Yadanzioside k

17301879

Developmental proteins play a pivotal role in the origin of animal complexity and diversity. We report here the identification of a highly divergent developmental protein superfamily (DANGER), which originated before the emergence of animals (∼850 million years ago) and experienced major expansion-contraction events during metazoan evolution. Sequence analysis demonstrates that DANGER proteins diverged via multiple mechanisms, including amino acid substitution, intron gain and/or loss, and recombination. Divergence for DANGER proteins is substantially greater than for the prototypic member of the superfamily (Mab-21 family) and other developmental protein families (e.g., WNT proteins). DANGER proteins are widely expressed and display species-dependent tissue expression patterns, with many members having roles in development. DANGER1A, which regulates the inositol trisphosphate receptor, promotes the differentiation and outgrowth of neuronal processes. Regulation of development may be a universal function of DANGER family members. This family provides a model system to investigate how rapid protein divergence contributes to morphological complexity.

Ancient Origin of the New Developmental Superfamily DANGER

Nikolas Nikolaidis,# 1 , * Dimitra Chalkia,# 1 D. Neil Watkins, 2 Roxanne K. Barrow, 3 Solomon H. Snyder, 3 , 4 , 5 Damian B. van Rossum, 1 and Randen L. Patterson 1 , *

2007;

30014848

Birds and other vertebrates display stunning variation in pigmentation patterning, yet the genes controlling this diversity remain largely unknown. Rock pigeons (Columba livia) are fundamentally one of four color pattern phenotypes, in decreasing order of melanism: T-check, checker, bar (ancestral), or barless. Using whole-genome scans, we identified NDP as a candidate gene for this variation. Allele-specific expression differences in NDP indicate cis-regulatory divergence between ancestral and melanistic alleles. Sequence comparisons suggest that derived alleles originated in the speckled pigeon (Columba guinea), providing a striking example of introgression. In contrast, barless rock pigeons have an increased incidence of vision defects and, like human families with hereditary blindness, carry start-codon mutations in NDP. In summary, we find that both coding and regulatory variation in the same gene drives wing pattern diversity, and post-domestication introgression supplied potentially advantageous melanistic alleles to feral populations of this ubiquitous urban bird.

Research organism: Other

Introgression of regulatory alleles and a missense coding mutation drive plumage pattern diversity in the rock pigeon

Anna I Vickrey,1 Rebecca Bruders,1 Zev Kronenberg,2† Emma Mackey,1‡ Ryan J Bohlender,3 Emily T Maclary,1 Raquel Maynez,1 Edward J Osborne,2 Kevin P Johnson,4 Chad D Huff,3 Mark Yandell,2 and Michael D Shapiro1

2018;