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Only a Single Taxonomically Restricted Gene Family in the Drosophila melanogaster Subgroup Can Be Identified with High Confidence

Zile, Karina, Dessimoz, Christophe, Wurm, Yannick, Masel, Joanna·2020·Genome Biology and Evolution
DOI 10.1093/gbe/evaa127PMC PMC8059200
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Abstract

Taxonomically restricted genes (TRGs) are genes that are present only in one clade. Protein-coding TRGs may evolve de novo from previously noncoding sequences: functional ncRNA, introns, or alternative reading frames of older protein-coding genes, or intergenic sequences. A major challenge in studying de novo genes is the need to avoid both false-positives (nonfunctional open reading frames and/or functional genes that did not arise de novo) and false-negatives. Here, we search conservatively for high-confidence TRGs as the most promising candidates for experimental studies, ensuring functionality through conservation across at least two species, and ensuring de novo status through examination of homologous noncoding sequences. Our pipeline also avoids ascertainment biases associated with preconceptions of how de novo genes are born. We identify one TRG family that evolved de novo in the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup. This TRG family contains single-copy genes in Drosophila simulans and Drosophila sechellia. It originated in an intron of a well-established gene, sharing that intron with another well-established gene upstream. These TRGs contain an intron that predates their open reading frame. These genes have not been previously reported as de novo originated, and to our knowledge, they are the best Drosophila candidates identified so far for experimental studies aimed at elucidating the properties of de novo genes.

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Fig. 1. Species tree of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup. Branch lengths correspond to divergence time estimates by Obbard et al. (2012). We looked for TRGFs that emerged during the evolutionary time marked in red, that is, between ∼0.5 and ∼3.3 Ma. We ultimately confirm one TRGF shared only by D. simulans and D. sechellia, that is, that originated between ∼0.5 and ∼1.4 Ma.
Fig. 1. Species tree of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup. Branch lengths correspond to divergence time estimates by Obbard et al. (2012). We looked for TRGFs that emerged during the evolutionary time marked in red, that is, between ∼0.5 and ∼3.3 Ma. We ultimately confirm one TRGF shared only by D. simulans and D. sechellia, that is, that originated between ∼0.5 and ∼1.4 Ma.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 2. Protein length distributions in five Drosophila melanogaster subgroup species.
Fig. 2. Protein length distributions in five Drosophila melanogaster subgroup species.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 3. The elimination of TRGFs with either evidence of being false-positive, or with insufficient evidence available.
Fig. 3. The elimination of TRGFs with either evidence of being false-positive, or with insufficient evidence available.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 4. DNA regions homologous to the TRGF containing Dsim_GD19764 and Dsec_GM10790. Homologous protein-coding genes are the same color (each element corresponds to an exon), small nuclear RNA (snRNA) genes are white. The direction of the arrow shows which strand the gene is located on. Features with dashed outlines are not annotated. The diagram is not to scale. In the order from top to bottom, the orange genes are Dsim_GD29138, Dsec_GM10660, Dmel_CG12589, Dyak_GE25310, Dere_GG11200 (with a syntenic homolog Dana_GF16073 in Drosophila ananassae); the yellow genes are Dsim_GD19763, Dsec_GM10789, Dmel_CG12590, Dyak_GE25451, Dere_GG12627 (with syntenic homologs Dana_GF18925 and Dpse_GA11706 in D. ananassae and D. pseudoobscura, respectively); the blue genes are Dsim_GD19765, Dsec_GM10791, Dmel_CG12591, Dyak_GE25452, Dere_GG12638 (with syntenic homologs Dana_GF18926 and Dpse_GA11707 in D. ananassae and D. pseudoobscura, respectively); the purple genes are Dsim_GD19639, Dsec_GM10658, Dmel_CG12161, Dyak_GE25306, Dere_GG11178.
Fig. 4. DNA regions homologous to the TRGF containing Dsim_GD19764 and Dsec_GM10790. Homologous protein-coding genes are the same color (each element corresponds to an exon), small nuclear RNA (snRNA) genes are white. The direction of the arrow shows which strand the gene is located on. Features with dashed outlines are not annotated. The diagram is not to scale. In the order from top to bottom, the orange genes are Dsim_GD29138, Dsec_GM10660, Dmel_CG12589, Dyak_GE25310, Dere_GG11200 (with a syntenic homolog Dana_GF16073 in Drosophila ananassae); the yellow genes are Dsim_GD19763, Dsec_GM10789, Dmel_CG12590, Dyak_GE25451, Dere_GG12627 (with syntenic homologs Dana_GF18925 and Dpse_GA11706 in D. ananassae and D. pseudoobscura, respectively); the blue genes are Dsim_GD19765, Dsec_GM10791, Dmel_CG12591, Dyak_GE25452, Dere_GG12638 (with syntenic homologs Dana_GF18926 and Dpse_GA11707 in D. ananassae and D. pseudoobscura, respectively); the purple genes are Dsim_GD19639, Dsec_GM10658, Dmel_CG12161, Dyak_GE25306, Dere_GG11178.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 5. DNA regions homologous to the gene family containing Dsim_GD20667 and Dsec_GM19408. Protein-coding genes are shown in color, pseudogenes in gray and ncRNA genes in white. Homologous protein-coding genes are marked by the same color, each element corresponds to an exon. Only the first of the seven exons of the dark blue gene is shown. Genes shown directly above/below each other share sequence similarity, but we did not infer homology of all pseudogenes and ncRNA in a rigorous way. The direction of the arrow shows which strand the gene is located on. Features with dashed outlines are not annotated. The diagram is not to scale.
Fig. 5. DNA regions homologous to the gene family containing Dsim_GD20667 and Dsec_GM19408. Protein-coding genes are shown in color, pseudogenes in gray and ncRNA genes in white. Homologous protein-coding genes are marked by the same color, each element corresponds to an exon. Only the first of the seven exons of the dark blue gene is shown. Genes shown directly above/below each other share sequence similarity, but we did not infer homology of all pseudogenes and ncRNA in a rigorous way. The direction of the arrow shows which strand the gene is located on. Features with dashed outlines are not annotated. The diagram is not to scale.CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 6. Sequence features of the ancestral ORF, which is annotated as a pseudogene in Drosophila yakuba. Start codons of the annotated pseudogene and of the shorter putative TRG in the simulans–sechellia–melanogaster clade are in green, well-conserved regions in yellow, frame-shift causing indels in blue, repetitive DNA in orange, and stop codons in black. We use the following frame numbering convention: the start codon of the putative pseudogene is denoted the +1 frame, the other two frames on the same strand are denoted +2 and +3 frames. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many more nucleotides (modulo 3) the species it is marked in has. The frames of the stop codons are not marked due to uncertainty about frame created by the repeat region. The two stop codons shown are located in the same frame.
Fig. 6. Sequence features of the ancestral ORF, which is annotated as a pseudogene in Drosophila yakuba. Start codons of the annotated pseudogene and of the shorter putative TRG in the simulans–sechellia–melanogaster clade are in green, well-conserved regions in yellow, frame-shift causing indels in blue, repetitive DNA in orange, and stop codons in black. We use the following frame numbering convention: the start codon of the putative pseudogene is denoted the +1 frame, the other two frames on the same strand are denoted +2 and +3 frames. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many more nucleotides (modulo 3) the species it is marked in has. The frames of the stop codons are not marked due to uncertainty about frame created by the repeat region. The two stop codons shown are located in the same frame.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Zile, K., Dessimoz, C., Wurm, Y., & Masel, J.
Affiliations
  • Division of Biosciences, University College London, United Kingdom
  • Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
  • Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona
ORCID
Venue
Genome Biology and Evolution
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2020-06-26
Volume
12
Issue
8
Pages
1355-1366
ISSN
1759-6653
DOI
10.1093/gbe/evaa127
PMC
PMC8059200
Cited by
18
References
2
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Funders
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/M009513/1)
  • National Institutes of Health (GM104040)
  • Swiss National Science Foundation (183723)
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NE/L00626X/1)
  • Department of Computer Science cluster at University College London

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Zile, K., Dessimoz, C., Wurm, Y., & Masel, J. (2020). Only a Single Taxonomically Restricted Gene Family in the Drosophila melanogaster Subgroup Can Be Identified with High Confidence. Genome Biology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaa127