茉莉酸信号途径中转录抑制因子JAZ蛋白家族的分子进化分析

茉莉酸在植物的生长发育、应激反应和次生代谢过程中起着重要的调控作用。转录抑制因子JAZ（Jasmonate ZIM-domain）蛋白则是茉莉酸信号从SCF^coi1受体复合物向下游茉莉酸应答基因转导的纽带。采用比较基因组学的方法。从多谱系的角度对植物JAZ蛋白家族进行分子进化分析并取得以下研究结果。（1）在藻类植物、苔藓植物、蕨类植物、裸子植物及单、双子叶植物6个不同谱系的15种代表植物基因组中,鉴定了82个JAZ同源基因,其中在低等藻类植物基因组中没有鉴定到JAZ同源基因,提示JAZ家族基因可能起源于陆生植物。（2）系统发育分析表明,在植物基因组中JAZ蛋白家族可分为10个保守的亚家族,而谱系特异扩增尤其是串联重复和区段重复可能是陆生植物JAZ家族基因扩增与进化的主要机制,并导致多个谱系特异的JAZ亚家族产生。（3）基因结构分析表明,JAZ家族基因含有0一7个数目不等、62—4222bp长度不等的内含子,提示在植物基因组进化过程中,JAZ家族基因可能发生内含-丢失或内含子插入缺失,进而导致基因外显子．内含子结构的多样性。该研究结果将为植物JAZ蛋白家族的深入研究提供参考。     

基于全基因组从头测序技术盐肤木叶绿体基因组的测序分析

盐肤木是一种重要的经济树种,可为医药和工业染料提供原料。盐肤木具有较强的抗旱、耐寒、耐盐,可在温带、暖温带和亚热带地区生长。本研究首次对盐肤木叶绿体基因组进行从头测序(de novo sequencing)组装研究。结果表明,盐肤木叶绿体基因组长度为159082 bp,具有典型的四部分结构,两个单拷贝区被一对反向重复区分隔。LSC和SSC的长度分别为85394 bp和18663 bp。叶绿体基因组总共编码126个基因,其中包括88个蛋白编码基因,8个rRNA基因,30个tRNA基因。在叶绿体基因组中,61.97%的序列为基因编码区。在盐肤木叶绿体基因组中,只有8个基因含有内含子,除ycf3基因(2个内含子)外,其余均含有1个内含子。盐肤木叶绿体基因组总共存在755个SSR位点。SSR主要由二核苷酸和单核苷酸组成,分别占60%(453)和28.74%(217)。聚类分析结果表明,漆树科与盐肤木最为接近,其次为槭树科和无患子科。本研究为盐肤木的分类提供了分子基础。本研究是关于盐肤木叶绿体基因组的首次报道,对了解其光合作用、进化和叶绿体转基因工程具有重要意义。     

半翅目昆虫线粒体基因组学研究进展

线粒体基因组广泛应用于昆虫系统发育、分子进化、种群遗传学及谱系地理学等众多研究领域.半翅目是昆虫纲外翅部中最大的一个目,具有重要的经济意义.目前,已对100种半翅目昆虫进行了线粒体基因组测序,其中81种在中国完成测序.本文综述了半翅目昆虫线粒体基因学研究的已有成果,比较分析了半翅目昆虫线粒体基因组的基本特征,包括基因组大小、基因含量、基因重排、碱基组成、密码子使用、蛋白质编码基因的进化模式、RNA基因及非编码区,并系统总结了线粒体基因组数据在半翅目昆虫系统进化研究中的应用现状.最后,针对线粒体基因组的获得、注释和应用过程中存在的问题进行了讨论,并提出了今后半翅目昆虫线粒体基因组学的研究重点.     

内含子的进化及基因表达调节

由于内含子(intron)的进化目前还没有一致的观点,一般认为内含子的进化是基因进化的重要部分,是与物种形成相适应的过程.内含子参与基因的组织特异性表达、蛋白质变异、基因转录等多种生物学过程.     

鞘翅目昆虫线粒体基因组研究进展

鞘翅目（Coleoptera）是世界上最具多样性的类群,具有很高的生态和形态多样性,这些多样性吸引了很多进化生物学家和分类学家的关注。随着分子生物学的发展,分子生物学技术广泛应用于鞘翅目系统学的研究,但随着研究的深入,简单的分子片段已经不能满足研究的需求,需要发掘更新的分子标记。近年来,线粒体全基因组已经成为鞘翅目分子系统学研究中很重要的分子标记之一,并广泛地应用于鞘翅目昆虫各个阶元的研究中。本文就鞘翅目线粒体全基因组的概况、研究进展及存在问题进行了总结和讨论。目前,鞘翅目线粒体基因组的研究主要包括物种线粒体基因组组成与结构、分子系统学和分子进化等方面。线粒体基因组在解决系统发育和进化方面表现出了很多的优越性,然而也存在着一些缺点,如序列难获得、基因类型单一、各基因进化速率不同、应用较局限等。     

内含子microRNA——基因组中的暗物质

基因的内含子一直被认为是基因组中的"垃圾"序列。自上世纪末发现其编码了与RNA剪接相关的一些分子以来,人们对内含子的意义有了重新认识。随着micoRNA研究的深入,现已证实40%的microRNA由内含子所编码,这进一步提升了内含子在基因表达调控中的地位。内含子编码的microRNA长期未被人们所认识,但确实具有一定的生物学功能,可称得上是"基因组中的暗物质"。     

蝎毒液肽基因内含子剪接信号分析

从中国蝎Buthus martensii Karsch基因组DNA中分离到两个毒液基因的内含子。在此基础上,通过编辑和分析目前已出版的蝎毒液肽基因内含子序列,确定了这类基因内含子剪接信号的共有序列,并将其与其它其它物种进行了比较。本文的结果对于研究蝎毒液肽前体mRNA的剪接机制以及比较不同物种之间内含子进化和功能的关系具有参考价值。     

全基因组关联分析:基因组学研究的机遇与挑战

全基因组关联分析(genome wide association study,GWAS)是利用全基因组范围内筛选出高密度的分子标记对所研究的群体进行扫描,分析扫描得出的分子标记数据与表型性状之间关联关系的方法。GWAS的出现为全面系统地研究基因组学掀开了新的一页,目前主要应用于人类疾病复杂性状的分析,已鉴定出大量与人类复杂疾病或数量性状相关的遗传变异,成为研究人类基因组学的关键手段。在植物基因组中的研究应用虽刚刚起步,但也取得了良好的效果,应用GWAS发掘植物复杂数量性状基因、为植物分子育种提供依据已成为国际植物基因组学研究的热点。然而,GWAS的结果还存在一些问题,并非早期预测和想象的那样简单。现针对GWAS的特点,对其在人类基因组和植物基因组中的应用及其未来发展进行综述。     

内含子Ⅱ的作用机制和演化

内含子是广泛存在于原核生物的叶绿体、线粒体以及真核生物基因组中的非编码DNA序列,但其含有的调控元件却常常影响基因的表达效率。内含子的自我剪接在mRNA的成熟过程中起着重要作用,内含子也可利用逆转录剪接作用插入到同源或异源DNA中,同时也常常通过“外显子改组”来促进基因进化。文章重点介绍了近年来在内含子Ⅱ作用机制及演化方面研究的最新进展。     

蝶类线粒体基因组学研究进展

蝶类所蕴含的生态和形态多样性信息十分丰富,并一直作为进化生物学和生态学研究的模型系统之一。随着分子生物学的发展,分子生物学技术被广泛应用于蝶类系统学研究。但随着研究的深入,简单的分子片段已不能满足研究的需求,需要挖掘新的分子标记。近年来,线粒体全基因组已成为蝶类分子系统学研究中的重要分子标记之一,并广泛应用于蝶类各阶元的研究中。就蝶类线粒体基因组的测序进展、基因组的结构特征、线粒体基因(蛋白质编码基因、tRNA基因、rRNA基因)的特征、A+T富集区的特征、基因重叠现象及线粒体基因组在分子系统学方面的应用进行了概述,同时也分析了线粒体基因组在应用中存在的一些问题。     

XdomView: protein domain and exon position visualization

SUMMARY: The relationship between intron distribution in the eukaryotic gene and protein structural elements is essential for understanding the origin and evolution of genes. XdomView is a web-based viewer mapping protein structural domains and intron positions in eukaryotic homologues to its tertiary structure. The association of sequence signals to 3D structure in XdomView provides a valuable visualization environment for eukaryotic gene organization, gene evolution, protein folding and protein structure classification. AVAILABILITY: Freely available from http://surya.bic.nus.edu.sg/xdom.     

A general model for the evolution of nuclear pre-mRNA introns

We present an overview of the evolution of eukaryotic split gene structure and pre-mRNA splicing mechanisms. We have drawn together several seemingly conflicting ideas and we show that they can all be incorporated in a single unified theory of intron evolution. The resulting model is consistent with the notion that introns, as a class, are very ancient, having originated in the "RNA world"; it also supports the concept that introns may have played a crucial role in the construction of many eukaryotic genes and it accommodates the idea that introns are related to mobile insertion elements. Our conclusion is that introns could have a profound effect on the course of eukaryotic gene evolution, but that the origin and maintenance of intron sequences depends, largely, on natural selection acting on the intron sequences themselves.     

Prevalence of intron gain over intron loss in the evolution of paralogous gene families

The mechanisms and evolutionary dynamics of intron insertion and loss in eukaryotic genes remain poorly understood. Reconstruction of parsimonious scenarios of gene structure evolution in paralogous gene families in animals and plants revealed numerous gains and losses of introns. In all analyzed lineages, the number of acquired new introns was substantially greater than the number of lost ancestral introns. This trend held even for lineages in which vertical evolution of genes involved more intron losses than gains, suggesting that gene duplication boosts intron insertion. However, dating gene duplications and the associated intron gains and losses based on the molecular clock assumption showed that very few, if any, introns were gained during the last ~100 million years of animal and plant evolution, in agreement with previous conclusions reached through analysis of orthologous gene sets. These results are generally compatible with the emerging notion of intensive insertion and loss of introns during transitional epochs in contrast to the relative quiet of the intervening evolutionary spans.     

A very high fraction of unique intron positions in the intron-rich diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana indicates widespread intron gain

Although spliceosomal introns are present in all characterized eukaryotes, intron numbers vary dramatically, from only a handful in the entire genomes of some species to nearly 10 introns per gene on average in vertebrates. For all previously studied intron-rich species, significant fractions of intron positions are shared with other widely diverged eukaryotes, indicating that 1) large numbers of the introns date to much earlier stages of eukaryotic evolution and 2) these lineages have not passed through a very intron-poor stage since early eukaryotic evolution. By the same token, among species that have lost nearly all of their ancestral introns, no species is known to harbor large numbers of more recently gained introns. These observations are consistent with the notion that intron-dense genomes have arisen only once over the course of eukaryotic evolution. Here, we report an exception to this pattern, in the intron-rich diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. Only 8.1% of studied T. pseudonana intron positions are conserved with any of a variety of divergent eukaryotic species. This implies that T. pseudonana has both 1) lost nearly all of the numerous introns present in the diatom-apicomplexan ancestor and 2) gained a large number of new introns since that time. In addition, that so few apparently inserted T. pseudonana introns match the positions of introns in other species implies that insertion of multiple introns into homologous genic sites in eukaryotic evolution is less common than previously estimated. These results suggest the possibility that intron-rich genomes may have arisen multiple times in evolution. These results also provide evidence that multiple intron insertion into the same site is rare, further supporting the notion that early eukaryotic ancestors were very intron rich.     

Generation of a database containing discordant intron positions in eukaryotic genes (MIDB)

MOTIVATION: Intron sliding is the relocation of intron-exon boundaries over short distances and is often also referred to as intron slippage or intron migration or intron drift. We have generated a database containing discordant intron positions in homologous genes (MIDB--Mismatched Intron DataBase). Discordant intron positions are those that are either closely located in homologous genes (within a window of 10 nucleotides) or an intron position that is present in one gene but not in any of its homologs. The MIDB database aims at systematically collecting information about mismatched introns in the genes from GenBank and organizing it into a form useful for understanding the genomics and dynamics of introns thereby helping understand the evolution of genes. RESULTS: Intron displacement or sliding is critically important for explaining the present distribution of introns among orthologous and paralogous genes. MIDB allows examining of intron movements and allows mapping of intron positions from homologous proteins onto a single sequence. The database is of potential use for molecular biologists in general and for researchers who are interested in gene evolution and eukaryotic gene structure. Partial analysis of this database allowed us to identify a few putative cases of intron sliding. AVAILABILITY: http://intron.bic.nus.edu.sg/midb/midb.html     

Malin: maximum likelihood analysis of intron evolution in eukaryotes

Malin is a software package for the analysis of eukaryotic gene structure evolution. It provides a graphical user interface for various tasks commonly used to infer the evolution of exon-intron structure in protein-coding orthologs. Implemented tasks include the identification of conserved homologous intron sites in protein alignments, as well as the estimation of ancestral intron content, lineage-specific intron losses and gains. Estimates are computed either with parsimony, or with a probabilistic model that incorporates rate variation across lineages and intron sites. Availability: Malin is available as a stand-alone Java application, as well as an application bundle for MacOS X, at the website http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~csuros/introns/malin/. The software is distributed under a BSD-style license.     

Patterns of intron loss and gain in plants: intron loss-dominated evolution and genome-wide comparison of O. sativa and A. thaliana

Numerous previous studies have elucidated 2 surprising patterns of spliceosomal intron evolution in diverse eukaryotes over the past roughly 100 Myr. First, rates of recent intron gain in a wide variety of eukaryotic lineages have been surprisingly low, far too low to explain modern intron densities. Second, intron losses have outnumbered intron gains over a variety of lineages. For several reasons, land plants might be expected to have comparatively high rates of intron gain and thus to represent a possible exception to this pattern. However, we report several studies that indicate low rates of intron gain and an excess of intron losses over intron gains in a variety of plant lineages. We estimate that intron losses have outnumbered intron gains in recent evolution in Arabidopsis thaliana (roughly 12.6 times more losses than gains), Oryza sativa (9.8 times), the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (5.1 times), and the Bigelowiella natans nucleomorph, an enslaved green algal nucleus (2.8 times). We estimate that during recent evolution, A. thaliana and O. sativa have experienced very low rates of intron gain of around one gain per gene per 2.6-8.0 billion years. In addition, we compared 8,258 pairs of putatively orthologous A. thaliana-O. sativa genes. We found that 5.3% of introns in conserved coding regions are species-specific. Observed species-specific A. thaliana and O. sativa introns tend to be exact and to lie adjacent to each other along the gene, in a pattern suggesting mRNA-mediated intron loss. Our results underscore that low intron gain rates and intron number reduction are common features of recent eukaryotic evolution. This pattern implies that rates of intron creation were higher during earlier periods of evolution and further focuses attention on the causes of initial intron proliferation.     

A 25-bp ancient spliceosomal intron in the TvRab1a gene of Trichomonas vaginalis

Spliceosomal introns play a key role in eukaryotic genome evolution and protein diversity. A large Rab GTPase family has been identified in a unicellular eukaryote Trichomonas vaginalis. However, the characteristics of introns in Rab genes of T. vaginalis have not been investigated previously. In this study, we identified a 25-bp spliceosomal intron in the T. vaginalis Rab1a (TvRab1a) gene, the smallest intron in T. vaginalis to be characterized to date. This intron contains a canonical splice site at both 5' (GT) and 3' (AG) ends, and a putative branch-point sequence (TCTAAC) that matches the Trichomonad consensus sequence of ACTAAC except for the first nucleotide. The position and phase of the TvRab1a intron are evolutionarily conserved in Rab1 homologous genes across at least five eukaryotic supergroups, including Opisthokonta, Amoebozoa, Excavata, Chromalveolata, and Plantae. These results strongly suggest that the TvRab1a intron is likely to be an ancient spliceosomal intron, and it can therefore be used as a phylogenetic marker to evaluate particular eukaryotic groupings. Identification and characterization of the TvRabla intron may provide an insight into the evolution of the large Rab repertoire in T. vaginalis.