Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2009
Phenotypic adaptations may be the result of changes in gene structure or gene regulation, but lit... more Phenotypic adaptations may be the result of changes in gene structure or gene regulation, but little is known about the evolution of gene expression. In addition, it is unclear whether the same selective forces may operate at both levels simultaneously. Reproductive proteins evolve rapidly, but the underlying selective forces promoting such rapid changes are still a matter of debate. In particular, the role of sexual selection in driving positive selection among reproductive proteins remains controversial, whereas its potential influence on changes in promoter regions has not been explored. Protamines are responsible for maintaining DNA in a compacted form in chromosomes in sperm and the available evidence suggests that they evolve rapidly. Because protamines condense DNA within the sperm nucleus, they influence sperm head shape. Here, we examine the influence of sperm competition upon protamine 1 and protamine 2 genes and their promoters, by comparing closely related species ofMust...
OXTORD UNIVER5IrY PRE55 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape... more OXTORD UNIVER5IrY PRE55 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai 0ar es salaam 0elhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris sao Paulo singapore raipei ...
High-throughput transcriptome studies are breaking new ground to investigate the responses that o... more High-throughput transcriptome studies are breaking new ground to investigate the responses that organisms deploy in alternative environments. Nevertheless much remains to be understood about the genetic basis of host plant adaptation. Here, we investigate genome-wide expression in the fly Drosophila buzzatii raised in different conditions. This species uses decaying tissues of cactus of the genus Opuntia as primary rearing substrate, and secondarily, the necrotic tissues of the columnar cactus Trichocereus terscheckii. The latter constitutes a harmful host, rich in mescaline and other related phenylethylamine alkaloids. We assessed transcriptomic responses of larvae reared in O. sulphurea and T. terscheckii, with and without the addition of alkaloids extracted from the latter. Whole genome expression profiles were massively modulated by the rearing environment, mainly by the presence of T. terscheckii alkaloids. Differentially expressed genes were mainly related to detoxification, oxidation-reduction and stress response, however, we also found genes involved in development and neurobiological processes. In conclusion, our study contributes new data onto the role of transcriptional plasticity in response to alternative rearing environments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
We review several models that deal with the interaction of the genetic and behavioral systems thr... more We review several models that deal with the interaction of the genetic and behavioral systems throughout evolution. We present the conjecture of Baldwin and the subsequent developments of his ideas and those developed by Schmalhausen. We discuss the experiments of genetic assimilation of Waddington and the modern viewpoint based in the increasingly important role of the modification that the individuals
The American journal of clinical nutrition, Jan 20, 2016
Extensive epidemiologic studies have shown that cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome... more Extensive epidemiologic studies have shown that cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are associated with serum concentrations of liver enzymes; however, fundamental characteristics of this relation are currently unknown. We aimed to explore the role of liver aminotransferases in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and MetS. Liver gene- and protein-expression changes of aminotransferases, including their corresponding isoforms, were evaluated in a case-control study of patients with NAFLD (n = 42), which was proven through a biopsy (control subjects: n = 10). We also carried out a serum targeted metabolite profiling to the glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and Krebs cycle (n = 48) and an exploration by the next-generation sequencing of aminotransferase genes (n = 96). An in vitro study to provide a biological explanation of changes in the transcriptional level and enzymatic activity of aminotransferases was included. Fatty liver was associated with a deregulated l...
We set out to investigate potential differences and similarities between the selective forces act... more We set out to investigate potential differences and similarities between the selective forces acting upon the coding and non-coding regions of five different sets of genes defined according to functional and evolutionary criteria: i) two reference gene sets presenting accelerated and slow rates of protein evolution (the Complement and Actin pathways), ii) a set of genes with evidence of accelerated evolution in at least one of their introns; and iii) two gene sets related to neurological function (Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases). To that effect, we combine human-chimpanzee divergence patterns with polymorphism data obtained from target resequencing 20 central chimpanzees, our closest relatives with largest long-term effective population size. By using the DFE-alpha extension of the McDonald-Kreitman test, we reproduce inferences of rates of evolution previously based only on divergence data on both coding and intronic sequences and also obtain inferences for other clas...
The earliest studies on the functional prediction of human nsSNPs were pioneered by Sunyaev et al... more The earliest studies on the functional prediction of human nsSNPs were pioneered by Sunyaev et al. (2000, 2001), Chasman and Adams (2001), Wang and Moult (2001), Miller and Kumar (2001), Saunders and Baker (2002) and Santibáñez Koref et al. (2003). A rough ...
... Resolving the semantic question is, of course, only a secondary goal to the refinement ... As ... more ... Resolving the semantic question is, of course, only a secondary goal to the refinement ... As a general rule, I have striven to distinguish between hypothesis and theory ... The capacity for dynamicinteraction between population growth rate, generational structure, and intrinsic limits ...
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2009
Phenotypic adaptations may be the result of changes in gene structure or gene regulation, but lit... more Phenotypic adaptations may be the result of changes in gene structure or gene regulation, but little is known about the evolution of gene expression. In addition, it is unclear whether the same selective forces may operate at both levels simultaneously. Reproductive proteins evolve rapidly, but the underlying selective forces promoting such rapid changes are still a matter of debate. In particular, the role of sexual selection in driving positive selection among reproductive proteins remains controversial, whereas its potential influence on changes in promoter regions has not been explored. Protamines are responsible for maintaining DNA in a compacted form in chromosomes in sperm and the available evidence suggests that they evolve rapidly. Because protamines condense DNA within the sperm nucleus, they influence sperm head shape. Here, we examine the influence of sperm competition upon protamine 1 and protamine 2 genes and their promoters, by comparing closely related species ofMust...
OXTORD UNIVER5IrY PRE55 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape... more OXTORD UNIVER5IrY PRE55 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai 0ar es salaam 0elhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris sao Paulo singapore raipei ...
High-throughput transcriptome studies are breaking new ground to investigate the responses that o... more High-throughput transcriptome studies are breaking new ground to investigate the responses that organisms deploy in alternative environments. Nevertheless much remains to be understood about the genetic basis of host plant adaptation. Here, we investigate genome-wide expression in the fly Drosophila buzzatii raised in different conditions. This species uses decaying tissues of cactus of the genus Opuntia as primary rearing substrate, and secondarily, the necrotic tissues of the columnar cactus Trichocereus terscheckii. The latter constitutes a harmful host, rich in mescaline and other related phenylethylamine alkaloids. We assessed transcriptomic responses of larvae reared in O. sulphurea and T. terscheckii, with and without the addition of alkaloids extracted from the latter. Whole genome expression profiles were massively modulated by the rearing environment, mainly by the presence of T. terscheckii alkaloids. Differentially expressed genes were mainly related to detoxification, oxidation-reduction and stress response, however, we also found genes involved in development and neurobiological processes. In conclusion, our study contributes new data onto the role of transcriptional plasticity in response to alternative rearing environments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
We review several models that deal with the interaction of the genetic and behavioral systems thr... more We review several models that deal with the interaction of the genetic and behavioral systems throughout evolution. We present the conjecture of Baldwin and the subsequent developments of his ideas and those developed by Schmalhausen. We discuss the experiments of genetic assimilation of Waddington and the modern viewpoint based in the increasingly important role of the modification that the individuals
The American journal of clinical nutrition, Jan 20, 2016
Extensive epidemiologic studies have shown that cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome... more Extensive epidemiologic studies have shown that cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are associated with serum concentrations of liver enzymes; however, fundamental characteristics of this relation are currently unknown. We aimed to explore the role of liver aminotransferases in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and MetS. Liver gene- and protein-expression changes of aminotransferases, including their corresponding isoforms, were evaluated in a case-control study of patients with NAFLD (n = 42), which was proven through a biopsy (control subjects: n = 10). We also carried out a serum targeted metabolite profiling to the glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and Krebs cycle (n = 48) and an exploration by the next-generation sequencing of aminotransferase genes (n = 96). An in vitro study to provide a biological explanation of changes in the transcriptional level and enzymatic activity of aminotransferases was included. Fatty liver was associated with a deregulated l...
We set out to investigate potential differences and similarities between the selective forces act... more We set out to investigate potential differences and similarities between the selective forces acting upon the coding and non-coding regions of five different sets of genes defined according to functional and evolutionary criteria: i) two reference gene sets presenting accelerated and slow rates of protein evolution (the Complement and Actin pathways), ii) a set of genes with evidence of accelerated evolution in at least one of their introns; and iii) two gene sets related to neurological function (Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases). To that effect, we combine human-chimpanzee divergence patterns with polymorphism data obtained from target resequencing 20 central chimpanzees, our closest relatives with largest long-term effective population size. By using the DFE-alpha extension of the McDonald-Kreitman test, we reproduce inferences of rates of evolution previously based only on divergence data on both coding and intronic sequences and also obtain inferences for other clas...
The earliest studies on the functional prediction of human nsSNPs were pioneered by Sunyaev et al... more The earliest studies on the functional prediction of human nsSNPs were pioneered by Sunyaev et al. (2000, 2001), Chasman and Adams (2001), Wang and Moult (2001), Miller and Kumar (2001), Saunders and Baker (2002) and Santibáñez Koref et al. (2003). A rough ...
... Resolving the semantic question is, of course, only a secondary goal to the refinement ... As ... more ... Resolving the semantic question is, of course, only a secondary goal to the refinement ... As a general rule, I have striven to distinguish between hypothesis and theory ... The capacity for dynamicinteraction between population growth rate, generational structure, and intrinsic limits ...
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