RESUMEN
Acorn worms, also known as enteropneust (literally, 'gut-breathing') hemichordates, are marine invertebrates that share features with echinoderms and chordates. Together, these three phyla comprise the deuterostomes. Here we report the draft genome sequences of two acorn worms, Saccoglossus kowalevskii and Ptychodera flava. By comparing them with diverse bilaterian genomes, we identify shared traits that were probably inherited from the last common deuterostome ancestor, and then explore evolutionary trajectories leading from this ancestor to hemichordates, echinoderms and chordates. The hemichordate genomes exhibit extensive conserved synteny with amphioxus and other bilaterians, and deeply conserved non-coding sequences that are candidates for conserved gene-regulatory elements. Notably, hemichordates possess a deuterostome-specific genomic cluster of four ordered transcription factor genes, the expression of which is associated with the development of pharyngeal 'gill' slits, the foremost morphological innovation of early deuterostomes, and is probably central to their filter-feeding lifestyle. Comparative analysis reveals numerous deuterostome-specific gene novelties, including genes found in deuterostomes and marine microbes, but not other animals. The putative functions of these genes can be linked to physiological, metabolic and developmental specializations of the filter-feeding ancestor.
Asunto(s)
Cordados no Vertebrados/genética , Evolución Molecular , Genoma/genética , Animales , Cordados no Vertebrados/clasificación , Secuencia Conservada/genética , Equinodermos/clasificación , Equinodermos/genética , Familia de Multigenes/genética , Filogenia , Transducción de Señal , Sintenía/genética , Factor de Crecimiento Transformador betaRESUMEN
The human X and Y chromosomes evolved from an ordinary pair of autosomes, but millions of years ago genetic decay ravaged the Y chromosome, and only three per cent of its ancestral genes survived. We reconstructed the evolution of the Y chromosome across eight mammals to identify biases in gene content and the selective pressures that preserved the surviving ancestral genes. Our findings indicate that survival was nonrandom, and in two cases, convergent across placental and marsupial mammals. We conclude that the gene content of the Y chromosome became specialized through selection to maintain the ancestral dosage of homologous X-Y gene pairs that function as broadly expressed regulators of transcription, translation and protein stability. We propose that beyond its roles in testis determination and spermatogenesis, the Y chromosome is essential for male viability, and has unappreciated roles in Turner's syndrome and in phenotypic differences between the sexes in health and disease.
Asunto(s)
Evolución Molecular , Dosificación de Gen/genética , Mamíferos/genética , Cromosoma Y/genética , Animales , Cromosomas Humanos X/genética , Cromosomas Humanos Y/genética , Enfermedad , Femenino , Regulación de la Expresión Génica , Salud , Humanos , Masculino , Marsupiales/genética , Anotación de Secuencia Molecular , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Biosíntesis de Proteínas/genética , Estabilidad Proteica , Selección Genética/genética , Homología de Secuencia , Caracteres Sexuales , Espermatogénesis/genética , Testículo/metabolismo , Transcripción Genética/genética , Síndrome de Turner/genética , Cromosoma X/genéticaRESUMEN
Silicate liquids play a key part at all stages of deep Earth evolution, ranging from core and crust formation billions of years ago to present-day volcanic activity. Quantitative models of these processes require knowledge of the structural changes and compression mechanisms that take place in liquid silicates at the high pressures and temperatures in the Earth's interior. However, obtaining such knowledge has long been impeded by the challenging nature of the experiments. In recent years, structural and density information for silica glass was obtained at record pressures of up to 100 GPa (ref. 1), a major step towards obtaining data on the molten state. Here we report the structure of molten basalt up to 60 GPa by means of in situ X-ray diffraction. The coordination of silicon increases from four under ambient conditions to six at 35 GPa, similar to what has been reported in silica glass. The compressibility of the melt after the completion of the coordination change is lower than at lower pressure, implying that only a high-order equation of state can accurately describe the density evolution of silicate melts over the pressure range of the whole mantle. The transition pressure coincides with a marked change in the pressure-evolution of nickel partitioning between molten iron and molten silicates, indicating that melt compressibility controls siderophile-element partitioning.
