Probing the component structure of a maize gene with transposable elements

Three instances of R gene instability were found in maize stocks carrying the controlling elements Dissociation (Ds) and Modulator (Mp). In each, Ds or a Ds-like element had transposed to R, inhibiting kernel pigmentation irregularly. When Mp was removed from the genome, R expression stabilized at lowt to intermediate levels. Strong pigmenting action was restored through recombination in heterozygotes of the three new forms with an R allele that specifies only plant pigmentation. The sites of Ds insertion mapped distal to the region that specifies seed versus plant expression. The evidence suggests that an R functional unit consists of one component that both governs tissue-specific expression and another that is common to alleles of different tissue-specific activities.     

苹果微型反向重复转座元件（MITE）的分离与鉴定

【目的】从苹果基因组中分离微型反向重复转座元件(MITE),研究其对苹果基因组进化的作用。【方法】利用PIF转座酶简并引物扩增苹果PIF转座酶基因,采用染色体步移技术获得PIF转座酶基因的未知侧翼序列,使用EMBOSS的Eiverted软件查找靶位点重复(target site duplication,TSD)和末端反向重复(terminal inverted repeat,TIR)序列。【结果】苹果MITEs拥有MITEs的典型特征,包括长度短,不具有潜在的编码能力,富含A+T,易插入非编码区,有TIRs和TSDs,有形成二级结构的可能。【结论】苹果MITEs属于Tourist家族,与苹果PIF DNA转座子相关;苹果MITEs与基因相连,在基因调节上起重要作用;苹果MITEs具有潜在的转座能力,对苹果遗传多样性、进化及育种有重要作用。     

The draft genome of Ciona intestinalis: insights into chordate and vertebrate origins

The first chordates appear in the fossil record at the time of the Cambrian explosion, nearly 550 million years ago. The modern ascidian tadpole represents a plausible approximation to these ancestral chordates. To illuminate the origins of chordate and vertebrates, we generated a draft of the protein-coding portion of the genome of the most studied ascidian, Ciona intestinalis. The Ciona genome contains approximately 16,000 protein-coding genes, similar to the number in other invertebrates, but only half that found in vertebrates. Vertebrate gene families are typically found in simplified form in Ciona, suggesting that ascidians contain the basic ancestral complement of genes involved in cell signaling and development. The ascidian genome has also acquired a number of lineage-specific innovations, including a group of genes engaged in cellulose metabolism that are related to those in bacteria and fungi.     

Phenotypic diversity mediated by the maize transposable elements Ac and Spm

Mutations caused by the insertion of members of the Ac or Spm family of transposable elements result in a great diversity of phenotypes. With the cloning of the mutant genes and the characterization of their products, the mechanisms underlying phenotypic diversity are being deciphered. These mechanisms include (i) imprecise excision of transposable elements, which can result in the addition of amino acids to proteins; (ii) DNA methylation, which has been correlated with the activity of the element; (iii) transposase-mediated deletions within elements, which can inactivate an element or lead to a new unstable phenotype; and (iv) removal of transcribed elements from RNA, which can facilitate gene expression despite the insertion of elements into exons. An understanding of the behavior of the maize elements has provided clues to the function of cryptic elements in all maize genomes.     

Mechanism of self-sterility in a hermaphroditic chordate

Hermaphroditic organisms avoid inbreeding by a system of self-incompatibility (SI). A primitive chordate (ascidian) Ciona intestinalis is an example of such an organism, but the molecular mechanism underlying its SI system is not known. Here, we show that the SI system is governed by two gene loci that act cooperatively. Each locus contains a tightly linked pair of polycystin 1-related receptor (s-Themis) and fibrinogen-like ligand (v-Themis) genes, the latter of which is located in the first intron of s-Themis but transcribed in the opposite direction. These genes may encode male- and female-side self-recognition molecules. The SI system of C. intestinalis has a similar framework to that of flowering plants but utilizing different molecules.     

Human genome ultraconserved elements are ultraselected

Ultraconserved elements in the human genome are defined as stretches of at least 200 base pairs of DNA that match identically with corresponding regions in the mouse and rat genomes. Most ultraconserved elements are noncoding and have been evolutionarily conserved since mammal and bird ancestors diverged over 300 million years ago. The reason for this extreme conservation remains a mystery. It has been speculated that they are mutational cold spots or regions where every site is under weak but still detectable negative selection. However, analysis of the derived allele frequency spectrum shows that these regions are in fact under negative selection that is much stronger than that in protein coding genes.     

Ancient noncoding elements conserved in the human genome

Cartilaginous fishes represent the living group of jawed vertebrates that diverged from the common ancestor of human and teleost fish lineages about 530 million years ago. We generated approximately 1.4x genome sequence coverage for a cartilaginous fish, the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii), and compared this genome with the human genome to identify conserved noncoding elements (CNEs). The elephant shark sequence revealed twice as many CNEs as were identified by whole-genome comparisons between teleost fishes and human. The ancient vertebrate-specific CNEs in the elephant shark and human genomes are likely to play key regulatory roles in vertebrate gene expression.     

High genetic variation and recombination events in the vicinity of non-autonomous transposable elements from ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'

Two miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements(MITEs), MCLas-A and MCLas-B, were recently identified from ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' known to be associated with citrus Huanglongbing(HLB, yellow shoot disease). MCLas-A was suggested as an active MITE because of its mobility. The immediate upstream gene of the two MITEs was predicted to be a putative transposase. The goal of this study is to analyze the sequence variation in the upstream putative transposase of MITEs and explore the possible correlation between sequence variation of transposase gene and MITE activity. PCR and sequence analysis showed that 12 sequence types were found in six major amplicon types from 43 representative ‘Ca. L. asiaticus' isolates from China, the United States and Brazil. Out of the 12 sequence types, three(T4, T5-2, T6) were reported for the first time. Recombination events were found in the two unique sequence types(T5-2 and T6) which were detected in all Brazilian isolates. Notably, no sequence variation or recombination events were detected in the upstream putative transposase gene of MCLas-A, suggesting the conservation of the transposase gene might be closely related with the MITE activity. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated two well supported clades including five subclades were identified, clearly reflecting the geographical origins of isolates, especially that of Ruili isolates, S?o Paulo isolates and a few Florida isolates.     

螺旋藻基因组中糖苷酶类基因的序列分析

在NCBI基因组数据库中可检索到3个钝顶螺旋藻藻株、1个极大螺旋藻藻株、1个盐泽螺旋藻藻株和1个螺旋藻属未定种的藻株基因组序列。6个螺旋藻基因组序列来源的糖苷酶基因共计32个,编码蛋白含260~1 084个氨基酸,BLAST序列比对显示,与非螺旋藻种属来源的已知序列的相似性在49%~84%之间。系统进化分析表明,32个糖苷酶基因聚类成8个簇,另有3个基因分别单独构成进化分支。酶学功能预测显示,这些糖苷酶基因分别属于8个糖苷酶家族(GH3、GH9、GH13、GH23、GH25、GH38、GH57、GH104),具有8种糖苷酶催化活性(纤维素酶、溶菌酶、α-甘露糖苷酶、α-淀粉酶、普鲁兰酶、1,4-α-葡聚糖分支酶、肽聚糖结合功能、β-葡萄糖苷酶)。     

禾谷镰刀菌(Fusarium graminearum)几丁质酶基因特征分析

禾谷镰刀菌是引发麦类赤霉病的优势种,对禾谷镰刀菌基因组中几丁质酶基因的研究可以帮助理解其致病机理。通过对禾谷镰刀菌基因组数据库的搜索分析,发现了16个ORFs编码的假定几丁质酶,它们都属于糖水解酶18家族。通过与它们的糖水解酶家族比较,对这些几丁质酶进行了系统的命名,按pI值从小到大进行编号为Chi18-1～Chi18-16,研究分析这些几丁质酶蛋白的信号肽、活性位点和亚细胞定位,进行了多序列比对,并建立了系统发生树,为禾谷镰刀菌中的几丁质酶在其致病性和相关生物防治方面的研究奠定了基础。     

蚤状溞（Daphnia pulex）基因组中MDM2/4类似蛋白及其编码基因的特征

【目的】验证蚤状溞基因组是否存在与人类原癌基因MDM2/4同源或相似的基因,为拓展蚤状溞作为模式生物在生物医学领域中的应用奠定基础。【方法】在GenBank中同源搜索蚤状溞MDM2/4基因及其编码蛋白,利用生物信息学工具软件对其基因结构、转录本序列、编码蛋白的性质和结构等进行生物信息学分析。【结果】用BLASTp程序在GenBank蛋白非冗余数据库中对编码的氨基酸序列进行搜索,获得了蚤状溞基因组编码的MDM2/4类似蛋白,并分别命名为DAPPU_mdm2_like和DAPPU_mdm4_like。根据EST序列确定蚤状溞MDM2/4类似基因仅有5个外显子。BLAST比对搜索、亚细胞定位预测、功能结构域分析及同源模建预测结果表明,DAPPU_mdm2_like和DAP-PU_mdm4_like可能是MDM2/4的同源蛋白,DAPPU_mdm2_like的结构功能域含有1个ZnF_RBZ结构域（氨基酸135~159）、1个RING结构域（氨基酸250~290）和RING结构域重叠部分序列形成的另一个ZnF_RBZ结构域（氨基酸269~293）;DAPPU_mdm4_like氨基酸222~263可能是一个RING结构域。利用Needleman-Wunsch双序列全局比对工具比对,发现DAPPU_mdm4_like与DAPPU_mdm2_like具有28.6%的序列一致性和40.4%的相似性。【结论】蚤状溞基因组可能存在MDM2和MDM4的分化。     

The design of aided software for osmotic stress responding genes mining in plant genome

A software and algorithm which based on random sequence model uses osmotic stress responding cis elements from existing information sources of biology was designed.It can infer the genic downstream function of Arabidopsis thaliana through analyzing its promoter region,and can offer effective aided analysis to mine osmotic stress responding genes in Arabidopsis thaliana genome.The practical application proves that this software can aid to analyze vast genic data and offer important data evidence.     

计算识别水稻基因组中microRNA基因

一些低丰度的m iRNA和组织特异性m iRNA往往很难发现,利用生物信息学方法,根据已知水稻m iRNA的各种属性,设计m iRNA前体预测程序——P reM iRF ind,从全基因组范围中预测出1 375条m iRNA前体,然后利用已知拟南芥的m iRNA对这1 375条前体进行同源检索,找出166条m iRNA前体,再用水稻已知的m iRNA对这166条序列进行检索,发现其中153条与已知的水稻m icroRNA完全相同,对剩余的13条m iRNA前体预测序列用m Fo ld作进一步结构分析,最后得到10条新的候选m iRNA基因序列。     

Transfer RNA genes: landmarks for integration of mobile genetic elements in Dictyostelium discoideum

In prokaryotes and eukaryotes mobile genetic elements frequently disrupt the highly conservative structures of chromosomes, which are responsible for storage of genetic information. The factors determining the site for integration of such elements are still unknown. Transfer RNA (tRNA) genes are associated in a highly significant manner with different putative mobile genetic elements in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. These results suggest that tRNA genes in D. discoideum, and probably tRNA genes generally in lower eukaryotes, may function as genomic landmarks for the integration of different transposable elements in a strictly position-specific manner.     

基于全基因组重测序分析藏猪骨骼肌发育相关基因

为从全基因组水平探索影响藏猪骨骼肌发育的遗传变异,本研究对5头迪庆藏猪进行全基因组重测序,并合并NCBI数据库中来自3个省的藏猪、与藏猪同样小体型及生长慢的巴马香猪、及体型大且生长快速的杜洛克和大白猪共70个猪只的全基因组重测序数据进行整合分析,获得全基因组SNP后结合选择信号检测与等位基因频率(AF)分析鉴定藏猪-香猪与杜洛克-大白猪的遗传差异;利用GO和KEGG功能富集分析藏猪骨骼肌转录组与蛋白组相关基因。结果发现:1)2 211个基因在藏猪-香猪与杜洛克-大白猪2个比较组中存在遗传差异,138个基因富集到骨骼肌发育相关的GO功能集及KEGG通路;2)9个基因(UCHL3、POSTN、COL12A1、PGK1、JPH1、GPT2、RBFOX1、FLNB和DCX)已报道参与藏猪60 d胚胎背最长肌发育调控,1个(CKM)参与6月龄藏猪背最长肌发育调控;3)10个基因共包含936个SNP,其中655个SNP位于基因间区,255个是内含子变异,少量SNP是外显子及调控区变异。本研究从全基因组水平鉴定了与藏猪骨骼肌发育相关基因及其遗传变异,为以后持续深入解析藏猪骨骼肌发育的遗传机制提供参考。