to be ~45%, which is approximately equal to the divergence computed for the human-mouse pair using the same set of genes. A large fraction of genes was found to be under high selective constraint, as most of the expressed genes appeared to be involved in developmental gene regulation. Our study suggests a significant relationship between gene expression levels and protein evolution. Using sequences from over 700 nuclear genes we estimated the divergence between the two basal avian groups, Palaeognathae and Neognathae to be 132 million years, which is consistent with previous studies using mitochondrial genes. The results of this investigation revealed patterns of mutation and purifying selection in conserved protein coding regions in birds. Furthermore this study suggests a relatively cost-effective way of obtaining a glimpse into the fundamental molecular evolutionary attributes of a genome, particularly when no closely related genomic sequence is available.

  15. Next generation sequencing and analysis of a conserved transcriptome of New Zealand's kiwi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huynen Leon

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Kiwi is a highly distinctive, flightless and endangered ratite bird endemic to New Zealand. To understand the patterns of molecular evolution of the nuclear protein-coding genes in brown kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli and to determine the timescale of avian history we sequenced a transcriptome obtained from a kiwi embryo using next generation sequencing methods. We then assembled the conserved protein-coding regions using the chicken proteome as a scaffold. Results Using 1,543 conserved protein coding genes we estimated the neutral evolutionary divergence between the kiwi and chicken to be ~45%, which is approximately equal to the divergence computed for the human-mouse pair using the same set of genes. A large fraction of genes was found to be under high selective constraint, as most of the expressed genes appeared to be involved in developmental gene regulation. Our study suggests a significant relationship between gene expression levels and protein evolution. Using sequences from over 700 nuclear genes we estimated the divergence between the two basal avian groups, Palaeognathae and Neognathae to be 132 million years, which is consistent with previous studies using mitochondrial genes. Conclusions The results of this investigation revealed patterns of mutation and purifying selection in conserved protein coding regions in birds. Furthermore this study suggests a relatively cost-effective way of obtaining a glimpse into the fundamental molecular evolutionary attributes of a genome, particularly when no closely related genomic sequence is available.

  16. Curli Fibers Are Highly Conserved between Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli with Respect to Operon Structure and Regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Römling, Ute; Bian, Zhao; Hammar, Mårten; Sierralta, Walter D.; Normark, Staffan

    1998-01-01

    Mouse-virulent Salmonella typhimurium strains SR-11 and ATCC 14028-1s express curli fibers, thin aggregative fibers, at ambient temperature on plates as judged by Western blot analysis and electron microscopy. Concomitantly with curli expression, cells develop a rough and dry colony morphology and bind the dye Congo red (called the rdar morphotype). Cloning and characterization of the two divergently transcribed operons required for curli biogenesis, csgBA(C) and csgDEFG, from S. typhimurium SR-11 revealed the same gene order and flanking genes as in Escherichia coli. The divergence of the curli region between S. typhimurium and E. coli at the nucleotide level is above average (22.4%). However, a high level of conservation at the protein level, which ranged from 86% amino acid homology for the fiber subunit CsgA to 99% homology for the lipoprotein CsgG, implies functional constraints on the gene products. Consequently, S. typhimurium genes on low-copy-number plasmids were able to complement respective E. coli mutants, although not always to wild-type levels. rpoS and ompR are required for transcriptional activation of (at least) the csgD promoter. The high degree of conservation at the protein level and the identical regulation patterns in E. coli and S. typhimurium suggest similar roles of curli fibers in the same ecological niche in the two species. PMID:9457880

  17. Identification of gene pools used in restoration and conservation by chloroplast microsatellite markers in Iberian pine species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrique Hernández-Tecles

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Aim of study: To contribute to the characterization of the origin of material used in afforestation, restoration or conservation activities by using Cp-SSR markers. Area of study: We used information from the natural range of Iberian pines, from Spain. Materials and methods: We used Iberian pines as an example to undertook gene pool characterization based on a wide Iberian sample of 97 populations from five Pinus species (Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster, Pinus nigra, Pinus sylvestris and Pinus uncinata. Haplotypes from each analyzed tree (derived from nine chloroplast microsatellites markers in P. halepensis and six in the rest of the species were obtained. Based on this information we subdivided each species in regions (considering both genetic structure and its application in afforestation, restoration and conservation programs and tested the assignation of populations to the different groups based on the genetic distance among samples. Main results: The rate of successful identification of populations among the different species was very high (> 94 % for P. nigra, P. sylvestris and P. uncinata, high (81 % for P. pinaster, and low (< 65 % for P. halepensis. Research highlights: Chloroplast DNA markers from extensive population datasets can be used to assign the origin of the forest reproductive material in some pine species.

  18. Identification of gene pools used in restoration and conservation by chloroplast microsatellite markers in Iberian pine species

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernández-Tecles, Enrique; De las Heras, Jorge; Lorenzo, Zaida; Navascués, Miguel; Alia, Ricardo

    2017-01-01

    Aim of study: To contribute to the characterization of the origin of material used in afforestation, restoration or conservation activities by using Cp-SSR markers. Area of study: We used information from the natural range of Iberian pines, from Spain. Materials and methods: We used Iberian pines as an example to undertook gene pool characterization based on a wide Iberian sample of 97 populations from five Pinus species (Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster, Pinus nigra, Pinus sylvestris and Pinus uncinata). Haplotypes from each analyzed tree (derived from nine chloroplast microsatellites markers in P. halepensis and six in the rest of the species) were obtained. Based on this information we subdivided each species in regions (considering both genetic structure and its application in afforestation, restoration and conservation programs) and tested the assignation of populations to the different groups based on the genetic distance among samples. Main results: The rate of successful identification of populations among the different species was very high (> 94 %) for P. nigra, P. sylvestris and P. uncinata, high (81 %) for P. pinaster, and low (< 65 %) for P. halepensis. Research highlights: Chloroplast DNA markers from extensive population datasets can be used to assign the origin of the forest reproductive material in some pine species.

  19. Identification of gene pools used in restoration and conservation by chloroplast microsatellite markers in Iberian pine species

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hernández-Tecles, Enrique; De las Heras, Jorge; Lorenzo, Zaida; Navascués, Miguel; Alia, Ricardo

    2017-11-01

    Aim of study: To contribute to the characterization of the origin of material used in afforestation, restoration or conservation activities by using Cp-SSR markers. Area of study: We used information from the natural range of Iberian pines, from Spain. Materials and methods: We used Iberian pines as an example to undertook gene pool characterization based on a wide Iberian sample of 97 populations from five Pinus species (Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster, Pinus nigra, Pinus sylvestris and Pinus uncinata). Haplotypes from each analyzed tree (derived from nine chloroplast microsatellites markers in P. halepensis and six in the rest of the species) were obtained. Based on this information we subdivided each species in regions (considering both genetic structure and its application in afforestation, restoration and conservation programs) and tested the assignation of populations to the different groups based on the genetic distance among samples. Main results: The rate of successful identification of populations among the different species was very high (> 94 %) for P. nigra, P. sylvestris and P. uncinata, high (81 %) for P. pinaster, and low (< 65 %) for P. halepensis. Research highlights: Chloroplast DNA markers from extensive population datasets can be used to assign the origin of the forest reproductive material in some pine species.

  20. Mei Symmetry and New Conserved Quantities of Tzénoff Equations for the Variable Mass Higher-Order Nonholonomic System

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHENG Shi-Wang; WANG Jian-Bo; CHEN Xiang-Wei; XIE Jia-Fang

    2012-01-01

    Operational systems of spacecraft are general variable mass mechanics systems,and their symmetries and conserved quantities imply profound physical rules of the space system.We study the Mei symmetry of Tzénoff equations for a variable mass nonholonomic system and the new conserved quantities derived.The function expression of the new conserved quantities and the criterion equation which deduces these conserved quantities are presented.This result has some theoretical values in further research of conservation laws obeyed by the variable mass system.%Operational systems of spacecraft are general variable mass mechanics systems, and their symmetries and conserved quantities imply profound physical rules of the space system. We study the Mei symmetry of Tzenoff equations for a variable mass nonholonomic system and the new conserved quantities derived. The function expression of the new conserved quantities and the criterion equation which deduces these conserved quantities are presented. This result has some theoretical values in further research of conservation laws obeyed by the variable mass system.

  1. Evolution of multicopper oxidase genes in coprophilous and non-coprophilous members of the order sordariales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pöggeler, Stefanie

    2011-04-01

    Multicopper oxidases (MCO) catalyze the biological oxidation of various aromatic substrates and have been identified in plants, insects, bacteria, and wood rotting fungi. In nature, they are involved in biodegradation of biopolymers such as lignin and humic compounds, but have also been tested for various industrial applications. In fungi, MCOs have been shown to play important roles during their life cycles, such as in fruiting body formation, pigment formation and pathogenicity. Coprophilous fungi, which grow on the dung of herbivores, appear to encode an unexpectedly high number of enzymes capable of at least partly degrading lignin. This study compared the MCO-coding capacity of the coprophilous filamentous ascomycetes Podospora anserina and Sordaria macrospora with closely related non-coprophilous members of the order Sordariales. An increase of MCO genes in coprophilic members of the Sordariales most probably occurred by gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer events.

  2. Conserved upstream open reading frames in higher plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schultz Carolyn J

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Upstream open reading frames (uORFs can down-regulate the translation of the main open reading frame (mORF through two broad mechanisms: ribosomal stalling and reducing reinitiation efficiency. In distantly related plants, such as rice and Arabidopsis, it has been found that conserved uORFs are rare in these transcriptomes with approximately 100 loci. It is unclear how prevalent conserved uORFs are in closely related plants. Results We used a homology-based approach to identify conserved uORFs in five cereals (monocots that could potentially regulate translation. Our approach used a modified reciprocal best hit method to identify putative orthologous sequences that were then analysed by a comparative R-nomics program called uORFSCAN to find conserved uORFs. Conclusion This research identified new genes that may be controlled at the level of translation by conserved uORFs. We report that conserved uORFs are rare (

  3. Compendium of Immune Signatures Identifies Conserved and Species-Specific Biology in Response to Inflammation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godec, Jernej; Tan, Yan; Liberzon, Arthur; Tamayo, Pablo; Bhattacharya, Sanchita; Butte, Atul J; Mesirov, Jill P; Haining, W Nicholas

    2016-01-19

    Gene-expression profiling has become a mainstay in immunology, but subtle changes in gene networks related to biological processes are hard to discern when comparing various datasets. For instance, conservation of the transcriptional response to sepsis in mouse models and human disease remains controversial. To improve transcriptional analysis in immunology, we created ImmuneSigDB: a manually annotated compendium of ∼5,000 gene-sets from diverse cell states, experimental manipulations, and genetic perturbations in immunology. Analysis using ImmuneSigDB identified signatures induced in activated myeloid cells and differentiating lymphocytes that were highly conserved between humans and mice. Sepsis triggered conserved patterns of gene expression in humans and mouse models. However, we also identified species-specific biological processes in the sepsis transcriptional response: although both species upregulated phagocytosis-related genes, a mitosis signature was specific to humans. ImmuneSigDB enables granular analysis of transcriptomic data to improve biological understanding of immune processes of the human and mouse immune systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Early Developmental and Evolutionary Origins of Gene Body DNA Methylation Patterns in Mammalian Placentas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane I Schroeder

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Over the last 20-80 million years the mammalian placenta has taken on a variety of morphologies through both divergent and convergent evolution. Recently we have shown that the human placenta genome has a unique epigenetic pattern of large partially methylated domains (PMDs and highly methylated domains (HMDs with gene body DNA methylation positively correlating with level of gene expression. In order to determine the evolutionary conservation of DNA methylation patterns and transcriptional regulatory programs in the placenta, we performed a genome-wide methylome (MethylC-seq analysis of human, rhesus macaque, squirrel monkey, mouse, dog, horse, and cow placentas as well as opossum extraembryonic membrane. We found that, similar to human placenta, mammalian placentas and opossum extraembryonic membrane have globally lower levels of methylation compared to somatic tissues. Higher relative gene body methylation was the conserved feature across all mammalian placentas, despite differences in PMD/HMDs and absolute methylation levels. Specifically, higher methylation over the bodies of genes involved in mitosis, vesicle-mediated transport, protein phosphorylation, and chromatin modification was observed compared with the rest of the genome. As in human placenta, higher methylation is associated with higher gene expression and is predictive of genic location across species. Analysis of DNA methylation in oocytes and preimplantation embryos shows a conserved pattern of gene body methylation similar to the placenta. Intriguingly, mouse and cow oocytes and mouse early embryos have PMD/HMDs but their placentas do not, suggesting that PMD/HMDs are a feature of early preimplantation methylation patterns that become lost during placental development in some species and following implantation of the embryo.

  5. Phylogenomic analyses and molecular signatures for the class Halobacteria and its two major clades: a proposal for division of the class Halobacteria into an emended order Halobacteriales and two new orders, Haloferacales ord. nov. and Natrialbales ord. nov., containing the novel families Haloferacaceae fam. nov. and Natrialbaceae fam. nov.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Radhey S; Naushad, Sohail; Baker, Sheridan

    2015-03-01

    The Halobacteria constitute one of the largest groups within the Archaea. The hierarchical relationship among members of this large class, which comprises a single order and a single family, has proven difficult to determine based upon 16S rRNA gene trees and morphological and physiological characteristics. This work reports detailed phylogenetic and comparative genomic studies on >100 halobacterial (haloarchaeal) genomes containing representatives from 30 genera to investigate their evolutionary relationships. In phylogenetic trees reconstructed on the basis of 32 conserved proteins, using both neighbour-joining and maximum-likelihood methods, two major clades (clades A and B) encompassing nearly two-thirds of the sequenced haloarchaeal species were strongly supported. Clades grouping the same species/genera were also supported by the 16S rRNA gene trees and trees for several individual highly conserved proteins (RpoC, EF-Tu, UvrD, GyrA, EF-2/EF-G). In parallel, our comparative analyses of protein sequences from haloarchaeal genomes have identified numerous discrete molecular markers in the form of conserved signature indels (CSI) in protein sequences and conserved signature proteins (CSPs) that are found uniquely in specific groups of haloarchaea. Thirteen CSIs in proteins involved in diverse functions and 68 CSPs that are uniquely present in all or most genome-sequenced haloarchaea provide novel molecular means for distinguishing members of the class Halobacteria from all other prokaryotes. The members of clade A are distinguished from all other haloarchaea by the unique shared presence of two CSIs in the ribose operon protein and small GTP-binding protein and eight CSPs that are found specifically in members of this clade. Likewise, four CSIs in different proteins and five other CSPs are present uniquely in members of clade B and distinguish them from all other haloarchaea. Based upon their specific clustering in phylogenetic trees for different gene

  6. Vascular Gene Expression: A Hypothesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angélica Concepción eMartínez-Navarro

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The phloem is the conduit through which photoassimilates are distributed from autotrophic to heterotrophic tissues and is involved in the distribution of signaling molecules that coordinate plant growth and responses to the environment. Phloem function depends on the coordinate expression of a large array of genes. We have previously identified conserved motifs in upstream regions of the Arabidopsis genes, encoding the homologs of pumpkin phloem sap mRNAs, displaying expression in vascular tissues. This tissue-specific expression in Arabidopsis is predicted by the overrepresentation of GA/CT-rich motifs in gene promoters. In this work we have searched for common motifs in upstream regions of the homologous genes from plants considered to possess a primitive vascular tissue (a lycophyte, as well as from others that lack a true vascular tissue (a bryophyte, and finally from chlorophytes. Both lycophyte and bryophyte display motifs similar to those found in Arabidopsis with a significantly low E-value, while the chlorophytes showed either a different conserved motif or no conserved motif at all. These results suggest that these same genes are expressed coordinately in non- vascular plants; this coordinate expression may have been one of the prerequisites for the development of conducting tissues in plants. We have also analyzed the phylogeny of conserved proteins that may be involved in phloem function and development. The presence of CmPP16, APL, FT and YDA in chlorophytes suggests the recruitment of ancient regulatory networks for the development of the vascular tissue during evolution while OPS is a novel protein specific to vascular plants.

  7. An online conserved SSR discovery through cross-species comparison

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tun-Wen Pai

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Tun-Wen Pai1, Chien-Ming Chen1, Meng-Chang Hsiao1, Ronshan Cheng2, Wen-Shyong Tzou3, Chin-Hua Hu31Department of Computer Science and Engineering; 2Department of Aquaculture, 3Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaAbstract: Simple sequence repeats (SSRs play important roles in gene regulation and genome evolution. Although there exist several online resources for SSR mining, most of them only extract general SSR patterns without providing functional information. Here, an online search tool, CG-SSR (Comparative Genomics SSR discovery, has been developed for discovering potential functional SSRs from vertebrate genomes through cross-species comparison. In addition to revealing SSR candidates in conserved regions among various species, it also combines accurate coordinate and functional genomics information. CG-SSR is the first comprehensive and efficient online tool for conserved SSR discovery.Keywords: microsatellites, genome, comparative genomics, functional SSR, gene ontology, conserved region

  8. Evolutionary genomics of plant genes encoding N-terminal-TM-C2 domain proteins and the similar FAM62 genes and synaptotagmin genes of metazoans

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    Craxton Molly

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Synaptotagmin genes are found in animal genomes and are known to function in the nervous system. Genes with a similar domain architecture as well as sequence similarity to synaptotagmin C2 domains have also been found in plant genomes. The plant genes share an additional region of sequence similarity with a group of animal genes named FAM62. FAM62 genes also have a similar domain architecture. Little is known about the functions of the plant genes and animal FAM62 genes. Indeed, many members of the large and diverse Syt gene family await functional characterization. Understanding the evolutionary relationships among these genes will help to realize the full implications of functional studies and lead to improved genome annotation. Results I collected and compared plant Syt-like sequences from the primary nucleotide sequence databases at NCBI. The collection comprises six groups of plant genes conserved in embryophytes: NTMC2Type1 to NTMC2Type6. I collected and compared metazoan FAM62 sequences and identified some similar sequences from other eukaryotic lineages. I found evidence of RNA editing and alternative splicing. I compared the intron patterns of Syt genes. I also compared Rabphilin and Doc2 genes. Conclusion Genes encoding proteins with N-terminal-transmembrane-C2 domain architectures resembling synaptotagmins, are widespread in eukaryotes. A collection of these genes is presented here. The collection provides a resource for studies of intron evolution. I have classified the collection into homologous gene families according to distinctive patterns of sequence conservation and intron position. The evolutionary histories of these gene families are traceable through the appearance of family members in different eukaryotic lineages. Assuming an intron-rich eukaryotic ancestor, the conserved intron patterns distinctive of individual gene families, indicate independent origins of Syt, FAM62 and NTMC2 genes. Resemblances

  9. Conserved genetic pathways associated with microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reis, Linda M; Semina, Elena V

    2015-06-01

    The human eye is a complex organ whose development requires extraordinary coordination of developmental processes. The conservation of ocular developmental steps in vertebrates suggests possible common genetic mechanisms. Genetic diseases involving the eye represent a leading cause of blindness in children and adults. During the last decades, there has been an exponential increase in genetic studies of ocular disorders. In this review, we summarize current success in identification of genes responsible for microphthalmia, anophthalmia, and coloboma (MAC) phenotypes, which are associated with early defects in embryonic eye development. Studies in animal models for the orthologous genes identified overlapping phenotypes for most factors, confirming the conservation of their function in vertebrate development. These animal models allow for further investigation of the mechanisms of MAC, integration of various identified genes into common developmental pathways and finally, provide an avenue for the development and testing of therapeutic interventions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Identification of Conserved and Novel MicroRNAs in Blueberry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junyang Yue

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available MicroRNAs (miRNAs are a class of small endogenous RNAs that play important regulatory roles in cells by negatively affecting gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. There have been extensive studies aiming to identify miRNAs and to elucidate their functions in various plant species. In the present study, we employed the high-throughput sequencing technology to profile miRNAs in blueberry fruits. A total of 9,992,446 small RNA tags with sizes ranged from 18 to 30 nt were obtained, indicating that blueberry fruits have a large and diverse small RNA population. Bioinformatic analysis identified 412 conserved miRNAs belonging to 29 families, and 35 predicted novel miRNAs that are likely to be unique to blueberries. Among them, expression profiles of five conserved miRNAs were validated by stem loop qRT-PCR. Furthermore, the potential target genes of conserved and novel miRNAs were predicted and subjected to Gene Ontology (GO annotation. Enrichment analysis of the GO-represented biological processes and molecular functions revealed that these target genes were potentially involved in a wide range of metabolic pathways and developmental processes. Particularly, anthocyanin biosynthesis has been predicted to be directly or indirectly regulated by diverse miRNA families. This study is the first report on genome-wide miRNA profile analysis in blueberry and it provides a useful resource for further elucidation of the functional roles of miRNAs during fruit development and ripening.

  11. Segment polarity gene expression in a myriapod reveals conserved and diverged aspects of early head patterning in arthropods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janssen, Ralf

    2012-09-01

    Arthropods show two kinds of developmental mode. In the so-called long germ developmental mode (as exemplified by the fly Drosophila), all segments are formed almost simultaneously from a preexisting field of cells. In contrast, in the so-called short germ developmental mode (as exemplified by the vast majority of arthropods), only the anterior segments are patterned similarly as in Drosophila, and posterior segments are added in a single or double segmental periodicity from a posterior segment addition zone (SAZ). The addition of segments from the SAZ is controlled by dynamic waves of gene activity. Recent studies on a spider have revealed that a similar dynamic process, involving expression of the segment polarity gene (SPG) hedgehog (hh), is involved in the formation of the anterior head segments. The present study shows that in the myriapod Glomeris marginata the early expression of hh is also in a broad anterior domain, but this domain corresponds only to the ocular and antennal segment. It does not, like in spiders, represent expression in the posterior adjacent segment. In contrast, the anterior hh pattern is conserved in Glomeris and insects. All investigated myriapod SPGs and associated factors are expressed with delay in the premandibular (tritocerebral) segment. This delay is exclusively found in insects and myriapods, but not in chelicerates, crustaceans and onychophorans. Therefore, it may represent a synapomorphy uniting insects and myriapods (Atelocerata hypothesis), contradicting the leading opinion that suggests a sister relationship of crustaceans and insects (Pancrustacea hypothesis). In Glomeris embryos, the SPG engrailed is first expressed in the mandibular segment. This feature is conserved in representatives of all arthropod classes suggesting that the mandibular segment may have a special function in anterior patterning.

  12. Local Responses to Participatory Conservation in Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khadka, Damodar; Nepal, Sanjay K.

    2010-02-01

    Biodiversity conservation has undergone a profound change in philosophy, policies and management approaches over the last forty years. The traditional top-down approach to nature protection has been widely criticized for failing to include critical social elements in management practices, and is being gradually replaced by a slew of participatory strategies under the rubric of bottom-up conservation. The new approach recognizes local communities as key partners in wildlife management and seeks their participation in social development and biodiversity conservation. However, every social context is different in its structure and functions, and in the way social groups respond to calls for participation. In order to gain a better understanding of the approach and the barriers encountered in its implementation, a questionnaire survey of 188 households was employed in the communities of the Upper Mustang extension of Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) in Nepal. The study provides a comparative analysis of community participation and its barriers between Non-Tourist (NT) and Tourist (TV) villages. The results revealed important differences between the two groups in terms of their participation in community programs, barriers to participation, and perception of benefits from participation. Owing to their distinct spatial, demographic and attitudinal differences, the two village groups have their own sets of needs, values and motivation factors which cannot be generalized and treated as such. The research clearly identifies the need for the conservation agency to be creative in devising strategies and initiatives appropriate to specific social groups so as to optimize their input in participatory conservation.

  13. Models of gene gain and gene loss for probabilistic reconstruction of gene content in the last universal common ancestor of life

    OpenAIRE

    Kannan, Lavanya; Li, Hua; Rubinstein, Boris; Mushegian, Arcady

    2013-01-01

    Background The problem of probabilistic inference of gene content in the last common ancestor of several extant species with completely sequenced genomes is: for each gene that is conserved in all or some of the genomes, assign the probability that its ancestral gene was present in the genome of their last common ancestor. Results We have developed a family of models of gene gain and gene loss in evolution, and applied the maximum-likelihood approach that uses phylogenetic tree of prokaryotes...

  14. Evaluation of the conserve flavin reductase gene from three ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2009-12-15

    Dec 15, 2009 ... means of PCR technique. The nucleic acid sequences of the PCR primers were designed using conserved nucleic acid sequences of the flavin reductase enzyme from. Rhodococcus sp. strain IGTS8. The oligonucleotide primers were as follows: 5'-GAA TTC ATG TCT GAC. AAG CCG AAT GCC-3' (forward) ...

  15. The response of early neural genes to FGF signaling or inhibition of BMP indicate the absence of a conserved neural induction module

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rogers Crystal D

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The molecular mechanism that initiates the formation of the vertebrate central nervous system has long been debated. Studies in Xenopus and mouse demonstrate that inhibition of BMP signaling is sufficient to induce neural tissue in explants or ES cells respectively, whereas studies in chick argue that instructive FGF signaling is also required for the expression of neural genes. Although additional signals may be involved in neural induction and patterning, here we focus on the roles of BMP inhibition and FGF8a. Results To address the question of necessity and sufficiency of BMP inhibition and FGF signaling, we compared the temporal expression of the five earliest genes expressed in the neuroectoderm and determined their requirements for induction at the onset of neural plate formation in Xenopus. Our results demonstrate that the onset and peak of expression of the genes vary and that they have different regulatory requirements and are therefore unlikely to share a conserved neural induction regulatory module. Even though all require inhibition of BMP for expression, some also require FGF signaling; expression of the early-onset pan-neural genes sox2 and foxd5α requires FGF signaling while other early genes, sox3, geminin and zicr1 are induced by BMP inhibition alone. Conclusions We demonstrate that BMP inhibition and FGF signaling induce neural genes independently of each other. Together our data indicate that although the spatiotemporal expression patterns of early neural genes are similar, the mechanisms involved in their expression are distinct and there are different signaling requirements for the expression of each gene.

  16. Strong first order electroweak phase transition in the CP-conserving 2HDM revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basler, P.; Krause, M.; Mühlleitner, M.; Wittbrodt, J.; Wlotzka, A.

    2017-01-01

    The discovery of the Higgs boson by the LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS has marked a milestone for particle physics. Yet, there are still many open questions that cannot be answered within the Standard Model (SM). For example, the generation of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe through baryogenesis can only be explained qualitatively in the SM. A simple extension of the SM compatible with the current theoretical and experimental constraints is given by the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) where a second Higgs doublet is added to the Higgs sector. We investigate the possibility of a strong first order electroweak phase transition in the CP-conserving 2HDM type I and type II where either of the CP-even Higgs bosons is identified with the SM-like Higgs boson. The renormalisation that we apply on the loop-corrected Higgs potential allows us to efficiently scan the 2HDM parameter space and simultaneously take into account all relevant theoretical and up-to-date experimental constraints. The 2HDM parameter regions found to be compatible with the applied constraints and a strong electroweak phase transition are analysed systematically. Our results show that there is a strong interplay between the requirement of a strong phase transition and collider phenomenology with testable implications for searches at the LHC.

  17. Strong first order electroweak phase transition in the CP-conserving 2HDM revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Basler, P.; Krause, M.; Mühlleitner, M. [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,Wolfgang-Gaede-Str. 1, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany); Wittbrodt, J. [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,Wolfgang-Gaede-Str. 1, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany); Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY,Notkestraße 85, D-22607 Hamburg (Germany); Wlotzka, A. [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,Wolfgang-Gaede-Str. 1, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2017-02-23

    The discovery of the Higgs boson by the LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS has marked a milestone for particle physics. Yet, there are still many open questions that cannot be answered within the Standard Model (SM). For example, the generation of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe through baryogenesis can only be explained qualitatively in the SM. A simple extension of the SM compatible with the current theoretical and experimental constraints is given by the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) where a second Higgs doublet is added to the Higgs sector. We investigate the possibility of a strong first order electroweak phase transition in the CP-conserving 2HDM type I and type II where either of the CP-even Higgs bosons is identified with the SM-like Higgs boson. The renormalisation that we apply on the loop-corrected Higgs potential allows us to efficiently scan the 2HDM parameter space and simultaneously take into account all relevant theoretical and up-to-date experimental constraints. The 2HDM parameter regions found to be compatible with the applied constraints and a strong electroweak phase transition are analysed systematically. Our results show that there is a strong interplay between the requirement of a strong phase transition and collider phenomenology with testable implications for searches at the LHC.

  18. Efficient robust control of first order scalar conservation laws using semi-analytical solutions

    KAUST Repository

    Li, Yanning; Canepa, Edward S.; Claudel, Christian G.

    2014-01-01

    This article presents a new robust control framework for transportation problems in which the state is modeled by a first order scalar conservation law. Using an equivalent formulation based on a Hamilton-Jacobi equation, we pose the problem of controlling the state of the system on a network link, using initial density control and boundary flow control, as a Linear Program. We then show that this framework can be extended to arbitrary control problems involving the control of subsets of the initial and boundary conditions. Unlike many previously investigated transportation control schemes, this method yields a globally optimal solution and is capable of handling shocks (i.e. discontinuities in the state of the system). We also demonstrate that the same framework can handle robust control problems, in which the uncontrollable components of the initial and boundary conditions are encoded in intervals on the right hand side of inequalities in the linear program. The lower bound of the interval which defines the smallest feasible solution set is used to solve the robust LP/MILP. Since this framework leverages the intrinsic properties of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation used to model the state of the system, it is extremely fast. Several examples are given to demonstrate the performance of the robust control solution and the trade-off between the robustness and the optimality.

  19. Chromosomal mapping of H3 histone and 5S rRNA genes in eight species of Astyanax (Pisces, Characiformes) with different diploid numbers: syntenic conservation of repetitive genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piscor, Diovani; Parise-Maltempi, Patricia Pasquali

    2016-03-01

    The genus Astyanax is widely distributed from the southern United States to northern Patagonia, Argentina. While cytogenetic studies have been performed for this genus, little is known about the histone gene families. The aim of this study was to examine the chromosomal relationships among the different species of Astyanax. The chromosomal locations of the 5S rRNA and H3 histone genes were determined in A. abramis, A. asuncionensis, A. altiparanae, A. bockmanni, A. eigenmanniorum, A. mexicanus (all 2n = 50), A. fasciatus (2n = 46), and A. schubarti (2n = 36). All eight species exhibited H3 histone clusters on two chromosome pairs. In six species (A. abramis, A. asuncionensis, A. altiparanae, A. bockmanni, A. eigenmanniorum, and A. fasciatus), syntenic clusters of H3 histone and 5S rDNA were observed on metacentric (m) or submetacentric (sm) chromosomes. In seven species, clusters of 5S rDNA sequences were located on one or two chromosome pairs. In A. mexicanus, 5S rDNA clusters were located on four chromosome pairs. This study demonstrates that H3 histone clusters are conserved on two chromosome pairs in the genus Astyanax, and specific chromosomal features may contribute to the genomic organization of the H3 histone and 5S rRNA genes.

  20. Genome-Wide Identification of the Alba Gene Family in Plants and Stress-Responsive Expression of the Rice Alba Genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Jitendra Kumar; Wardhan, Vijay; Singh, Deepali; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan

    2018-03-28

    Architectural proteins play key roles in genome construction and regulate the expression of many genes, albeit the modulation of genome plasticity by these proteins is largely unknown. A critical screening of the architectural proteins in five crop species, viz., Oryza sativa , Zea mays , Sorghum bicolor , Cicer arietinum , and Vitis vinifera , and in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana along with evolutionary relevant species such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , Physcomitrella patens , and Amborella trichopoda , revealed 9, 20, 10, 7, 7, 6, 1, 4, and 4 Alba (acetylation lowers binding affinity) genes, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis of the genes and of their counterparts in other plant species indicated evolutionary conservation and diversification. In each group, the structural components of the genes and motifs showed significant conservation. The chromosomal location of the Alba genes of rice ( OsAlba ), showed an unequal distribution on 8 of its 12 chromosomes. The expression profiles of the OsAlba genes indicated a distinct tissue-specific expression in the seedling, vegetative, and reproductive stages. The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of the OsAlba genes confirmed their stress-inducible expression under multivariate environmental conditions and phytohormone treatments. The evaluation of the regulatory elements in 68 Alba genes from the 9 species studied led to the identification of conserved motifs and overlapping microRNA (miRNA) target sites, suggesting the conservation of their function in related proteins and a divergence in their biological roles across species. The 3D structure and the prediction of putative ligands and their binding sites for OsAlba proteins offered a key insight into the structure-function relationship. These results provide a comprehensive overview of the subtle genetic diversification of the OsAlba genes, which will help in elucidating their functional role in plants.

  1. Conservation and divergence of gene expression plasticity following c. 140 million years of evolution in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and interior spruce (Picea glauca×Picea engelmannii).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeaman, Sam; Hodgins, Kathryn A; Suren, Haktan; Nurkowski, Kristin A; Rieseberg, Loren H; Holliday, Jason A; Aitken, Sally N

    2014-07-01

    Species respond to environmental stress through a combination of genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity, both of which may be important for survival in the face of climatic change. By characterizing the molecular basis of plastic responses and comparing patterns among species, it is possible to identify how such traits evolve. Here, we used de novo transcriptome assembly and RNAseq to explore how patterns of gene expression differ in response to temperature, moisture, and light regime treatments in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and interior spruce (a natural hybrid population of Picea glauca and Picea engelmannii). We found wide evidence for an effect of treatment on expression within each species, with 6413 and 11,658 differentially expressed genes identified in spruce and pine, respectively. Comparing patterns of expression among these species, we found that 74% of all orthologs with differential expression had a pattern that was conserved in both species, despite 140 million yr of evolution. We also found that the specific treatments driving expression patterns differed between genes with conserved versus diverged patterns of expression. We conclude that natural selection has probably played a role in shaping plastic responses to environment in these species. © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

  2. An unconditionally stable fully conservative semi-Lagrangian method

    KAUST Repository

    Lentine, Michael

    2011-04-01

    Semi-Lagrangian methods have been around for some time, dating back at least to [3]. Researchers have worked to increase their accuracy, and these schemes have gained newfound interest with the recent widespread use of adaptive grids where the CFL-based time step restriction of the smallest cell can be overwhelming. Since these schemes are based on characteristic tracing and interpolation, they do not readily lend themselves to a fully conservative implementation. However, we propose a novel technique that applies a conservative limiter to the typical semi-Lagrangian interpolation step in order to guarantee that the amount of the conservative quantity does not increase during this advection. In addition, we propose a new second step that forward advects any of the conserved quantity that was not accounted for in the typical semi-Lagrangian advection. We show that this new scheme can be used to conserve both mass and momentum for incompressible flows. For incompressible flows, we further explore properly conserving kinetic energy during the advection step, but note that the divergence free projection results in a velocity field which is inconsistent with conservation of kinetic energy (even for inviscid flows where it should be conserved). For compressible flows, we rely on a recently proposed splitting technique that eliminates the acoustic CFL time step restriction via an incompressible-style pressure solve. Then our new method can be applied to conservatively advect mass, momentum and total energy in order to exactly conserve these quantities, and remove the remaining time step restriction based on fluid velocity that the original scheme still had. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

  3. Science Framework for the Conservation and Restoration Strategy of the Department of the Interior, Secretarial Order 3336: Using resilience and resistance concepts to assess threats to sagebrush ecosystems and sage-grouse, prioritize conservation and restoration actions, and inform management strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeanne C. Chambers; Jeffrey L. Beck; Steve Campbell; John Carlson; Thomas J. Christiansen; Karen J. Clause; Michele R. Crist; Jonathan B. Dinkins; Kevin E. Doherty; Shawn Espinosa; Kathleen A. Griffin; Steven E. Hanser; Douglas W. Havlina; Kenneth F. Henke; Jacob D. Hennig; Laurie L. Kurth; Jeremy D. Maestas; Mary Manning; Kenneth E. Mayer; Brian A. Mealor; Clinton McCarthy; Mike Pellant; Marco A. Perea; Karen L. Prentice; David A. Pyke; Lief A. Wiechman; Amarina Wuenschel

    2016-01-01

    The Science Framework for the Conservation and Restoration Strategy of the Department of the Interior, Secretarial Order 3336 (SO 3336), Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration, provides a strategic, multiscale approach for prioritizing areas for management and determining effective management strategies across the sagebrush biome. The emphasis of this...

  4. Analysis of mutations in the entire coding sequence of the factor VIII gene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bidichadani, S.I.; Lanyon, W.G.; Connor, J.M. [Glascow Univ. (United Kingdom)] [and others

    1994-09-01

    Hemophilia A is a common X-linked recessive disorder of bleeding caused by deleterious mutations in the gene for clotting factor VIII. The large size of the factor VIII gene, the high frequency of de novo mutations and its tissue-specific expression complicate the detection of mutations. We have used a combination of RT-PCR of ectopic factor VIII transcripts and genomic DNA-PCRs to amplify the entire essential sequence of the factor VIII gene. This is followed by chemical mismatch cleavage analysis and direct sequencing in order to facilitate a comprehensive search for mutations. We describe the characterization of nine potentially pathogenic mutations, six of which are novel. In each case, a correlation of the genotype with the observed phenotype is presented. In order to evaluate the pathogenicity of the five missense mutations detected, we have analyzed them for evolutionary sequence conservation and for their involvement of sequence motifs catalogued in the PROSITE database of protein sites and patterns.

  5. REVIEW: The evolving linkage between conservation science and practice at The Nature Conservancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kareiva, Peter; Groves, Craig; Marvier, Michelle

    2014-10-01

    and strategies, and in turn the evolving practice of conservation has altered the type of science sought by TNC in order to maximize its conservation effectiveness.

  6. Nature conservation guidelines for renewable energy projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1994-01-01

    English Nature commissions this report in order to identify the likely nature conservation implications of renewable energy developments and for wind farm proposals in particular, to give guidance on siting criteria to minimise the nature conservation impact. The report is intended to be of use to developers, local planning authority staff and other interested parties in considering a renewable energy project. In consequence, the report concentrates on planning and nature conservation matters and outlines technical issues where relevant. (UK)

  7. Phylum-Level Conservation of Regulatory Information in Nematodes despite Extensive Non-coding Sequence Divergence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Kacy L.; Arthur, Robert K.; Ruvinsky, Ilya

    2015-01-01

    Gene regulatory information guides development and shapes the course of evolution. To test conservation of gene regulation within the phylum Nematoda, we compared the functions of putative cis-regulatory sequences of four sets of orthologs (unc-47, unc-25, mec-3 and elt-2) from distantly-related nematode species. These species, Caenorhabditis elegans, its congeneric C. briggsae, and three parasitic species Meloidogyne hapla, Brugia malayi, and Trichinella spiralis, represent four of the five major clades in the phylum Nematoda. Despite the great phylogenetic distances sampled and the extensive sequence divergence of nematode genomes, all but one of the regulatory elements we tested are able to drive at least a subset of the expected gene expression patterns. We show that functionally conserved cis-regulatory elements have no more extended sequence similarity to their C. elegans orthologs than would be expected by chance, but they do harbor motifs that are important for proper expression of the C. elegans genes. These motifs are too short to be distinguished from the background level of sequence similarity, and while identical in sequence they are not conserved in orientation or position. Functional tests reveal that some of these motifs contribute to proper expression. Our results suggest that conserved regulatory circuitry can persist despite considerable turnover within cis elements. PMID:26020930

  8. Phylum-Level Conservation of Regulatory Information in Nematodes despite Extensive Non-coding Sequence Divergence.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kacy L Gordon

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Gene regulatory information guides development and shapes the course of evolution. To test conservation of gene regulation within the phylum Nematoda, we compared the functions of putative cis-regulatory sequences of four sets of orthologs (unc-47, unc-25, mec-3 and elt-2 from distantly-related nematode species. These species, Caenorhabditis elegans, its congeneric C. briggsae, and three parasitic species Meloidogyne hapla, Brugia malayi, and Trichinella spiralis, represent four of the five major clades in the phylum Nematoda. Despite the great phylogenetic distances sampled and the extensive sequence divergence of nematode genomes, all but one of the regulatory elements we tested are able to drive at least a subset of the expected gene expression patterns. We show that functionally conserved cis-regulatory elements have no more extended sequence similarity to their C. elegans orthologs than would be expected by chance, but they do harbor motifs that are important for proper expression of the C. elegans genes. These motifs are too short to be distinguished from the background level of sequence similarity, and while identical in sequence they are not conserved in orientation or position. Functional tests reveal that some of these motifs contribute to proper expression. Our results suggest that conserved regulatory circuitry can persist despite considerable turnover within cis elements.

  9. Sequencing Conservation Actions Through Threat Assessments in the Southeastern United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert D. Sutter; Christopher C. Szell

    2006-01-01

    The identification of conservation priorities is one of the leading issues in conservation biology. We present a project of The Nature Conservancy, called Sequencing Conservation Actions, which prioritizes conservation areas and identifies foci for crosscutting strategies at various geographic scales. We use the term “Sequencing” to mean an ordering of actions over...

  10. Evolutionarily conserved regions of the human c-myc protein can be uncoupled from transforming activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarid, J.; Halazonetis, T.D.; Murphy, W.; Leder, P.

    1987-01-01

    The myc family of oncogenes contains coding sequences that have been preserved in different species for over 400 million years. This conservation (which implies functional selection) is broadly represented throughout the C-terminal portion of the human c-myc protein but is largely restricted to three cluster of amino acid sequences in the N-terminal region. The authors have examined the role that the latter three regions of the c-myc protein might play in the transforming function of the c-myc gene. Several mutations, deletions and frameshifts, were introduced into the c-myc gene, and these mutant genes were tested for their ability to collaborate with the EJ-ras oncogene to transform rat embryo fibroblasts. Complete elimination of the first two N-terminal conserved segments abolished transforming activity. In contrast, genes altered in a portion of the second or the entire third conserved segment retained their transforming activity. Thus, the latter two segments are not required for the transformation process, suggesting that they serve another function related only to the normal expression of the c-myc gene

  11. From genes to landscapes: conserving biodiversity at multiple scales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sally. Duncan

    2000-01-01

    Biodiversity has at last become a familiar term outside of scientific circles. Ways of measuring it and mapping it are advancing and becoming more complex, but ways of deciding how to conserve it remain mixed at best, and the resources available to manage dimishing biodiversity are themselves scarce. One significant problem is that policy decisions are frequently at...

  12. Conservation caring: measuring the influence of zoo visitors' connection to wildlife on pro-conservation behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skibins, Jeffrey C; Powell, Robert B

    2013-01-01

    Zoos in the 21st century are striving to make effective contributions to conservation. Although zoos are extremely popular and host over 600 million visitors worldwide, one challenge zoos face is how to effectively engage visitors and raise awareness and action for conservation. To this end, zoos commonly rely on charismatic megafauna, which have been shown to elicit a connection with zoo visitors. However, little is known about how to measure a connection to a species or how this connection may influence conservation behaviors. This study had two sequential objectives. The first was to develop a scale to measure visitors' connection to a species (Conservation Caring). The second was to investigate the relationship of Conservation Caring to pro-conservation behaviors, following a zoo experience. Pre- (n = 411) and post-visit (n = 452) responses were collected from three sites in order to assess the reliability and validity of a scale to measure Conservation Caring. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationship between Conservation Caring and pro-conservation behaviors. Conservation Caring was deemed a valid and reliable scale and was a strong predictor of species oriented behaviors (β = 0.62), for example, "adopting" an animal, but a weak predictor for biodiversity oriented behaviors (β = 0.07), for example, supporting sustainability policies. Results support the role zoos can play in fostering a connection to wildlife and stimulating pro-conservation behaviors. Additionally, visitors connected to a wide array of animals. On the basis of these results, zoos may recruit a wider assemblage of species as potential flagships. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. The most conserved genome segments for life detection on Earth and other planets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isenbarger, Thomas A; Carr, Christopher E; Johnson, Sarah Stewart; Finney, Michael; Church, George M; Gilbert, Walter; Zuber, Maria T; Ruvkun, Gary

    2008-12-01

    On Earth, very simple but powerful methods to detect and classify broad taxa of life by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are now standard practice. Using DNA primers corresponding to the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, one can survey a sample from any environment for its microbial inhabitants. Due to massive meteoritic exchange between Earth and Mars (as well as other planets), a reasonable case can be made for life on Mars or other planets to be related to life on Earth. In this case, the supremely sensitive technologies used to study life on Earth, including in extreme environments, can be applied to the search for life on other planets. Though the 16S gene has become the standard for life detection on Earth, no genome comparisons have established that the ribosomal genes are, in fact, the most conserved DNA segments across the kingdoms of life. We present here a computational comparison of full genomes from 13 diverse organisms from the Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya to identify genetic sequences conserved across the widest divisions of life. Our results identify the 16S and 23S ribosomal RNA genes as well as other universally conserved nucleotide sequences in genes encoding particular classes of transfer RNAs and within the nucleotide binding domains of ABC transporters as the most conserved DNA sequence segments across phylogeny. This set of sequences defines a core set of DNA regions that have changed the least over billions of years of evolution and provides a means to identify and classify divergent life, including ancestrally related life on other planets.

  14. Runx family genes in a cartilaginous fish, the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giselle Sek Suan Nah

    Full Text Available The Runx family genes encode transcription factors that play key roles in hematopoiesis, skeletogenesis and neurogenesis and are often implicated in diseases. We describe here the cloning and characterization of Runx1, Runx2, Runx3 and Runxb genes in the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii, a member of Chondrichthyes, the oldest living group of jawed vertebrates. Through the use of alternative promoters and/or alternative splicing, each of the elephant shark Runx genes expresses multiple isoforms similar to their orthologs in human and other bony vertebrates. The expression profiles of elephant shark Runx genes are similar to those of mammalian Runx genes. The syntenic blocks of genes at the elephant shark Runx gene loci are highly conserved in human, but represented by shorter conserved blocks in zebrafish indicating a higher degree of rearrangements in this teleost fish. Analysis of promoter regions revealed conservation of binding sites for transcription factors, including two tandem binding sites for Runx that are totally conserved in the distal promoter regions of elephant shark Runx1-3. Several conserved noncoding elements (CNEs, which are putative cis-regulatory elements, and miRNA binding sites were identified in the elephant shark and human Runx gene loci. Some of these CNEs and miRNA binding sites are absent in teleost fishes such as zebrafish and fugu. In summary, our analysis reveals that the genomic organization and expression profiles of Runx genes were already complex in the common ancestor of jawed vertebrates.

  15. Conserved chromosomal positions of dual domains of the ets protooncogene in cats, mice, and humans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watson, D.K.; McWilliams-Smith, M.J.; Kozak, C.

    1986-01-01

    The mammalian protooncogene homologue of the avian v-ets sequence from the E26 retrovirus consists of two sequentially distinct domains located on different chromosomes. Using somatic cell hybrid panels, the authors have mapped the mammalian homologue of the 5' v-ets-domain to chromosome 11 (ETS1) in man, to chromosome 9 (ets-1) in mouse, and to chromosome D1 (ETS1) in the domestic cat. The mammalian homologue of the 3' v-ets domain was similarly mapped to human chromosome 21 (ETS2), to mouse chromosome 16 (Ets-2), and to feline chromosome C2 (ETS2). Both protooncogenes fell in syntenic groups of homologous linked loci that were conserved among the three species. The occurrence of two distinct functional protooncogenes and their conservation of linkage positions in the three mammalian orders indicate that these two genes have been separate since before the evolutionary divergence of mammals

  16. Mei Symmetry and New Conserved Quantities of Tzénoff Equations for the Variable Mass Higher-Order Nonholonomic System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng Shi-Wang; Wang Jian-Bo; Chen Xiang-Wei; Xie Jia-Fang

    2012-01-01

    Operational systems of spacecraft are general variable mass mechanics systems, and their symmetries and conserved quantities imply profound physical rules of the space system. We study the Mei symmetry of Tzénoff equations for a variable mass nonholonomic system and the new conserved quantities derived. The function expression of the new conserved quantities and the criterion equation which deduces these conserved quantities are presented. This result has some theoretical values in further research of conservation laws obeyed by the variable mass system. (general)

  17. Fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges near the QCD critical point

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fu Weijie; Wu Yueliang

    2010-01-01

    We study the fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges, such as the baryon number, the electric charge and the strangeness, at the finite temperature and the nonzero baryon chemical potential in an effective model. The fluctuations are calculated up to the fourth-order and the correlations to the third-order. We find that the second-order fluctuations and correlations have a peak or valley structure when the chiral phase transition takes place with the increase of the baryon chemical potential; the third-order fluctuations and correlations change their signs during the chiral phase transition; and the fourth-order fluctuations have two maxima and one minimum. We also depict contour plots of various fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges in the plane of temperature and the baryon chemical potential. It is found that higher-order fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges are superior to the second-order ones to be used to search for the critical point in heavy ion collision experiments.

  18. Strategies for measuring evolutionary conservation of RNA secondary structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hofacker Ivo L

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Evolutionary conservation of RNA secondary structure is a typical feature of many functional non-coding RNAs. Since almost all of the available methods used for prediction and annotation of non-coding RNA genes rely on this evolutionary signature, accurate measures for structural conservation are essential. Results We systematically assessed the ability of various measures to detect conserved RNA structures in multiple sequence alignments. We tested three existing and eight novel strategies that are based on metrics of folding energies, metrics of single optimal structure predictions, and metrics of structure ensembles. We find that the folding energy based SCI score used in the RNAz program and a simple base-pair distance metric are by far the most accurate. The use of more complex metrics like for example tree editing does not improve performance. A variant of the SCI performed particularly well on highly conserved alignments and is thus a viable alternative when only little evolutionary information is available. Surprisingly, ensemble based methods that, in principle, could benefit from the additional information contained in sub-optimal structures, perform particularly poorly. As a general trend, we observed that methods that include a consensus structure prediction outperformed equivalent methods that only consider pairwise comparisons. Conclusion Structural conservation can be measured accurately with relatively simple and intuitive metrics. They have the potential to form the basis of future RNA gene finders, that face new challenges like finding lineage specific structures or detecting mis-aligned sequences.

  19. Inferring the conservative causal core of gene regulatory networks

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    Emmert-Streib Frank

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Inferring gene regulatory networks from large-scale expression data is an important problem that received much attention in recent years. These networks have the potential to gain insights into causal molecular interactions of biological processes. Hence, from a methodological point of view, reliable estimation methods based on observational data are needed to approach this problem practically. Results In this paper, we introduce a novel gene regulatory network inference (GRNI algorithm, called C3NET. We compare C3NET with four well known methods, ARACNE, CLR, MRNET and RN, conducting in-depth numerical ensemble simulations and demonstrate also for biological expression data from E. coli that C3NET performs consistently better than the best known GRNI methods in the literature. In addition, it has also a low computational complexity. Since C3NET is based on estimates of mutual information values in conjunction with a maximization step, our numerical investigations demonstrate that our inference algorithm exploits causal structural information in the data efficiently. Conclusions For systems biology to succeed in the long run, it is of crucial importance to establish methods that extract large-scale gene networks from high-throughput data that reflect the underlying causal interactions among genes or gene products. Our method can contribute to this endeavor by demonstrating that an inference algorithm with a neat design permits not only a more intuitive and possibly biological interpretation of its working mechanism but can also result in superior results.

  20. Inferring the conservative causal core of gene regulatory networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altay, Gökmen; Emmert-Streib, Frank

    2010-09-28

    Inferring gene regulatory networks from large-scale expression data is an important problem that received much attention in recent years. These networks have the potential to gain insights into causal molecular interactions of biological processes. Hence, from a methodological point of view, reliable estimation methods based on observational data are needed to approach this problem practically. In this paper, we introduce a novel gene regulatory network inference (GRNI) algorithm, called C3NET. We compare C3NET with four well known methods, ARACNE, CLR, MRNET and RN, conducting in-depth numerical ensemble simulations and demonstrate also for biological expression data from E. coli that C3NET performs consistently better than the best known GRNI methods in the literature. In addition, it has also a low computational complexity. Since C3NET is based on estimates of mutual information values in conjunction with a maximization step, our numerical investigations demonstrate that our inference algorithm exploits causal structural information in the data efficiently. For systems biology to succeed in the long run, it is of crucial importance to establish methods that extract large-scale gene networks from high-throughput data that reflect the underlying causal interactions among genes or gene products. Our method can contribute to this endeavor by demonstrating that an inference algorithm with a neat design permits not only a more intuitive and possibly biological interpretation of its working mechanism but can also result in superior results.

  1. Functional dissection of the promoter of the pollen-specific gene NTP303 reveals a novel pollen-specific, and conserved cis-regulatory element.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weterings, K; Schrauwen, J; Wullems, G; Twell, D

    1995-07-01

    Regulatory elements within the promoter of the pollen-specific NTP303 gene from tobacco were analysed by transient and stable expression analyses. Analysis of precisely targeted mutations showed that the NTP303 promoter is not regulated by any of the previously described pollen-specific cis-regulatory elements. However, two adjacent regions from -103 to -86 bp and from -86 to -59 bp were shown to contain sequences which positively regulated the NTP303 promoter. Both of these regions were capable of driving pollen-specific expression from a heterologous promoter, independent of orientation and in an additive manner. The boundaries of the minimal, functional NTP303 promoter were determined to lie within the region -86 to -51 bp. The sequence AAATGA localized from -94 to -89 bp was identified as a novel cis-acting element, of which the TGA triplet was shown to comprise an active part. This element was shown to be completely conserved in the similarly regulated promoter of the Bp 10 gene from Brassica napus encoding a homologue of the NTP303 gene.

  2. Motif analysis unveils the possible co-regulation of chloroplast genes and nuclear genes encoding chloroplast proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ying; Ding, Jun; Daniell, Henry; Hu, Haiyan; Li, Xiaoman

    2012-09-01

    Chloroplasts play critical roles in land plant cells. Despite their importance and the availability of at least 200 sequenced chloroplast genomes, the number of known DNA regulatory sequences in chloroplast genomes are limited. In this paper, we designed computational methods to systematically study putative DNA regulatory sequences in intergenic regions near chloroplast genes in seven plant species and in promoter sequences of nuclear genes in Arabidopsis and rice. We found that -35/-10 elements alone cannot explain the transcriptional regulation of chloroplast genes. We also concluded that there are unlikely motifs shared by intergenic sequences of most of chloroplast genes, indicating that these genes are regulated differently. Finally and surprisingly, we found five conserved motifs, each of which occurs in no more than six chloroplast intergenic sequences, are significantly shared by promoters of nuclear-genes encoding chloroplast proteins. By integrating information from gene function annotation, protein subcellular localization analyses, protein-protein interaction data, and gene expression data, we further showed support of the functionality of these conserved motifs. Our study implies the existence of unknown nuclear-encoded transcription factors that regulate both chloroplast genes and nuclear genes encoding chloroplast protein, which sheds light on the understanding of the transcriptional regulation of chloroplast genes.

  3. Fused Regression for Multi-source Gene Regulatory Network Inference.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kari Y Lam

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Understanding gene regulatory networks is critical to understanding cellular differentiation and response to external stimuli. Methods for global network inference have been developed and applied to a variety of species. Most approaches consider the problem of network inference independently in each species, despite evidence that gene regulation can be conserved even in distantly related species. Further, network inference is often confined to single data-types (single platforms and single cell types. We introduce a method for multi-source network inference that allows simultaneous estimation of gene regulatory networks in multiple species or biological processes through the introduction of priors based on known gene relationships such as orthology incorporated using fused regression. This approach improves network inference performance even when orthology mapping and conservation are incomplete. We refine this method by presenting an algorithm that extracts the true conserved subnetwork from a larger set of potentially conserved interactions and demonstrate the utility of our method in cross species network inference. Last, we demonstrate our method's utility in learning from data collected on different experimental platforms.

  4. Of mice and men: divergence of gene expression patterns in kidney.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lydie Cheval

    Full Text Available Since the development of methods for homologous gene recombination, mouse models have played a central role in research in renal pathophysiology. However, many published and unpublished results show that mice with genetic changes mimicking human pathogenic mutations do not display the human phenotype. These functional differences may stem from differences in gene expression between mouse and human kidneys. However, large scale comparison of gene expression networks revealed conservation of gene expression among a large panel of human and mouse tissues including kidneys. Because renal functions result from the spatial integration of elementary processes originating in the glomerulus and the successive segments constituting the nephron, we hypothesized that differences in gene expression profiles along the human and mouse nephron might account for different behaviors. Analysis of SAGE libraries generated from the glomerulus and seven anatomically defined nephron segments from human and mouse kidneys allowed us to identify 4644 pairs of gene orthologs expressed in either one or both species. Quantitative analysis shows that many transcripts are present at different levels in the two species. It also shows poor conservation of gene expression profiles, with less than 10% of the 4644 gene orthologs displaying a higher conservation of expression profiles than the neutral expectation (p<0.05. Accordingly, hierarchical clustering reveals a higher degree of conservation of gene expression patterns between functionally unrelated kidney structures within a given species than between cognate structures from the two species. Similar findings were obtained for sub-groups of genes with either kidney-specific or housekeeping functions. Conservation of gene expression at the scale of the whole organ and divergence at the level of its constituting sub-structures likely account for the fact that although kidneys assume the same global function in the two species

  5. Sequence conservation and combinatorial complexity of Drosophila neural precursor cell enhancers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuzin Alexander

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The presence of highly conserved sequences within cis-regulatory regions can serve as a valuable starting point for elucidating the basis of enhancer function. This study focuses on regulation of gene expression during the early events of Drosophila neural development. We describe the use of EvoPrinter and cis-Decoder, a suite of interrelated phylogenetic footprinting and alignment programs, to characterize highly conserved sequences that are shared among co-regulating enhancers. Results Analysis of in vivo characterized enhancers that drive neural precursor gene expression has revealed that they contain clusters of highly conserved sequence blocks (CSBs made up of shorter shared sequence elements which are present in different combinations and orientations within the different co-regulating enhancers; these elements contain either known consensus transcription factor binding sites or consist of novel sequences that have not been functionally characterized. The CSBs of co-regulated enhancers share a large number of sequence elements, suggesting that a diverse repertoire of transcription factors may interact in a highly combinatorial fashion to coordinately regulate gene expression. We have used information gained from our comparative analysis to discover an enhancer that directs expression of the nervy gene in neural precursor cells of the CNS and PNS. Conclusion The combined use EvoPrinter and cis-Decoder has yielded important insights into the combinatorial appearance of fundamental sequence elements required for neural enhancer function. Each of the 30 enhancers examined conformed to a pattern of highly conserved blocks of sequences containing shared constituent elements. These data establish a basis for further analysis and understanding of neural enhancer function.

  6. Genomic dissection of conserved transcriptional regulation in intestinal epithelial cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Colin R Lickwar

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The intestinal epithelium serves critical physiologic functions that are shared among all vertebrates. However, it is unknown how the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying these functions have changed over the course of vertebrate evolution. We generated genome-wide mRNA and accessible chromatin data from adult intestinal epithelial cells (IECs in zebrafish, stickleback, mouse, and human species to determine if conserved IEC functions are achieved through common transcriptional regulation. We found evidence for substantial common regulation and conservation of gene expression regionally along the length of the intestine from fish to mammals and identified a core set of genes comprising a vertebrate IEC signature. We also identified transcriptional start sites and other putative regulatory regions that are differentially accessible in IECs in all 4 species. Although these sites rarely showed sequence conservation from fish to mammals, surprisingly, they drove highly conserved IEC expression in a zebrafish reporter assay. Common putative transcription factor binding sites (TFBS found at these sites in multiple species indicate that sequence conservation alone is insufficient to identify much of the functionally conserved IEC regulatory information. Among the rare, highly sequence-conserved, IEC-specific regulatory regions, we discovered an ancient enhancer upstream from her6/HES1 that is active in a distinct population of Notch-positive cells in the intestinal epithelium. Together, these results show how combining accessible chromatin and mRNA datasets with TFBS prediction and in vivo reporter assays can reveal tissue-specific regulatory information conserved across 420 million years of vertebrate evolution. We define an IEC transcriptional regulatory network that is shared between fish and mammals and establish an experimental platform for studying how evolutionarily distilled regulatory information commonly controls IEC development

  7. Phylogenetic relationships of the glycoprotein gene of bovine ephemeral fever virus isolated from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Israel and Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zheng Fuying

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The glycoprotein (G gene sequences of bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV strains derived from mainland China have not been compared with those of the isolates from other countries or areas. Therefore, the G genes of four BEFV isolates obtained from mainland China were amplified and sequenced. A phylogenetic tree was constructed in order to compare and analyze the genetic relationships of the BEFV isolates derived from mainland China and different countries and areas. Results The complete BEFV G gene was successfully amplified and sequenced from four isolates that originated from mainland China. A total of fifty-one BEFV strains were analyzed based on the G gene sequence and were found to be highly conserved. A phylogenetic tree showed that the isolates were grouped into three distinct lineages depending on their source of origin. The antigenic sites of G1, G2 and G3 are conserved among the isolates, except for several substitutions in a few strains. Conclusions The phylogenetic relationships of the BEFV isolates that originated from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Israel and Australia were closely related to their source of origin, while the antigenic sites G1, G2 and G3 are conserved among the BEFV isolates used in this work.

  8. Molecular identification of the ompL1 gene within Leptospira interrogans standard serovars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dezhbord, Mehrangiz; Esmaelizad, Majid; Khaki, Pejvak; Fotohi, Fariba; Zarehparvar Moghaddam, Athena

    2014-06-11

    Leptospirosis, caused by infection with pathogenic Leptospira species, is one of the most prevalent zoonotic diseases in the world. Current leptospiral vaccines are mainly multivalent dead whole-cell mixtures made of several local dominant serovars. Therefore, design and construction of an efficient recombinant vaccine for leptospirosis control is very important. OmpL1 is an immunogenic porin protein that could be of special significance in vaccination and serodiagnosis for leptospirosis. Three strains belonging to pathogenic L. interrogans were analyzed. The specific primers for proliferation of the ompL1 gene were designed. The amplified gene was cloned. In order to investigate the ompL1 nucleotide sequence and homological analysis of this gene, ompL1 genes cloned from standard vaccinal Leptospira serovars prevalent in Iran were sequenced and cloned. PCR amplification of the ompL1 gene using the designed primers resulted in a 963 bp ompL1 gene product. The PCR based on the ompL1 gene detected all pathogenic reference serovars of Leptospira spp. tested. Based on alignment and phylogenetic analysis, although the ompL1 nucleotide sequence was slightly different within three vaccinal serovars (100%-85% identity), amino acid alignment of the OmpL1 proteins revealed that there would be inconsiderable difference among them. The ompL1 gene of the three isolates was well conserved, differing only by a total of 6 bp and the proteins by 2 amino acids. The cloned gene could be further used for expression and recombinant OmpL1 as an efficient and conserved antigen, and may be a useful vaccine candidate against leptospirosis in our region.

  9. Conservation implications of the genetic diversity of Gymnospermium microrrhynchum in Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, S H; Yeon, M H; Shim, J K

    2016-10-24

    Gymnospermium microrrhynchum (Berberidaceae) is an ephemeral perennial herb with a limited distributional range in the Baekdudaegan mountain areas of the Korean Peninsula, and is designated a rare plant by the Korean Forest Service. Information about its genetic variation and structure is important for developing successful conservation strategies. To investigate the genetic variation within and among seven G. microrrhynchum populations, random amplified polymorphic DNA data were obtained for 207 individuals. The populations exhibited relatively low genetic diversity: the percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) ranged from 32.1 to 66.7% (mean = 51.4%) and Nei's gene diversity (H E ) ranged from 0.116 to 0.248 (mean = 0.188). However, genetic diversity at the species level was relatively high (PPB = 98.7%, H E = 0.349). An analysis of molecular variance revealed high differentiation among populations (Φ ST = 0.6818), but the low gene flow value (N m = 0.117) suggests a low level of gene exchange occurs among populations. Principal coordinates analysis revealed that individuals were separated according to population. The high level of genetic differentiation and restricted gene flow among G. microrrhynchum populations, which resulted from their isolation in alpine areas after the Ice Age, indicates that it is essential to protect and manage all populations, rather than focus on specific populations, in order to maintain the genetic diversity of this species.

  10. The qacC gene has recently spread between rolling circle plasmids of Staphylococcus, indicative of a novel gene transfer mechanism

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    Trudy M. Wassenaar

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Resistance of Staphylococcus species to quaternary ammonium compounds, frequently used as disinfectants and biocides, can be attributed to qac genes. These qac gene products belong to the Small Multidrug Resistant (SMR protein family, and are often encoded by rolling-circle (RC replicating plasmids. Four classes of SMR-type qac gene families have been described in Staphylococcus species: qacC, qacG, qacJ and qacH. Within their class, these genes are highly conserved, but qacC genes are extremely conserved, although they are found in variable plasmid backgrounds. The lower degree of sequence identity of these plasmids compared to the strict nucleotide conservation of their qacC means that this gene has recently spread. In the absence of insertion sequences or other genetic elements explaining the mobility, we sought for an explanation of mobilization by sequence comparison. Publically available sequences of qac genes, their flanking genes and the replication gene that is invariably present in RC-plasmids were compared to reconstruct the evolutionary history of these plasmids and to explain the recent spread of qacC. Here we propose a new model that explains how qacC is mobilized and transferred to acceptor RC-plasmids without assistance of other genes, by means of its location in between the Double Strand replication Origin (DSO and the Single-Strand replication Origin (SSO. The proposed mobilization model of this DSO-qacC-SSO element represents a novel mechanism of gene mobilization in RC-plasmids, which has also been employed by other genes, such as lnuA (conferring lincomycin resistance. The proposed gene mobility has aided to the wide spread of clinically relevant resistance genes in Staphylococcus populations.

  11. The mechanism for primordial germ-cell migration is conserved between Japanese eel and zebrafish.

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    Taiju Saito

    Full Text Available Primordial germ cells (PGCs are segregated and specified from somatic cells during early development. These cells arise elsewhere and have to migrate across the embryo to reach developing gonadal precursors. Several molecules associated with PGC migration (i.e. dead-end, nanos1, and cxcr4 are highly conserved across phylum boundaries. However, since cell migration is a complicated process that is regulated spatially and temporally by multiple adaptors and signal effectors, the process is unlikely to be explained by these known genes only. Indeed, it has been shown that there are variations in PGC migration pattern during development among teleost species. However, it is still unclear whether the actual mechanism of PGC migration is conserved among species. In this study, we studied the migration of PGCs in Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica embryos and tested the migration mechanism between Japanese eel and zebrafish (Danio rerio for conservation, by transplanting eel PGCs into zebrafish embryos. The experiments showed that eel PGCs can migrate toward the gonadal region of zebrafish embryos along with endogenous PGCs, even though the migration patterns, behaviors, and settlements of PGCs are somewhat different between these species. Our results demonstrate that the migration mechanism of PGCs during embryonic development is highly conserved between these two distantly related species (belonging to different teleost orders.

  12. Isolation and expression analysis of EcbZIP17 from different finger millet genotypes shows conserved nature of the gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chopperla, Ramakrishna; Singh, Sonam; Mohanty, Sasmita; Reddy, Nanja; Padaria, Jasdeep C; Solanke, Amolkumar U

    2017-10-01

    Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors comprise one of the largest gene families in plants. They play a key role in almost every aspect of plant growth and development and also in biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. In this study, we report isolation and characterization of EcbZIP17 , a group B bZIP transcription factor from a climate smart cereal, finger millet ( Eleusine coracana L.). The genomic sequence of EcbZIP17 is 2662 bp long encompassing two exons and one intron with ORF of 1722 bp and peptide length of 573 aa. This gene is homologous to AtbZIP17 ( Arabidopsis ), ZmbZIP17 (maize) and OsbZIP60 (rice) which play a key role in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway. In silico analysis confirmed the presence of basic leucine zipper (bZIP) and transmembrane (TM) domains in the EcbZIP17 protein. Allele mining of this gene in 16 different genotypes by Sanger sequencing revealed no variation in nucleotide sequence, including the 618 bp long intron. Expression analysis of EcbZIP17 under heat stress exhibited similar pattern of expression in all the genotypes across time intervals with highest upregulation after 4 h. The present study established the conserved nature of EcbZIP17 at nucleotide and expression level.

  13. 18 CFR 385.1109 - Orders (Rule 1109).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Orders (Rule 1109). 385.1109 Section 385.1109 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION... or denying the petition for adjustment within the determination period, the petitioner may treat the...

  14. Residual distribution for general time-dependent conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ricchiuto, Mario; Csik, Arpad; Deconinck, Herman

    2005-01-01

    We consider the second-order accurate numerical solution of general time-dependent hyperbolic conservation laws over unstructured grids in the framework of the Residual Distribution method. In order to achieve full conservation of the linear, monotone and first-order space-time schemes of (Csik et al., 2003) and (Abgrall et al., 2000), we extend the conservative residual distribution (CRD) formulation of (Csik et al., 2002) to prismatic space-time elements. We then study the design of second-order accurate and monotone schemes via the nonlinear mapping of the local residuals of linear monotone schemes. We derive sufficient and necessary conditions for the well-posedness of the mapping. We prove that the schemes obtained with the CRD formulation satisfy these conditions by construction. Thus the nonlinear schemes proposed in this paper are always well defined. The performance of the linear and nonlinear schemes are evaluated on a series of test problems involving the solution of the Euler equations and of a two-phase flow model. We consider the resolution of strong shocks and complex interacting flow structures. The results demonstrate the robustness, accuracy and non-oscillatory character of the proposed schemes. d schemes

  15. Prediction and characterisation of a highly conserved, remote and cAMP responsive enhancer that regulates Msx1 gene expression in cardiac neural crest and outflow tract.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Kerry Ann; Davidson, Scott; Liaros, Angela; Barrow, John; Lear, Marissa; Heine, Danielle; Hoppler, Stefan; MacKenzie, Alasdair

    2008-05-15

    Double knockouts of the Msx1 and Msx2 genes in the mouse result in severe cardiac outflow tract malformations similar to those frequently found in newborn infants. Despite the known role of the Msx genes in cardiac formation little is known of the regulatory systems (ligand receptor, signal transduction and protein-DNA interactions) that regulate the tissue-specific expression of the Msx genes in mammals during the formation of the outflow tract. In the present study we have used a combination of multi-species comparative genomics, mouse transgenic analysis and in-situ hybridisation to predict and validate the existence of a remote ultra-conserved enhancer that supports the expression of the Msx1 gene in migrating mouse cardiac neural crest and the outflow tract primordia. Furthermore, culturing of embryonic explants derived from transgenic lines with agonists of the PKC and PKA signal transduction systems demonstrates that this remote enhancer is influenced by PKA but not PKC dependent gene regulatory systems. These studies demonstrate the efficacy of combining comparative genomics and transgenic analyses and provide a platform for the study of the possible roles of Msx gene mis-regulation in the aetiology of congenital heart malformation.

  16. A zebrafish screen for craniofacial mutants identifies wdr68 as a highly conserved gene required for endothelin-1 expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amsterdam Adam

    2006-06-01

    identification of approximately 25% of the essential genes required for craniofacial development. The identification of zebrafish models for two human disease syndromes indicates that homologs to the other genes are likely to also be relevant for human craniofacial development. The initial characterization of wdr68 suggests an important role in craniofacial development for the highly conserved Wdr68-Dyrk1 protein complexes.

  17. Conservation of Endangered Species: What Do Children Think?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashworth, Sarah; And Others

    1995-01-01

    Describes results of questionnaire studies of children's ideas on which species most warrant conservation and why. When six animals meriting conservation were presented, children listed them in the following order: whale, panda, elephant, monkey, shark, and crocodile. The study showed that children tend to be most influenced toward the worthiness…

  18. Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks

    CERN Document Server

    Nimmrichter, Johann; Schreiner, Manfred; LACONA VI Proceedings

    2007-01-01

    Within the last decades, the use of lasers in artworks conservation became an important tool for many conservators, scientists, architects and other experts, who are involved in the care of monuments and artefacts or laser technology. For the first time in 1995 Professor Costas Fotakis brought together restorers and scientists to discuss the potential of lasers in art conservation. Since then the field of "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks" has gained enormously in importance. Nowadays restorers and laser scientists work close together in order to develop new fields of applications during the last years. Furthermore a large number of national and international research projects have been carried out by conservator-restorers, architects and scientists. In the last 10 years a number of historical and artistic high quality monuments (e.g. St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna) have been cleaned or measured by laser and brought the laser in the spectra of tools which are useful in the sensible field of artworks. ...

  19. Divergent and convergent modes of interaction between wheat and Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici isolates revealed by the comparative gene co-expression network and genome analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rutter, William B; Salcedo, Andres; Akhunova, Alina; He, Fei; Wang, Shichen; Liang, Hanquan; Bowden, Robert L; Akhunov, Eduard

    2017-04-12

    Two opposing evolutionary constraints exert pressure on plant pathogens: one to diversify virulence factors in order to evade plant defenses, and the other to retain virulence factors critical for maintaining a compatible interaction with the plant host. To better understand how the diversified arsenals of fungal genes promote interaction with the same compatible wheat line, we performed a comparative genomic analysis of two North American isolates of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt). The patterns of inter-isolate divergence in the secreted candidate effector genes were compared with the levels of conservation and divergence of plant-pathogen gene co-expression networks (GCN) developed for each isolate. Comprative genomic analyses revealed substantial level of interisolate divergence in effector gene complement and sequence divergence. Gene Ontology (GO) analyses of the conserved and unique parts of the isolate-specific GCNs identified a number of conserved host pathways targeted by both isolates. Interestingly, the degree of inter-isolate sub-network conservation varied widely for the different host pathways and was positively associated with the proportion of conserved effector candidates associated with each sub-network. While different Pgt isolates tended to exploit similar wheat pathways for infection, the mode of plant-pathogen interaction varied for different pathways with some pathways being associated with the conserved set of effectors and others being linked with the diverged or isolate-specific effectors. Our data suggest that at the intra-species level pathogen populations likely maintain divergent sets of effectors capable of targeting the same plant host pathways. This functional redundancy may play an important role in the dynamic of the "arms-race" between host and pathogen serving as the basis for diverse virulence strategies and creating conditions where mutations in certain effector groups will not have a major effect on the pathogen

  20. Conservation laws for multidimensional systems and related linear algebra problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Igonin, Sergei

    2002-01-01

    We consider multidimensional systems of PDEs of generalized evolution form with t-derivatives of arbitrary order on the left-hand side and with the right-hand side dependent on lower order t-derivatives and arbitrary space derivatives. For such systems we find an explicit necessary condition for the existence of higher conservation laws in terms of the system's symbol. For systems that violate this condition we give an effective upper bound on the order of conservation laws. Using this result, we completely describe conservation laws for viscous transonic equations, for the Brusselator model and the Belousov-Zhabotinskii system. To achieve this, we solve over an arbitrary field the matrix equations SA=A t S and SA=-A t S for a quadratic matrix A and its transpose A t , which may be of independent interest

  1. Importance of globin gene order for correct developmental expression.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O. Hanscombe (Olivia); D. Whyatt (David); P.J. Fraser (Peter); N. Yannoutsos (Nikos); D.R. Greaves (David); N.O. Dillon (Niall); F.G. Grosveld (Frank)

    1991-01-01

    textabstractWe have used transgenic mice to study the influence of position of the human globin genes relative to the locus control region (LCR) on their expression pattern during development. The LCR, which is located 5' of the globin gene cluster, is normally required for the activation of all the

  2. Ferritin gene organization: differences between plants and animals suggest possible kingdom-specific selective constraints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proudhon, D; Wei, J; Briat, J; Theil, E C

    1996-03-01

    Ferritin, a protein widespread in nature, concentrates iron approximately 10(11)-10(12)-fold above the solubility within a spherical shell of 24 subunits; it derives in plants and animals from a common ancestor (based on sequence) but displays a cytoplasmic location in animals compared to the plastid in contemporary plants. Ferritin gene regulation in plants and animals is altered by development, hormones, and excess iron; iron signals target DNA in plants but mRNA in animals. Evolution has thus conserved the two end points of ferritin gene expression, the physiological signals and the protein structure, while allowing some divergence of the genetic mechanisms. Comparison of ferritin gene organization in plants and animals, made possible by the cloning of a dicot (soybean) ferritin gene presented here and the recent cloning of two monocot (maize) ferritin genes, shows evolutionary divergence in ferritin gene organization between plants and animals but conservation among plants or among animals; divergence in the genetic mechanism for iron regulation is reflected by the absence in all three plant genes of the IRE, a highly conserved, noncoding sequence in vertebrate animal ferritin mRNA. In plant ferritin genes, the number of introns (n = 7) is higher than in animals (n = 3). Second, no intron positions are conserved when ferritin genes of plants and animals are compared, although all ferritin gene introns are in the coding region; within kingdoms, the intron positions in ferritin genes are conserved. Finally, secondary protein structure has no apparent relationship to intron/exon boundaries in plant ferritin genes, whereas in animal ferritin genes the correspondence is high. The structural differences in introns/exons among phylogenetically related ferritin coding sequences and the high conservation of the gene structure within plant or animal kingdoms of the gene structure within plant or animal kingdoms suggest that kingdom-specific functional constraints may

  3. Determinism and randomness in the evolution of introns and sine inserts in mouse and human mitochondrial solute carrier and cytokine receptor genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cianciulli, Antonia; Calvello, Rosa; Panaro, Maria A

    2015-04-01

    In the homologous genes studied, the exons and introns alternated in the same order in mouse and human. We studied, in both species: corresponding short segments of introns, whole corresponding introns and complete homologous genes. We considered the total number of nucleotides and the number and orientation of the SINE inserts. Comparisons of mouse and human data series showed that at the level of individual relatively short segments of intronic sequences the stochastic variability prevails in the local structuring, but at higher levels of organization a deterministic component emerges, conserved in mouse and human during the divergent evolution, despite the ample re-editing of the intronic sequences and the fact that processes such as SINE spread had taken place in an independent way in the two species. Intron conservation is negatively correlated with the SINE occupancy, suggesting that virus inserts interfere with the conservation of the sequences inherited from the common ancestor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. TIR-NBS-LRR genes are rare in monocots: evidence from diverse monocot orders

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    Tarr D Ellen K

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Plant resistance (R gene products recognize pathogen effector molecules. Many R genes code for proteins containing nucleotide binding site (NBS and C-terminal leucine-rich repeat (LRR domains. NBS-LRR proteins can be divided into two groups, TIR-NBS-LRR and non-TIR-NBS-LRR, based on the structure of the N-terminal domain. Although both classes are clearly present in gymnosperms and eudicots, only non-TIR sequences have been found consistently in monocots. Since most studies in monocots have been limited to agriculturally important grasses, it is difficult to draw conclusions. The purpose of our study was to look for evidence of these sequences in additional monocot orders. Findings Using degenerate PCR, we amplified NBS sequences from four monocot species (C. blanda, D. marginata, S. trifasciata, and Spathiphyllum sp., a gymnosperm (C. revoluta and a eudicot (C. canephora. We successfully amplified TIR-NBS-LRR sequences from dicot and gymnosperm DNA, but not from monocot DNA. Using databases, we obtained NBS sequences from additional monocots, magnoliids and basal angiosperms. TIR-type sequences were not present in monocot or magnoliid sequences, but were present in the basal angiosperms. Phylogenetic analysis supported a single TIR clade and multiple non-TIR clades. Conclusion We were unable to find monocot TIR-NBS-LRR sequences by PCR amplification or database searches. In contrast to previous studies, our results represent five monocot orders (Poales, Zingiberales, Arecales, Asparagales, and Alismatales. Our results establish the presence of TIR-NBS-LRR sequences in basal angiosperms and suggest that although these sequences were present in early land plants, they have been reduced significantly in monocots and magnoliids.

  5. Extreme Mutation Tolerance: Nearly Half of the Archaeal Fusellovirus Sulfolobus Spindle-Shaped Virus 1 Genes Are Not Required for Virus Function, Including the Minor Capsid Protein Gene vp3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iverson, Eric A; Goodman, David A; Gorchels, Madeline E; Stedman, Kenneth M

    2017-05-15

    Viruses infecting the Archaea harbor a tremendous amount of genetic diversity. This is especially true for the spindle-shaped viruses of the family Fuselloviridae , where >90% of the viral genes do not have detectable homologs in public databases. This significantly limits our ability to elucidate the role of viral proteins in the infection cycle. To address this, we have developed genetic techniques to study the well-characterized fusellovirus Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus 1 (SSV1), which infects Sulfolobus solfataricus in volcanic hot springs at 80°C and pH 3. Here, we present a new comparative genome analysis and a thorough genetic analysis of SSV1 using both specific and random mutagenesis and thereby generate mutations in all open reading frames. We demonstrate that almost half of the SSV1 genes are not essential for infectivity, and the requirement for a particular gene correlates well with its degree of conservation within the Fuselloviridae The major capsid gene vp1 is essential for SSV1 infectivity. However, the universally conserved minor capsid gene vp3 could be deleted without a loss in infectivity and results in virions with abnormal morphology. IMPORTANCE Most of the putative genes in the spindle-shaped archaeal hyperthermophile fuselloviruses have no sequences that are clearly similar to characterized genes. In order to determine which of these SSV genes are important for function, we disrupted all of the putative genes in the prototypical fusellovirus, SSV1. Surprisingly, about half of the genes could be disrupted without destroying virus function. Even deletions of one of the known structural protein genes that is present in all known fuselloviruses, vp3 , allows the production of infectious viruses. However, viruses lacking vp3 have abnormal shapes, indicating that the vp3 gene is important for virus structure. Identification of essential genes will allow focused research on minimal SSV genomes and further understanding of the structure of

  6. Evolutionary Conservation in Genes Underlying Human Psychiatric Disorders

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    Lisa Michelle Ogawa

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Many psychiatric diseases observed in humans have tenuous or absent analogs in other species. Most notable among these are schizophrenia and autism. One hypothesis has posited that these diseases have arisen as a consequence of human brain evolution, for example, that the same processes that led to advances in cognition, language, and executive function also resulted in novel diseases in humans when dysfunctional. Here, the molecular evolution of genes associated with these and other psychiatric disorders are compared among species. Genes associated with psychiatric disorders are drawn from the literature and orthologous sequences are collected from eleven primate species (human, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, orangutan, gibbon, macaque, baboon, marmoset, squirrel monkey, and galago and thirty one non-primate mammalian species. Evolutionary parameters, including dN/dS, are calculated for each gene and compared between disease classes and among species, focusing on humans and primates compared to other mammals and on large-brained taxa (cetaceans, rhinoceros, walrus, bear, and elephant compared to their small-brained sister species. Evidence of differential selection in primates supports the hypothesis that schizophrenia and autism are a cost of higher brain function. Through this work a better understanding of the molecular evolution of the human brain, the pathophysiology of disease, and the genetic basis of human psychiatric disease is gained.

  7. Homologous high-throughput expression and purification of highly conserved E coli proteins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duchmann Rainer

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genetic factors and a dysregulated immune response towards commensal bacteria contribute to the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD. Animal models demonstrated that the normal intestinal flora is crucial for the development of intestinal inflammation. However, due to the complexity of the intestinal flora, it has been difficult to design experiments for detection of proinflammatory bacterial antigen(s involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Several studies indicated a potential association of E. coli with IBD. In addition, T cell clones of IBD patients were shown to cross react towards antigens from different enteric bacterial species and thus likely responded to conserved bacterial antigens. We therefore chose highly conserved E. coli proteins as candidate antigens for abnormal T cell responses in IBD and used high-throughput techniques for cloning, expression and purification under native conditions of a set of 271 conserved E. coli proteins for downstream immunologic studies. Results As a standardized procedure, genes were PCR amplified and cloned into the expression vector pQTEV2 in order to express proteins N-terminally fused to a seven-histidine-tag. Initial small-scale expression and purification under native conditions by metal chelate affinity chromatography indicated that the vast majority of target proteins were purified in high yields. Targets that revealed low yields after purification probably due to weak solubility were shuttled into Gateway (Invitrogen destination vectors in order to enhance solubility by N-terminal fusion of maltose binding protein (MBP, N-utilizing substance A (NusA, or glutathione S-transferase (GST to the target protein. In addition, recombinant proteins were treated with polymyxin B coated magnetic beads in order to remove lipopolysaccharide (LPS. Thus, 73% of the targeted proteins could be expressed and purified in large-scale to give soluble proteins in the range of 500

  8. Oak woodland conservation management planning in southern CA - lessons learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosi Dagit

    2015-01-01

    The California Oak Woodlands Conservation Act (AB 242 2001) established requirements for the preservation and protection of oak woodlands and trees, and allocated funding managed by the Wildlife Conservation Board. In order to qualify to use these funds, counties and cities need to adopt an oak conservation management plan. Between 2008 and 2011, a team of concerned...

  9. A Global Mitigation Hierarchy for Nature Conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bull, Joseph W; Addison, Prue F E; Burgass, Michael J; Gianuca, Dimas; Gorham, Taylor M; Jacob, Céline; Watson, James E M; Wilcox, Chris; Milner-Gulland, E J

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Efforts to conserve biodiversity comprise a patchwork of international goals, national-level plans, and local interventions that, overall, are failing. We discuss the potential utility of applying the mitigation hierarchy, widely used during economic development activities, to all negative human impacts on biodiversity. Evaluating all biodiversity losses and gains through the mitigation hierarchy could help prioritize consideration of conservation goals and drive the empirical evaluation of conservation investments through the explicit consideration of counterfactual trends and ecosystem dynamics across scales. We explore the challenges in using this framework to achieve global conservation goals, including operationalization and monitoring and compliance, and we discuss solutions and research priorities. The mitigation hierarchy's conceptual power and ability to clarify thinking could provide the step change needed to integrate the multiple elements of conservation goals and interventions in order to achieve successful biodiversity outcomes. PMID:29731513

  10. Comparative mtDNA analyses of three sympatric macropodids from a conservation area on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGreevy, Thomas J; Dabek, Lisa; Husband, Thomas P

    2016-07-01

    Matschie's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei), New Guinea pademelon (Thylogale browni), and small dorcopsis (Dorcopsulus vanheurni) are sympatric macropodid taxa, of conservation concern, that inhabit the Yopno-Urawa-Som (YUS) Conservation Area on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. We sequenced three partial mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes from the three taxa to (i) investigate network structure; and (ii) identify conservation units within the YUS Conservation Area. All three taxa displayed a similar pattern in the spatial distribution of their mtDNA haplotypes and the Urawa and Som rivers on the Huon may have acted as a barrier to maternal gene flow. Matschie's tree kangaroo and New Guinea pademelon within the YUS Conservation Area should be managed as single conservation units because mtDNA nucleotides were not fixed for a given geographic area. However, two distinct conservation units were identified for small dorcopsis from the two different mountain ranges within the YUS Conservation Area.

  11. Deinococcus geothermalis: The Pool of Extreme Radiation Resistance Genes Shrinks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makarova, Kira S.; Omelchenko, Marina V.; Gaidamakova, Elena K.; Matrosova, Vera Y.; Vasilenko, Alexander; Zhai, Min; Lapidus, Alla; Copeland, Alex; Kim, Edwin; Land, Miriam; Mavrommatis, Konstantinos; Pitluck, Samuel; Richardson, Paul M.; Detter, Chris; Brettin, Thomas; Saunders, Elizabeth; Lai, Barry; Ravel, Bruce; Kemner, Kenneth M.; Wolf, Yuri I.; Sorokin, Alexander; Gerasimova, Anna V.; Gelfand, Mikhail S.; Fredrickson, James K.; Koonin, Eugene V.; Daly, Michael J.

    2007-07-24

    Bacteria of the genus Deinococcus are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) and desiccation. The mesophile Deinococcus radiodurans was the first member of this group whose genome was completely sequenced. Analysis of the genome sequence of D. radiodurans, however, failed to identify unique DNA repair systems. To further delineate the genes underlying the resistance phenotypes, we report the whole-genome sequence of a second Deinococcus species, the thermophile Deinococcus geothermalis, which at itsoptimal growth temperature is as resistant to IR, UV and desiccation as D. radiodurans, and a comparative analysis of the two Deinococcus genomes. Many D. radiodurans genes previously implicated in resistance, but for which no sensitive phenotype was observed upon disruption, are absent in D. geothermalis. In contrast, most D. radiodurans genes whose mutants displayed a radiation-sensitive phenotype in D. radiodurans are conserved in D. geothermalis. Supporting the existence of a Deinococcus radiation response regulon, a common palindromic DNA motif was identified in a conserved set of genes associated with resistance, and a dedicated transcriptional regulator was predicted. We present the case that these two species evolved essentially the same diverse set of gene families, and that the extreme stress-resistance phenotypes of the Deinococcus lineage emerged progressively by amassing cell-cleaning systems from different sources, but not by acquisition of novel DNA repair systems. Our reconstruction of the genomic evolution of the Deinococcus-Thermus phylum indicates that the corresponding set of enzymes proliferated mainly in the common ancestor of Deinococcus. Results of the comparative analysis weaken the arguments for a role of higher-order chromosome alignment structures in resistance; more clearly define and substantially revise downward the number of uncharacterized genes that might participate in DNA repair and contribute to

  12. Characterization of a Nonclassical Class I MHC Gene in a Reptile, the Galápagos Marine Iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaberman, Scott; Du Pasquier, Louis; Caccone, Adalgisa

    2008-01-01

    Squamates are a diverse order of vertebrates, representing more than 7,000 species. Yet, descriptions of full-length major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes in this group are nearly absent from the literature, while the number of MHC studies continues to rise in other vertebrate taxa. The lack of basic information about MHC organization in squamates inhibits investigation into the relationship between MHC polymorphism and disease, and leaves a large taxonomic gap in our understanding of amniote MHC evolution. Here, we use both cDNA and genomic sequence data to characterize a class I MHC gene (Amcr-UA) from the Galápagos marine iguana, a member of the squamate subfamily Iguaninae. Amcr-UA appears to be functional since it is expressed in the blood and contains many of the conserved peptide-binding residues that are found in classical class I genes of other vertebrates. In addition, comparison of Amcr-UA to homologous sequences from other iguanine species shows that the antigen-binding portion of this gene is under purifying selection, rather than balancing selection, and therefore may have a conserved function. A striking feature of Amcr-UA is that both the cDNA and genomic sequences lack the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains that are necessary to anchor the class I receptor molecule into the cell membrane, suggesting that the product of this gene is secreted and consequently not involved in classical class I antigen-presentation. The truncated and conserved character of Amcr-UA lead us to define it as a nonclassical gene that is related to the few available squamate class I sequences. However, phylogenetic analysis placed Amcr-UA in a basal position relative to other published classical MHC genes from squamates, suggesting that this gene diverged near the beginning of squamate diversification. PMID:18682845

  13. Characterization of a nonclassical class I MHC gene in a reptile, the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scott Glaberman

    Full Text Available Squamates are a diverse order of vertebrates, representing more than 7,000 species. Yet, descriptions of full-length major histocompatibility complex (MHC genes in this group are nearly absent from the literature, while the number of MHC studies continues to rise in other vertebrate taxa. The lack of basic information about MHC organization in squamates inhibits investigation into the relationship between MHC polymorphism and disease, and leaves a large taxonomic gap in our understanding of amniote MHC evolution. Here, we use both cDNA and genomic sequence data to characterize a class I MHC gene (Amcr-UA from the Galápagos marine iguana, a member of the squamate subfamily Iguaninae. Amcr-UA appears to be functional since it is expressed in the blood and contains many of the conserved peptide-binding residues that are found in classical class I genes of other vertebrates. In addition, comparison of Amcr-UA to homologous sequences from other iguanine species shows that the antigen-binding portion of this gene is under purifying selection, rather than balancing selection, and therefore may have a conserved function. A striking feature of Amcr-UA is that both the cDNA and genomic sequences lack the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains that are necessary to anchor the class I receptor molecule into the cell membrane, suggesting that the product of this gene is secreted and consequently not involved in classical class I antigen-presentation. The truncated and conserved character of Amcr-UA lead us to define it as a nonclassical gene that is related to the few available squamate class I sequences. However, phylogenetic analysis placed Amcr-UA in a basal position relative to other published classical MHC genes from squamates, suggesting that this gene diverged near the beginning of squamate diversification.

  14. In Silico Analysis of Gene Expression Network Components Underlying Pigmentation Phenotypes in the Python Identified Evolutionarily Conserved Clusters of Transcription Factor Binding Sites

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    Kristopher J. L. Irizarry

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Color variation provides the opportunity to investigate the genetic basis of evolution and selection. Reptiles are less studied than mammals. Comparative genomics approaches allow for knowledge gained in one species to be leveraged for use in another species. We describe a comparative vertebrate analysis of conserved regulatory modules in pythons aimed at assessing bioinformatics evidence that transcription factors important in mammalian pigmentation phenotypes may also be important in python pigmentation phenotypes. We identified 23 python orthologs of mammalian genes associated with variation in coat color phenotypes for which we assessed the extent of pairwise protein sequence identity between pythons and mouse, dog, horse, cow, chicken, anole lizard, and garter snake. We next identified a set of melanocyte/pigment associated transcription factors (CREB, FOXD3, LEF-1, MITF, POU3F2, and USF-1 that exhibit relatively conserved sequence similarity within their DNA binding regions across species based on orthologous alignments across multiple species. Finally, we identified 27 evolutionarily conserved clusters of transcription factor binding sites within ~200-nucleotide intervals of the 1500-nucleotide upstream regions of AIM1, DCT, MC1R, MITF, MLANA, OA1, PMEL, RAB27A, and TYR from Python bivittatus. Our results provide insight into pigment phenotypes in pythons.

  15. Ancient conservation of trinucleotide microsatellite loci in polistine wasps

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ezenwa, V O; Peters, J M; Zhu, Y

    1998-01-01

    Microsatellites have proven to be very useful genetic markers for studies of kinship, parentage, and gene mapping. If microsatellites are conserved among species, then those developed for one species can be used on related species, which would save the time and effort of developing new loci. We...... evaluated conservation of 27 trinucleotide loci that were derived from 2 species of Polistes wasps in cross-species applications on 27 species chosen from the major lineages of the Vespidae, which diverged as much as 144 million years ago. We further investigated cross-species polymorphism levels for 18...... of the loci. There was a clear relationship between cladistic distance and both conservation of the priming sites and heterozygosity. However the loci derived from P. bellicosus were much more widely conserved and polymorphic than were those derived from P. annularis. The disparity in cross-species utility...

  16. The α1,6-fucosyltransferase gene (fut8 from the Sf9 lepidopteran insect cell line: insights into fut8 evolution.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvie Juliant

    Full Text Available The core alpha1,6-fucosyltransferase (FUT8 catalyzes the transfer of a fucosyl moiety from GDP-fucose to the innermost asparagine-linked N-acetylglucosamine residue of glycoproteins. In mammals, this glycosylation has an important function in many fundamental biological processes and although no essential role has been demonstrated yet in all animals, FUT8 amino acid (aa sequence and FUT8 activity are very well conserved throughout the animal kingdom. We have cloned the cDNA and the complete gene encoding the FUT8 in the Sf9 (Spodoptera frugiperda lepidopteran cell line. As in most animal genomes, fut8 is a single-copy gene organized in different exons. The open reading frame contains 12 exons, a characteristic that seems to be shared by all lepidopteran fut8 genes. We chose to study the gene structure as a way to characterize the evolutionary relationships of the fut8 genes in metazoans. Analysis of the intron-exon organization in 56 fut8 orthologs allowed us to propose a model for fut8 evolution in metazoans. The presence of a highly variable number of exons in metazoan fut8 genes suggests a complex evolutionary history with many intron gain and loss events, particularly in arthropods, but not in chordata. Moreover, despite the high conservation of lepidoptera FUT8 sequences also in vertebrates and hymenoptera, the exon-intron organization of hymenoptera fut8 genes is order-specific with no shared exons. This feature suggests that the observed intron losses and gains may be linked to evolutionary innovations, such as the appearance of new orders.

  17. Whole genome duplications and expansion of the vertebrate GATA transcription factor gene family

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    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

  18. Conservation Physiology and Conservation Pathogens: White-Nose Syndrome and Integrative Biology for Host-Pathogen Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Craig K R

    2015-10-01

    Conservation physiology aims to apply an understanding of physiological mechanisms to management of imperiled species, populations, or ecosystems. One challenge for physiologists hoping to apply their expertise to conservation is connecting the mechanisms we study, often in the laboratory, with the vital rates of populations in the wild. There is growing appreciation that infectious pathogens can threaten populations and species, and represent an important issue for conservation. Conservation physiology has much to offer in terms of addressing the threat posed to some host species by infectious pathogens. At the same time, the well-developed theoretical framework of disease ecology could provide a model to help advance the application of physiology to a range of other conservation issues. Here, I use white-nose syndrome (WNS) in hibernating North American bats as an example of a conservation problem for which integrative physiological research has been a critical part of research and management. The response to WNS highlights the importance of a well-developed theoretical framework for the application of conservation physiology to a particular threat. I review what is known about physiological mechanisms associated with mortality from WNS and emphasize the value of combining a strong theoretical background with integrative physiological studies in order to connect physiological mechanisms with population processes and thereby maximize the potential benefits of conservation physiology. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. Construction of a restriction map and gene map of the lettuce chloroplast small single-copy region using Southern cross-hybridization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchelson, K R

    1996-01-01

    The small single-copy region (SSCR) of the chloroplast genome of many higher plants typically contain ndh genes encoding proteins that share homology with subunits of the respiratory-chain reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) dehydrogenase complex of mitochondria. A map of the lettuce chloroplast SSCR has been determined by Southern cross-hybridization, taking advantage of the high degree of homology between a tobacco small single-copy fragment and a corresponding lettuce chloroplast fragment. The gene order of the SSCR of lettuce and tobacco chloroplasts is similar. The cross-hybridization method can rapidly create a primary gene map of unknown chloroplast fragments, thus providing detailed information of the localization and arrangement of genes and conserved open reading frame regions.

  20. Positive selection in the SLC11A1 gene in the family Equidae

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bayerova, Zuzana; Janova, Eva; Matiasovic, Jan

    2016-01-01

    Immunity-related genes are a suitable model for studying effects of selection at the genomic level. Some of them are highly conserved due to functional constraints and purifying selection, while others are variable and change quickly to cope with the variation of pathogens. The SLC11A1 gene encodes...... a transporter protein mediating antimicrobial activity of macrophages. Little is known about the patterns of selection shaping this gene during evolution. Although it is a typical evolutionarily conserved gene, functionally important polymorphisms associated with various diseases were identified in humans...... and other species. We analyzed the genomic organization, genetic variation, and evolution of the SLC11A1 gene in the family Equidae to identify patterns of selection within this important gene. Nucleotide SLC11A1 sequences were shown to be highly conserved in ten equid species, with more than 97 % sequence...

  1. The role of landscape connectivity in planning and implementing conservation and restoration priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deborah A. Rudnick; Sadie J. Ryan; Paul Beier; Samuel A. Cushman; Fred Dieffenbach; Clinton W. Epps; Leah R. Gerber; Joel Hartter; Jeff S. Jenness; Julia Kintsch; Adina M. Merenlender; Ryan M. Perkl; Damian V. Preziosi; Stephen C. Trombulak

    2012-01-01

    Landscape connectivity, the extent to which a landscape facilitates the movements of organisms and their genes, faces critical threats from both fragmentation and habitat loss. Many conservation efforts focus on protecting and enhancing connectivity to offset the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity conservation, and to increase the resilience of...

  2. Conservation of the LexA repressor binding site in Deinococcus radiodurans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khan Feroz

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available The LexA protein is a transcriptional repressor of the bacterial SOS DNA repair system, which comprises a set of DNA repair and cellular survival genes that are induced in response to DNA damage. Its varied DNA binding motifs have been characterized and reported in the Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, rhizobia family members, marine magnetotactic bacterium, Salmonella typhimurium and recently in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and this motifs information has been used in our theoretical analysis to detect its novel regulated genes in radio-resistant Deinococcus radiodurans genome. This bacterium showed presence of SOS-box like consensus sequence in the upstream sequences of 3166 genes with >60% motif score similarity percentage (MSSP on both strands. Attempts to identify LexA-binding sites and the composition of the putative SOS regulon in D. radiodurans have been unsuccessful so far. To resolve the problem we performed theoretical analysis with modifications on reported data set of genes related to DNA repair (61 genes, stress response (145 genes and some unusual predicted operons (21 clusters. Expression of some of the predicted SOS-box regulated operon members then was examined through the previously reported microarray data which confirm the expression of only single predicted operon i.e. DRB0143 (AAA superfamily NTPase related to 5-methylcytosine specific restriction enzyme subunit McrB and DRB0144 (homolog of the McrC subunit of the McrBC restriction modification system. The methodology involved weight matrix construction through CONSENSUS algorithm using information of conserved upstream sequences of eight known genes including dinB, tagC, lexA, recA, uvrB, yneA of B. subtilis while lexA and recA of D. radiodurans through phylogenetic footprinting method and later detection of similar conserved SOS-box like LexA binding motifs through both RSAT & PoSSuMsearch programs. The resultant DNA consensus sequence had highly conserved 14 bp SOS

  3. Discovery of cis-elements between sorghum and rice using co-expression and evolutionary conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haberer Georg

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression largely depends on the presence and absence of cis-regulatory sites in the promoter. In the economically highly important grass family, our knowledge of transcription factor binding sites and transcriptional networks is still very limited. With the completion of the sorghum genome and the available rice genome sequence, comparative promoter analyses now allow genome-scale detection of conserved cis-elements. Results In this study, we identified thousands of phylogenetic footprints conserved between orthologous rice and sorghum upstream regions that are supported by co-expression information derived from three different rice expression data sets. In a complementary approach, cis-motifs were discovered by their highly conserved co-occurrence in syntenic promoter pairs. Sequence conservation and matches to known plant motifs support our findings. Expression similarities of gene pairs positively correlate with the number of motifs that are shared by gene pairs and corroborate the importance of similar promoter architectures for concerted regulation. This strongly suggests that these motifs function in the regulation of transcript levels in rice and, presumably also in sorghum. Conclusion Our work provides the first large-scale collection of cis-elements for rice and sorghum and can serve as a paradigm for cis-element analysis through comparative genomics in grasses in general.

  4. Extensions of guiding center motion to higher order

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Northrop, T.G.; Rome, J.A.

    1978-01-01

    In a static magnetic field, some well-known guiding center equations maintain their form when extended to next order in gyroradius. In these cases, it is only necessary to include the next order term in the magnetic moment series. The differential equation for guiding center motion which describes both the parallel and perpendicular velocities correctly through first order in gyroradius is given. The question of how to define the guiding center position through second order arises and is discussed, and second order drifts are derived for one usual definition. The toroidal canonical angular momentum, P/sub phi/, of the guiding center in an axisymmetric field is shown to be conserved using the guiding center velocity correct through first order. When second-order motion is included, P/sub phi/ is no longer a constant. The above extensions of guiding center theory help to resolve the different tokamak orbits obtained either by using the guiding center equations of motion or by using conservation of P/sub phi/

  5. Extensions of guiding center motion to higher order

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Northrop, T.G.; Rome, J.A.

    1977-07-01

    In a static magnetic field, some well-known guiding center equations maintain their form when extended to next order in gyroradius. In these cases, it is only necessary to include the next order term in the magnetic moment series. The differential equation for guiding center motion which describes both the parallel and perpendicular velocities correctly through first order in gyroradius is given. The question of how to define the guiding center position through second order arises and is discussed, and second order drifts are derived for one usual definition. The toroidal canonical angular momentum, P/sub phi/, of the guiding center in an axisymmetric field is shown to be conserved using the guiding center velocity correct through first order. When second order motion is included, P/sub phi/ is no longer a constant. The above extensions of guiding center theory help to resolve the different tokamak orbits obtained either by using the guiding center equations of motion or by using conservation of P/sub phi/

  6. Identification of putative regulatory upstream ORFs in the yeast genome using heuristics and evolutionary conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bilsland Elizabeth

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The translational efficiency of an mRNA can be modulated by upstream open reading frames (uORFs present in certain genes. A uORF can attenuate translation of the main ORF by interfering with translational reinitiation at the main start codon. uORFs also occur by chance in the genome, in which case they do not have a regulatory role. Since the sequence determinants for functional uORFs are not understood, it is difficult to discriminate functional from spurious uORFs by sequence analysis. Results We have used comparative genomics to identify novel uORFs in yeast with a high likelihood of having a translational regulatory role. We examined uORFs, previously shown to play a role in regulation of translation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for evolutionary conservation within seven Saccharomyces species. Inspection of the set of conserved uORFs yielded the following three characteristics useful for discrimination of functional from spurious uORFs: a length between 4 and 6 codons, a distance from the start of the main ORF between 50 and 150 nucleotides, and finally a lack of overlap with, and clear separation from, neighbouring uORFs. These derived rules are inherently associated with uORFs with properties similar to the GCN4 locus, and may not detect most uORFs of other types. uORFs with high scores based on these rules showed a much higher evolutionary conservation than randomly selected uORFs. In a genome-wide scan in S. cerevisiae, we found 34 conserved uORFs from 32 genes that we predict to be functional; subsequent analysis showed the majority of these to be located within transcripts. A total of 252 genes were found containing conserved uORFs with properties indicative of a functional role; all but 7 are novel. Functional content analysis of this set identified an overrepresentation of genes involved in transcriptional control and development. Conclusion Evolutionary conservation of uORFs in yeasts can be traced up to 100

  7. Conservation of Charge and Conservation of Current

    OpenAIRE

    Eisenberg, Bob

    2016-01-01

    Conservation of current and conservation of charge are nearly the same thing: when enough is known about charge movement, conservation of current can be derived from conservation of charge, in ideal dielectrics, for example. Conservation of current is enforced implicitly in ideal dielectrics by theories that conserve charge. But charge movement in real materials like semiconductors or ionic solutions is never ideal. We present an apparently universal derivation of conservation of current and ...

  8. Mutations that alter a conserved element upstream of the potato virus X triple block and coat protein genes affect subgenomic RNA accumulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, K H; Hemenway, C

    1997-05-26

    The putative subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) promoter regions upstream of the potato virus X (PVX) triple block and coat protein (CP) genes contain sequences common to other potexviruses. The importance of these sequences to PVX sgRNA accumulation was determined by inoculation of Nicotiana tabacum NT1 cell suspension protoplasts with transcripts derived from wild-type and modified PVX cDNA clones. Analyses of RNA accumulation by S1 nuclease digestion and primer extension indicated that a conserved octanucleotide sequence element and the spacing between this element and the start-site for sgRNA synthesis are critical for accumulation of the two major sgRNA species. The impact of mutations on CP sgRNA levels was also reflected in the accumulation of CP. In contrast, genomic minus- and plus-strand RNA accumulation were not significantly affected by mutations in these regions. Studies involving inoculation of tobacco plants with the modified transcripts suggested that the conserved octanucleotide element functions in sgRNA accumulation and some other aspect of the infection process.

  9. Genome-wide identification and characterization of microRNA genes and their targets in flax (Linum usitatissimum): Characterization of flax miRNA genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barvkar, Vitthal T; Pardeshi, Varsha C; Kale, Sandip M; Qiu, Shuqing; Rollins, Meaghen; Datla, Raju; Gupta, Vidya S; Kadoo, Narendra Y

    2013-04-01

    MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (20-24 nucleotide long) endogenous regulatory RNAs that play important roles in plant growth and development. They regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by translational repression or target degradation and gene silencing. In this study, we identified 116 conserved miRNAs belonging to 23 families from the flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) genome using a computational approach. The precursor miRNAs varied in length; while most of the mature miRNAs were 21 nucleotide long, intergenic and showed conserved signatures of RNA polymerase II transcripts in their upstream regions. Promoter region analysis of the flax miRNA genes indicated prevalence of MYB transcription factor binding sites. Four miRNA gene clusters containing members of three phylogenetic groups were identified. Further, 142 target genes were predicted for these miRNAs and most of these represent transcriptional regulators. The miRNA encoding genes were expressed in diverse tissues as determined by digital expression analysis as well as real-time PCR. The expression of fourteen miRNAs and nine target genes was independently validated using the quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). This study suggests that a large number of conserved plant miRNAs are also found in flax and these may play important roles in growth and development of flax.

  10. Comparative analyses of six solanaceous transcriptomes reveal a high degree of sequence conservation and species-specific transcripts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ouyang Shu

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Solanaceae is a family of closely related species with diverse phenotypes that have been exploited for agronomic purposes. Previous studies involving a small number of genes suggested sequence conservation across the Solanaceae. The availability of large collections of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs for the Solanaceae now provides the opportunity to assess sequence conservation and divergence on a genomic scale. Results All available ESTs and Expressed Transcripts (ETs, 449,224 sequences for six Solanaceae species (potato, tomato, pepper, petunia, tobacco and Nicotiana benthamiana, were clustered and assembled into gene indices. Examination of gene ontologies revealed that the transcripts within the gene indices encode a similar suite of biological processes. Although the ESTs and ETs were derived from a variety of tissues, 55–81% of the sequences had significant similarity at the nucleotide level with sequences among the six species. Putative orthologs could be identified for 28–58% of the sequences. This high degree of sequence conservation was supported by expression profiling using heterologous hybridizations to potato cDNA arrays that showed similar expression patterns in mature leaves for all six solanaceous species. 16–19% of the transcripts within the six Solanaceae gene indices did not have matches among Solanaceae, Arabidopsis, rice or 21 other plant gene indices. Conclusion Results from this genome scale analysis confirmed a high level of sequence conservation at the nucleotide level of the coding sequence among Solanaceae. Additionally, the results indicated that part of the Solanaceae transcriptome is likely to be unique for each species.

  11. Conservation and Ecotourism in Brazil and Mexico: The Development Impact

    OpenAIRE

    David Ivan Fleischer

    2009-01-01

    Conservation projects alter local productive modes and have an impact on livelihoods. For example, sea turtle conservation projects affect fishing communities through hunting restrictions. It is not painless for communities to improve fishing technology in order to prevent the accidental capture of sea turtles. The inability to adapt to environmental requirements forces fishermen to abandon traditional livelihoods. A combination of environmental conservation and ecotourism development can pro...

  12. Conservation of Tcrg-V5 and limited allelic sequence polymorphism of the other Tcrg-V genes used by mouse tissue-specific gd-T lymphocytes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roger, T.; Morisset, J.; Seman, M. [Universite Denis Diderot, Paris (France)

    1996-12-31

    The mouse Tcrg locus comprises seven Tcrg-V, four Tcrg-J, and four Tcrg-C segments which generate only six major types of functional g chains, Vg7-, Vg4-, Vg6-, or Vg5-Jg1-Cg1, Vg2-Jg2-Cg2, and Vg1-Jg4-Cg4. A complete analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the Tcrg locus in wild and inbred mice suggested its relative conservation compared to other loci of the immunoglobulin (Ig) gene family. Three haplotypes have been characterized in laboratory mice: gA, gB, and gC, represented by BALB/c, DBA/2, and AKR prototypes. Tcr-gA and -gC haplotypes are highly related. By contrast, Tcr-gB, likely inherited from Asian mouse subspecies, appeared very different by RFLP analysis. Yet only partial sequence data have been reported on gA and gB Tcrg-V genes. Here, the complete sequence of all Tcrg-V genes of the two haplotypes is described. 16 refs., 1 fig.

  13. Mass Conservation and Positivity Preservation with Ensemble-type Kalman Filter Algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janjic, Tijana; McLaughlin, Dennis B.; Cohn, Stephen E.; Verlaan, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Maintaining conservative physical laws numerically has long been recognized as being important in the development of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. In the broader context of data assimilation, concerted efforts to maintain conservation laws numerically and to understand the significance of doing so have begun only recently. In order to enforce physically based conservation laws of total mass and positivity in the ensemble Kalman filter, we incorporate constraints to ensure that the filter ensemble members and the ensemble mean conserve mass and remain nonnegative through measurement updates. We show that the analysis steps of ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) algorithm and ensemble Kalman filter algorithm (EnKF) can conserve the mass integral, but do not preserve positivity. Further, if localization is applied or if negative values are simply set to zero, then the total mass is not conserved either. In order to ensure mass conservation, a projection matrix that corrects for localization effects is constructed. In order to maintain both mass conservation and positivity preservation through the analysis step, we construct a data assimilation algorithms based on quadratic programming and ensemble Kalman filtering. Mass and positivity are both preserved by formulating the filter update as a set of quadratic programming problems that incorporate constraints. Some simple numerical experiments indicate that this approach can have a significant positive impact on the posterior ensemble distribution, giving results that are more physically plausible both for individual ensemble members and for the ensemble mean. The results show clear improvements in both analyses and forecasts, particularly in the presence of localized features. Behavior of the algorithm is also tested in presence of model error.

  14. Roles of horizontal gene transfer and gene integration in evolution of 1,3-dichloropropene- and 1,2-dibromoethane-degradative pathways

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poelarends, GJ; Kulakov, LA; Larkin, MJ; van Hylckama Vlieg, Johan E.T.; Janssen, DB

    The haloalkane-degrading bacteria Rhodococcus rhodochrous NCIMB13064, Pseudomonas pavonaceae 170, and Mycobacterium sp. strain GP1 share a highly conserved haloalkane dehalogenase gene (dhaA). Here, we describe the extent of the conserved dhaA segments in these three phylogenetically distinct

  15. Diversification of the insulin-like growth factor 1 gene in mammals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Rotwein

    Full Text Available Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1, a small, secreted peptide growth factor, is involved in a variety of physiological and patho-physiological processes, including somatic growth, tissue repair, and metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. IGF1 gene expression appears to be controlled by several different signaling cascades in the few species in which it has been evaluated, with growth hormone playing a major role by activating a pathway involving the Stat5b transcription factor. Here, genes encoding IGF1 have been evaluated in 25 different mammalian species representing 15 different orders and ranging over ~180 million years of evolutionary diversification. Parts of the IGF1 gene have been fairly well conserved. Like rat Igf1 and human IGF1, 21 of 23 other genes are composed of 6 exons and 5 introns, and all 23 also contain recognizable tandem promoters, each with a unique leader exon. Exon and intron lengths are similar in most species, and DNA sequence conservation is moderately high in orthologous exons and proximal promoter regions. In contrast, putative growth hormone-activated Stat5b-binding enhancers found in analogous locations in rodent Igf1 and in human IGF1 loci, have undergone substantial variation in other mammals, and a processed retro-transposed IGF1 pseudogene is found in the sloth locus, but not in other mammalian genomes. Taken together, the fairly high level of organizational and nucleotide sequence similarity in the IGF1 gene among these 25 species supports the contention that some common regulatory pathways had existed prior to the beginning of mammalian speciation.

  16. Chalcone synthase genes from milk thistle (Silybum marianum)

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    ... the identification of encoding genes in milk thistle plant can be of great importance. In the current research, fragments of genes were amplified using degenerate primers based on the conserved parts of Asteraceae genes, and then cloned and sequenced. Analysis of the resultant nucleotide and deduced ...

  17. Comparative analysis of vertebrate EIF2AK2 (PKR genes and assignment of the equine gene to ECA15q24–q25 and the bovine gene to BTA11q12–q15

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zharkikh Andrey A

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The structures of the canine, rabbit, bovine and equine EIF2AK2 genes were determined. Each of these genes has a 5' non-coding exon as well as 15 coding exons. All of the canine, bovine and equine EIF2AK2 introns have consensus donor and acceptor splice sites. In the equine EIF2AK2 gene, a unique single nucleotide polymorphism that encoded a Tyr329Cys substitution was detected. Regulatory elements predicted in the promoter region were conserved in ungulates, primates, rodents, Afrotheria (elephant and Insectifora (shrew. Western clawed frog and fugu EIF2AK2 gene sequences were detected in the USCS Genome Browser and compared to those of other vertebrate EIF2AK2 genes. A comparison of EIF2AK2 protein domains in vertebrates indicates that the kinase catalytic domains were evolutionarily more conserved than the nucleic acid-binding motifs. Nucleotide substitution rates were uniform among the vertebrate sequences with the exception of the zebrafish and goldfish EIF2AK2 genes, which showed substitution rates about 20% higher than those of other vertebrates. FISH was used to physically assign the horse and cattle genes to chromosome locations, ECA15q24–q25 and BTA11q12–15, respectively. Comparative mapping data confirmed conservation of synteny between ungulates, humans and rodents.

  18. A survey of the gene repertoire of Gigaspora rosea unravels conserved features among Glomeromycota for obligate biotrophy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nianwu eTANG

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM fungi are a diverse group of soil fungi (Glomeromycota that form the most ancient mutualistic association termed arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis with a majority of land plants, improving their nutrition uptake and resistance to stresses. In contrast to their great ecological implications, the knowledge of the molecular biological mechanisms involved is still scant, partly due to the limited genomic resources available. Here, we describe the gene repertoire of a new AM fungus Gigaspora rosea (Diversisporales. Among the 86332 nonredundant virtual transcripts assembled, 15346 presented similarities with proteins in the Refseq database and 10175 were assigned with GO terms. KOG and Interpro domain annotations clearly showed an enrichment of genes involved in signal transduction in G. rosea. KEGG pathway analysis indicates that most primary metabolic processes are active in G. rosea. However, as for R. irregularis, several metabolic genes were not found, including the fatty acid synthase gene. This finding supports the hypothesis that AM fungi depend on the lipids produced by their hosts. Furthermore, the presence of a large number of transporters and hundreds of secreted proteins, together with the reduced number of plant cell wall degrading enzymes could be interpreted as an evolutionary adaptation to its mutualistic obligate biotrophy. The detection of meiosis-related genes suggests that G. rosea might use a cryptic sexual process. Lastly, a phylogeny of basal fungi clearly shows Glomeromycota as a sister clade to Mucoromycotina, not only to the Mucorales or Mortierellales. The characterization of the gene repertoire from an AM fungal species belonging to the order of Diversisporales and its comparison with the gene sets of R. irregularis (Glomerales and Gigaspora margarita (Diversisporales, reveal that AM fungi share several features linked to mutualistic obligate biotrophy. This work contributes to lay the foundation

  19. Analysis of four achaete-scute homologs in Bombyx mori reveals new viewpoints of the evolution and functions of this gene family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Qingxiang; Zhang, Tianyi; Xu, Weihua; Yu, Linlin; Yi, Yongzhu; Zhang, Zhifang

    2008-03-06

    achaete-scute complexe (AS-C) has been widely studied at genetic, developmental and evolutional levels. Genes of this family encode proteins containing a highly conserved bHLH domain, which take part in the regulation of the development of central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Many AS-C homologs have been isolated from various vertebrates and invertebrates. Also, AS-C genes are duplicated during the evolution of Diptera. Functions besides neural development controlling have also been found in Drosophila AS-C genes. We cloned four achaete-scute homologs (ASH) from the lepidopteran model organism Bombyx mori, including three proneural genes and one neural precursor gene. Proteins encoded by them contained the characteristic bHLH domain and the three proneural ones were also found to have the C-terminal conserved motif. These genes regulated promoter activity through the Class A E-boxes in vitro. Though both Bm-ASH and Drosophila AS-C have four members, they are not in one by one corresponding relationships. Results of RT-PCR and real-time PCR showed that Bm-ASH genes were expressed in different larval tissues, and had well-regulated expressional profiles during the development of embryo and wing/wing disc. There are four achaete-scute homologs in Bombyx mori, the second insect having four AS-C genes so far, and these genes have multiple functions in silkworm life cycle. AS-C gene duplication in insects occurs after or parallel to, but not before the taxonomic order formation during evolution.

  20. Comparative modular analysis of gene expression in vertebrate organs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piasecka Barbara

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The degree of conservation of gene expression between homologous organs largely remains an open question. Several recent studies reported some evidence in favor of such conservation. Most studies compute organs' similarity across all orthologous genes, whereas the expression level of many genes are not informative about organ specificity. Results Here, we use a modularization algorithm to overcome this limitation through the identification of inter-species co-modules of organs and genes. We identify such co-modules using mouse and human microarray expression data. They are functionally coherent both in terms of genes and of organs from both organisms. We show that a large proportion of genes belonging to the same co-module are orthologous between mouse and human. Moreover, their zebrafish orthologs also tend to be expressed in the corresponding homologous organs. Notable exceptions to the general pattern of conservation are the testis and the olfactory bulb. Interestingly, some co-modules consist of single organs, while others combine several functionally related organs. For instance, amygdala, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and spinal cord form a clearly discernible unit of expression, both in mouse and human. Conclusions Our study provides a new framework for comparative analysis which will be applicable also to other sets of large-scale phenotypic data collected across different species.

  1. Comparative modular analysis of gene expression in vertebrate organs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piasecka, Barbara; Kutalik, Zoltán; Roux, Julien; Bergmann, Sven; Robinson-Rechavi, Marc

    2012-03-29

    The degree of conservation of gene expression between homologous organs largely remains an open question. Several recent studies reported some evidence in favor of such conservation. Most studies compute organs' similarity across all orthologous genes, whereas the expression level of many genes are not informative about organ specificity. Here, we use a modularization algorithm to overcome this limitation through the identification of inter-species co-modules of organs and genes. We identify such co-modules using mouse and human microarray expression data. They are functionally coherent both in terms of genes and of organs from both organisms. We show that a large proportion of genes belonging to the same co-module are orthologous between mouse and human. Moreover, their zebrafish orthologs also tend to be expressed in the corresponding homologous organs. Notable exceptions to the general pattern of conservation are the testis and the olfactory bulb. Interestingly, some co-modules consist of single organs, while others combine several functionally related organs. For instance, amygdala, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and spinal cord form a clearly discernible unit of expression, both in mouse and human. Our study provides a new framework for comparative analysis which will be applicable also to other sets of large-scale phenotypic data collected across different species.

  2. Food production and nature conservation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gordon, Iain J.; Squire, Geoff R.; Prins, Herbert H.T.

    2016-01-01

    Feeding the world's growing human population is increasingly challenging, especially as more people adopt a western diet and lifestyle. Doing so without causing damage to nature poses an even greater challenge. This book argues that in order to create a sustainable food supply whilst conserving

  3. Comparative mapping reveals similar linkage of functional genes to ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    genes between O. sativa and B. napus may have consistent function and control similar traits, which may be ..... acea chromosomes reveals islands of conserved organization. ... 1998 Conserved structure and function of the Arabidopsis flow-.

  4. Genome-Wide Analysis of the Aquaporin Gene Family in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deokar, Amit A; Tar'an, Bunyamin

    2016-01-01

    Aquaporins (AQPs) are essential membrane proteins that play critical role in the transport of water and many other solutes across cell membranes. In this study, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis identified 40 AQP genes in chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.). A complete overview of the chickpea AQP (CaAQP) gene family is presented, including their chromosomal locations, gene structure, phylogeny, gene duplication, conserved functional motifs, gene expression, and conserved promoter motifs. To understand AQP's evolution, a comparative analysis of chickpea AQPs with AQP orthologs from soybean, Medicago, common bean, and Arabidopsis was performed. The chickpea AQP genes were found on all of the chickpea chromosomes, except chromosome 7, with a maximum of six genes on chromosome 6, and a minimum of one gene on chromosome 5. Gene duplication analysis indicated that the expansion of chickpea AQP gene family might have been due to segmental and tandem duplications. CaAQPs were grouped into four subfamilies including 15 NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs), 13 tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), eight plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), and four small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs) based on sequence similarities and phylogenetic position. Gene structure analysis revealed a highly conserved exon-intron pattern within CaAQP subfamilies supporting the CaAQP family classification. Functional prediction based on conserved Ar/R selectivity filters, Froger's residues, and specificity-determining positions suggested wide differences in substrate specificity among the subfamilies of CaAQPs. Expression analysis of the AQP genes indicated that some of the genes are tissue-specific, whereas few other AQP genes showed differential expression in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Promoter profiling of CaAQP genes for conserved cis -acting regulatory elements revealed enrichment of cis -elements involved in circadian control, light response, defense and stress responsiveness

  5. Conservation laws with coinciding smooth solutions but different conserved variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colombo, Rinaldo M.; Guerra, Graziano

    2018-04-01

    Consider two hyperbolic systems of conservation laws in one space dimension with the same eigenvalues and (right) eigenvectors. We prove that solutions to Cauchy problems with the same initial data differ at third order in the total variation of the initial datum. As a first application, relying on the classical Glimm-Lax result (Glimm and Lax in Decay of solutions of systems of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws. Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society, No. 101. American Mathematical Society, Providence, 1970), we obtain estimates improving those in Saint-Raymond (Arch Ration Mech Anal 155(3):171-199, 2000) on the distance between solutions to the isentropic and non-isentropic inviscid compressible Euler equations, under general equations of state. Further applications are to the general scalar case, where rather precise estimates are obtained, to an approximation by Di Perna of the p-system and to a traffic model.

  6. Construction and use of gene expression covariation matrix

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bellis Michel

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background One essential step in the massive analysis of transcriptomic profiles is the calculation of the correlation coefficient, a value used to select pairs of genes with similar or inverse transcriptional profiles across a large fraction of the biological conditions examined. Until now, the choice between the two available methods for calculating the coefficient has been dictated mainly by technological considerations. Specifically, in analyses based on double-channel techniques, researchers have been required to use covariation correlation, i.e. the correlation between gene expression changes measured between several pairs of biological conditions, expressed for example as fold-change. In contrast, in analyses of single-channel techniques scientists have been restricted to the use of coexpression correlation, i.e. correlation between gene expression levels. To our knowledge, nobody has ever examined the possible benefits of using covariation instead of coexpression in massive analyses of single channel microarray results. Results We describe here how single-channel techniques can be treated like double-channel techniques and used to generate both gene expression changes and covariation measures. We also present a new method that allows the calculation of both positive and negative correlation coefficients between genes. First, we perform systematic comparisons between two given biological conditions and classify, for each comparison, genes as increased (I, decreased (D, or not changed (N. As a result, the original series of n gene expression level measures assigned to each gene is replaced by an ordered string of n(n-1/2 symbols, e.g. IDDNNIDID....DNNNNNNID, with the length of the string corresponding to the number of comparisons. In a second step, positive and negative covariation matrices (CVM are constructed by calculating statistically significant positive or negative correlation scores for any pair of genes by comparing their

  7. Gene conversion and DNA sequence polymorphism in the sex-determination gene fog-2 and its paralog ftr-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rane, Hallie S; Smith, Jessica M; Bergthorsson, Ulfar; Katju, Vaishali

    2010-07-01

    Gene conversion, a form of concerted evolution, bears enormous potential to shape the trajectory of sequence and functional divergence of gene paralogs subsequent to duplication events. fog-2, a sex-determination gene unique to Caenorhabditis elegans and implicated in the origin of hermaphroditism in this species, resulted from the duplication of ftr-1, an upstream gene of unknown function. Synonymous sequence divergence in regions of fog-2 and ftr-1 (excluding recent gene conversion tracts) suggests that the duplication occurred 46 million generations ago. Gene conversion between fog-2 and ftr-1 was previously discovered in experimental fog-2 knockout lines of C. elegans, whereby hermaphroditism was restored in mutant obligately outcrossing male-female populations. We analyzed DNA-sequence variation in fog-2 and ftr-1 within 40 isolates of C. elegans from diverse geographic locations in order to evaluate the contribution of gene conversion to genetic variation in the two gene paralogs. The analysis shows that gene conversion contributes significantly to DNA-sequence diversity in fog-2 and ftr-1 (22% and 34%, respectively) and may have the potential to alter sexual phenotypes in natural populations. A radical amino acid change in a conserved region of the F-box domain of fog-2 was found in natural isolates of C. elegans with significantly lower fecundity. We hypothesize that the lowered fecundity is due to reduced masculinization and less sperm production and that amino acid replacement substitutions and gene conversion in fog-2 may contribute significantly to variation in the degree of inbreeding and outcrossing in natural populations.

  8. Mouse Nkrp1-Clr gene cluster sequence and expression analyses reveal conservation of tissue-specific MHC-independent immunosurveillance.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiang Zhang

    Full Text Available The Nkrp1 (Klrb1-Clr (Clec2 genes encode a receptor-ligand system utilized by NK cells as an MHC-independent immunosurveillance strategy for innate immune responses. The related Ly49 family of MHC-I receptors displays extreme allelic polymorphism and haplotype plasticity. In contrast, previous BAC-mapping and aCGH studies in the mouse suggest the neighboring and related Nkrp1-Clr cluster is evolutionarily stable. To definitively compare the relative evolutionary rate of Nkrp1-Clr vs. Ly49 gene clusters, the Nkrp1-Clr gene clusters from two Ly49 haplotype-disparate inbred mouse strains, BALB/c and 129S6, were sequenced. Both Nkrp1-Clr gene cluster sequences are highly similar to the C57BL/6 reference sequence, displaying the same gene numbers and order, complete pseudogenes, and gene fragments. The Nkrp1-Clr clusters contain a strikingly dissimilar proportion of repetitive elements compared to the Ly49 clusters, suggesting that certain elements may be partly responsible for the highly disparate Ly49 vs. Nkrp1 evolutionary rate. Focused allelic polymorphisms were found within the Nkrp1b/d (Klrb1b, Nkrp1c (Klrb1c, and Clr-c (Clec2f genes, suggestive of possible immune selection. Cell-type specific transcription of Nkrp1-Clr genes in a large panel of tissues/organs was determined. Clr-b (Clec2d and Clr-g (Clec2i showed wide expression, while other Clr genes showed more tissue-specific expression patterns. In situ hybridization revealed specific expression of various members of the Clr family in leukocytes/hematopoietic cells of immune organs, various tissue-restricted epithelial cells (including intestinal, kidney tubular, lung, and corneal progenitor epithelial cells, as well as myocytes. In summary, the Nkrp1-Clr gene cluster appears to evolve more slowly relative to the related Ly49 cluster, and likely regulates innate immunosurveillance in a tissue-specific manner.

  9. Investigation of energy gene expressions and community structures of free and attached acidophilic bacteria in chalcopyrite bioleaching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Jianyu; Jiao, Weifeng; Li, Qian; Liu, Xueduan; Qin, Wenqing; Qiu, Guanzhou; Hu, Yuehua; Chai, Liyuan

    2012-12-01

    In order to better understand the bioleaching mechanism, expression of genes involved in energy conservation and community structure of free and attached acidophilic bacteria in chalcopyrite bioleaching were investigated. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we studied the expression of genes involved in energy conservation in free and attached Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans during bioleaching of chalcopyrite. Sulfur oxidation genes of attached A. ferrooxidans were up-regulated while ferrous iron oxidation genes were down-regulated compared with free A. ferrooxidans in the solution. The up-regulation may be induced by elemental sulfur on the mineral surface. This conclusion was supported by the results of HPLC analysis. Sulfur-oxidizing Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and ferrous-oxidizing Leptospirillum ferrooxidans were the members of the mixed culture in chalcopyrite bioleaching. Study of the community structure of free and attached bacteria showed that A. thiooxidans dominated the attached bacteria while L. ferrooxidans dominated the free bacteria. With respect to available energy sources during bioleaching of chalcopyrite, sulfur-oxidizers tend to be on the mineral surfaces whereas ferrous iron-oxidizers tend to be suspended in the aqueous phase. Taken together, these results indicate that the main role of attached acidophilic bacteria was to oxidize elemental sulfur and dissolution of chalcopyrite involved chiefly an indirect bioleaching mechanism.

  10. Common themes and cell type specific variations of higher order chromatin arrangements in the mouse

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cremer Thomas

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Similarities as well as differences in higher order chromatin arrangements of human cell types were previously reported. For an evolutionary comparison, we now studied the arrangements of chromosome territories and centromere regions in six mouse cell types (lymphocytes, embryonic stem cells, macrophages, fibroblasts, myoblasts and myotubes with fluorescence in situ hybridization and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Both species evolved pronounced differences in karyotypes after their last common ancestors lived about 87 million years ago and thus seem particularly suited to elucidate common and cell type specific themes of higher order chromatin arrangements in mammals. Results All mouse cell types showed non-random correlations of radial chromosome territory positions with gene density as well as with chromosome size. The distribution of chromosome territories and pericentromeric heterochromatin changed during differentiation, leading to distinct cell type specific distribution patterns. We exclude a strict dependence of these differences on nuclear shape. Positional differences in mouse cell nuclei were less pronounced compared to human cell nuclei in agreement with smaller differences in chromosome size and gene density. Notably, the position of chromosome territories relative to each other was very variable. Conclusion Chromosome territory arrangements according to chromosome size and gene density provide common, evolutionary conserved themes in both, human and mouse cell types. Our findings are incompatible with a previously reported model of parental genome separation.

  11. Output ordering and prioritisation system (OOPS): ranking biosynthetic gene clusters to enhance bioactive metabolite discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peña, Alejandro; Del Carratore, Francesco; Cummings, Matthew; Takano, Eriko; Breitling, Rainer

    2017-12-18

    The rapid increase of publicly available microbial genome sequences has highlighted the presence of hundreds of thousands of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding valuable secondary metabolites. The experimental characterization of new BGCs is extremely laborious and struggles to keep pace with the in silico identification of potential BGCs. Therefore, the prioritisation of promising candidates among computationally predicted BGCs represents a pressing need. Here, we propose an output ordering and prioritisation system (OOPS) which helps sorting identified BGCs by a wide variety of custom-weighted biological and biochemical criteria in a flexible and user-friendly interface. OOPS facilitates a judicious prioritisation of BGCs using G+C content, coding sequence length, gene number, cluster self-similarity and codon bias parameters, as well as enabling the user to rank BGCs based upon BGC type, novelty, and taxonomic distribution. Effective prioritisation of BGCs will help to reduce experimental attrition rates and improve the breadth of bioactive metabolites characterized.

  12. The primary structures of two leghemoglobin genes from soybean

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hyldig-Nielsen, J J; Jensen, E O; Paludan, K

    1982-01-01

    We present the complete nucleotide sequences of two leghemoglobin genes isolated from soybean DNA. Both genes contain three intervening sequences which interrupt the two coding sequences in identical positions. The 5' and 3' flanking sequences in both genes contain conserved sequences similar...

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. Conserved Epigenetic Mechanisms Could Play a Key Role in Regulation of Photosynthesis and Development-Related Genes during Needle Development of Pinus radiata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valledor, Luis; Pascual, Jesús; Meijón, Mónica; Escandón, Mónica; Cañal, María Jesús

    2015-01-01

    Needle maturation is a complex process that involves cell growth, differentiation and tissue remodelling towards the acquisition of full physiological competence. Leaf induction mechanisms are well known; however, those underlying the acquisition of physiological competence are still poorly understood, especially in conifers. We studied the specific epigenetic regulation of genes defining organ function (PrRBCS and PrRBCA) and competence and stress response (PrCSDP2 and PrSHMT4) during three stages of needle development and one de-differentiated control. Gene-specific changes in DNA methylation and histone were analysed by bisulfite sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). The expression of PrRBCA and PrRBCS increased during needle maturation and was associated with the progressive loss of H3K9me3, H3K27me3 and the increase in AcH4. The maturation-related silencing of PrSHMT4 was correlated with increased H3K9me3 levels, and the repression of PrCSDP2, to the interplay between AcH4, H3K27me3, H3K9me3 and specific DNA methylation. The employ of HAT and HDAC inhibitors led to a further determination of the role of histone acetylation in the regulation of our target genes. The integration of these results with high-throughput analyses in Arabidopsis thaliana and Populus trichocarpa suggests that the specific epigenetic mechanisms that regulate photosynthetic genes are conserved between the analysed species.

  16. Conserved Epigenetic Mechanisms Could Play a Key Role in Regulation of Photosynthesis and Development-Related Genes during Needle Development of Pinus radiata.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Valledor

    Full Text Available Needle maturation is a complex process that involves cell growth, differentiation and tissue remodelling towards the acquisition of full physiological competence. Leaf induction mechanisms are well known; however, those underlying the acquisition of physiological competence are still poorly understood, especially in conifers. We studied the specific epigenetic regulation of genes defining organ function (PrRBCS and PrRBCA and competence and stress response (PrCSDP2 and PrSHMT4 during three stages of needle development and one de-differentiated control. Gene-specific changes in DNA methylation and histone were analysed by bisulfite sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP. The expression of PrRBCA and PrRBCS increased during needle maturation and was associated with the progressive loss of H3K9me3, H3K27me3 and the increase in AcH4. The maturation-related silencing of PrSHMT4 was correlated with increased H3K9me3 levels, and the repression of PrCSDP2, to the interplay between AcH4, H3K27me3, H3K9me3 and specific DNA methylation. The employ of HAT and HDAC inhibitors led to a further determination of the role of histone acetylation in the regulation of our target genes. The integration of these results with high-throughput analyses in Arabidopsis thaliana and Populus trichocarpa suggests that the specific epigenetic mechanisms that regulate photosynthetic genes are conserved between the analysed species.

  17. Actin gene identification from selected medicinal plants for their use as internal controls for gene expression studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mufti, F.U.D.; Banaras, S.

    2015-01-01

    Internal control genes are the constitutive genes which maintain the basic cellular functions and regularly express in both normal and stressed conditions in living organisms. They are used in normalization of gene expression studies in comparative analysis of target genes, as their expression remains comparatively unchanged in all varied conditions. Among internal control genes, actin is considered as a candidate gene for expression studies due to its vital role in shaping cytoskeleton and plant physiology. Unfortunately most of such knowledge is limited to only model plants or crops, not much is known about important medicinal plants. Therefore, we selected seven important medicinal wild plants for molecular identification of actin gene. We used gene specific primers designed from the conserved regions of several known orthologues or homologues of actin genes from other plants. The amplified products of 370-380 bp were sequenced and submitted to GeneBank after their confirmation using different bioinformatics tools. All the novel partial sequences of putative actin genes were submitted to GeneBank (Parthenium hysterophorus (KJ774023), Fagonia indica (KJ774024), Rhazya stricta (KJ774025), Whithania coagulans (KJ774026), Capparis decidua (KJ774027), Verbena officinalis (KJ774028) and Aerva javanica (KJ774029)). The comparisons of these partial sequences by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) and phylogenetic trees demonstrated high similarity with known actin genes of other plants. Our findings illustrated highly conserved nature of actin gene among these selected plants. These novel partial fragments of actin genes from these wild medicinal plants can be used as internal controls for future gene expression studies of these important plants after precise validations of their stable expression in such plants. (author)

  18. Elucidating the composition and conservation of the autophagy pathway in photosynthetic eukaryotes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shemi, Adva; Ben-Dor, Shifra; Vardi, Assaf

    2015-01-01

    Aquatic photosynthetic eukaryotes represent highly diverse groups (green, red, and chromalveolate algae) derived from multiple endosymbiosis events, covering a wide spectrum of the tree of life. They are responsible for about 50% of the global photosynthesis and serve as the foundation for oceanic and fresh water food webs. Although the ecophysiology and molecular ecology of some algal species are extensively studied, some basic aspects of algal cell biology are still underexplored. The recent wealth of genomic resources from algae has opened new frontiers to decipher the role of cell signaling pathways and their function in an ecological and biotechnological context. Here, we took a bioinformatic approach to explore the distribution and conservation of TOR and autophagy-related (ATG) proteins (Atg in yeast) in diverse algal groups. Our genomic analysis demonstrates conservation of TOR and ATG proteins in green algae. In contrast, in all 5 available red algal genomes, we could not detect the sequences that encode for any of the 17 core ATG proteins examined, albeit TOR and its interacting proteins are conserved. This intriguing data suggests that the autophagy pathway is not conserved in red algae as it is in the entire eukaryote domain. In contrast, chromalveolates, despite being derived from the red-plastid lineage, retain and express ATG genes, which raises a fundamental question regarding the acquisition of ATG genes during algal evolution. Among chromalveolates, Emiliania huxleyi (Haptophyta), a bloom-forming coccolithophore, possesses the most complete set of ATG genes, and may serve as a model organism to study autophagy in marine protists with great ecological significance. PMID:25915714

  19. Genome-wide identification of galactinol synthase (GolS) genes in Solanum lycopersicum and Brachypodium distachyon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filiz, Ertugrul; Ozyigit, Ibrahim Ilker; Vatansever, Recep

    2015-10-01

    GolS genes stand as potential candidate genes for molecular breeding and/or engineering programs in order for improving abiotic stress tolerance in plant species. In this study, a total of six galactinol synthase (GolS) genes/proteins were retrieved for Solanum lycopersicum and Brachypodium distachyon. GolS protein sequences were identified to include glyco_transf_8 (PF01501) domain structure, and to have a close molecular weight (36.40-39.59kDa) and amino acid length (318-347 aa) with a slightly acidic pI (5.35-6.40). The sub-cellular location was mainly predicted as cytoplasmic. S. lycopersicum genes located on chr 1 and 2, and included one segmental duplication while genes of B. distachyon were only on chr 1 with one tandem duplication. GolS sequences were found to have well conserved motif structures. Cis-acting analysis was performed for three abiotic stress responsive elements, including ABA responsive element (ABRE), dehydration and cold responsive elements (DRE/CRT) and low-temperature responsive element (LTRE). ABRE elements were found in all GolS genes, except for SlGolS4; DRE/CRT was not detected in any GolS genes and LTRE element found in SlGolS1 and BdGolS1 genes. AU analysis in UTR and ORF regions indicated that SlGolS and BdGolS mRNAs may have a short half-life. SlGolS3 and SlGolS4 genes may generate more stable transcripts since they included AATTAAA motif for polyadenylation signal POLASIG2. Seconder structures of SlGolS proteins were well conserved than that of BdGolS. Some structural divergences were detected in 3D structures and predicted binding sites exhibited various patterns in GolS proteins. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Prognostic value of biologic subtype and the 21-gene recurrence score relative to local recurrence after breast conservation treatment with radiation for early stage breast carcinoma: results from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group E2197 study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solin, Lawrence J; Gray, Robert; Goldstein, Lori J; Recht, Abram; Baehner, Frederick L; Shak, Steven; Badve, Sunil; Perez, Edith A; Shulman, Lawrence N; Martino, Silvana; Davidson, Nancy E; Sledge, George W; Sparano, Joseph A

    2012-07-01

    The present study was performed to evaluate the significance of biologic subtype and 21-gene recurrence score relative to local recurrence and local-regional recurrence after breast conservation treatment with radiation. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group E2197 was a prospective randomized clinical trial that compared two adjuvant systemic chemotherapy regimens for patients with operable breast carcinoma with 1-3 positive lymph nodes or negative lymph nodes with tumor size >1.0 cm. The study population was a subset of 388 patients with known 21-gene recurrence score and treated with breast conservation surgery, systemic chemotherapy, and definitive radiation treatment. Median follow-up was 9.7 years (range = 3.7-11.6 years). The 10-year rates of local recurrence and local-regional recurrence were 5.4 % and 6.6 %, respectively. Neither biologic subtype nor 21-gene Recurrence Score was associated with local recurrence or local-regional recurrence on univariate or multivariate analyses (all P ≥ 0.12). The 10-year rates of local recurrence were 4.9 % for hormone receptor positive, HER2-negative tumors, 6.0 % for triple negative tumors, and 6.4 % for HER2-positive tumors (P = 0.76), and the 10-year rates of local-regional recurrence were 6.3, 6.9, and 7.2 %, respectively (P = 0.79). For hormone receptor-positive tumors, the 10-year rates of local recurrence were 3.2, 2.9, and 10.1 % for low, intermediate, and high 21-gene recurrence score, respectively (P = 0.17), and the 10-year rates of local-regional recurrence were 3.8, 5.1, and 12.0 %, respectively (P = 0.12). For hormone receptor-positive tumors, the 21-gene recurrence score evaluated as a continuous variable was significant for local-regional recurrence (hazard ratio 2.66; P = 0.03). The 10-year rates of local recurrence and local-regional recurrence were reasonably low in all subsets of patients. Neither biologic subtype nor 21-gene recurrence score should preclude breast conservation treatment with radiation.

  1. Génétique des abeilles et conservation des espèces

    OpenAIRE

    Zayed , Amro

    2009-01-01

    International audience; The emerging threat of pollinator decline has motivated research on bee conservation biology in order to both understand the causes of declines and to develop appropriate conservation strategies. The application of genetics to the conservation of diploid animals has proven to be important for both overcoming genetic threats to population viability and for providing tools to guide conservation programs. However, the haplodiploid bees have several unusual genetic propert...

  2. Gene Expression Dynamics Accompanying the Sponge Thermal Stress Response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzman, Christine; Conaco, Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    Marine sponges are important members of coral reef ecosystems. Thus, their responses to changes in ocean chemistry and environmental conditions, particularly to higher seawater temperatures, will have potential impacts on the future of these reefs. To better understand the sponge thermal stress response, we investigated gene expression dynamics in the shallow water sponge, Haliclona tubifera (order Haplosclerida, class Demospongiae), subjected to elevated temperature. Using high-throughput transcriptome sequencing, we show that these conditions result in the activation of various processes that interact to maintain cellular homeostasis. Short-term thermal stress resulted in the induction of heat shock proteins, antioxidants, and genes involved in signal transduction and innate immunity pathways. Prolonged exposure to thermal stress affected the expression of genes involved in cellular damage repair, apoptosis, signaling and transcription. Interestingly, exposure to sublethal temperatures may improve the ability of the sponge to mitigate cellular damage under more extreme stress conditions. These insights into the potential mechanisms of adaptation and resilience of sponges contribute to a better understanding of sponge conservation status and the prediction of ecosystem trajectories under future climate conditions.

  3. The ordering of expression among a few genes can provide simple cancer biomarkers and signal BRCA1 mutations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parmigiani Giovanni

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A major challenge in computational biology is to extract knowledge about the genetic nature of disease from high-throughput data. However, an important obstacle to both biological understanding and clinical applications is the "black box" nature of the decision rules provided by most machine learning approaches, which usually involve many genes combined in a highly complex fashion. Achieving biologically relevant results argues for a different strategy. A promising alternative is to base prediction entirely upon the relative expression ordering of a small number of genes. Results We present a three-gene version of "relative expression analysis" (RXA, a rigorous and systematic comparison with earlier approaches in a variety of cancer studies, a clinically relevant application to predicting germline BRCA1 mutations in breast cancer and a cross-study validation for predicting ER status. In the BRCA1 study, RXA yields high accuracy with a simple decision rule: in tumors carrying mutations, the expression of a "reference gene" falls between the expression of two differentially expressed genes, PPP1CB and RNF14. An analysis of the protein-protein interactions among the triplet of genes and BRCA1 suggests that the classifier has a biological foundation. Conclusion RXA has the potential to identify genomic "marker interactions" with plausible biological interpretation and direct clinical applicability. It provides a general framework for understanding the roles of the genes involved in decision rules, as illustrated for the difficult and clinically relevant problem of identifying BRCA1 mutation carriers.

  4. Cloning and Sequencing of Gene Encoding Outer Membrane Lipoprotein LipL41 of Leptospira Interrogans Serovar Grippotyphosa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.S. Soltani

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Leptospirosis is an infectious bacterial disease caused by pathogenic serovars of Leptospira. Development of reliable and applicable diagnostic test and also recombinant vaccine for this disease require specific antigens that are highly conserved among diverse pathogenic leptospiral serovars. Outer membrane proteins(OMPs of leptospira are effective antigens which can stimulate remarkable immune responses during infection, among them LipL41 is an immunogenic lipoprotein which is present only in pathogenic serovars so it could be regarded as a good candidate for vaccine development and diagnostic method. In order to identify genetic conservation of the lipL41 gene, we cloned and sequenced this gen from Leptospira interrogans serovar vaccinal and field of Grippotyphosa. Materials and Methods: Leptospira interrogans serovar vaccinal Grippotyphosa (RTCC2808 and serovar field Grippotyphosa (RTCC2825were used to inoculate into the selective culture medium(EMJH. The genomic DNA was extracted by standard phenol-chloroform method. The lipL41 gene were amplified by specific primers and cloned into pTZ57R/T vector and transformed into the competent E. coli (Top10 cells. the extracted recombinant plasmid were sequenced. And the related sequences were subjected to homology analysis by comparing them to sequences in the Genbank database. Results: PCR amplification of the lipL41 gene resulted in the 1065 bp PCR product. DNA sequence analysis revealed that lipL41 gene between serovar vaccinal Grippotyphosa (RTCC2808and serovar field Grippotyphosa (RTCC2825 in Iran was 100%. It was also showed that the lipL41 gene had high identity (96%-100% with other pathogenic serovars submitted in Genbank database. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the lipL41 gene was highly conserved among various pathogenic Leptospira serovars( >95.9 % identity. Hence the cloned gene could be further used for expression of recombinant protein for serodiagnosis

  5. Green campus management based on conservation program in Universitas Negeri Semarang

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prihanto, Teguh

    2018-03-01

    Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) has a great commitment in the development of higher education programs in line with its vision as a conservation - minded and internationally reputable university. Implementation of conservation programs with respect to the rules or conservation aspects of sustainable use, preservation, provisioning, protection, restoration and conservation of nature. In order to support the implementation of UNNES conservation program more focused, development strategies and development programs for each conservation scope are covered: (1) Biodiversity management; (2) Internal transportation management; (3) energy management; (4) Green building management; (5) Waste and water management; (6) Cultural conservation management. All related to conservation development strategies and programs are managed in the form of green campus management aimed at realizing UNNES as a green campus, characterized and reputable at the regional and global level.

  6. Large Diversity of Nonstandard Genes and Dynamic Evolution of Chloroplast Genomes in Siphonous Green Algae (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremen, Ma Chiela M; Leliaert, Frederik; Marcelino, Vanessa R; Verbruggen, Heroen

    2018-04-01

    Chloroplast genomes have undergone tremendous alterations through the evolutionary history of the green algae (Chloroplastida). This study focuses on the evolution of chloroplast genomes in the siphonous green algae (order Bryopsidales). We present five new chloroplast genomes, which along with existing sequences, yield a data set representing all but one families of the order. Using comparative phylogenetic methods, we investigated the evolutionary dynamics of genomic features in the order. Our results show extensive variation in chloroplast genome architecture and intron content. Variation in genome size is accounted for by the amount of intergenic space and freestanding open reading frames that do not show significant homology to standard plastid genes. We show the diversity of these nonstandard genes based on their conserved protein domains, which are often associated with mobile functions (reverse transcriptase/intron maturase, integrases, phage- or plasmid-DNA primases, transposases, integrases, ligases). Investigation of the introns showed proliferation of group II introns in the early evolution of the order and their subsequent loss in the core Halimedineae, possibly through RT-mediated intron loss.

  7. Will intensification of beef production deliver conservation outcomes in the Brazilian Amazon?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank Merry

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The intensification of beef production has become a conservation target based on the idea of land sparing and the assumption that in order to contain deforestation and meet increasing beef demand we must increase productivity. There is also increasing attention and conservation credit being given to supply chain management in beef production. Based on a historical comparison between the US, a fully intensive system, and Brazil, one moving in that direction, we suggest that cattle ranching will intensify as a result of conservation investments (reductions in capital and land subsidies rather than intensifying in order to produce conservation results. If the comparison holds, the new intensive system, however, will continue to require large natural resource inputs, government subsidies, and be plagued by social and conservation problems. It will also be held in thrall by a few large processing companies, which exert undue influence over both producers and consumers. Therefore, we suggest that closer attention be paid to attribution in the claim of conservation outcomes from intensive beef production.

  8. Combining genetical genomics and bulked segregant analysis differential expression: an approach to gene localization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chen, Xinwei; Hedley, P.E.; Morris, J.; Liu, Hui; Niks, R.E.; Waugh, R.

    2011-01-01

    Positional gene isolation in unsequenced species generally requires either a reference genome sequence or an inference of gene content based on conservation of synteny with a genomic model. In the large unsequenced genomes of the Triticeae cereals the latter, i.e. conservation of synteny with the

  9. Environmental sex determination in the branchiopod crustacean Daphnia magna: deep conservation of a Doublesex gene in the sex-determining pathway.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasuhiko Kato

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Sex-determining mechanisms are diverse among animal lineages and can be broadly divided into two major categories: genetic and environmental. In contrast to genetic sex determination (GSD, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying environmental sex determination (ESD. The Doublesex (Dsx genes play an important role in controlling sexual dimorphism in genetic sex-determining organisms such as nematodes, insects, and vertebrates. Here we report the identification of two Dsx genes from Daphnia magna, a freshwater branchiopod crustacean that parthenogenetically produces males in response to environmental cues. One of these genes, designated DapmaDsx1, is responsible for the male trait development when expressed during environmental sex determination. The domain organization of DapmaDsx1 was similar to that of Dsx from insects, which are thought to be the sister group of branchiopod crustaceans. Intriguingly, the molecular basis for sexually dimorphic expression of DapmaDsx1 is different from that of insects. Rather than being regulated sex-specifically at the level of pre-mRNA splicing in the coding region, DapmaDsx1 exhibits sexually dimorphic differences in the abundance of its transcripts. During embryogenesis, expression of DapmaDsx1 was increased only in males and its transcripts were primarily detected in male-specific structures. Knock-down of DapmaDsx1 in male embryos resulted in the production of female traits including ovarian maturation, whereas ectopic expression of DapmaDsx1 in female embryos resulted in the development of male-like phenotypes. Expression patterns of another D. magna Dsx gene, DapmaDsx2, were similar to those of DapmaDsx1, but silencing and overexpression of this gene did not induce any clear phenotypic changes. These results establish DapmaDsx1 as a key regulator of the male phenotype. Our findings reveal how ESD is implemented by selective expression of a fundamental genetic component that is

  10. Cop-like operon: Structure and organization in species of the Lactobacillale order

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANGÉLICA REYES

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Copper is an essential and toxic trace metal for bacteria and, therefore, must be tightly regulated in the cell. Enterococcus hirae is a broadly studied model for copper homeostasis. The intracellular copper levels in E. hirae are regulated by the cop operon, which is formed by four genes: copA and copB that encode ATPases for influx and efflux of copper, respectively; copZ that encodes a copper chaperone; and copY, a copper responsive repressor. Since the complete genome sequence for E. hirae is not available, it is possible that other genes may encode proteins involved in copper homeostasis. Here, we identified a cop-like operon in nine species of Lactobacillale order with a known genome sequence. All of them always encoded a CopY-like repressor and a copper ATPase. The alignment of the cop-like operon promoter region revealed two CopY binding sites, one of which was conserved in all strains, and the second was only present in species of Streptococcus genus and L. johnsonii. Additional proteins associated to copper metabolism, CutC and Cupredoxin, also were detected. This study allowed for the description of the structure and organization of the cop operon and discussion of a phylogenetic hypothesis based on the differences observed in this operon's organization and its regulation in Lactobacillale order.

  11. The Conservation Ideological State Apparatus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jared D Margulies

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This article considers Louis Althusser's theory of the ideological state apparatuses (ISAs for advancing political ecology scholarship on the functioning of the state in violent environments. I reflect on a series of events in which a state forest department in South India attempted to recast violent conflicts between themselves and local communities over access to natural resources and a protected area as a debate over human-wildlife conflicts. Through the example of conservation as ideology in Wayanad, Kerala, I show how the ISAs articulate the functioning of ideology within the state apparatuses in order for us to understand the larger mechanics of the state apparatus and the reproduction of the relations of production necessary for the reproduction of capitalism. Revisiting the ISAs as a theoretical framework for studies in political ecology and conservation is timely given the resurgence of militarised conservation tactics, the emancipatory aims of Althusser's theory, and political ecology's turn towards praxis.

  12. Numerical investigation of sixth order Boussinesq equation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolkovska, N.; Vucheva, V.

    2017-10-01

    We propose a family of conservative finite difference schemes for the Boussinesq equation with sixth order dispersion terms. The schemes are of second order of approximation. The method is conditionally stable with a mild restriction τ = O(h) on the step sizes. Numerical tests are performed for quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. The numerical experiments show second order of convergence of the discrete solution to the exact one.

  13. Biotechnological approaches for conservation and improvement of rare and endangered plants of Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Salim; Al-Qurainy, Fahad; Nadeem, Mohammad

    2012-01-01

    Genetic variation is believed to be a prerequisite for the short-and long-term survival of the plant species in their natural habitat. It depends on many environmental factors which determine the number of alleles on various loci in the genome. Therefore, it is important to understand the genetic composition and structure of the rare and endangered plant species from their natural habitat to develop successful management strategies for their conservation. However, rare and endangered plant species have low genetic diversity due to which their survival rate is decreasing in the wilds. The evaluation of genetic diversity of such species is very important for their conservation and gene manipulation. However, plant species can be conserved by in situ and in vitro methods and each has advantages and disadvantages. DNA banking can be considered as a means of complimentary method for the conservation of plant species by preserving their genomic DNA at low temperatures. Such approach of preservation of biological information provides opportunity for researchers to search novel genes and its products. Therefore, in this review we are describing some potential biotechnological approaches for the conservation and further manipulation of these rare and endangered plant species to enhance their yield and quality traits.

  14. Conservation and co-option in developmental programmes: the importance of homology relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Becker May-Britt

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract One of the surprising insights gained from research in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo is that increasing diversity in body plans and morphology in organisms across animal phyla are not reflected in similarly dramatic changes at the level of gene composition of their genomes. For instance, simplicity at the tissue level of organization often contrasts with a high degree of genetic complexity. Also intriguing is the observation that the coding regions of several genes of invertebrates show high sequence similarity to those in humans. This lack of change (conservation indicates that evolutionary novelties may arise more frequently through combinatorial processes, such as changes in gene regulation and the recruitment of novel genes into existing regulatory gene networks (co-option, and less often through adaptive evolutionary processes in the coding portions of a gene. As a consequence, it is of great interest to examine whether the widespread conservation of the genetic machinery implies the same developmental function in a last common ancestor, or whether homologous genes acquired new developmental roles in structures of independent phylogenetic origin. To distinguish between these two possibilities one must refer to current concepts of phylogeny reconstruction and carefully investigate homology relationships. Particularly problematic in terms of homology decisions is the use of gene expression patterns of a given structure. In the future, research on more organisms other than the typical model systems will be required since these can provide insights that are not easily obtained from comparisons among only a few distantly related model species.

  15. Geospatial database for heritage building conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basir, W. N. F. W. A.; Setan, H.; Majid, Z.; Chong, A.

    2014-02-01

    Heritage buildings are icons from the past that exist in present time. Through heritage architecture, we can learn about economic issues and social activities of the past. Nowadays, heritage buildings are under threat from natural disaster, uncertain weather, pollution and others. In order to preserve this heritage for the future generation, recording and documenting of heritage buildings are required. With the development of information system and data collection technique, it is possible to create a 3D digital model. This 3D information plays an important role in recording and documenting heritage buildings. 3D modeling and virtual reality techniques have demonstrated the ability to visualize the real world in 3D. It can provide a better platform for communication and understanding of heritage building. Combining 3D modelling with technology of Geographic Information System (GIS) will create a database that can make various analyses about spatial data in the form of a 3D model. Objectives of this research are to determine the reliability of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) technique for data acquisition of heritage building and to develop a geospatial database for heritage building conservation purposes. The result from data acquisition will become a guideline for 3D model development. This 3D model will be exported to the GIS format in order to develop a database for heritage building conservation. In this database, requirements for heritage building conservation process are included. Through this research, a proper database for storing and documenting of the heritage building conservation data will be developed.

  16. Geospatial database for heritage building conservation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basir, W N F W A; Setan, H; Majid, Z; Chong, A

    2014-01-01

    Heritage buildings are icons from the past that exist in present time. Through heritage architecture, we can learn about economic issues and social activities of the past. Nowadays, heritage buildings are under threat from natural disaster, uncertain weather, pollution and others. In order to preserve this heritage for the future generation, recording and documenting of heritage buildings are required. With the development of information system and data collection technique, it is possible to create a 3D digital model. This 3D information plays an important role in recording and documenting heritage buildings. 3D modeling and virtual reality techniques have demonstrated the ability to visualize the real world in 3D. It can provide a better platform for communication and understanding of heritage building. Combining 3D modelling with technology of Geographic Information System (GIS) will create a database that can make various analyses about spatial data in the form of a 3D model. Objectives of this research are to determine the reliability of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) technique for data acquisition of heritage building and to develop a geospatial database for heritage building conservation purposes. The result from data acquisition will become a guideline for 3D model development. This 3D model will be exported to the GIS format in order to develop a database for heritage building conservation. In this database, requirements for heritage building conservation process are included. Through this research, a proper database for storing and documenting of the heritage building conservation data will be developed

  17. Constraints of a parity-conserving/time-reversal-non-conserving interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oers, Willem T.H. van

    2002-01-01

    Time-Reversal-Invariance non-conservation has for the first time been unequivocally demonstrated in a direct measurement at CPLEAR. One then can ask the question: What about tests of time-reversal-invariance in systems other than the kaon system? Tests of time-reversal-invariance can be distinguished as belonging to two classes: the first one deals with time-reversal-invariance-non-conserving (T-odd)/parity violating (P-odd) interactions, while the second one deals with T-odd/P-even interactions (assuming CPT conservation this implies C-conjugation non-conservation). Limits on a T-odd/P-odd interaction follow from measurements of the electric dipole moment of the neutron ( -26 e.cm [95% C.L.]). It provides a limit on a T-odd/P-odd pion-nucleon coupling constant which is less than 10 -4 times the weak interaction strength. Experimental limits on a T-odd/P-even interaction are much less stringent. Following the standard approach of describing the nucleon-nucleon interaction in terms of meson exchanges, it can be shown that only charged ρ-meson exchange and A 1 -meson exchange can lead to a T-odd/P-even interaction. The better constraints stem from measurements of the electric dipole moment of the neutron and from measurements of charge-symmetry breaking in neutron-proton elastic scattering. The latter experiments were executed at TRIUMF (497 and 347 MeV) and at IUCF (183 MeV). All other experiments, like detailed balance experiments, polarization - analyzing power difference determinations, and five-fold correlation experiments with polarized incident nucleons and aligned nuclear targets, have been shown to be at least an order to magnitude less sensitive. Is there room for further experimentation?

  18. Assessment of some high-order finite difference schemes on the scalar conservation law with periodical conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alina BOGOI

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Supersonic/hypersonic flows with strong shocks need special treatment in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD in order to accurately capture the discontinuity location and his magnitude. To avoid numerical instabilities in the presence of discontinuities, the numerical schemes must generate low dissipation and low dispersion error. Consequently, the algorithms used to calculate the time and space-derivatives, should exhibit a low amplitude and phase error. This paper focuses on the comparison of the numerical results obtained by simulations with some high resolution numerical schemes applied on linear and non-linear one-dimensional conservation low. The analytical solutions are provided for all benchmark tests considering smooth periodical conditions. All the schemes converge to the proper weak solution for linear flux and smooth initial conditions. However, when the flux is non-linear, the discontinuities may develop from smooth initial conditions and the shock must be correctly captured. All the schemes accurately identify the shock position, with the price of the numerical oscillation in the vicinity of the sudden variation. We believe that the identification of this pure numerical behavior, without physical relevance, in 1D case is extremely useful to avoid problems related to the stability and convergence of the solution in the general 3D case.

  19. Variation in MHC class II B genes in marbled murrelets: implications for delineating conservation units

    Science.gov (United States)

    C. Vásquez-Carrillo; V. Friesen; L. Hall; M.Z. Peery

    2013-01-01

    Conserving genetic variation is critical for maintaining the evolutionary potential and viability of a species. Genetic studies seeking to delineate conservation units, however, typically focus on characterizing neutral genetic variation and may not identify populations harboring local adaptations. Here, variation at two major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II...

  20. Asymmetrical distribution of non-conserved regulatory sequences at PHOX2B is reflected at the ENCODE loci and illuminates a possible genome-wide trend

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McCallion Andrew S

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Transcriptional regulatory elements are central to development and interspecific phenotypic variation. Current regulatory element prediction tools rely heavily upon conservation for prediction of putative elements. Recent in vitro observations from the ENCODE project combined with in vivo analyses at the zebrafish phox2b locus suggests that a significant fraction of regulatory elements may fall below commonly applied metrics of conservation. We propose to explore these observations in vivo at the human PHOX2B locus, and also evaluate the potential evidence for genome-wide applicability of these observations through a novel analysis of extant data. Results Transposon-based transgenic analysis utilizing a tiling path proximal to human PHOX2B in zebrafish recapitulates the observations at the zebrafish phox2b locus of both conserved and non-conserved regulatory elements. Analysis of human sequences conserved with previously identified zebrafish phox2b regulatory elements demonstrates that the orthologous sequences exhibit overlapping regulatory control. Additionally, analysis of non-conserved sequences scattered over 135 kb 5' to PHOX2B, provides evidence of non-conserved regulatory elements positively biased with close proximity to the gene. Furthermore, we provide a novel analysis of data from the ENCODE project, finding a non-uniform distribution of regulatory elements consistent with our in vivo observations at PHOX2B. These observations remain largely unchanged when one accounts for the sequence repeat content of the assayed intervals, when the intervals are sub-classified by biological role (developmental versus non-developmental, or by gene density (gene desert versus non-gene desert. Conclusion While regulatory elements frequently display evidence of evolutionary conservation, a fraction appears to be undetected by current metrics of conservation. In vivo observations at the PHOX2B locus, supported by our analyses of in

  1. Expression profiling of hypothetical genes in Desulfovibrio vulgaris leads to improved functional annotation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elias, Dwayne A.; Mukhopadhyay, Aindrila; Joachimiak, Marcin P.; Drury, Elliott C.; Redding, Alyssa M.; Yen, Huei-Che B.; Fields, Matthew W.; Hazen, Terry C.; Arkin, Adam P.; Keasling, Jay D.; Wall, Judy D.

    2008-10-27

    Hypothetical and conserved hypothetical genes account for>30percent of sequenced bacterial genomes. For the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough, 347 of the 3634 genes were annotated as conserved hypothetical (9.5percent) along with 887 hypothetical genes (24.4percent). Given the large fraction of the genome, it is plausible that some of these genes serve critical cellular roles. The study goals were to determine which genes were expressed and provide a more functionally based annotation. To accomplish this, expression profiles of 1234 hypothetical and conserved genes were used from transcriptomic datasets of 11 environmental stresses, complemented with shotgun LC-MS/MS and AMT tag proteomic data. Genes were divided into putatively polycistronic operons and those predicted to be monocistronic, then classified by basal expression levels and grouped according to changes in expression for one or multiple stresses. 1212 of these genes were transcribed with 786 producing detectable proteins. There was no evidence for expression of 17 predicted genes. Except for the latter, monocistronic gene annotation was expanded using the above criteria along with matching Clusters of Orthologous Groups. Polycistronic genes were annotated in the same manner with inferences from their proximity to more confidently annotated genes. Two targeted deletion mutants were used as test cases to determine the relevance of the inferred functional annotations.

  2. Identifying missing dictionary entries with frequency-conserving context models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Jake Ryland; Clark, Eric M.; Bagrow, James P.; Danforth, Christopher M.; Dodds, Peter Sheridan

    2015-10-01

    In an effort to better understand meaning from natural language texts, we explore methods aimed at organizing lexical objects into contexts. A number of these methods for organization fall into a family defined by word ordering. Unlike demographic or spatial partitions of data, these collocation models are of special importance for their universal applicability. While we are interested here in text and have framed our treatment appropriately, our work is potentially applicable to other areas of research (e.g., speech, genomics, and mobility patterns) where one has ordered categorical data (e.g., sounds, genes, and locations). Our approach focuses on the phrase (whether word or larger) as the primary meaning-bearing lexical unit and object of study. To do so, we employ our previously developed framework for generating word-conserving phrase-frequency data. Upon training our model with the Wiktionary, an extensive, online, collaborative, and open-source dictionary that contains over 100 000 phrasal definitions, we develop highly effective filters for the identification of meaningful, missing phrase entries. With our predictions we then engage the editorial community of the Wiktionary and propose short lists of potential missing entries for definition, developing a breakthrough, lexical extraction technique and expanding our knowledge of the defined English lexicon of phrases.

  3. Tissue repair genes: the TiRe database and its implication for skin wound healing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanai, Hagai; Budovsky, Arie; Tacutu, Robi; Barzilay, Thomer; Abramovich, Amir; Ziesche, Rolf; Fraifeld, Vadim E

    2016-04-19

    Wound healing is an inherent feature of any multicellular organism and recent years have brought about a huge amount of data regarding regular and abnormal tissue repair. Despite the accumulated knowledge, modulation of wound healing is still a major biomedical challenge, especially in advanced ages. In order to collect and systematically organize what we know about the key players in wound healing, we created the TiRe (Tissue Repair) database, an online collection of genes and proteins that were shown to directly affect skin wound healing. To date, TiRe contains 397 entries for four organisms: Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, Sus domesticus, and Homo sapiens. Analysis of the TiRe dataset of skin wound healing-associated genes showed that skin wound healing genes are (i) over-conserved among vertebrates, but are under-conserved in invertebrates; (ii) enriched in extracellular and immuno-inflammatory genes; and display (iii) high interconnectivity and connectivity to other proteins. The latter may provide potential therapeutic targets. In addition, a slower or faster skin wound healing is indicative of an aging or longevity phenotype only when assessed in advanced ages, but not in the young. In the long run, we aim for TiRe to be a one-station resource that provides researchers and clinicians with the essential data needed for a better understanding of the mechanisms of wound healing, designing new experiments, and the development of new therapeutic strategies. TiRe is freely available online at http://www.tiredb.org.

  4. Genetic structure and gene flow among Komodo dragon populations inferred by microsatellite loci analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciofi, C; Bruford, M W

    1999-12-01

    A general concern for the conservation of endangered species is the maintenance of genetic variation within populations, particularly when they become isolated and reduced in size. Estimates of gene flow and effective population size are therefore important for any conservation initiative directed to the long-term persistence of a species in its natural habitat. In the present study, 10 microsatellite loci were used to assess the level of genetic variability among populations of the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis. Effective population size was calculated and gene flow estimates were compared with palaeogeographic data in order to assess the degree of vulnerability of four island populations. Rinca and Flores, currently separated by an isthmus of about 200 m, retained a high level of genetic diversity and showed a high degree of genetic similarity, with gene flow values close to one migrant per generation. The island of Komodo showed by far the highest levels of genetic divergence, and its allelic distinctiveness was considered of great importance in the maintenance of genetic variability within the species. A lack of distinct alleles and low levels of gene flow and genetic variability were found for the small population of Gili Motang island, which was identified as vulnerable to stochastic threats. Our results are potentially important for both the short- and long-term management of the Komodo dragon, and are critical in view of future re-introduction or augmentation in areas where the species is now extinct or depleted.

  5. [Divergence of paralogous growth-hormone-encoding genes and their promoters in Salmonidae].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamenskaya, D N; Pankova, M V; Atopkin, D M; Brykov, V A

    2017-01-01

    In many fish species, including salmonids, the growth-hormone is encoded by two duplicated paralogous genes, gh1 and gh2. Both genes were already in place at the time of divergence of species in this group. A comparison of the entire sequence of these genes of salmonids has shown that their conserved regions are associated with exons, while their most variable regions correspond to introns. Introns C and D include putative regulatory elements (sites Pit-1, CRE, and ERE), that are also conserved. In chars, the degree of polymorphism of gh2 gene is 2-3 times as large as that in gh1 gene. However, a comparison across all Salmonidae species would not extent this observation to other species. In both these chars' genes, the promoters are conserved mainly because they correspond to putative regulatory sequences (TATA box, binding sites for the pituitary transcription factor Pit-1 (F1-F4), CRE, GRE and RAR/RXR elements). The promoter of gh2 gene has a greater degree of polymorphism compared with gh1 gene promoter in all investigated species of salmonids. The observed differences in the rates of accumulation of changes in growth hormone encoding paralogs could be explained by differences in the intensity of selection.

  6. Evolution of the paralogous hap and iga genes in Haemophilus influenzae: evidence for a conserved hap pseudogene associated with microcolony formation in the recently diverged Haemophilus aegyptius and H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kilian, Mogens; Poulsen, Knud; Lomholt, Hans Bredsted

    2002-01-01

    genetic polymorphism and pronounced mosaic-like patterns in both genes, but no evidence of intrastrain recombination between the two genes. A conserved hap pseudogene was present in all strains of H. aegyptius and H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius, each of which constituted distinct subpopulations...... on conjunctival cells, previously termed microcolony formation. The fact that individual hap pseudogenes differed from the ancestral sequence by zero to two positions within a 1.5 kb stretch suggests that the silencing event happened approximately 2000-11,000 years ago. Divergence of H. aegyptius and H...

  7. Analysis of four achaete-scute homologs in Bombyx mori reveals new viewpoints of the evolution and functions of this gene family

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Yongzhu

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background achaete-scute complexe (AS-C has been widely studied at genetic, developmental and evolutional levels. Genes of this family encode proteins containing a highly conserved bHLH domain, which take part in the regulation of the development of central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Many AS-C homologs have been isolated from various vertebrates and invertebrates. Also, AS-C genes are duplicated during the evolution of Diptera. Functions besides neural development controlling have also been found in Drosophila AS-C genes. Results We cloned four achaete-scute homologs (ASH from the lepidopteran model organism Bombyx mori, including three proneural genes and one neural precursor gene. Proteins encoded by them contained the characteristic bHLH domain and the three proneural ones were also found to have the C-terminal conserved motif. These genes regulated promoter activity through the Class A E-boxes in vitro. Though both Bm-ASH and Drosophila AS-C have four members, they are not in one by one corresponding relationships. Results of RT-PCR and real-time PCR showed that Bm-ASH genes were expressed in different larval tissues, and had well-regulated expressional profiles during the development of embryo and wing/wing disc. Conclusion There are four achaete-scute homologs in Bombyx mori, the second insect having four AS-C genes so far, and these genes have multiple functions in silkworm life cycle. AS-C gene duplication in insects occurs after or parallel to, but not before the taxonomic order formation during evolution.

  8. Structure and chromosomal localization of the human renal kallikrein gene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evans, B.A.; Yun, Z.X.; Close, J.A.

    1988-01-01

    Glandular kallikreins are a family of proteases encoded by a variable number of genes in different mammalian species. In all species examined, however, one particular kallikrein is functionally conserved in its capacity to release the vasoactive peptide, Lys-bradykinin, from low molecular weight kininogen. This kallikrein is found in the kidney, pancreas, and salivary gland, showing a unique pattern of tissue-specific expression relative to other members of the family. The authors have isolated a genomic clone carrying the human renal kallikrein gene and compared the nucleotide sequence of its promoter region with those of the mouse renal kallikrein gene and another mouse kallikrein gene expressed in a distinct cell type. They find four sequence elements conserved between renal kallikrein genes from the two species. They have also shown that the human gene is localized to 19q13, a position analogous to that of the kallikrein gene family on mouse chromosome 7

  9. Conserving marine biodiversity: insights from life-history trait candidate genes in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Jakob Hemmer; Therkildsen, Nina Overgaard; Meldrup, Dorte

    2014-01-01

    Recent technological developments have facilitated an increased focus on identifying genomic regions underlying adaptive trait variation in natural populations, and it has been advocated that this information should be important for designating population units for conservation. In marine fishes...... are under selection in natural populations of Atlantic cod. Furthermore, we find that patterns of variation in outlier markers do not align with those observed at selectively neutral markers, and that outlier markers identify conservation units on finer geographical scales than those revealed when analysing...... only neutral markers. Accordingly, results also suggest that information about adaptive genetic variation will be useful for targeted conservation and management in this and other marine species...

  10. Aligning science and policy to achieve evolutionarily enlightened conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Carly N; Sgrò, Carla M

    2017-06-01

    There is increasing recognition among conservation scientists that long-term conservation outcomes could be improved through better integration of evolutionary theory into management practices. Despite concerns that the importance of key concepts emerging from evolutionary theory (i.e., evolutionary principles and processes) are not being recognized by managers, there has been little effort to determine the level of integration of evolutionary theory into conservation policy and practice. We assessed conservation policy at 3 scales (international, national, and provincial) on 3 continents to quantify the degree to which key evolutionary concepts, such as genetic diversity and gene flow, are being incorporated into conservation practice. We also evaluated the availability of clear guidance within the applied evolutionary biology literature as to how managers can change their management practices to achieve better conservation outcomes. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of maintaining genetic diversity, conservation policies provide little guidance about how this can be achieved in practice and other relevant evolutionary concepts, such as inbreeding depression, are mentioned rarely. In some cases the poor integration of evolutionary concepts into management reflects a lack of decision-support tools in the literature. Where these tools are available, such as risk-assessment frameworks, they are not being adopted by conservation policy makers, suggesting that the availability of a strong evidence base is not the only barrier to evolutionarily enlightened management. We believe there is a clear need for more engagement by evolutionary biologists with policy makers to develop practical guidelines that will help managers make changes to conservation practice. There is also an urgent need for more research to better understand the barriers to and opportunities for incorporating evolutionary theory into conservation practice. © 2016 Society for Conservation

  11. The rde-1 gene, RNA interference, and transposon silencing in C. elegans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabara, H; Sarkissian, M; Kelly, W G; Fleenor, J; Grishok, A; Timmons, L; Fire, A; Mello, C C

    1999-10-15

    Double-stranded (ds) RNA can induce sequence-specific inhibition of gene function in several organisms. However, both the mechanism and the physiological role of the interference process remain mysterious. In order to study the interference process, we have selected C. elegans mutants resistant to dsRNA-mediated interference (RNAi). Two loci, rde-1 and rde-4, are defined by mutants strongly resistant to RNAi but with no obvious defects in growth or development. We show that rde-1 is a member of the piwi/sting/argonaute/zwille/eIF2C gene family conserved from plants to vertebrates. Interestingly, several, but not all, RNAi-deficient strains exhibit mobilization of the endogenous transposons. We discuss implications for the mechanism of RNAi and the possibility that one natural function of RNAi is transposon silencing.

  12. Characterization of TALE genes expression during the first lineage segregation in mammalian embryos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sonnet, Wendy; Rezsöhazy, Rene; Donnay, Isabelle

    2012-11-01

    Three amino acid loop extension (TALE) homeodomain-containing transcription factors are generally recognized for their role in organogenesis and differentiation during embryogenesis. However, very little is known about the expression and function of Meis, Pbx, and Prep genes during early development. In order to determine whether TALE proteins could contribute to the early cell fate decisions in mammalian development, this study aimed to characterize in a systematic manner the pattern of expression of all Meis, Pbx, and Prep genes from the precompaction to blastocyst stage corresponding to the first step of cell differentiation in mammals. To reveal to what extent TALE genes expression at these early stages is a conserved feature among mammals, this study was performed in parallel in the bovine and mouse models. We demonstrated the transcription and translation of TALE genes, before gastrulation in the two species. At least one member of Meis, Pbx, and Prep subfamilies was found expressed at the RNA and protein levels but different patterns of expression were observed between genes and between species, suggesting specific gene regulations. Taken together, these results suggest a previously unexpected involvement of these factors during the early development in mammals. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Infinite set of conservation laws for relativistic string

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isaev, A.P.

    1981-01-01

    The solution of the Cauchy problem has been found. An infinite class of conserving values Jsub(α) for a free closed relativistic string has been constructed. Jsub(α) values characterize three-parametric generating functions of conservation laws. It is shown using particular examples that it is necessary to order subintegral expressions of quantum values Jsub(α) and do not disturb a property of commutativity with a hamiltonian to attach sense to these values [ru

  14. Molecular Characterization and Expression Analysis of Creatine Kinase Muscle (CK-M) Gene in Horse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Do, Kyong-Tak; Cho, Hyun-Woo; Badrinath, Narayanasamy; Park, Jeong-Woong; Choi, Jae-Young; Chung, Young-Hwa; Lee, Hak-Kyo; Song, Ki-Duk; Cho, Byung-Wook

    2015-12-01

    Since ancient days, domestic horses have been closely associated with human civilization. Today, horse racing is an important industry. Various genes involved in energy production and muscle contraction are differentially regulated during a race. Among them, creatine kinase (CK) is well known for its regulation of energy preservation in animal cells. CK is an iso-enzyme, encoded by different genes and expressed in skeletal muscle, heart, brain and leucocytes. We confirmed that the expression of CK-M significantly increased in the blood after a 30 minute exercise period, while no considerable change was observed in skeletal muscle. Analysis of various tissues showed an ubiquitous expression of the CK-M gene in the horse; CK-M mRNA expression was predominant in the skeletal muscle and the cardiac muscle compared to other tissues. An evolutionary study by synonymous and non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism ratio of CK-M gene revealed a positive selection that was conserved in the horse. More studies are warranted in order to develop the expression of CK-M gene as a biomarker in blood of thoroughbred horses.

  15. Conservation of the response regulator gene gacA in Pseudomonas species

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Souza, J.T.; Mazzola, M.; Raaijmakers, J.M.

    2003-01-01

    The response regulator gene gacA influences the production of several secondary metabolites in both pathogenic and beneficial Pseudomonas spp. In this study, we developed primers and a probe for the gacA gene of Pseudomonas species and sequenced a 425 bp fragment of gacA from ten Pseudomonas strains

  16. An interspecific fungal hybrid reveals cross-kingdom rules for allopolyploid gene expression patterns.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murray P Cox

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Polyploidy, a state in which the chromosome complement has undergone an increase, is a major force in evolution. Understanding the consequences of polyploidy has received much attention, and allopolyploids, which result from the union of two different parental genomes, are of particular interest because they must overcome a suite of biological responses to this merger, known as "genome shock." A key question is what happens to gene expression of the two gene copies following allopolyploidization, but until recently the tools to answer this question on a genome-wide basis were lacking. Here we utilize high throughput transcriptome sequencing to produce the first genome-wide picture of gene expression response to allopolyploidy in fungi. A novel pipeline for assigning sequence reads to the gene copies was used to quantify their expression in a fungal allopolyploid. We find that the transcriptional response to allopolyploidy is predominantly conservative: both copies of most genes are retained; over half the genes inherit parental gene expression patterns; and parental differential expression is often lost in the allopolyploid. Strikingly, the patterns of gene expression change are highly concordant with the genome-wide expression results of a cotton allopolyploid. The very different nature of these two allopolyploids implies a conserved, eukaryote-wide transcriptional response to genome merger. We provide evidence that the transcriptional responses we observe are mostly driven by intrinsic differences between the regulatory systems in the parent species, and from this propose a mechanistic model in which the cross-kingdom conservation in transcriptional response reflects conservation of the mutational processes underlying eukaryotic gene regulatory evolution. This work provides a platform to develop a universal understanding of gene expression response to allopolyploidy and suggests that allopolyploids are an exceptional system to investigate gene

  17. Deep sequencing discovery of novel and conserved microRNAs in trifoliate orange (Citrus trifoliata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Huaping

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs play a critical role in post-transcriptional gene regulation and have been shown to control many genes involved in various biological and metabolic processes. There have been extensive studies to discover miRNAs and analyze their functions in model plant species, such as Arabidopsis and rice. Deep sequencing technologies have facilitated identification of species-specific or lowly expressed as well as conserved or highly expressed miRNAs in plants. Results In this research, we used Solexa sequencing to discover new microRNAs in trifoliate orange (Citrus trifoliata which is an important rootstock of citrus. A total of 13,106,753 reads representing 4,876,395 distinct sequences were obtained from a short RNA library generated from small RNA extracted from C. trifoliata flower and fruit tissues. Based on sequence similarity and hairpin structure prediction, we found that 156,639 reads representing 63 sequences from 42 highly conserved miRNA families, have perfect matches to known miRNAs. We also identified 10 novel miRNA candidates whose precursors were all potentially generated from citrus ESTs. In addition, five miRNA* sequences were also sequenced. These sequences had not been earlier described in other plant species and accumulation of the 10 novel miRNAs were confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis. Potential target genes were predicted for most conserved and novel miRNAs. Moreover, four target genes including one encoding IRX12 copper ion binding/oxidoreductase and three genes encoding NB-LRR disease resistance protein have been experimentally verified by detection of the miRNA-mediated mRNA cleavage in C. trifoliata. Conclusion Deep sequencing of short RNAs from C. trifoliata flowers and fruits identified 10 new potential miRNAs and 42 highly conserved miRNA families, indicating that specific miRNAs exist in C. trifoliata. These results show that regulatory miRNAs exist in agronomically important trifoliate orange

  18. Evidence for widespread degradation of gene control regions in hominid genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter D Keightley

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Although sequences containing regulatory elements located close to protein-coding genes are often only weakly conserved during evolution, comparisons of rodent genomes have implied that these sequences are subject to some selective constraints. Evolutionary conservation is particularly apparent upstream of coding sequences and in first introns, regions that are enriched for regulatory elements. By comparing the human and chimpanzee genomes, we show here that there is almost no evidence for conservation in these regions in hominids. Furthermore, we show that gene expression is diverging more rapidly in hominids than in murids per unit of neutral sequence divergence. By combining data on polymorphism levels in human noncoding DNA and the corresponding human-chimpanzee divergence, we show that the proportion of adaptive substitutions in these regions in hominids is very low. It therefore seems likely that the lack of conservation and increased rate of gene expression divergence are caused by a reduction in the effectiveness of natural selection against deleterious mutations because of the low effective population sizes of hominids. This has resulted in the accumulation of a large number of deleterious mutations in sequences containing gene control elements and hence a widespread degradation of the genome during the evolution of humans and chimpanzees.

  19. The glycoprotein genes and gene junctions of the fish rhabdoviruses spring viremia of carp virus and hirame rhabdovirus: Analysis of relationships with other rhabdoviruses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bjorklund, H.V.; Higman, K.H.; Kurath, G.

    1996-01-01

    The nucleotide sequences of the glycoprotein genes and all of the internal gene junctions of the fish pathogenic rhabdoviruses spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) and hirame rhabdovirus (HIRRV) have been determined from cDNA clones generated from viral genomic RNA. The SVCV glycoprotein gene sequence is 1588 nucleotides (nt) long and encodes a 509 amino acid (aa) protein. The HIRRV glycoprotein gene sequence comprises 1612 nt, coding for a 508 aa protein. In sequence comparisons of 15 rhabdovirus glycoproteins, the SVCV glycoprotein gene showed the highest amino acid sequence identity (31.2–33.2%) with vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus (VSNJV), Chandipura virus (CHPV) and vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus (VSIV). The HIRRV glycoprotein gene showed a very high amino acid sequence identity (74.3%) with the glycoprotein gene of another fish pathogenic rhabdovirus, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), but no significant similarity with glycoproteins of VSIV or rabies virus (RABV). In phylogenetic analyses SVCV was grouped consistently with VSIV, VSNJV and CHPV in the Vesiculovirus genus of Rhabdoviridae. The fish rhabdoviruses HIRRV, IHNV and viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) showed close relationships with each other, but only very distant relationships with mammalian rhabdoviruses. The gene junctions are highly conserved between SVCV and VSIV, well conserved between IHNV and HIRRV, but not conserved between HIRRV/IHNV and RABV. Based on the combined results we suggest that the fish lyssa-type rhabdoviruses HIRRV, IHNV and VHSV may be grouped in their own genus within the family Rhabdoviridae. Aquarhabdovirus has been proposed for the name of this new genus.

  20. Genome-wide identification, subcellular localization and gene expression analysis of the members of CESA gene family in common tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zong-Chang; Kong, Yingzhen

    2017-06-20

    Cellulose-synthase proteins (CESAs) are membrane localized proteins and they form protein complexes to produce cellulose in the plasma membrane. CESA proteins play very important roles in cell wall construction during plant growth and development. In this study, a total of 21 NtCESA gene sequences were identified by using PF03552 conserved protein sequence and 10 AtCESA protein sequences of Arabidopsis thaliana to blast against the common tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) genome database with TBLASTN protocol. We analyzed the physical and chemical properties of protein sequences based on some software or on-line analysis tools. The results showed that there were no significant variances in terms of the physical and chemical properties of the 21 NtCESA proteins. First, phylogenetic tree analysis showed that 21 NtCESA genes and 10 AtCESA genes were clustered into five groups, and the gene structures were similar among the genes that are clustered into the same group. Second, in all of the 21 NtCESA proteins the conserved zinc finger domain was identified in the N-terminus, transmembrane domains were identified in the C-terminus and the DDD-QXXRW conserved domains were also identified. Third, gene expression analysis results indicated that most NtCESA genes were expressed in roots and leaves of seedling or mature tissues of tobacco, seeds and callus tissues. The genes that clustered into the same group share similar expression patterns. Importantly, NtCESA proteins that are involved in secondary cell wall cellulose synthesis have two extra transmembrane domains compared with that involved in primary cell wall cellulose biosynthesis. In addition, subcellular localization results showed that NtCESA9 and NtCESA14 were two plasma membrane anchored proteins. This study will lay a foundation for further functional characterization of these NtCESA genes.

  1. The evolutionarily conserved transcription factor PRDM12 controls sensory neuron development and pain perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagy, Vanja; Cole, Tiffany; Van Campenhout, Claude; Khoung, Thang M; Leung, Calvin; Vermeiren, Simon; Novatchkova, Maria; Wenzel, Daniel; Cikes, Domagoj; Polyansky, Anton A; Kozieradzki, Ivona; Meixner, Arabella; Bellefroid, Eric J; Neely, G Gregory; Penninger, Josef M

    2015-01-01

    PR homology domain-containing member 12 (PRDM12) belongs to a family of conserved transcription factors implicated in cell fate decisions. Here we show that PRDM12 is a key regulator of sensory neuronal specification in Xenopus. Modeling of human PRDM12 mutations that cause hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN) revealed remarkable conservation of the mutated residues in evolution. Expression of wild-type human PRDM12 in Xenopus induced the expression of sensory neuronal markers, which was reduced using various human PRDM12 mutants. In Drosophila, we identified Hamlet as the functional PRDM12 homolog that controls nociceptive behavior in sensory neurons. Furthermore, expression analysis of human patient fibroblasts with PRDM12 mutations uncovered possible downstream target genes. Knockdown of several of these target genes including thyrotropin-releasing hormone degrading enzyme (TRHDE) in Drosophila sensory neurons resulted in altered cellular morphology and impaired nociception. These data show that PRDM12 and its functional fly homolog Hamlet are evolutionary conserved master regulators of sensory neuronal specification and play a critical role in pain perception. Our data also uncover novel pathways in multiple species that regulate evolutionary conserved nociception.

  2. Comparative gene expression between two yeast species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guan Yuanfang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Comparative genomics brings insight into sequence evolution, but even more may be learned by coupling sequence analyses with experimental tests of gene function and regulation. However, the reliability of such comparisons is often limited by biased sampling of expression conditions and incomplete knowledge of gene functions across species. To address these challenges, we previously systematically generated expression profiles in Saccharomyces bayanus to maximize functional coverage as compared to an existing Saccharomyces cerevisiae data repository. Results In this paper, we take advantage of these two data repositories to compare patterns of ortholog expression in a wide variety of conditions. First, we developed a scalable metric for expression divergence that enabled us to detect a significant correlation between sequence and expression conservation on the global level, which previous smaller-scale expression studies failed to detect. Despite this global conservation trend, between-species gene expression neighborhoods were less well-conserved than within-species comparisons across different environmental perturbations, and approximately 4% of orthologs exhibited a significant change in co-expression partners. Furthermore, our analysis of matched perturbations collected in both species (such as diauxic shift and cell cycle synchrony demonstrated that approximately a quarter of orthologs exhibit condition-specific expression pattern differences. Conclusions Taken together, these analyses provide a global view of gene expression patterns between two species, both in terms of the conditions and timing of a gene's expression as well as co-expression partners. Our results provide testable hypotheses that will direct future experiments to determine how these changes may be specified in the genome.

  3. A unique box in 28S rRNA is shared by the enigmatic insect order Zoraptera and Dictyoptera.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanhui Wang

    Full Text Available The position of the Zoraptera remains one of the most challenging and uncertain concerns in ordinal-level phylogenies of the insects. Zoraptera have been viewed as having a close relationship with five different groups of Polyneoptera, or as being allied to the Paraneoptera or even Holometabola. Although rDNAs have been widely used in phylogenetic studies of insects, the application of the complete 28S rDNA are still scattered in only a few orders. In this study, a secondary structure model of the complete 28S rRNAs of insects was reconstructed based on all orders of Insecta. It was found that one length-variable region, D3-4, is particularly distinctive. The length and/or sequence of D3-4 is conservative within each order of Polyneoptera, but it can be divided into two types between the different orders of the supercohort, of which the enigmatic order Zoraptera and Dictyoptera share one type, while the remaining orders of Polyneoptera share the other. Additionally, independent evidence from phylogenetic results support the clade (Zoraptera+Dictyoptera as well. Thus, the similarity of D3-4 between Zoraptera and Dictyoptera can serve as potentially valuable autapomorphy or synapomorphy in phylogeny reconstruction. The clades of (Plecoptera+Dermaptera and ((Grylloblattodea+Mantophasmatodea+(Embiodea+Phasmatodea were also recovered in the phylogenetic study. In addition, considering the other studies based on rDNAs, this study reached the highest congruence with previous phylogenetic studies of Holometabola based on nuclear protein coding genes or morphology characters. Future comparative studies of secondary structures across deep divergences and additional taxa are likely to reveal conserved patterns, structures and motifs that can provide support for major phylogenetic lineages.

  4. Analysis of an ordered, comprehensive STM mutant library in infectious Borrelia burgdorferi: insights into the genes required for mouse infectivity.

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    Tao Lin

    Full Text Available The identification of genes important in the pathogenesis of Lyme disease Borrelia has been hampered by exceedingly low transformation rates in low-passage, infectious organisms. Using the infectious, moderately transformable B. burgdorferi derivative 5A18NP1 and signature-tagged versions of the Himar1 transposon vector pGKT, we have constructed a defined transposon library for the efficient genome-wide investigation of genes required for wild-type pathogenesis, in vitro growth, physiology, morphology, and plasmid replication. To facilitate analysis, the insertion sites of 4,479 transposon mutants were determined by sequencing. The transposon insertions were widely distributed across the entire B. burgdorferi genome, with an average of 2.68 unique insertion sites per kb DNA. The 10 linear plasmids and 9 circular plasmids had insertions in 33 to 100 percent of their predicted genes. In contrast, only 35% of genes in the 910 kb linear chromosome had incapacitating insertions; therefore, the remaining 601 chromosomal genes may represent essential gene candidates. In initial signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM analyses, 434 mutants were examined at multiple tissue sites for infectivity in mice using a semi-quantitative, Luminex-based DNA detection method. Examples of genes found to be important in mouse infectivity included those involved in motility, chemotaxis, the phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system, and other transporters, as well as putative plasmid maintenance genes. Availability of this ordered STM library and a high-throughput screening method is expected to lead to efficient assessment of the roles of B. burgdorferi genes in the infectious cycle and pathogenesis of Lyme disease.

  5. Variable gene dispersal conditions and spatial deforestation patterns can interact to affect tropical tree conservation outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kashimshetty, Yamini; Pelikan, Stephan; Rogstad, Steven H

    2015-01-01

    Tropical lowland rain forest (TLRF) biodiversity is under threat from anthropogenic factors including deforestation which creates forest fragments of different sizes that can further undergo various internal patterns of logging. Such interventions can modify previous equilibrium abundance and spatial distribution patterns of offspring recruitment and/or pollen dispersal. Little is known about how these aspects of deforestation and fragmentation might synergistically affect TLRF tree recovery demographics and population genetics in newly formed forest fragments. To investigate these TLRF anthropogenic disturbance processes we used the computer program NEWGARDEN (NG), which models spatially-explicit, individual-based plant populations, to simulate 10% deforestation in six different spatial logging patterns for the plant functional type of a long-lived TLRF canopy tree species. Further, each logging pattern was analyzed under nine varying patterns of offspring versus pollen dispersal distances that could have arisen post-fragmentation. Results indicated that gene dispersal condition (especially via offspring) had a greater effect on population growth and genetic diversity retention (explaining 98.5% and 88.8% of the variance respectively) than spatial logging pattern (0.2% and 4.7% respectively), with 'Near' distance dispersal maximizing population growth and genetic diversity relative to distant dispersal. Within logged regions of the fragment, deforestation patterns closer to fragment borders more often exhibited lower population recovery rates and founding genetic diversity retention relative to more centrally located logging. These results suggest newly isolated fragments have populations that are more sensitive to the way in which their offspring and pollen dispersers are affected than the spatial pattern in which subsequent logging occurs, and that large variation in the recovery rates of different TLRF tree species attributable to altered gene dispersal

  6. Evidence for in vitro and in vivo expression of the conserved VAR3 (type 3) plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Christian W; Lavstsen, Thomas; Bengtsson, Dominique C

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Members of the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) adhesion antigen family are major contributors to the pathogenesis of P. falciparum malaria infections. The PfEMP1-encoding var genes are among the most diverse sequences in nature, but three genes......, var1, var2csa and var3 are found conserved in most parasite genomes. The most severe forms of malaria disease are caused by parasites expressing a subset of antigenically conserved PfEMP1 variants. Thus the ubiquitous and conserved VAR3 PfEMP1 is of particular interest to the research field. Evidence...... of VAR3 expression on the infected erythrocyte surface has never been presented, and var3 genes have been proposed to be transcribed and expressed differently from the rest of the var gene family members. METHODS: In this study, parasites expressing VAR3 PfEMP1 were generated using anti-VAR3 antibodies...

  7. A Hox Gene, Antennapedia, Regulates Expression of Multiple Major Silk Protein Genes in the Silkworm Bombyx mori.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsubota, Takuya; Tomita, Shuichiro; Uchino, Keiro; Kimoto, Mai; Takiya, Shigeharu; Kajiwara, Hideyuki; Yamazaki, Toshimasa; Sezutsu, Hideki

    2016-03-25

    Hoxgenes play a pivotal role in the determination of anteroposterior axis specificity during bilaterian animal development. They do so by acting as a master control and regulating the expression of genes important for development. Recently, however, we showed that Hoxgenes can also function in terminally differentiated tissue of the lepidopteranBombyx mori In this species,Antennapedia(Antp) regulates expression of sericin-1, a major silk protein gene, in the silk gland. Here, we investigated whether Antpcan regulate expression of multiple genes in this tissue. By means of proteomic, RT-PCR, and in situ hybridization analyses, we demonstrate that misexpression of Antpin the posterior silk gland induced ectopic expression of major silk protein genes such assericin-3,fhxh4, and fhxh5 These genes are normally expressed specifically in the middle silk gland as is Antp Therefore, the evidence strongly suggests that Antpactivates these silk protein genes in the middle silk gland. The putativesericin-1 activator complex (middle silk gland-intermolt-specific complex) can bind to the upstream regions of these genes, suggesting that Antpdirectly activates their expression. We also found that the pattern of gene expression was well conserved between B. moriand the wild species Bombyx mandarina, indicating that the gene regulation mechanism identified here is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism and not an artifact of the domestication of B. mori We suggest that Hoxgenes have a role as a master control in terminally differentiated tissues, possibly acting as a primary regulator for a range of physiological processes. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  8. Public Knowledge of Monarchs and Support for Butterfly Conservation

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    Jerrod Penn

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Pollinator populations in North America are in decline, including the iconic monarch butterfly. In order to determine if public knowledge of monarchs informs opinions on butterfly conservation, we surveyed the public to assess their knowledge of monarchs. We also asked participants about their attitudes towards general butterfly conservation and if they believe that butterfly gardens contribute to conservation. Respondents generally had some knowledge of monarchs but were unaware of monarch population declines and the necessity of milkweed to their life cycle. Respondent knowledge was correlated with more positive attitudes about butterfly conservation. Furthermore, membership in an environmental organization increased the likelihood that the participant had prior knowledge of monarchs and cared about monarch conservation. Respondent socioeconomic factors of age and sex were also significantly correlated with conservation attitudes—older and female participants had more positive attitudes towards general butterfly conservation. Interestingly, females were also less likely than males to admit having prior knowledge of monarchs, indicating that gender may also play an important role in conservation outreach efforts. Our study indicates that educational efforts need to be directed more toward individuals not already associated with an environmental organization as these individuals are predisposed to regard conservation positively.

  9. A direct Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian ADER-WENO finite volume scheme on unstructured tetrahedral meshes for conservative and non-conservative hyperbolic systems in 3D

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boscheri, Walter; Dumbser, Michael

    2014-10-01

    In this paper we present a new family of high order accurate Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) one-step ADER-WENO finite volume schemes for the solution of nonlinear systems of conservative and non-conservative hyperbolic partial differential equations with stiff source terms on moving tetrahedral meshes in three space dimensions. A WENO reconstruction technique is used to achieve high order of accuracy in space, while an element-local space-time Discontinuous Galerkin finite element predictor on moving curved meshes is used to obtain a high order accurate one-step time discretization. Within the space-time predictor the physical element is mapped onto a reference element using a high order isoparametric approach, where the space-time basis and test functions are given by the Lagrange interpolation polynomials passing through a predefined set of space-time nodes. Since our algorithm is cell-centered, the final mesh motion is computed by using a suitable node solver algorithm. A rezoning step as well as a flattener strategy are used in some of the test problems to avoid mesh tangling or excessive element deformations that may occur when the computation involves strong shocks or shear waves. The ALE algorithm presented in this article belongs to the so-called direct ALE methods because the final Lagrangian finite volume scheme is based directly on a space-time conservation formulation of the governing PDE system, with the rezoned geometry taken already into account during the computation of the fluxes. We apply our new high order unstructured ALE schemes to the 3D Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics, for which a set of classical numerical test problems has been solved and for which convergence rates up to sixth order of accuracy in space and time have been obtained. We furthermore consider the equations of classical ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) as well as the non-conservative seven-equation Baer-Nunziato model of compressible multi-phase flows with

  10. High-resolution finite-difference algorithms for conservation laws

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Towers, J.D.

    1987-01-01

    A new class of Total Variation Decreasing (TVD) schemes for 2-dimensional scalar conservation laws is constructed using either flux-limited or slope-limited numerical fluxes. The schemes are proven to have formal second-order accuracy in regions where neither u/sub x/ nor y/sub y/ vanishes. A new class of high-resolution large-time-step TVD schemes is constructed by adding flux-limited correction terms to the first-order accurate large-time-step version of the Engquist-Osher scheme. The use of the transport-collapse operator in place of the exact solution operator for the construction of difference schemes is studied. The production of spurious extrema by difference schemes is studied. A simple condition guaranteeing the nonproduction of spurious extrema is derived. A sufficient class of entropy inequalities for a conservation law with a flux having a single inflection point is presented. Finite-difference schemes satisfying a discrete version of each entropy inequality are only first-order accurate

  11. Numerical viscosity of entropy stable schemes for systems of conservation laws. Final Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tadmor, E.

    1985-11-01

    Discrete approximations to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws are studied. The amount of numerical viscosity present in such schemes is quantified and related to their entropy stability by means of comparison. To this end conservative schemes which are also entropy conservative are constructed. These entropy conservative schemes enjoy second-order accuracy; moreover, they admit a particular interpretation within the finite-element frameworks, and hence can be formulated on various mesh configurations. It is then shown that conservative schemes are entropy stable if and only if they contain more viscosity than the mentioned above entropy conservative ones

  12. Gene expression analysis of FABP4 in gastric cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdulkarim Yasin Karim

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Gastric cancer has high incidence and mortality rate in several countries and is still one of the most frequent and lethal disease. In this study, we aimed to determine diagnostic markers in gastric cancer by molecular techniques; include mRNA expression analysis of FABP4 gene. Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4 gene encodes the fatty acid binding protein found in adipocytes. The protein encoded by FABP4 are a family of small, highly conserved, cytoplasmic proteins that bind long-chain fatty acids and other hydrophobic ligands. It is thought that FABPs roles include fatty acid uptake, transport, and metabolism. Material and Methods: Total RNA were extracted from paired tumor and normal tissues of 47 gastric cancer. The mRNA expression level of FABP4 was measured employing semi- quantitative reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT- PCR. Results: The mRNA expression level of FABP4 was significantly decreased (down- regulated. Conclusion: Down-regulation of FABP4 gene seems to occur at the initial steps of gastric cancer development. In order to confirm the relationship between the gastric tumor and FABP4 gene, further analysis like immunohistochemistry and epigenetc techniques are necessary. [Cukurova Med J 2016; 41(2.000: 248-252

  13. Mt-rps3 is an ancient gene which provides insight into the evolution of fungal mitochondrial genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korovesi, Artemis G; Ntertilis, Maria; Kouvelis, Vassili N

    2018-05-12

    The nuclear ribosomal protein S3 (Rps3) is implicated in the assembly of the ribosomal small subunit. Fungi and plants present a gene copy in their mitochondrial (mt) genomes. An analysis of 303 complete fungal mt genomes showed that, when rps3 is found, it is either a free-standing gene or an anchored gene within the omega intron of the rnl gene. Early divergent fungi, Basidiomycota and all yeasts but the CTG group belong to the first case, and Pezizomycotina to the second. Its position, size and genetic code employed are conserved within species of the same Order. Size variability is attributed to different number of repeats. These repeats consist of AT-rich sequences. MtRps3 proteins lack the KH domain, necessary for binding to rRNA, in their N-terminal region. Their C-terminal region is conserved in all Domains of life. Phylogenetic analysis showed that nuclear and mt Rps3 proteins are descendants of archaeal and a-proteobacterial homologues, respectively. Thus, fungal mt-rps3 gene is an ancient gene which evolved within the endosymbiotic model and presents different evolutionary routes: (a) coming from a-proteobacteria, it was relocated to another region of the mt genome, (b) via its insertion to the omega intron, it was transferred to the nucleus and/or got lost, and (c) it was re-routed to the mt genome again. Today, Basidiomycota and Saccharomycetales seem to follow the first evolutionary route and almost all Pezizomycotina support the second scenario with their exceptions being the result of the third scenario, i.e., the gene's re-entry to the mt genome. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  14. Fold and Fit: Space Conserving Shape Editing

    KAUST Repository

    Ibrahim, Mohamed; Yan, Dong-Ming

    2017-01-01

    We present a framework that folds man-made objects in a structure-aware manner for space-conserving storage and transportation. Given a segmented 3D mesh of a man-made object, our framework jointly optimizes for joint locations, the folding order

  15. Overexpression screens identify conserved dosage chromosome instability genes in yeast and human cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, Supipi; Fam, Hok Khim; Wang, Yi Kan; Styles, Erin B.; Kim, Jung-Hyun; Ang, J. Sidney; Singh, Tejomayee; Larionov, Vladimir; Shah, Sohrab P.; Andrews, Brenda; Boerkoel, Cornelius F.; Hieter, Philip

    2016-01-01

    Somatic copy number amplification and gene overexpression are common features of many cancers. To determine the role of gene overexpression on chromosome instability (CIN), we performed genome-wide screens in the budding yeast for yeast genes that cause CIN when overexpressed, a phenotype we refer to as dosage CIN (dCIN), and identified 245 dCIN genes. This catalog of genes reveals human orthologs known to be recurrently overexpressed and/or amplified in tumors. We show that two genes, TDP1, a tyrosyl-DNA-phosphdiesterase, and TAF12, an RNA polymerase II TATA-box binding factor, cause CIN when overexpressed in human cells. Rhabdomyosarcoma lines with elevated human Tdp1 levels also exhibit CIN that can be partially rescued by siRNA-mediated knockdown of TDP1. Overexpression of dCIN genes represents a genetic vulnerability that could be leveraged for selective killing of cancer cells through targeting of an unlinked synthetic dosage lethal (SDL) partner. Using SDL screens in yeast, we identified a set of genes that when deleted specifically kill cells with high levels of Tdp1. One gene was the histone deacetylase RPD3, for which there are known inhibitors. Both HT1080 cells overexpressing hTDP1 and rhabdomyosarcoma cells with elevated levels of hTdp1 were more sensitive to histone deacetylase inhibitors valproic acid (VPA) and trichostatin A (TSA), recapitulating the SDL interaction in human cells and suggesting VPA and TSA as potential therapeutic agents for tumors with elevated levels of hTdp1. The catalog of dCIN genes presented here provides a candidate list to identify genes that cause CIN when overexpressed in cancer, which can then be leveraged through SDL to selectively target tumors. PMID:27551064

  16. Infinitely many conservation laws for the discrete KdV equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rasin, Alexander G; Schiff, Jeremy

    2009-01-01

    Rasin and Hydon (2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 12763-73) suggested a way to construct an infinite number of conservation laws for the discrete KdV equation (dKdV), by repeated application of a certain symmetry to a known conservation law. It was not decided, however, whether the resulting conservation laws were distinct and nontrivial. In this paper we obtain the following results: (1) we give an alternative method to construct an infinite number of conservation laws using a discrete version of the Gardner transformation. (2) We give a direct proof that the conservation laws obtained by the method of Rasin and Hydon are indeed distinct and nontrivial. (3) We consider a continuum limit in which the dKdV equation becomes a first-order eikonal equation. In this limit the two sets of conservation laws become the same, and are evidently distinct and nontrivial. This proves the nontriviality of the conservation laws constructed by the Gardner method, and gives an alternative proof of the nontriviality of the conservation laws constructed by the method of Rasin and Hydon

  17. Functional comparison of the nematode Hox gene lin-39 in C. elegans and P. pacificus reveals evolutionary conservation of protein function despite divergence of primary sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grandien, K; Sommer, R J

    2001-08-15

    Hox transcription factors have been implicated in playing a central role in the evolution of animal morphology. Many studies indicate the evolutionary importance of regulatory changes in Hox genes, but little is known about the role of functional changes in Hox proteins. In the nematodes Pristionchus pacificus and Caenorhabditis elegans, developmental processes can be compared at the cellular, genetic, and molecular levels and differences in gene function can be identified. The Hox gene lin-39 is involved in the regulation of nematode vulva development. Comparison of known lin-39 mutations in P. pacificus and C. elegans revealed both conservation and changes of gene function. Here, we study evolutionary changes of lin-39 function using hybrid transgenes and site-directed mutagenesis in an in vivo assay using C. elegans lin-39 mutants. Our data show that despite the functional differences of LIN-39 between the two species, Ppa-LIN-39, when driven by Cel-lin-39 regulatory elements, can functionally replace Cel-lin-39. Furthermore, we show that the MAPK docking and phosphorylation motifs unique for Cel-LIN-39 are dispensable for Cel-lin-39 function. Therefore, the evolution of lin-39 function is driven by changes in regulatory elements rather than changes in the protein itself.

  18. Alkylation sensitivity screens reveal a conserved cross-species functionome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svilar, David; Dyavaiah, Madhu; Brown, Ashley R.; Tang, Jiang-bo; Li, Jianfeng; McDonald, Peter R.; Shun, Tong Ying; Braganza, Andrea; Wang, Xiao-hong; Maniar, Salony; St Croix, Claudette M.; Lazo, John S.; Pollack, Ian F.; Begley, Thomas J.; Sobol, Robert W.

    2013-01-01

    To identify genes that contribute to chemotherapy resistance in glioblastoma, we conducted a synthetic lethal screen in a chemotherapy-resistant glioblastoma derived cell line with the clinical alkylator temozolomide (TMZ) and an siRNA library tailored towards “druggable” targets. Select DNA repair genes in the screen were validated independently, confirming the DNA glycosylases UNG and MYH as well as MPG to be involved in the response to high dose TMZ. The involvement of UNG and MYH is likely the result of a TMZ-induced burst of reactive oxygen species. We then compared the human TMZ sensitizing genes identified in our screen with those previously identified from alkylator screens conducted in E. coli and S. cerevisiae. The conserved biological processes across all three species composes an Alkylation Functionome that includes many novel proteins not previously thought to impact alkylator resistance. This high-throughput screen, validation and cross-species analysis was then followed by a mechanistic analysis of two essential nodes: base excision repair (BER) DNA glycosylases (UNG, human and mag1, S. cerevisiae) and protein modification systems, including UBE3B and ICMT in human cells or pby1, lip22, stp22 and aim22 in S. cerevisiae. The conserved processes of BER and protein modification were dual targeted and yielded additive sensitization to alkylators in S. cerevisiae. In contrast, dual targeting of BER and protein modification genes in human cells did not increase sensitivity, suggesting an epistatic relationship. Importantly, these studies provide potential new targets to overcome alkylating agent resistance. PMID:23038810

  19. Identification and gene expression analysis of AUX1 influencing adventitious root induction in olive cuttings (Olea europaea L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seyed Mehdi Hosseini Mazinani

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Olive is one of the most important fruit crops throughout the Mediterranean Basin, mainly propagated by cuttings. The adventitious root development is a key stage in vegetative propagation however the low rooting capacity of some cultivars severely affects the efficiency of olive clonal propagation. Auxin Influx Carrier gene (AUX1, plays a key role in lateral root formation in many plant species promoting the export of IAA from newly developing leaves to lateral root primordia. Putative olive homologues were amplified by using degenerate primers designed on the conserved regions of AUX1 transcripts identified in other plants. Transcript and amino acid sequences in root (OeAUX1R and base of cutting (OeAUX1B were different causes of polymorphisms relating to possible distinct roles in these tissues. In order to investigate the gene expression patterns, Real-time PCR was performed on cuttings during the rooting stage collected from genotypes characterized by high and low rooting ability. Moreover, the gene expression was investigated on different olive tissues. Preliminary results showed that the expression of OeAUX1B and OeAUX1R in base of cuttings and roots of the high-rooting genotype were higher which suggests the hypothesis of the involvement of OeAUX1 in olive rooting. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that AUX1 gene had 8 exons in olive and the sequence of this gene in plant was conserved during evolution.

  20. Identification of Aquifex aeolicus tRNA (m2(2G26) methyltransferase gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeda, Hiroshi; Hori, Hiroyuki; Endo, Yaeta

    2002-01-01

    The modifications of N2,N2-dimethylguanine (m2(2)G) are found in tRNAs and rRNAs from eukarya and archaea. In tRNAs, modification at position G26 is generated by tRNA (m2(2)G26) methyltransferase, which is encoded by the corresponding gene, trm1. This enzyme catalyzes the methyl-transfer from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the semi-conserved residue, G26, via the intermediate modified base, m2G26. Recent genome sequencing project has been reported that the putative trm1 is encoded in the genome of Aquifex aeolicus, a hyper-thermophilic eubacterium as only one exception among eubacteria. In order to confirm whether this bacterial trm1 gene product is a real tRNA (m2(2)G26) methyltransferase or not, we expressed this protein by wheat germ in vitro cell-free translation system. Our biochemical analysis clearly showed that this gene product possessed tRNA (m2(2)G26) methyltransferase activity.

  1. The case for conserving oil resources: the fundamentals of supply and demand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reynolds, D.B.

    2000-01-01

    This article summarises the evidence for an oil price shock and argues that oil producers, both OPEC and non-OPEC, need to cut back oil production more, in order to conserve oil for the future and to avert sudden extreme movements in oil prices in the next five-to-ten years. Four physical fundamentals determine long-run changes in oil prices: supply, demand, technology and substitutes. We show that supply, technology and substitutes are limited and demand is growing strongly. As demand pushes against supply, prices will rise rapidly. It would be better to conserve oil now, in order to have a smoother transition to higher-priced oil in the future. In addition, oil is such a valuable resource for the worlds economies in general, that we should conserve it for future generations. The world, in its haste for economic growth, should support OPEC conservation efforts. (author)

  2. Organization and post-transcriptional processing of focal adhesion kinase gene

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enslen Hervé

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Focal adhesion kinase (FAK is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase critical for processes ranging from embryo development to cancer progression. Although isoforms with specific molecular and functional properties have been characterized in rodents and chicken, the organization of FAK gene throughout phylogeny and its potential to generate multiple isoforms are not well understood. Here, we study the phylogeny of FAK, the organization of its gene, and its post-transcriptional processing in rodents and human. Results A single orthologue of FAK and the related PYK2 was found in non-vertebrate species. Gene duplication probably occurred in deuterostomes after the echinoderma embranchment, leading to the evolution of PYK2 with distinct properties. The amino acid sequence of FAK and PYK2 is conserved in their functional domains but not in their linker regions, with the absence of autophosphorylation site in C. elegans. Comparison of mouse and human FAK genes revealed the existence of multiple combinations of conserved and non-conserved 5'-untranslated exons in FAK transcripts suggesting a complex regulation of their expression. Four alternatively spliced coding exons (13, 14, 16, and 31, previously described in rodents, are highly conserved in vertebrates. Cis-regulatory elements known to regulate alternative splicing were found in conserved alternative exons of FAK or in the flanking introns. In contrast, other reported human variant exons were restricted to Homo sapiens, and, in some cases, other primates. Several of these non-conserved exons may correspond to transposable elements. The inclusion of conserved alternative exons was examined by RT-PCR in mouse and human brain during development. Inclusion of exons 14 and 16 peaked at the end of embryonic life, whereas inclusion of exon 13 increased steadily until adulthood. Study of various tissues showed that inclusion of these exons also occurred, independently from each other, in a

  3. Internalization of Conservation Values in Forming Green Consumption Attitude

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syamsu Hadi

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The research aims to know a friendly environmental governance system. One sector of economic governance can certainly be initiated through green consumption. The focus of the problem was the green consumption education. This research was conducted by using qualitative approach in order to reveal how the process of conservation education in the Faculty of Economics in fostering behaviors that tend to conserve the consumption behavior in this case the green consumption attitude. The collecting data of research used observation, documentation and interview. This research uncovers how the conservation education is able to shape and build the green consumption attitudes that exist among the students from planning process, implementation, and evaluation of conservation education on the aspects of green consumption. Internalization of conservation value performed by the educators (in this case the lecturers at the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Semarang runs well enough.

  4. The Impact of Nature Experience on Willingness to Support Conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaradic, Patricia A.; Pergams, Oliver R. W.; Kareiva, Peter

    2009-01-01

    We hypothesized that willingness to financially support conservation depends on one's experience with nature. In order to test this hypothesis, we used a novel time-lagged correlation analysis to look at times series data concerning nature participation, and evaluate its relationship with future conservation support (measured as contributions to conservation NGOs). Our results suggest that the type and timing of nature experience may determine future conservation investment. Time spent hiking or backpacking is correlated with increased conservation contributions 11–12 years later. On the other hand, contributions are negatively correlated with past time spent on activities such as public lands visitation or fishing. Our results suggest that each hiker or backpacker translates to $200–$300 annually in future NGO contributions. We project that the recent decline in popularity of hiking and backpacking will negatively impact conservation NGO contributions from approximately 2010–2011 through at least 2018. PMID:19809511

  5. In Vitro Propagation and Conservation of Bacopa monnieri L.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Neelam; Singh, Rakesh; Pandey, Ruchira

    2016-01-01

    Bacopa monnieri L. (common name brahmi) is a traditional and renowned Indian medicinal plant with high commercial value for its memory revitalizer potential. Demand for this herb has further escalated due to popularization of various brahmi-based drugs coupled with reported anticancer property. Insufficient seed availability and problems associated with seed propagation including short seed viability are the major constraints of seed conservation in the gene banks. In vitro clonal propagation, a prerequisite for in vitro conservation by enhanced axillary branching was standardized. We have developed a simple, single step protocol for in vitro establishment, propagation and medium-term conservation of B. monnieri. Single node explants, cultured on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with BA (0.2 mg/L), exhibited shoot proliferation without callus formation. Rooting was achieved on the same medium. The in vitro raised plants were successfully transferred to soil with ~80 % survival. On the same medium, shoots could also be conserved for 12 months with high survival and genetic stability was maintained as revealed by molecular markers. The protocol optimized in the present study has been applied for culture establishment, shoot multiplication and medium-term conservation of several Bacopa germplasm, procured from different agro-ecological regions of India.

  6. R-charge Conservation and More in Factorizable and Non-Factorizable Orbifolds

    CERN Document Server

    Bizet, Nana Geraldine Cabo; Pena, Damian Kaloni Mayorga; Parameswaran, Susha L; Schmitz, Matthias; Zavala, Ivonne

    2013-01-01

    We consider the string theory origin of R-charge conservation laws in heterotic orbifold compactifications, deriving the corresponding string coupling selection rule for factorizable and non-factorizable orbifolds, with prime ordered and non-prime ordered point groups. R-charge conservation arises due to symmetries among the worldsheet instantons that can mediate the couplings. Among our results is a previously missed non-trivial contribution to the conserved R-charges from the Gamma-phases in non-prime orbifolds, which weakens the R-charge selection rule. Symmetries among the worldsheet instantons can also lead to additional selection rules for some couplings. We make a similar analysis for Rule 4 or the 'torus lattice selection rule'. Moreover, we identify a new string selection rule, that we call Rule 6 or the 'coset vector selection rule'.

  7. Functional mitochondrial ATP synthase proteolipid gene produced by recombination of parental genes in a petunia somatic hybrid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rothenberg, M.; Hanson, M.R.

    1988-01-01

    A novel ATP synthase subunit 9 gene (atp9) was identified in the mitochondrial genome of a Petunia somatic hybrid line (13-133) which was produced from a fusion between Petunia lines 3688 and 3704. The novel gene was generated by intergenomic recombination between atp9 genes from the two parental plant lines. The entire atp9 coding region is represented on the recombinant gene. Comparison of gene sequences using electrophoresis and autoradiography, indicate that the 5' transcribed region is contributed by an atp9 gene from 3704 and the 3' transcribed region is contributed by an atp9 gene from 3688. The recombinant atp9 gene is transcriptionally active. The location of the 5' and 3' transcript termini are conserved with respect to the parental genes, resulting in the production of hybrid transcripts

  8. Genome-Scale Co-Expression Network Comparison across Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Reveals Significant Conservation at the Regulon Level of Local Regulators Despite Their Dissimilar Lifestyles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarrineh, Peyman; Sánchez-Rodríguez, Aminael; Hosseinkhan, Nazanin; Narimani, Zahra; Marchal, Kathleen; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali

    2014-01-01

    Availability of genome-wide gene expression datasets provides the opportunity to study gene expression across different organisms under a plethora of experimental conditions. In our previous work, we developed an algorithm called COMODO (COnserved MODules across Organisms) that identifies conserved expression modules between two species. In the present study, we expanded COMODO to detect the co-expression conservation across three organisms by adapting the statistics behind it. We applied COMODO to study expression conservation/divergence between Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, and Bacillus subtilis. We observed that some parts of the regulatory interaction networks were conserved between E. coli and S. enterica especially in the regulon of local regulators. However, such conservation was not observed between the regulatory interaction networks of B. subtilis and the two other species. We found co-expression conservation on a number of genes involved in quorum sensing, but almost no conservation for genes involved in pathogenicity across E. coli and S. enterica which could partially explain their different lifestyles. We concluded that despite their different lifestyles, no significant rewiring have occurred at the level of local regulons involved for instance, and notable conservation can be detected in signaling pathways and stress sensing in the phylogenetically close species S. enterica and E. coli. Moreover, conservation of local regulons seems to depend on the evolutionary time of divergence across species disappearing at larger distances as shown by the comparison with B. subtilis. Global regulons follow a different trend and show major rewiring even at the limited evolutionary distance that separates E. coli and S. enterica. PMID:25101984

  9. Partial characterization of nif genes from the bacterium Azospirillum amazonense

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D.P. Potrich

    2001-09-01

    Full Text Available Azospirillum amazonense revealed genomic organization patterns of the nitrogen fixation genes similar to those of the distantly related species A. brasilense. Our work suggests that A. brasilense nifHDK, nifENX, fixABC operons and nifA and glnB genes may be structurally homologous to the counterpart genes of A. amazonense. This is the first analysis revealing homology between A. brasilense nif genes and the A. amazonense genome. Sequence analysis of PCR amplification products revealed similarities between the amino acid sequences of the highly conserved nifD and glnB genes of A. amazonense and related genes of A. brasilense and other bacteria. However, the A. amazonense non-coding regions (the upstream activator sequence region and the region between the nifH and nifD genes differed from related regions of A. brasilense even in nitrogenase structural genes which are highly conserved among diazotrophic bacteria. The feasibility of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene-based PCR system for specific detection of A. amazonense was shown. Our results indicate that the PCR primers for 16S rDNA defined in this article are highly specific to A. amazonense and can distinguish this species from A. brasilense.

  10. Evaluation of the present genetic conservation efforts in Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Quercus spp., Fagus sylvatica, and Pinus pinaster

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kramer, K.

    2015-01-01

    Information on genetic diversity and gene conservation activities were combined with climatic data to evaluate the present genetic conservation efforts in Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies, Quercus spp., Fagus sylvatica, and Pinus pinaster. Combinations of climatic variables explained much of the

  11. Tamoxifen-elicited uterotrophy: cross-species and cross-ligand analysis of the gene expression program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Forgacs Agnes L

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Tamoxifen (TAM is a well characterized breast cancer drug and selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM which also has been associated with a small increase in risk for uterine cancers. TAM's partial agonist activation of estrogen receptor has been characterized for specific gene promoters but not at the genomic level in vivo.Furthermore, reducing uncertainties associated with cross-species extrapolations of pharmaco- and toxicogenomic data remains a formidable challenge. Results A comparative ligand and species analysis approach was conducted to systematically assess the physiological, morphological and uterine gene expression alterations elicited across time by TAM and ethynylestradiol (EE in immature ovariectomized Sprague-Dawley rats and C57BL/6 mice. Differential gene expression was evaluated using custom cDNA microarrays, and the data was compared to identify conserved and divergent responses. 902 genes were differentially regulated in all four studies, 398 of which exhibit identical temporal expression patterns. Conclusion Comparative analysis of EE and TAM differentially expressed gene lists suggest TAM regulates no unique uterine genes that are conserved in the rat and mouse. This demonstrates that the partial agonist activities of TAM extend to molecular targets in regulating only a subset of EE-responsive genes. Ligand-conserved, species-divergent expression of carbonic anhydrase 2 was observed in the microarray data and confirmed by real time PCR. The identification of comparable temporal phenotypic responses linked to related gene expression profiles demonstrates that systematic comparative genomic assessments can elucidate important conserved and divergent mechanisms in rodent estrogen signalling during uterine proliferation.

  12. Department of Defense Facilities Energy Conservation Policies and Spending

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Andrews, Anthony

    2008-01-01

    .... This report reviews energy conservation legislation and Executive Orders that apply to the Department of Defense, directives and instructions to the military departments and agencies on implementing...

  13. Computational evidence for hundreds of non-conserved plant microRNAs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lindow, Morten; Krogh, Anders Stærmose

    2005-01-01

    Background MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small (20-25 nt) non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression through interaction with mRNA in plants and metazoans. A few hundred miRNAs are known or predicted, and most of those are evolutionarily conserved. In general plant miRNA are different from...

  14. The biodiversity conservation game with heterogeneous countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Winands, S.; Holm-Müller, K.; Weikard, H.P.

    2013-01-01

    Biodiversity is an essential resource, which we classify as conditionally-renewable. In order to achieve conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity virtually all nation states signed the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. In this paper we investigate how the heterogeneity of

  15. Computational identification of developmental enhancers:conservation and function of transcription factor binding-site clustersin drosophila melanogaster and drosophila psedoobscura

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berman, Benjamin P.; Pfeiffer, Barret D.; Laverty, Todd R.; Salzberg, Steven L.; Rubin, Gerald M.; Eisen, Michael B.; Celniker, SusanE.

    2004-08-06

    The identification of sequences that control transcription in metazoans is a major goal of genome analysis. In a previous study, we demonstrated that searching for clusters of predicted transcription factor binding sites could discover active regulatory sequences, and identified 37 regions of the Drosophila melanogaster genome with high densities of predicted binding sites for five transcription factors involved in anterior-posterior embryonic patterning. Nine of these clusters overlapped known enhancers. Here, we report the results of in vivo functional analysis of 27 remaining clusters. We generated transgenic flies carrying each cluster attached to a basal promoter and reporter gene, and assayed embryos for reporter gene expression. Six clusters are enhancers of adjacent genes: giant, fushi tarazu, odd-skipped, nubbin, squeeze and pdm2; three drive expression in patterns unrelated to those of neighboring genes; the remaining 18 do not appear to have enhancer activity. We used the Drosophila pseudoobscura genome to compare patterns of evolution in and around the 15 positive and 18 false-positive predictions. Although conservation of primary sequence cannot distinguish true from false positives, conservation of binding-site clustering accurately discriminates functional binding-site clusters from those with no function. We incorporated conservation of binding-site clustering into a new genome-wide enhancer screen, and predict several hundred new regulatory sequences, including 85 adjacent to genes with embryonic patterns. Measuring conservation of sequence features closely linked to function--such as binding-site clustering--makes better use of comparative sequence data than commonly used methods that examine only sequence identity.

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. Cis-regulatory element based targeted gene finding: genome-wide identification of abscisic acid- and abiotic stress-responsive genes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Weixiong; Ruan, Jianhua; Ho, Tuan-Hua David; You, Youngsook; Yu, Taotao; Quatrano, Ralph S

    2005-07-15

    A fundamental problem of computational genomics is identifying the genes that respond to certain endogenous cues and environmental stimuli. This problem can be referred to as targeted gene finding. Since gene regulation is mainly determined by the binding of transcription factors and cis-regulatory DNA sequences, most existing gene annotation methods, which exploit the conservation of open reading frames, are not effective in finding target genes. A viable approach to targeted gene finding is to exploit the cis-regulatory elements that are known to be responsible for the transcription of target genes. Given such cis-elements, putative target genes whose promoters contain the elements can be identified. As a case study, we apply the above approach to predict the genes in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana which are inducible by a phytohormone, abscisic acid (ABA), and abiotic stress, such as drought, cold and salinity. We first construct and analyze two ABA specific cis-elements, ABA-responsive element (ABRE) and its coupling element (CE), in A.thaliana, based on their conservation in rice and other cereal plants. We then use the ABRE-CE module to identify putative ABA-responsive genes in A.thaliana. Based on RT-PCR verification and the results from literature, this method has an accuracy rate of 67.5% for the top 40 predictions. The cis-element based targeted gene finding approach is expected to be widely applicable since a large number of cis-elements in many species are available.

  19. Suppression subtractive hybridization and comparative expression analysis to identify developmentally regulated genes in filamentous fungi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gesing, Stefan; Schindler, Daniel; Nowrousian, Minou

    2013-09-01

    Ascomycetes differentiate four major morphological types of fruiting bodies (apothecia, perithecia, pseudothecia and cleistothecia) that are derived from an ancestral fruiting body. Thus, fruiting body differentiation is most likely controlled by a set of common core genes. One way to identify such genes is to search for genes with evolutionary conserved expression patterns. Using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), we selected differentially expressed transcripts in Pyronema confluens (Pezizales) by comparing two cDNA libraries specific for sexual and for vegetative development, respectively. The expression patterns of selected genes from both libraries were verified by quantitative real time PCR. Expression of several corresponding homologous genes was found to be conserved in two members of the Sordariales (Sordaria macrospora and Neurospora crassa), a derived group of ascomycetes that is only distantly related to the Pezizales. Knockout studies with N. crassa orthologues of differentially regulated genes revealed a functional role during fruiting body development for the gene NCU05079, encoding a putative MFS peptide transporter. These data indicate conserved gene expression patterns and a functional role of the corresponding genes during fruiting body development; such genes are candidates of choice for further functional analysis. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  20. Identifying ambassador species for conservation marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E.A. Macdonald

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Conservation relies heavily on external funding, much of it from a supportive public. Therefore it is important to know which species are most likely to catalyse such funding. Whilst previous work has looked at the physical attributes that contribute to a species' appeal, no previous studies have tried to examine the extent to which a species' sympatriots might contribute to it's potential as flagship for wider conservation. Therefore, here we estimate ‘flexibility’ and ‘appeal’ scores for all terrestrial mammals (n = 4320 and identify which of these might serve as ambassadors (defined as both highly appealing and flexible. Relatively few mammals (between 240 and 331 emerged as ambassadors, with carnivores featuring heavily in this group (representing 5% of terrestrial mammals but 39% of ambassadors. ‘Top ambassadors’ were defined as those with both flexibility and appeal scores greater than 1 standard deviation above the mean. Less than a quarter of the 20 most endangered and evolutionary distinct species in this study were classed as ambassadors, highlighting the need for surrogate species to catalyse conservation effort in areas with such priority species. This is the first global analysis bringing together flexibility and appeal for all terrestrial mammals, and demonstrates an approach for determining how best to market species in order to achieve maximal conservation gain in a world with urgent conservation need but limited resources.

  1. Comprehensive search for intra- and inter-specific sequence polymorphisms among coding envelope genes of retroviral origin found in the human genome: genes and pseudogenes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasilescu Alexandre

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The human genome carries a high load of proviral-like sequences, called Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs, which are the genomic traces of ancient infections by active retroviruses. These elements are in most cases defective, but open reading frames can still be found for the retroviral envelope gene, with sixteen such genes identified so far. Several of them are conserved during primate evolution, having possibly been co-opted by their host for a physiological role. Results To characterize further their status, we presently sequenced 12 of these genes from a panel of 91 Caucasian individuals. Genomic analyses reveal strong sequence conservation (only two non synonymous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms [SNPs] for the two HERV-W and HERV-FRD envelope genes, i.e. for the two genes specifically expressed in the placenta and possibly involved in syncytiotrophoblast formation. We further show – using an ex vivo fusion assay for each allelic form – that none of these SNPs impairs the fusogenic function. The other envelope proteins disclose variable polymorphisms, with the occurrence of a stop codon and/or frameshift for most – but not all – of them. Moreover, the sequence conservation analysis of the orthologous genes that can be found in primates shows that three env genes have been maintained in a fully coding state throughout evolution including envW and envFRD. Conclusion Altogether, the present study strongly suggests that some but not all envelope encoding sequences are bona fide genes. It also provides new tools to elucidate the possible role of endogenous envelope proteins as susceptibility factors in a number of pathologies where HERVs have been suspected to be involved.

  2. Sequence analysis of cereal sucrose synthase genes and isolation ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    SERVER

    2007-10-18

    Oct 18, 2007 ... sequencing of sucrose synthase gene fragment from sor- ghum using primers designed at their conserved exons. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Multiple sequence alignment. Sucrose synthase gene sequences of various cereals like rice, maize, and barley were accessed from NCBI Genbank database.

  3. 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.

  4. Mass and momentum conservation for fluid simulation

    KAUST Repository

    Lentine, Michael; Aanjaneya, Mridul; Fedkiw, Ronald

    2011-01-01

    Momentum conservation has long been used as a design principle for solid simulation (e.g. collisions between rigid bodies, mass-spring elastic and damping forces, etc.), yet it has not been widely used for fluid simulation. In fact, semi-Lagrangian advection does not conserve momentum, but is still regularly used as a bread and butter method for fluid simulation. In this paper, we propose a modification to the semi-Lagrangian method in order to make it fully conserve momentum. While methods of this type have been proposed earlier in the computational physics literature, they are not necessarily appropriate for coarse grids, large time steps or inviscid flows, all of which are common in graphics applications. In addition, we show that the commonly used vorticity confinement turbulence model can be modified to exactly conserve momentum as well. We provide a number of examples that illustrate the benefits of this new approach, both in conserving fluid momentum and passively advected scalars such as smoke density. In particular, we show that our new method is amenable to efficient smoke simulation with one time step per frame, whereas the traditional non-conservative semi-Lagrangian method experiences serious artifacts when run with these large time steps, especially when object interaction is considered. Copyright © 2011 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.

  5. Energy conservation by reducing process variability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wising, Ulrika; Lafourcade, Sebastien [Pepite S.A., Liege (Belgium); Mack, Philippe [Pepite Technologies Inc., Montreal (Canada)

    2011-12-21

    Energy conservation is becoming an increasingly important instrument to stay competitive in today is increasingly global market. Important investments have been made in infrastructure and personnel in order to improve the management of energy such as increased metering, energy dashboards, energy managers, etc. Despite these investments, the results have not materialized and there is still a significant potential to further reduce energy consumption. In this paper a new methodology will be presented that helps industry better operate existing assets in order to reduce energy consumption, without having to make capital investments. The methodology uses a combination of advanced data analysis tools and a specific implementation scheme that has lead to significant savings in industry. The advanced data analysis tools are used to analyze the variability of the process in order to assess when the plant has been operated well or not so well in the past. By finding the root causes of these variations and the key variables that can explain them, improved operating guidelines and models can be developed and implemented. The specific implementation scheme is an important part of the methodology as it involves the people operating the plant. Several user cases will be presented showing an energy conservation of between 10%-20% without capital investments necessary. (author)

  6. Genes involved in cell division in mycoplasmas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank Alarcón

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Bacterial cell division has been studied mainly in model systems such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, where it is described as a complex process with the participation of a group of proteins which assemble into a multiprotein complex called the septal ring. Mycoplasmas are cell wall-less bacteria presenting a reduced genome. Thus, it was important to compare their genomes to analyze putative genes involved in cell division processes. The division and cell wall (dcw cluster, which in E. coli and B. subtilis is composed of 16 and 17 genes, respectively, is represented by only three to four genes in mycoplasmas. Even the most conserved protein, FtsZ, is not present in all mycoplasma genomes analyzed so far. A model for the FtsZ protein from Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Mycoplasma synoviae has been constructed. The conserved residues, essential for GTP/GDP binding, are present in FtsZ from both species. A strong conservation of hydrophobic amino acid patterns is observed, and is probably necessary for the structural stability of the protein when active. M. synoviae FtsZ presents an extended amino acid sequence at the C-terminal portion of the protein, which may participate in interactions with other still unknown proteins crucial for the cell division process.

  7. Conservation and sex-specific splicing of the doublesex gene

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Genetic control of sex determination in insects has been best characterized in Drosophila melanogaster, where the master gene Sxl codes for RNA that is sex specifically spliced to produce a functional protein only in females. SXL regulates the sex-specific splicing of transformer (tra) RNA which, in turn, regulates the ...

  8. Human cytomegalovirus UL145 gene is highly conserved among ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    PRAKASH KUMAR

    capable of causing infections that persist lifelong, and normally ... 1 Virus Laboratory, Affiliated ShengJing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, P. R. China. 2Department of .... Elmer, USA), and negative controls were included in each round of .... variability of the UL145 gene in field isolates. To answer this.

  9. Massively parallel computation of conservation laws

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garbey, M [Univ. Claude Bernard, Villeurbanne (France); Levine, D [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

    1990-01-01

    The authors present a new method for computing solutions of conservation laws based on the use of cellular automata with the method of characteristics. The method exploits the high degree of parallelism available with cellular automata and retains important features of the method of characteristics. It yields high numerical accuracy and extends naturally to adaptive meshes and domain decomposition methods for perturbed conservation laws. They describe the method and its implementation for a Dirichlet problem with a single conservation law for the one-dimensional case. Numerical results for the one-dimensional law with the classical Burgers nonlinearity or the Buckley-Leverett equation show good numerical accuracy outside the neighborhood of the shocks. The error in the area of the shocks is of the order of the mesh size. The algorithm is well suited for execution on both massively parallel computers and vector machines. They present timing results for an Alliant FX/8, Connection Machine Model 2, and CRAY X-MP.

  10. Developmental evolutionary biology of the vertebrate ear: conserving mechanoelectric transduction and developmental pathways in diverging morphologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritzsch, B.; Beisel, K. W.; Bermingham, N. A.

    2000-01-01

    This brief overview shows that a start has been made to molecularly dissect vertebrate ear development and its evolutionary conservation to the development of the insect hearing organ. However, neither the patterning process of the ear nor the patterning process of insect sensory organs is sufficiently known at the moment to provide more than a first glimpse. Moreover, hardly anything is known about otocyst development of the cephalopod molluscs, another triploblast lineage that evolved complex 'ears'. We hope that the apparent conserved functional and cellular components present in the ciliated sensory neurons/hair cells will also be found in the genes required for vertebrate ear and insect sensory organ morphogenesis (Fig. 3). Likewise, we expect that homologous pre-patterning genes will soon be identified for the non-sensory cell development, which is more than a blocking of neuronal development through the Delta/Notch signaling system. Generation of the apparently unique ear could thus represent a multiplication of non-sensory cells by asymmetric and symmetric divisions as well as modification of existing patterning process by implementing novel developmental modules. In the final analysis, the vertebrate ear may come about by increasing the level of gene interactions in an already existing and highly conserved interactive cascade of bHLH genes. Since this was apparently achieved in all three lineages of triploblasts independently (Fig. 3), we now need to understand how much of the morphogenetic cascades are equally conserved across phyla to generate complex ears. The existing mutations in humans and mice may be able to point the direction of future research to understand the development of specific cell types and morphologies in the formation of complex arthropod, cephalopod, and vertebrate 'ears'.

  11. Molecular characterization of 5S ribosomal RNA genes and transcripts in the protozoan parasite Leishmania major.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno-Campos, Rodrigo; Florencio-Martínez, Luis E; Nepomuceno-Mejía, Tomás; Rojas-Sánchez, Saúl; Vélez-Ramírez, Daniel E; Padilla-Mejía, Norma E; Figueroa-Angulo, Elisa; Manning-Cela, Rebeca; Martínez-Calvillo, Santiago

    2016-12-01

    Eukaryotic 5S rRNA, synthesized by RNA polymerase III (Pol III), is an essential component of the large ribosomal subunit. Most organisms contain hundreds of 5S rRNA genes organized into tandem arrays. However, the genome of the protozoan parasite Leishmania major contains only 11 copies of the 5S rRNA gene, which are interspersed and associated with other Pol III-transcribed genes. Here we report that, in general, the number and order of the 5S rRNA genes is conserved between different species of Leishmania. While in most organisms 5S rRNA genes are normally associated with the nucleolus, combined fluorescent in situ hybridization and indirect immunofluorescence experiments showed that 5S rRNA genes are mainly located at the nuclear periphery in L. major. Similarly, the tandemly repeated 5S rRNA genes in Trypanosoma cruzi are dispersed throughout the nucleus. In contrast, 5S rRNA transcripts in L. major were localized within the nucleolus, and scattered throughout the cytoplasm, where mature ribosomes are located. Unlike other rRNA species, stable antisense RNA complementary to 5S rRNA is not detected in L. major.

  12. Widespread presence of human BOULE homologs among animals and conservation of their ancient reproductive function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chirag Shah

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Sex-specific traits that lead to the production of dimorphic gametes, sperm in males and eggs in females, are fundamental for sexual reproduction and accordingly widespread among animals. Yet the sex-biased genes that underlie these sex-specific traits are under strong selective pressure, and as a result of adaptive evolution they often become divergent. Indeed out of hundreds of male or female fertility genes identified in diverse organisms, only a very small number of them are implicated specifically in reproduction in more than one lineage. Few genes have exhibited a sex-biased, reproductive-specific requirement beyond a given phylum, raising the question of whether any sex-specific gametogenesis factors could be conserved and whether gametogenesis might have evolved multiple times. Here we describe a metazoan origin of a conserved human reproductive protein, BOULE, and its prevalence from primitive basal metazoans to chordates. We found that BOULE homologs are present in the genomes of representative species of each of the major lineages of metazoans and exhibit reproductive-specific expression in all species examined, with a preponderance of male-biased expression. Examination of Boule evolution within insect and mammalian lineages revealed little evidence for accelerated evolution, unlike most reproductive genes. Instead, purifying selection was the major force behind Boule evolution. Furthermore, loss of function of mammalian Boule resulted in male-specific infertility and a global arrest of sperm development remarkably similar to the phenotype in an insect boule mutation. This work demonstrates the conservation of a reproductive protein throughout eumetazoa, its predominant testis-biased expression in diverse bilaterian species, and conservation of a male gametogenic requirement in mice. This shows an ancient gametogenesis requirement for Boule among Bilateria and supports a model of a common origin of spermatogenesis.

  13. Off-shell Noether current and conserved charge in Horndeski theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun-Jin Peng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We derive the off-shell Noether current and potential in the context of Horndeski theory, which is the most general scalar–tensor theory with a Lagrangian containing derivatives up to second order while yielding at most to second-order equations of motion in four dimensions. Then the formulation of conserved charges is proposed on basis of the off-shell Noether potential and the surface term got from the variation of the Lagrangian. As an application, we calculate the conserved charges of black holes in a scalar–tensor theory with non-minimal coupling between derivatives of the scalar field and the Einstein tensor.

  14. Conservation of Salmonella infection mechanisms in plants and animals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Schikora

    Full Text Available Salmonella virulence in animals depends on effectors injected by Type III Secretion Systems (T3SSs. In this report we demonstrate that Salmonella mutants that are unable to deliver effectors are also compromised in infection of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Transcriptome analysis revealed that in contrast to wild type bacteria, T3SS mutants of Salmonella are compromised in suppressing highly conserved Arabidopsis genes that play a prominent role during Salmonella infection of animals. We also found that Salmonella originating from infected plants are equally virulent for human cells and mice. These results indicate a high degree of conservation in the defense and infection mechanism of animal and plant hosts during Salmonella infection.

  15. Molecular Evolution of the Glycosyltransferase 6 Gene Family in Primates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliane Evanovich

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Glycosyltransferase 6 gene family includes ABO, Ggta1, iGb3S, and GBGT1 genes and by three putative genes restricted to mammals, GT6m6, GTm6, and GT6m7, only the latter is found in primates. GT6 genes may encode functional and nonfunctional proteins. Ggta1 and GBGT1 genes, for instance, are pseudogenes in catarrhine primates, while iGb3S gene is only inactive in human, bonobo, and chimpanzee. Even inactivated, these genes tend to be conversed in primates. As some of the GT6 genes are related to the susceptibility or resistance to parasites, we investigated (i the selective pressure on the GT6 paralogs genes in primates; (ii the basis of the conservation of iGb3S in human, chimpanzee, and bonobo; and (iii the functional potential of the GBGT1 and GT6m7 in catarrhines. We observed that the purifying selection is prevalent and these genes have a low diversity, though ABO and Ggta1 genes have some sites under positive selection. GT6m7, a putative gene associated with aggressive periodontitis, may have regulatory function, but experimental studies are needed to assess its function. The evolutionary conservation of iGb3S in humans, chimpanzee, and bonobo seems to be the result of proximity to genes with important biological functions.

  16. Preclinical and clinical experience in vascular gene therapy: advantages over conservative/standard therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikol, S; Huehns, T Y

    2001-04-01

    No systemic pharmacological treatment has been shown to convincingly reduce the incidence of restenosis after angioplasty or increase the formation of collaterals in ischemic tissue in patients. The lack of success of many pharmaceutical agents in reducing restenosis rates or in inducing angiogenesis post-angioplasty and following stent implantation has encouraged the development of new technological treatment approaches. Gene therapy is a novel strategy with the potential to prevent some of the sequelae after arterial injury, particularly cell proliferation, and to induce growth of new vessels or remodeling of pre-existing vessel branches, which may help patients with critical ischemia. Gene therapy strategies have the advantage of minimizing systemic side effects and may have a long-term effect as the encoded protein is released. Most clinical trials investigating gene therapy for vascular disease have been uncontrolled phase I and IIa trials. Gene therapy into vessels with the genes for growth factors has been demonstrated to be feasible and efficient. Local drug delivery devices have been used in combination with gene therapy in several trials to maximize safety and efficiency. Data from experimental animal work indicates that gene therapy may modify intimal hyperplasia after arterial injury, but there are few clinical trials on restenosis in patients. Preliminary clinical results show only limited success in altering restenosis rates. In vitro and experimental in vivo investigations into gene therapy for angiogenesis demonstrate increased formation of collaterals and functional improvement of limb ischemia. There is some evidence of increased collateral formation and clinical improvement in patients with critical limb ischemia. Results of placebo-controlled and double-blind trials of gene therapy for vascular disease are awaited.

  17. Annotation Of Novel And Conserved MicroRNA Genes In The Build 10 Sus scrofa Reference Genome And Determination Of Their Expression Levels In Ten Different Tissues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Bo; Nielsen, Mathilde; Hedegaard, Jakob

    The DNA template used in the pig genome sequencing project was provided by a Duroc pig named TJ Tabasco. In an effort to annotate microRNA (miRNA) genes in the reference genome we have conducted deep sequencing to determine the miRNA transcriptomes in ten different tissues isolated from Pinky......, a genetically identical clone of TJ Tabasco. The purpose was to generate miRNA sequences that are highly homologous to the reference genome sequence, which along with computational prediction will improve confidence in the genomic annotation of miRNA genes. Based on homology searches of the sequence data...... against miRBase, we identified more than 600 conserved known miRNA/miRNA*, which is a significant increase relative to the 211 porcine miRNA/miRNA* deposited in the current version of miRBase. Furthermore, the genome-wide transcript profiles provided important information on the relative abundance...

  18. Deducing the temporal order of cofactor function in ligand-regulated gene transcription: theory and experimental verification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dougherty, Edward J; Guo, Chunhua; Simons, S Stoney; Chow, Carson C

    2012-01-01

    Cofactors are intimately involved in steroid-regulated gene expression. Two critical questions are (1) the steps at which cofactors exert their biological activities and (2) the nature of that activity. Here we show that a new mathematical theory of steroid hormone action can be used to deduce the kinetic properties and reaction sequence position for the functioning of any two cofactors relative to a concentration limiting step (CLS) and to each other. The predictions of the theory, which can be applied using graphical methods similar to those of enzyme kinetics, are validated by obtaining internally consistent data for pair-wise analyses of three cofactors (TIF2, sSMRT, and NCoR) in U2OS cells. The analysis of TIF2 and sSMRT actions on GR-induction of an endogenous gene gave results identical to those with an exogenous reporter. Thus new tools to determine previously unobtainable information about the nature and position of cofactor action in any process displaying first-order Hill plot kinetics are now available.

  19. Higher-order force gradient symplectic algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chin, Siu A.; Kidwell, Donald W.

    2000-12-01

    We show that a recently discovered fourth order symplectic algorithm, which requires one evaluation of force gradient in addition to three evaluations of the force, when iterated to higher order, yielded algorithms that are far superior to similarly iterated higher order algorithms based on the standard Forest-Ruth algorithm. We gauge the accuracy of each algorithm by comparing the step-size independent error functions associated with energy conservation and the rotation of the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector when solving a highly eccentric Kepler problem. For orders 6, 8, 10, and 12, the new algorithms are approximately a factor of 103, 104, 104, and 105 better.

  20. Loss of a highly conserved sterile alpha motif domain gene (WEEP) results in pendulous branch growth in peach trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hollender, Courtney A; Pascal, Thierry; Tabb, Amy; Hadiarto, Toto; Srinivasan, Chinnathambi; Wang, Wanpeng; Liu, Zhongchi; Scorza, Ralph; Dardick, Chris

    2018-05-15

    Plant shoots typically grow upward in opposition to the pull of gravity. However, exceptions exist throughout the plant kingdom. Most conspicuous are trees with weeping or pendulous branches. While such trees have long been cultivated and appreciated for their ornamental value, the molecular basis behind the weeping habit is not known. Here, we characterized a weeping tree phenotype in Prunus persica (peach) and identified the underlying genetic mutation using a genomic sequencing approach. Weeping peach tree shoots exhibited a downward elliptical growth pattern and did not exhibit an upward bending in response to 90° reorientation. The causative allele was found to be an uncharacterized gene, Ppa013325 , having a 1.8-Kb deletion spanning the 5' end. This gene, dubbed WEEP , was predominantly expressed in phloem tissues and encodes a highly conserved 129-amino acid protein containing a sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain. Silencing WEEP in the related tree species Prunus domestica (plum) resulted in more outward, downward, and wandering shoot orientations compared to standard trees, supporting a role for WEEP in directing lateral shoot growth in trees. This previously unknown regulator of branch orientation, which may also be a regulator of gravity perception or response, provides insights into our understanding of how tree branches grow in opposition to gravity and could serve as a critical target for manipulating tree architecture for improved tree shape in agricultural and horticulture applications. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.