For half a century population genetics studies have put type II restriction endonucleases to work. Now, coupled with massively‐parallel, short‐read sequencing, the family of RAD protocols that wields ...these enzymes has generated vast genetic knowledge from the natural world. Here, we describe the first software natively capable of using paired‐end sequencing to derive short contigs from de novo RAD data. Stacks version 2 employs a de Bruijn graph assembler to build and connect contigs from forward and reverse reads for each de novo RAD locus, which it then uses as a reference for read alignments. The new architecture allows all the individuals in a metapopulation to be considered at the same time as each RAD locus is processed. This enables a Bayesian genotype caller to provide precise SNPs, and a robust algorithm to phase those SNPs into long haplotypes, generating RAD loci that are 400–800 bp in length. To prove its recall and precision, we tested the software with simulated data and compared reference‐aligned and de novo analyses of three empirical data sets. Our study shows that the latest version of Stacks is highly accurate and outperforms other software in assembling and genotyping paired‐end de novo data sets.
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Lost in parameter space: a road map for stacks Paris, Josephine R.; Stevens, Jamie R.; Catchen, Julian M. ...
Methods in ecology and evolution,
October 2017, Volume:
8, Issue:
10
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Summary
Restriction site‐Associated DNA sequencing (RAD‐seq) has become a widely adopted method for genotyping populations of model and non‐model organisms. Generating a reliable set of loci for ...downstream analysis requires appropriate use of bioinformatics software, such as the program stacks.
Using three empirical RAD‐seq datasets, we demonstrate a method for optimising a de novo assembly of loci using stacks. By iterating values of the program's main parameters and plotting resultant core metrics for visualisation, researchers can gain a much better understanding of their dataset and select an optimal set of parameters; we present the 80% rule as a generally effective method to select the core parameters for stacks.
Visualisation of the metrics plotted for the three RAD‐seq datasets shows that they differ in the optimal parameters that should be used to maximise the amount of available biological information. We also demonstrate that building loci de novo and then integrating alignment positions is more effective than aligning raw reads directly to a reference genome.
Our methods will help the community in honing the analytical skills necessary to accurately assemble a RAD‐seq dataset.
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Advances in sequencing technology provide special opportunities for genotyping individuals with speed and thrift, but the lack of software to automate the calling of tens of thousands of genotypes ...over hundreds of individuals has hindered progress. Stacks is a software system that uses short-read sequence data to identify and genotype loci in a set of individuals either de novo or by comparison to a reference genome. From reduced representation Illumina sequence data, such as RAD-tags, Stacks can recover thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers useful for the genetic analysis of crosses or populations. Stacks can generate markers for ultra-dense genetic linkage maps, facilitate the examination of population phylogeography, and help in reference genome assembly. We report here the algorithms implemented in Stacks and demonstrate their efficacy by constructing loci from simulated RAD-tags taken from the stickleback reference genome and by recapitulating and improving a genetic map of the zebrafish, Danio rerio.
To help understand the elusive mechanisms of zebrafish sex determination, we studied the genetic machinery regulating production and breakdown of retinoic acid (RA) during the onset of meiosis in ...gonadogenesis. Results uncovered unexpected mechanistic differences between zebrafish and mammals. Conserved synteny and expression analyses revealed that cyp26a1 in zebrafish and its paralog Cyp26b1 in tetrapods independently became the primary genes encoding enzymes available for gonadal RA-degradation, showing lineage-specific subfunctionalization of vertebrate genome duplication (VGD) paralogs. Experiments showed that zebrafish express aldh1a2, which encodes an RA-synthesizing enzyme, in the gonad rather than in the mesonephros as in mouse. Germ cells in bipotential gonads of all zebrafish analyzed were labeled by the early meiotic marker sycp3, suggesting that in zebrafish, the onset of meiosis is not sexually dimorphic as it is in mouse and is independent of Stra8, which is required in mouse but was lost in teleosts. Analysis of dead-end knockdown zebrafish depleted of germ cells revealed the germ cell-independent onset and maintenance of gonadal aldh1a2 and cyp26a1 expression. After meiosis initiated, somatic cell expression of cyp26a1 became sexually dimorphic: up-regulated in testes but not ovaries. Meiotic germ cells expressing the synaptonemal complex gene sycp3 occupied islands of somatic cells that lacked cyp26a1 expression, as predicted by the hypothesis that Cyp26a1 acts as a meiosis-inhibiting factor. Consistent with this hypothesis, females up-regulated cyp26a1 in oocytes that entered prophase-I meiotic arrest, and down-regulated cyp26a1 in oocytes resuming meiosis. Co-expression of cyp26a1 and the pluripotent germ cell stem cell marker pou5f1(oct4) in meiotically arrested oocytes was consistent with roles in mouse to promote germ cell survival and to prevent apoptosis, mechanisms that are central for tipping the sexual fate of gonads towards the female pathway in zebrafish.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The distinction between model and nonmodel organisms is becoming increasingly blurred. High-throughput, second-generation sequencing approaches are being applied to organisms based on their ...interesting ecological, physiological, developmental, or evolutionary properties and not on the depth of genetic information available for them. Here, we illustrate this point using a low-cost, efficient technique to determine the fine-scale phylogenetic relationships among recently diverged populations in a species. This application of restriction site-associated DNA tags (RAD tags) reveals previously unresolved genetic structure and direction of evolution in the pitcher plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii, from a southern Appalachian Mountain refugium following recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at 22,000-19,000 B.P. The RAD tag method can be used to identify detailed patterns of phylogeography in any organism regardless of existing genomic data, and, more broadly, to identify incipient speciation and genome-wide variation in natural populations in general.
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The increased numbers of genetic markers produced by genomic techniques have the potential to both identify hybrid individuals and localize chromosomal regions responding to selection and ...contributing to introgression. We used restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing to identify a dense set of candidate SNP loci with fixed allelic differences between introduced rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and native westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi). We distinguished candidate SNPs from homeologs (paralogs resulting from whole-genome duplication) by detecting excessively high observed heterozygosity and deviations from Hardy-Weinberg proportions. We identified 2923 candidate species-specific SNPs from a single Illumina sequencing lane containing 24 barcode-labelled individuals. Published sequence data and ongoing genome sequencing of rainbow trout will allow physical mapping of SNP loci for genome-wide scans and will also provide flanking sequence for design of qPCR-based TaqMan® assays for high-throughput, low-cost hybrid identification using a subset of 50-100 loci. This study demonstrates that it is now feasible to identify thousands of informative SNPs in nonmodel species quickly and at reasonable cost, even if no prior genomic information is available.
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The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized genomic and transcriptomic approaches to biology. These new sequencing tools are also valuable for the discovery, validation and ...assessment of genetic markers in populations. Here we review and discuss best practices for several NGS methods for genome-wide genetic marker development and genotyping that use restriction enzyme digestion of target genomes to reduce the complexity of the target. These new methods -- which include reduced-representation sequencing using reduced-representation libraries (RRLs) or complexity reduction of polymorphic sequences (CRoPS), restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) and low coverage genotyping -- are applicable to both model organisms with high-quality reference genome sequences and, excitingly, to non-model species with no existing genomic data.
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An important objective for inferring the evolutionary history of gene families is the determination of orthologies and paralogies. Lineage-specific paralog loss following whole-genome duplication ...events can cause anciently related homologs to appear in some assays as orthologs. Conserved synteny-the tendency of neighboring genes to retain their relative positions and orders on chromosomes over evolutionary time-can help resolve such errors. Several previous studies examined genome-wide syntenic conservation to infer the contents of ancestral chromosomes and provided insights into the architecture of ancestral genomes, but did not provide methods or tools applicable to the study of the evolution of individual gene families. We developed an automated system to identify conserved syntenic regions in a primary genome using as outgroup a genome that diverged from the investigated lineage before a whole-genome duplication event. The product of this automated analysis, the Synteny Database, allows a user to examine fully or partially assembled genomes. The Synteny Database is optimized for the investigation of individual gene families in multiple lineages and can detect chromosomal inversions and translocations as well as ohnologs (paralogs derived by whole-genome duplication) gone missing. To demonstrate the utility of the system, we present a case study of gene family evolution, investigating the ARNTL gene family in the genomes of Ciona intestinalis, amphioxus, zebrafish, and human.
Recently, Lowry et al. addressed the ability of RADseq approaches to detect loci under selection in genome scans. While the authors raise important considerations, such as accounting for the extent ...of linkage disequilibrium in a study system, we strongly disagree with their overall view of the ability of RADseq to inform our understanding of the genetic basis of adaptation. The family of RADseq protocols has radically improved the field of population genomics, expanding by several orders of magnitude the number of markers available while substantially reducing the cost per marker. Researchers whose goal is to identify regions of the genome under selection must consider the LD of the experimental system; however, there is no magical LD cutoff below which researchers should refuse to use RADseq. Lowry et al. further made two major arguments: a theoretical argument that modeled the likelihood of detecting selective sweeps with RAD markers, and gross summaries based on an anecdotal collection of RAD studies. Unfortunately, their simulations were off by two orders of magnitude in the worst case, while their anecdotes merely showed that it is possible to get widely divergent densities of RAD tags for any particular experiment, either by design or due to experimental efficacy. We strongly argue that RADseq remains a powerful and efficient approach that provides sufficient marker density for studying selection in many natural populations. Given limited resources, we argue that researchers should consider a wide range of trade‐offs among genomic techniques, in light of their study question and the power of different techniques to answer it.
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Determining which reproductive isolating barriers arise first between geographically isolated lineages is critical to understanding allopatric speciation. We examined behavioral isolation among four ...recently diverged allopatric species in the orangethroat darter clade (Etheostoma: Ceasia). We also examined behavioral isolation between each Ceasia species and the sympatric rainbow darter Etheostoma caeruleum. We asked (1) is behavioral isolation present between allopatric Ceasia species, and how does this compare to behavioral isolation with E. caeruleum, (2) does male color distance and/or genetic distance predict behavioral isolation between species, and (3) what are the relative contributions of female choice, male choice, and male competition to behavioral isolation? We found that behavioral isolation, genetic differentiation, and male color pattern differentiation were present between allopatric Ceasia species. Males, but not females, discerned between conspecific and heterospecific mates. Males also directed more aggression toward conspecific rival males. The high levels of behavioral isolation among Ceasia species showed no obvious pattern with genetic distance or male color distance. However, when the E. caeruleum was included in the analysis, an association between male aggression and male color distance was apparent. We discuss the possibility that reinforcement between Ceasia and E. caeruleum is driving behavioral isolation among allopatric Ceasia species.
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