Gene duplication is an important source of phenotypic change and adaptive evolution. We leverage a haploid hydatidiform mole to identify highly identical sequences missing from the reference genome, ...confirming that the cortical development gene Slit-Robo Rho GTPase-activating protein 2 (SRGAP2) duplicated three times exclusively in humans. We show that the promoter and first nine exons of SRGAP2 duplicated from 1q32.1 (SRGAP2A) to 1q21.1 (SRGAP2B) ∼3.4 million years ago (mya). Two larger duplications later copied SRGAP2B to chromosome 1p12 (SRGAP2C) and to proximal 1q21.1 (SRGAP2D) ∼2.4 and ∼1 mya, respectively. Sequence and expression analyses show that SRGAP2C is the most likely duplicate to encode a functional protein and is among the most fixed human-specific duplicate genes. Our data suggest a mechanism where incomplete duplication created a novel gene function—antagonizing parental SRGAP2 function—immediately “at birth” 2–3 mya, which is a time corresponding to the transition from Australopithecus to Homo and the beginning of neocortex expansion.
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► Missing SRGAP2 human-specific genes sequenced by using haploid hydatidiform mole DNA ► SRGAP2 duplicated three times in the human lineage ∼1.0–3.4 million years ago ► One duplicate is expressed in the brain and is fixed in copy number in all humans ► The incomplete initial duplication likely antagonized the parent gene at birth
A series of incomplete duplications of an ancestral neuronal gene that took place only in the human lineage generated truncated genes, likely to encode new functions immediately upon “birth.” The appearance of these human-specific genes coincides with the emergence of an expanded neocortex.
Duplications are the primary force by which new gene functions arise and provide a substrate for large-scale structural variation. Analysis of thousands of genomes shows that humans and great apes ...have more genetic differences in content and structure over recent segmental duplications than any other euchromatic region. Novel human-specific duplicated genes, ARHGAP11B and SRGAP2C , have recently been described with a potential role in neocortical expansion and increased neuronal spine density. Large segmental duplications and the structural variants they promote are also frequently stratified between human populations with a subset being subjected to positive selection. The impact of recent duplications on human evolution and adaptation is only beginning to be realized as new technologies enhance their discovery and accurate genotyping.
The human genome is arguably the most complete mammalian reference assembly, yet more than 160 euchromatic gaps remain and aspects of its structural variation remain poorly understood ten years after ...its completion. To identify missing sequence and genetic variation, here we sequence and analyse a haploid human genome (CHM1) using single-molecule, real-time DNA sequencing. We close or extend 55% of the remaining interstitial gaps in the human GRCh37 reference genome--78% of which carried long runs of degenerate short tandem repeats, often several kilobases in length, embedded within (G+C)-rich genomic regions. We resolve the complete sequence of 26,079 euchromatic structural variants at the base-pair level, including inversions, complex insertions and long tracts of tandem repeats. Most have not been previously reported, with the greatest increases in sensitivity occurring for events less than 5 kilobases in size. Compared to the human reference, we find a significant insertional bias (3:1) in regions corresponding to complex insertions and long short tandem repeats. Our results suggest a greater complexity of the human genome in the form of variation of longer and more complex repetitive DNA that can now be largely resolved with the application of this longer-read sequencing technology.
Atrophy of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of depression and related disorders. The ability to promote both structural and functional plasticity in the ...PFC has been hypothesized to underlie the fast-acting antidepressant properties of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine. Here, we report that, like ketamine, serotonergic psychedelics are capable of robustly increasing neuritogenesis and/or spinogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. These changes in neuronal structure are accompanied by increased synapse number and function, as measured by fluorescence microscopy and electrophysiology. The structural changes induced by psychedelics appear to result from stimulation of the TrkB, mTOR, and 5-HT2A signaling pathways and could possibly explain the clinical effectiveness of these compounds. Our results underscore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and, importantly, identify several lead scaffolds for medicinal chemistry efforts focused on developing plasticity-promoting compounds as safe, effective, and fast-acting treatments for depression and related disorders.
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•Serotonergic psychedelics increase neuritogenesis, spinogenesis, and synaptogenesis•Psychedelics promote plasticity via an evolutionarily conserved mechanism•TrkB, mTOR, and 5-HT2A signaling underlie psychedelic-induced plasticity•Noribogaine, but not ibogaine, is capable of promoting structural neural plasticity
Ly et al. demonstrate that psychedelic compounds such as LSD, DMT, and DOI increase dendritic arbor complexity, promote dendritic spine growth, and stimulate synapse formation. These cellular effects are similar to those produced by the fast-acting antidepressant ketamine and highlight the potential of psychedelics for treating depression and related disorders.
Rare copy-number variants (CNVs) have been implicated in autism and intellectual disability. These variants are large and affect many genes but lack clear specificity toward autism as opposed to ...developmental-delay phenotypes. We exploited the repeat architecture of the genome to target segmental duplication-mediated rearrangement hotspots (n = 120, median size 1.78 Mbp, range 240 kbp to 13 Mbp) and smaller hotspots flanked by repetitive sequence (n = 1,247, median size 79 kbp, range 3–96 kbp) in 2,588 autistic individuals from simplex and multiplex families and in 580 controls. Our analysis identified several recurrent large hotspot events, including association with 1q21 duplications, which are more likely to be identified in individuals with autism than in those with developmental delay (p = 0.01; OR = 2.7). Within larger hotspots, we also identified smaller atypical CNVs that implicated CHD1L and ACACA for the 1q21 and 17q12 deletions, respectively. Our analysis, however, suggested no overall increase in the burden of smaller hotspots in autistic individuals as compared to controls. By focusing on gene-disruptive events, we identified recurrent CNVs, including DPP10, PLCB1, TRPM1, NRXN1, FHIT, and HYDIN, that are enriched in autism. We found that as the size of deletions increases, nonverbal IQ significantly decreases, but there is no impact on autism severity; and as the size of duplications increases, autism severity significantly increases but nonverbal IQ is not affected. The absence of an increased burden of smaller CNVs in individuals with autism and the failure of most large hotspots to refine to single genes is consistent with a model where imbalance of multiple genes contributes to a disease state.
Ambient temperature is a critical environmental factor for all living organisms. It was likely an important selective force as modern humans recently colonized temperate and cold Eurasian ...environments. Nevertheless, as of yet we have limited evidence of local adaptation to ambient temperature in populations from those environments. To shed light on this question, we exploit the fact that humans are a cosmopolitan species that inhabit territories under a wide range of temperatures. Focusing on cold perception-which is central to thermoregulation and survival in cold environments-we show evidence of recent local adaptation on TRPM8. This gene encodes for a cation channel that is, to date, the only temperature receptor known to mediate an endogenous response to moderate cold. The upstream variant rs10166942 shows extreme population differentiation, with frequencies that range from 5% in Nigeria to 88% in Finland (placing this SNP in the 0.02% tail of the FST empirical distribution). When all populations are jointly analyzed, allele frequencies correlate with latitude and temperature beyond what can be explained by shared ancestry and population substructure. Using a Bayesian approach, we infer that the allele originated and evolved neutrally in Africa, while positive selection raised its frequency to different degrees in Eurasian populations, resulting in allele frequencies that follow a latitudinal cline. We infer strong positive selection, in agreement with ancient DNA showing high frequency of the allele in Europe 3,000 to 8,000 years ago. rs10166942 is important phenotypically because its ancestral allele is protective of migraine. This debilitating disorder varies in prevalence across human populations, with highest prevalence in individuals of European descent-precisely the population with the highest frequency of rs10166942 derived allele. We thus hypothesize that local adaptation on previously neutral standing variation may have contributed to the genetic differences that exist in the prevalence of migraine among human populations today.
Mechanisms underlying phenotypic divergence across species remain unresolved. In this issue of Cell Genomics, Hansen, Fong, et al.1 systematically dissect human and rhesus macaque gene expression ...divergence by screening tens of thousands of orthologous elements for enhancer activity in lymphoblastoid cell lines, revealing a much greater role for trans divergence at levels equal to those of cis effects, counter to the prevailing consensus in the field.
Mechanisms underlying phenotypic divergence across species remain unresolved. In this issue of Cell Genomics, Hansen, Fong, et al. systematically dissect human and rhesus macaque gene expression divergence by screening tens of thousands of orthologous elements for enhancer activity in lymphoblastoid cell lines, revealing a much greater role for trans divergence at levels equal to those of cis effects, counter to the prevailing consensus in the field.
After two decades of improvements, the current human reference genome (GRCh38) is the most accurate and complete vertebrate genome ever produced. However, no single chromosome has been finished end ...to end, and hundreds of unresolved gaps persist
. Here we present a human genome assembly that surpasses the continuity of GRCh38
, along with a gapless, telomere-to-telomere assembly of a human chromosome. This was enabled by high-coverage, ultra-long-read nanopore sequencing of the complete hydatidiform mole CHM13 genome, combined with complementary technologies for quality improvement and validation. Focusing our efforts on the human X chromosome
, we reconstructed the centromeric satellite DNA array (approximately 3.1 Mb) and closed the 29 remaining gaps in the current reference, including new sequences from the human pseudoautosomal regions and from cancer-testis ampliconic gene families (CT-X and GAGE). These sequences will be integrated into future human reference genome releases. In addition, the complete chromosome X, combined with the ultra-long nanopore data, allowed us to map methylation patterns across complex tandem repeats and satellite arrays. Our results demonstrate that finishing the entire human genome is now within reach, and the data presented here will facilitate ongoing efforts to complete the other human chromosomes.
Interferon lambda 4 gene (IFNL4) encodes IFN-λ4, a new member of the IFN-λ family with antiviral activity. In humans IFNL4 open reading frame is truncated by a polymorphic frame-shift insertion that ...eliminates IFN-λ4 and turns IFNL4 into a polymorphic pseudogene. Functional IFN-λ4 has antiviral activity but the elimination of IFN-λ4 through pseudogenization is strongly associated with improved clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We show that functional IFN-λ4 is conserved and evolutionarily constrained in mammals and thus functionally relevant. However, the pseudogene has reached moderately high frequency in Africa, America, and Europe, and near fixation in East Asia. In fact, the pseudogenizing variant is among the 0.8% most differentiated SNPs between Africa and East Asia genome-wide. Its raise in frequency is associated with additional evidence of positive selection, which is strongest in East Asia, where this variant falls in the 0.5% tail of SNPs with strongest signatures of recent positive selection genome-wide. Using a new Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) approach we infer that the pseudogenizing allele appeared just before the out-of-Africa migration and was immediately targeted by moderate positive selection; selection subsequently strengthened in European and Asian populations resulting in the high frequency observed today. This provides evidence for a changing adaptive process that, by favoring IFN-λ4 inactivation, has shaped present-day phenotypic diversity and susceptibility to disease.
Complete genomic and epigenetic maps of human centromeres Altemose, Nicolas; Logsdon, Glennis A; Bzikadze, Andrey V ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
04/2022, Volume:
376, Issue:
6588
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Existing human genome assemblies have almost entirely excluded repetitive sequences within and near centromeres, limiting our understanding of their organization, evolution, and functions, which ...include facilitating proper chromosome segregation. Now, a complete, telomere-to-telomere human genome assembly (T2T-CHM13) has enabled us to comprehensively characterize pericentromeric and centromeric repeats, which constitute 6.2% of the genome (189.9 megabases). Detailed maps of these regions revealed multimegabase structural rearrangements, including in active centromeric repeat arrays. Analysis of centromere-associated sequences uncovered a strong relationship between the position of the centromere and the evolution of the surrounding DNA through layered repeat expansions. Furthermore, comparisons of chromosome X centromeres across a diverse panel of individuals illuminated high degrees of structural, epigenetic, and sequence variation in these complex and rapidly evolving regions.
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