Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism.

Gene families are growing rapidly, but standard methods for inferring phylogenies do not scale to alignments with over 10,000 sequences. We present FastTree, a method for constructing large phylogenies and for estimating their reliability. Instead of storing a distance matrix, FastTree stores sequence profiles of internal nodes in the tree. FastTree uses these profiles to implement neighbor-joining and uses heuristics to quickly identify candidate joins. FastTree then uses nearest-neighbor interchanges to reduce the length of the tree. For an alignment with N sequences, L sites, and a different characters, a distance matrix requires O(N^2) space and O(N^2 L) time, but FastTree requires just O( NLa + N sqrt(N) ) memory and O( N sqrt(N) log(N) L a ) time. To estimate the tree's reliability, FastTree uses local bootstrapping, which gives another 100-fold speedup over a distance matrix. For example, FastTree computed a tree and support values for 158,022 distinct 16S ribosomal RNAs in 17 hours and 2.4 gigabytes of memory. Just computing pairwise Jukes-Cantor distances and storing them, without inferring a tree or bootstrapping, would require 17 hours and 50 gigabytes of memory. In simulations, FastTree was slightly more accurate than neighbor joining, BIONJ, or FastME; on genuine alignments, FastTree's topologies had higher likelihoods. FastTree is available at http://microbesonline.org/fasttree.

/pdf/fast-tree-computing-large-minimum-evolution-trees-with-4grq0gwfpy.pdf

Fast Tree: Computing Large Minimum-Evolution Trees with Profiles instead of a Distance Matrix

Rapid improvements in sequencing and array-based platforms are resulting in a flood of diverse genome-wide data, including data from exome and whole-genome sequencing, epigenetic surveys, expression profiling of coding and noncoding RNAs, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and copy number profiling, and functional assays. Analysis of these large, diverse data sets holds the promise of a more comprehensive understanding of the genome and its relation to human disease. Experienced and knowledgeable human review is an essential component of this process, complementing computational approaches. This calls for efficient and intuitive visualization tools able to scale to very large data sets and to flexibly integrate multiple data types, including clinical data. However, the sheer volume and scope of data pose a significant challenge to the development of such tools.

Integrative Genomics Viewer

MUCKE aims to mine a large volume of images, to structure them conceptually and to use this conceptual structuring in order to improve large-scale image retrieval. The last decade witnessed important progress concerning low-level image representations. However, there are a number problems which need to be solved in order to unleash the full potential of image mining in applications. The central problem with low-level representations is the mismatch between them and the human interpretation of image content. This problem can be instantiated, for instance, by the incapability of existing descriptors to capture spatial relationships between the concepts represented or by their incapability to convey an explanation of why two images are similar in a content-based image retrieval framework. We start by assessing existing local descriptors for image classification and by proposing to use co-occurrence matrices to better capture spatial relationships in images. The main focus in MUCKE is on cleaning large scale Web image corpora and on proposing image representations which are closer to the human interpretation of images. Consequently, we introduce methods which tackle these two problems and compare results to state of the art methods. Note: some aspects of this deliverable are withheld at this time as they are pending review. Please contact the authors for a preview.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel2/4524/12820/00592460.pdf

Image Processing

Polyploids — organisms that have multiple sets of chromosomes — are common in certain plant and animal taxa, and can be surprisingly stable. The evidence that has emerged from genome analyses also indicates that many other eukaryotic genomes have a polyploid ancestry, suggesting that both humans and most other eukaryotes have either benefited from or endured polyploidy. Studies of polyploids soon after their formation have revealed genetic and epigenetic interactions between redundant genes. These interactions can be related to the phenotypes and evolutionary fates of polyploids. Here, I consider the advantages and challenges of polyploidy, and its evolutionary potential.

/pdf/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-being-polyploid-3szbdyr9u1.pdf

The advantages and disadvantages of being polyploid

A survey is given about the number and chromosomal position of rDNA loci in 45 Brassicaceae species. For 34 species, 5S and 45S rDNA loci have been localized by two-colour fluorescence in situ hybridization for the first time. These data show the variability of rDNA within karyotypes of the Brassicaceae, provide anchor points for (comparative) genetic maps, and might be important for studies on concerted evolution of internal transcribed sequence types of rDNA in cruciferous plants.

Chromosomal localization of rDNA in the Brassicaceae

The considerable genome size variation in Arabidopsis thaliana has been shown largely to be due to copy number variation (CNV) in 45S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Surprisingly, attempts to map this variation by means of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) failed to identify either of the two likely sources, namely the nucleolus organizer regions (NORs). Instead, GWAS implicated a trans-acting locus, as if rRNA gene CNV was a phenotype rather than a genotype. To explain these results, we investigated the inheritance and stability of rRNA gene copy number using the variety of genetic resources available in A. thaliana - F2 crosses, recombinant inbred lines, the multiparent advanced-generation inter-cross population, and mutation accumulation lines. Our results clearly show that rRNA gene CNV can be mapped to the NORs themselves, with both loci contributing equally to the variation. However, NOR size is unstably inherited, and dramatic copy number changes are visible already within tens of generations, which explains why it is not possible to map the NORs using GWAS. We did not find any evidence of trans-acting loci in crosses, which is also expected since changes due to such loci would take very many generations to manifest themselves. rRNA gene copy number is thus an interesting example of "missing heritability"-a trait that is heritable in pedigrees, but not in the general population.

Unstable Inheritance of 45S rRNA Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Chromosome painting (CP) refers to fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of chromosome-specific DNA probes to identify large chromosome regions, chromosome arms, and whole chromosomes. For CP and CCP (comparative chromosome painting) in plants, most often, contigs of chromosome-specific bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) from the species of origin or a related species are used as painting probes. CP enables visualization and tracing of particular chromosome regions and/or chromosomes throughout all mitotic and meiotic stages as well as the corresponding interphase chromosome territories. CCP enables identification of large-scale homeologous chromosome regions and chromosomes shared among two or more species. Here, a step-by-step protocol for carrying out CP in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) and CCP in other crucifer taxa based on the use of Arabidopsis chromosome-specific BAC contigs is described. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Painting of Arabidopsis Chromosomes with Chromosome‐Specific BAC Clones

Noccaea caerulescens (formerly known as Thlaspi caerulescens), an extremophile heavy metal hyperaccumulator model plant in the Brassicaceae family, is a morphologically and phenotypically diverse species exhibiting metal tolerance and leaf accumulation of zinc, cadmium, and nickel. Here, we provide a detailed genome structure of the approximately 267-Mb N. caerulescens genome, which has descended from seven chromosomes of the ancestral proto-Calepineae Karyotype (n = 7) through an unusually high number of pericentric inversions. Genome analysis in two other related species, Noccaea jankae and Raparia bulbosa, showed that all three species, and thus probably the entire Coluteocarpeae tribe, have descended from the proto-Calepineae Karyotype. All three analyzed species share the chromosome structure of six out of seven chromosomes and an unusually high metal accumulation in leaves, which remains moderate in N. jankae and R. bulbosa and is extreme in N. caerulescens. Among these species, N. caerulescens has the most derived karyotype, with species-specific inversions on chromosome NC6, which grouped onto its bottom arm functionally related genes of zinc and iron metal homeostasis comprising the major candidate genes NICOTIANAMINE SYNTHASE2 and ZINC-INDUCED FACILITATOR-LIKE1. Concurrently, copper and organellar metal homeostasis genes, which are functionally unrelated to the extreme traits characteristic of N. caerulescens, were grouped onto the top arm of NC6. Compared with Arabidopsis thaliana, more distal chromosomal positions in N. caerulescens were enriched among more highly expressed metal homeostasis genes but not among other groups of genes. Thus, chromosome rearrangements could have facilitated the evolution of enhanced metal homeostasis gene expression, a known hallmark of metal hyperaccumulation.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/169/1/674.full.pdf

Genome Structure of the Heavy Metal Hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens and Its Stability on Metalliferous and Nonmetalliferous Soils

Most diploid organisms have polyploid ancestors. The evolutionary process of polyploidization is poorly understood but has frequently been conjectured to involve some form of ‘genome shock’, such as genome reorganization and subgenome expression dominance. Here we study polyploidization in Arabidopsis suecica, a post-glacial allopolyploid species formed via hybridization of Arabidopsis thaliana and Arabidopsis arenosa. We generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of A. suecica and complemented it with polymorphism and transcriptome data from all species. Despite a divergence around 6 million years ago (Ma) between the ancestral species and differences in their genome composition, we see no evidence of a genome shock: the A. suecica genome is colinear with the ancestral genomes; there is no subgenome dominance in expression; and transposon dynamics appear stable. However, we find changes suggesting gradual adaptation to polyploidy. In particular, the A. thaliana subgenome shows upregulation of meiosis-related genes, possibly to prevent aneuploidy and undesirable homeologous exchanges that are observed in synthetic A. suecica, and the A. arenosa subgenome shows upregulation of cyto-nuclear processes, possibly in response to the new cytoplasmic environment of A. suecica, with plastids maternally inherited from A. thaliana. These changes are not seen in synthetic hybrids, and thus are likely to represent subsequent evolution. Arabidopsis suecica is a natural allotetraploid species formed via hybridization of Arabidopsis thaliana and Arabidopsis arenosa. Comparative analysis of genome and transcriptome data shows no evidence for major genomic changes linked to structural and functional alterations in A. suecica but reveals changes to the meiotic machinery and cyto-nuclear processes.

/pdf/gradual-evolution-of-allopolyploidy-in-arabidopsis-suecica-1vfdm78ucy.pdf

Martin A. Lysak

Papers

Chromosomal localization of rDNA in the Brassicaceae

Unstable Inheritance of 45S rRNA Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Painting of Arabidopsis Chromosomes with Chromosome‐Specific BAC Clones

Genome Structure of the Heavy Metal Hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens and Its Stability on Metalliferous and Nonmetalliferous Soils

Gradual evolution of allopolyploidy in Arabidopsis suecica.