On the Evolution of New Metabolic Functions in Diploid Organisms

Evolution of lactose utilization via the ebg system of Escherichia coli requires both structural gene (ebgA) and regulatory gene (ebgR) mutations. Because evolution of new metabolic functions in diploids might be subject to constraints not present in haploid organisms, merodiploid strains carrying a wild-type and an evolved ebgA allele, or a wild-type and an evolved ebgR allele were constructed. I show that heterozygosity at ebgA does not significantly affect the selective advantage of the evolved ebgA allele; whereas heterozygosity at ebgR eliminates the selective advantage of the evolved ebgR allele. It is suggested that, in diploid organisms, evolution of new functions for systems under negative control would be very difficult.     

Influences of Dominance and Evolution of Sex in Finite Diploid Populations

Most eukaryotes reproduce sexually. Although the benefits of sex in diploids mainly stem from recombination and segregation, the relative effects of recombination and segregation are relatively less known. In this study, we adopt an infinite loci model to illustrate how dominance coefficient of mutations affects the above-mentioned genetic events. However, we assume mutational effects to be independent and also ignore the effects of epistasis within loci. Our simulations show that with different levels of dominance, segregation and recombination may play different roles. In particular, recombination more commonly has a major impact on the evolution of sex when deleterious mutations are partially recessive. In contrast, when deleterious mutations are dominant, segregation becomes more important than recombination, a finding that is consistent with previous studies stating that segregation, rather than recombination, is more likely to drive the evolution of sex. Moreover, beneficial mutations alone remarkably increases the effects of recombination. We also note that populations favor sexual reproduction when deleterious mutations become more dominant or beneficial mutations become more recessive. Overall, these results illustrate that the existence of dominance is an important mechanism that affects the evolution of sex.     

FTO Is Associated with Aortic Valve Stenosis in a Gender Specific Manner of Heterozygote Advantage: A Population-Based Case-Control Study

Background

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the Fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene have been linked with increased body weight. However, the data on an association of FTO with cardiovascular diseases remains conflicting. Therefore, we ascertained whether FTO is associated with aortic valve stenosis (AVS), one of the most frequent cardiovascular diseases in the Western world.

Methods and Findings

In this population-based case-control study the FTO SNP rs9939609 was analyzed in 300 German patients with AVS and 429 German controls of the KORA survey S4, representing a random population. Blood samples were collected prior to aortic valve replacement in AVS cases and FTO rs9939609 was genotyped via ARMS-PCR. Genotype frequencies differed significantly between AVS cases and KORA controls (p = 0.004). Separate gender-analyses uncovered an association of FTO with AVS exclusively in males; homozygote carriers for the risk-allele (A) had a higher risk to develop AVS (p = 0.017, odds ratio (OR) 1.727; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.087–2.747, recessive model), whereas heterozygote carriers for the risk-allele showed a lower risk (p = 0.002, OR 0.565, 95% CI 0.384–0.828, overdominant model). After adjustment for multiple co-variables, the odds ratios of heterozygotes remained significant for an association with AVS (p = 0.008, OR 0.565, 95% CI 0.369–0.861).

Conclusions

This study revealed an association of FTO rs9939609 with AVS. Furthermore, this association was restricted to men, with heterozygotes having a significantly lower chance to develop AVS. Lastly, the association between FTO and AVS was independent of BMI and other variables such as diabetes mellitus.     

Mutations Enhancing Amino Acid Catabolism Confer a Growth Advantage in Stationary Phase

Starved cultures of Escherichia coli undergo successive rounds of population takeovers by mutants of increasing fitness. These mutants express the growth advantage in stationary phase (GASP) phenotype. Previous work identified the rpoS819 allele as a GASP mutation allowing cells to take over stationary-phase cultures after growth in rich media (M. M. Zambrano, D. A. Siegele, M. A. Almirón, A. Tormo, and R. Kolter, Science 259:1757-1760, 1993). Here we have identified three new GASP loci from an aged rpoS819 strain: sgaA, sgaB, and sgaC. Each locus is capable of conferring GASP on the rpoS819 parent, and they can provide successively higher fitnesses for the bacteria in the starved cultures. All four GASP mutations isolated thus far allow for faster growth on both individual and mixtures of amino acids. Each mutation confers a growth advantage on a different subset of amino acids, and these mutations act in concert to increase the overall catabolic capacity of the cell. We present a model whereby this enhanced ability to catabolize amino acids is responsible for the fitness gain during carbon starvation, as it may allow GASP mutants to outcompete the parental cells when growing on the amino acids released by dying cells.     

Heterozygote advantage and the maintenance of polymorphism for multilocus traits

Explaining how polymorphism is maintained in the face of selection remains a puzzle since selection tends to erode genetic variation. Provided an infinitely large unsubdivided population and no frequency-dependance of selective values, heterozygote advantage is the text book explanation for the maintenance of polymorphism when selection acts at a diallelic locus. Here, we investigate whether this remains true when selection acts at multiple diallelic loci. We use five different definitions of heterozygote advantage that largely cover this concept for multiple loci. Using extensive numerical simulations, we found no clear associations between the presence of any of the five definitions of heterozygote advantage and the maintenance of polymorphism at all loci. The strength of the association decreases as the number of loci increases or as recombination decreases. We conclude that heterozygote advantage cannot be a general mechanism for the maintenance of genetic polymorphism at multiple loci. These findings suggest that a correlation between the number of heterozygote loci and fitness is not warranted on theoretical ground.     

杂合子长期变化的计算机模拟试验——群体中长期保存杂合子的可能性分析

本文运用计算机模拟的方法,在随机交配、随机留种的情况下,分析了群体中长期保存杂合子的可能性。从模拟试验结果验证了群体遗传学理论的一个重要结论:群体中长期保存杂合子是不可能的。因此在畜禽保种工作中以减少基因纯合而保存群体全部基因为目的,来控制近交是不一定必要的。     

The Evolution of Epistasis and the Advantage of Recombination in Populations of Bacteriophage T4

Experiments reported here test two hypotheses about the evolution of recombination: first, the Fisher-Muller concept that sexual organisms respond to selection more rapidly than do asexual ones, and second, that epistasis is more likely to evolve in the absence of recombination. Populations of bacteriophage T4 were selected by the drug proflavine in discrete generations and the change in mean population fitness was monitored. Three separate selection series yielded results supporting the Fisher-Muller hypothesis. The amount of epistasis evolved was measured by partitioning the T4 map into regions and comparing the sum of the proflavine resistances of each region with the resistance of the whole. Significantly more interactions were found in phage isolated from the populations with lower total recombination than in those from populations with higher recombination. The degree to which these experiments fit preconceived notions about natural selection suggests that microorganisms may be advantageously used in other population genetics experiments.     

二倍体雌核发育鱼产生二倍体卵子的证据

二倍体雌核发育第 1代 (G1)产生的二倍体卵子经紫外线灭活的散鳞镜鲤精子诱导 ,无需染色体加倍处理 ,发育成二倍体雌核发育第 2代 (G2 ) ;G1 产生的二倍体卵子与雄性异源四倍体鲫鲤 (AT)产生的二倍体精子结合 ,形成新型两性可育的异源四倍体鲫鲤 (G1 ×AT)。对G2 和新四倍体 (G1 ×AT)的体细胞染色体数目、生殖细胞染色体行为及性腺结构、外形、生长速度等生物学特征进行了研究。结果表明 :G2 体细胞染色体数目为 2n =1 0 0。在 6～ 1 2月龄G2 中 ,没有发现性成熟的个体 ,组织学切片结果表明 ,G2 性腺处于卵原细胞增殖阶段 ,与 1龄G1 的性腺发育相似 ,性腺发育迟缓。对 6～ 8个月龄G2 性腺染色体制片进行观察 ,结果表明 ,G2 生殖细胞的染色体没有二价体的形成 ,只有有丝分裂的迹象 ,其有丝分裂中期不但有 2n =1 0 0的染色体分裂相 ,还有 4n =2 0 0的染色体分裂相 ,甚至有接近 8n(380 )的分裂相 ,说明 1龄G2 的性腺中存在 2n、4n等多种类型的生殖细胞 ,其中 4n的生殖细胞经正常的减数分裂后可产生二倍体卵子。核内复制 (pre meioticendoreduplication)学说可以较好地解释这种不减半配子产生的现象。新四倍体 (G1 ×AT)体细胞染色体数目为 4n =2 0 0 ,雌雄新四倍体 (G1 ×AT)具有正常的性腺发育 ,在繁殖季     

Dobzhansky-Muller and Wolbachia-Induced Incompatibilities in a Diploid Genetic System

Genetic incompatibilities are supposed to play an important role in speciation. A general (theoretical) problem is to explain the persistence of genetic diversity after secondary contact. Previous theoretical work has pointed out that Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities (DMI) are not stable in the face of migration unless local selection acts on the alleles involved in incompatibility. With local selection, genetic variability exists up to a critical migration rate but is lost when migration exceeds this threshold value. Here, we investigate the effect of intracellular bacteria Wolbachia on the stability of hybrid zones formed after the Dobzhansky Muller model. Wolbachia are known to cause a cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) within and between species. Incorporating intracellular bacteria Wolbachia can lead to a significant increase of critical migration rates and maintenance of divergence, primarily because Wolbachia-induced incompatibility acts to reduce frequencies of F1 hybrids. Wolbachia infect up to two-thirds of all insect species and it is therefore likely that CI co-occurs with DMI in nature. The results indicate that both isolating mechanisms strengthen each other and under some circumstances act synergistically. Thus they can drive speciation processes more forcefully than either when acting alone.     

Heterozygote deficiency caused by a null allele at the bovine ARO23 microsatellite

Abstract

Non‐Mendelian inheritance and heterozygote deficiency were observed within the International Bovine Reference Panel (IBRP) when genotyped for AGC trinucleotide microsatellite ARO23. Chi square analysis showed a significant difference between the observed and predicted heterozygosity among 37 unrelated individuals. PCR reactions using an alternative primer designed to avoid a putative mismatch resulted in the appearance of an additional allele with a frequency of 0.30 and the restoration of Mendelian inheritance. Sequence analysis of this allele showed a cytosine insertion 2 bp from the 3’ end of the original priming site causing the failure of allele amplification. The presence of a segregating null allele may be suspected when heterozygote deficiency is observed.     

Analysis of the Fixation of Discrete Genetic Structures by Means of an Integral Model of Evolution in a Mendelian One-Locus Population of Diploid Organisms

An integral model of the evolution of a Mendelian one-locus population of diploid organisms with continual allele diversity developing under density-limiting conditions or without density limitation has been proposed and analyzed. The model was used to study the mechanism of the appearance of discrete genetic structures, i.e., the fixation of a limited number of alleles. Local resistance of the resultant genetic distributions to homogeneous equiprobable mutations has been demonstrated.     

A Morphospace for Reef Fishes: Elongation Is the Dominant Axis of Body Shape Evolution

Tropical reef fishes are widely regarded as being perhaps the most morphologically diverse vertebrate assemblage on earth, yet much remains to be discovered about the scope and patterns of this diversity. We created a morphospace of 2,939 species spanning 56 families of tropical Indo-Pacific reef fishes and established the primary axes of body shape variation, the phylogenetic consistency of these patterns, and whether dominant patterns of shape change can be accomplished by diverse underlying changes. Principal component analysis showed a major axis of shape variation that contrasts deep-bodied species with slender, elongate forms. Furthermore, using custom methods to compare the elongation vector (axis that maximizes elongation deformation) and the main vector of shape variation (first principal component) for each family in the morphospace, we showed that two thirds of the families diversify along an axis of body elongation. Finally, a comparative analysis using a principal coordinate analysis based on the angles among first principal component vectors of each family shape showed that families accomplish changes in elongation with a wide range of underlying modifications. Some groups such as Pomacentridae and Lethrinidae undergo decreases in body depth with proportional increases in all body regions, while other families show disproportionate changes in the length of the head (e.g., Labridae), the trunk or caudal region in all combinations (e.g., Pempheridae and Pinguipedidae). In conclusion, we found that evolutionary changes in body shape along an axis of elongation dominates diversification in reef fishes. Changes in shape on this axis are thought to have immediate implications for swimming performance, defense from gape limited predators, suction feeding performance and access to some highly specialized habitats. The morphological modifications that underlie changes in elongation are highly diverse, suggesting a role for a range of developmental processes and functional consequences.