Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

An analysis of the gene complement of a marsupial, Monodelphis domestica: evolution of lineage-specific genes and giant chromosomes

Goodstadt, Leo, Heger, Andreas, Webber, Caleb ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8063-7674 and Ponting, Chris P. 2007. An analysis of the gene complement of a marsupial, Monodelphis domestica: evolution of lineage-specific genes and giant chromosomes. Genome Research 17 (7) , pp. 969-981. 10.1101/gr.6093907

[thumbnail of Genome Res.-2007-Goodstadt-969-81.pdf] PDF - Published Version
Download (638kB)

Abstract

The newly sequenced genome of Monodelphis domestica not only provides the out-group necessary to better understand our own eutherian lineage, but it enables insights into the innovative biology of metatherians. Here, we compare Monodelphis with Homo sequences from alignments of single nucleotides, genes, and whole chromosomes. Using PhyOP, we have established orthologs in Homo for 82% (15,250) of Monodelphis gene predictions. Those with single orthologs in each species exhibited a high median synonymous substitution rate (dS = 1.02), thereby explaining the relative paucity of aligned regions outside of coding sequences. Orthology assignments were used to construct a synteny map that illustrates the considerable fragmentation of Monodelphis and Homo karyotypes since their therian last common ancestor. Fifteen percent of Monodelphis genes are predicted, from their low divergence at synonymous sites, to have been duplicated in the metatherian lineage. The majority of Monodelphis-specific genes possess predicted roles in chemosensation, reproduction, adaptation to specific diets, and immunity. Using alignments of Monodelphis genes to sequences from either Homo or Trichosurus vulpecula (an Australian marsupial), we show that metatherian X chromosomes have elevated silent substitution rates and high G+C contents in comparison with both metatherian autosomes and eutherian chromosomes. Each of these elevations is also a feature of subtelomeric chromosomal regions. We attribute these observations to high rates of female-specific recombination near the chromosomal ends and within the X chromosome, which act to sustain or increase G+C levels by biased gene conversion. In particular, we propose that the higher G+C content of the Monodelphis X chromosome is a direct consequence of its small size relative to the giant autosomes.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Medicine
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
ISSN: 1088-9051
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 22 October 2020
Date of Acceptance: 21 January 2007
Last Modified: 04 May 2023 23:44
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/135773

Citation Data

Cited 34 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics