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Your search keyword '"PFENNING, ANDREAS"' showing total 17 results
Start Over Author "PFENNING, ANDREAS" Publisher escholarship, university of california
17 results on '"PFENNING, ANDREAS"'

1. Vocal learning-associated convergent evolution in mammalian proteins and regulatory elements.

Author

Wirthlin, Morgan, Schmid, Tobias, Elie, Julie, Zhang, Xiaomeng, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Redlich, Ruby, Shvareva, Varvara, Rakuljic, Ashley, Ji, Maria, Bhat, Ninad, Kaplow, Irene, Schäffer, Daniel, Lawler, Alyssa, Wang, Andrew, Phan, BaDoi, Annaldasula, Siddharth, Brown, Ashley, Lu, Tianyu, Lim, Byung, Azim, Eiman, Clark, Nathan, Meyer, Wynn, Pond, Sergei, Chikina, Maria, Yartsev, Michael, Pfenning, Andreas, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce, Bredemeyer, Kevin, Breit, Ana, Christmas, Matthew, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Genereux, Diane, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela, Harris, Andrew, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson, Hubley, Robert, Hughes, Graham, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Karlsson, Elinor, Keough, Kathleen, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer, Kozyrev, Sergey, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle, Lewin, Harris, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor, Meadows, Jennifer, Moore, Jill, Moreira, Lucas, Moreno-Santillan, Diana, Morrill, Kathleen, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole, Pollard, Katherine, Pratt, Henry, Ray, David, Reilly, Steven, Rosen, Jeb, and Ruf, Irina

Subjects
Animals, Chiroptera, Vocalization, Animal, Motor Cortex, Chromatin, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Motor Neurons, Larynx, Epigenesis, Genetic, Genome, Gene Expression Regulation, Evolution, Molecular, Proteins, Amino Acid Sequence, Eutheria, Machine Learning
Abstract

Vocal production learning (vocal learning) is a convergently evolved trait in vertebrates. To identify brain genomic elements associated with mammalian vocal learning, we integrated genomic, anatomical, and neurophysiological data from the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) with analyses of the genomes of 215 placental mammals. First, we identified a set of proteins evolving more slowly in vocal learners. Then, we discovered a vocal motor cortical region in the Egyptian fruit bat, an emergent vocal learner, and leveraged that knowledge to identify active cis-regulatory elements in the motor cortex of vocal learners. Machine learning methods applied to motor cortex open chromatin revealed 50 enhancers robustly associated with vocal learning whose activity tended to be lower in vocal learners. Our research implicates convergent losses of motor cortex regulatory elements in mammalian vocal learning evolution.

Published
2024

2. A genomic timescale for placental mammal evolution

Author

Foley, Nicole M, Mason, Victor C, Harris, Andrew J, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Damas, Joana, Lewin, Harris A, Eizirik, Eduardo, Gatesy, John, Karlsson, Elinor K, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Springer, Mark S, Murphy, William J, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gazal, Steven, Genereux, Diane P, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Ryder, Oliver A, Sabeti, Pardis C, Schäffer, Daniel E, Serres, Aitor, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, Srinivasan, Chaitanya, Steiner, Cynthia, Storer, Jessica M, Sullivan, Kevin AM, Sullivan, Patrick F, and Sundström, Elisabeth

Subjects
Genetics, Human Genome, Biotechnology, Animals, Female, Biological Evolution, Eutheria, Evolution, Molecular, Fossils, Genomics, Phylogeny, Genetic Variation, Time Factors, Zoonomia Consortium‡, General Science & Technology
Abstract

The precise pattern and timing of speciation events that gave rise to all living placental mammals remain controversial. We provide a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of genetic variation across an alignment of 241 placental mammal genome assemblies, addressing prior concerns regarding limited genomic sampling across species. We compared neutral genome-wide phylogenomic signals using concatenation and coalescent-based approaches, interrogated phylogenetic variation across chromosomes, and analyzed extensive catalogs of structural variants. Interordinal relationships exhibit relatively low rates of phylogenomic conflict across diverse datasets and analytical methods. Conversely, X-chromosome versus autosome conflicts characterize multiple independent clades that radiated during the Cenozoic. Genomic time trees reveal an accumulation of cladogenic events before and immediately after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, implying important roles for Cretaceous continental vicariance and the K-Pg extinction in the placental radiation.

Published
2023

3. Comparative genomics of Balto, a famous historic dog, captures lost diversity of 1920s sled dogs

Author

Moon, Katherine L, Huson, Heather J, Morrill, Kathleen, Wang, Ming-Shan, Li, Xue, Srikanth, Krishnamoorthy, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Svenson, Gavin J, Karlsson, Elinor K, Shapiro, Beth, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Genereux, Diane P, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Ryder, Oliver A, Sabeti, Pardis C, Schäffer, Daniel E, Serres, Aitor, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, Srinivasan, Chaitanya, Steiner, Cynthia, Storer, Jessica M, Sullivan, Kevin AM, Sullivan, Patrick F, Sundström, Elisabeth, Supple, Megan A, and Swofford, Ross

Subjects
Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences, Biological Sciences, Genetics, Animals, Dogs, Male, Genome, Genomics, Genotype, Phenotype, Wolves, Biodiversity, Genetic Variation, Zoonomia Consortium, General Science & Technology
Abstract

We reconstruct the phenotype of Balto, the heroic sled dog renowned for transporting diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska, in 1925, using evolutionary constraint estimates from the Zoonomia alignment of 240 mammals and 682 genomes from dogs and wolves of the 21st century. Balto shares just part of his diverse ancestry with the eponymous Siberian husky breed. Balto's genotype predicts a combination of coat features atypical for modern sled dog breeds, and a slightly smaller stature. He had enhanced starch digestion compared with Greenland sled dogs and a compendium of derived homozygous coding variants at constrained positions in genes connected to bone and skin development. We propose that Balto's population of origin, which was less inbred and genetically healthier than that of modern breeds, was adapted to the extreme environment of 1920s Alaska.

Published
2023

4. The contribution of historical processes to contemporary extinction risk in placental mammals

Author

Wilder, Aryn P, Supple, Megan A, Subramanian, Ayshwarya, Mudide, Anish, Swofford, Ross, Serres-Armero, Aitor, Steiner, Cynthia, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Genereux, Diane P, Karlsson, Elinor K, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Munoz Fuentes, Violeta, Foley, Kathleen, Meyer, Wynn K, Ryder, Oliver A, Shapiro, Beth, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Sabeti, Pardis C, Schäffer, Daniel E, Serres, Aitor, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, and Srinivasan, Chaitanya

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Behavioral and Social Science, Human Genome, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Life on Land, Animals, Female, Pregnancy, Eutheria, Extinction, Biological, Genetic Variation, Genome, Population Density, Risk, Zoonomia Consortium‡, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Species persistence can be influenced by the amount, type, and distribution of diversity across the genome, suggesting a potential relationship between historical demography and resilience. In this study, we surveyed genetic variation across single genomes of 240 mammals that compose the Zoonomia alignment to evaluate how historical effective population size (Ne) affects heterozygosity and deleterious genetic load and how these factors may contribute to extinction risk. We find that species with smaller historical Ne carry a proportionally larger burden of deleterious alleles owing to long-term accumulation and fixation of genetic load and have a higher risk of extinction. This suggests that historical demography can inform contemporary resilience. Models that included genomic data were predictive of species' conservation status, suggesting that, in the absence of adequate census or ecological data, genomic information may provide an initial risk assessment.

Published
2023

5. The functional and evolutionary impacts of human-specific deletions in conserved elements

Author

Xue, James R, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Mouri, Kousuke, Garcia, Meilin Fernandez, Dong, Michael X, Akers, Jared F, Noble, Mark, Li, Xue, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Karlsson, Elinor K, Noonan, James P, Capellini, Terence D, Brennand, Kristen J, Tewhey, Ryan, Sabeti, Pardis C, Reilly, Steven K, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Genereux, Diane P, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Lind, Abigail, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Ryder, Oliver A, Schäffer, Daniel E, Serres, Aitor, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, Srinivasan, Chaitanya, and Steiner, Cynthia

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Neurosciences, Human Genome, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning, Underpinning research, Generic health relevance, Neurological, Humans, Conserved Sequence, Evolution, Molecular, Genome, Genomics, RNA-Binding Proteins, Sequence Deletion, Brain, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Zoonomia Consortium†, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Conserved genomic sequences disrupted in humans may underlie uniquely human phenotypic traits. We identified and characterized 10,032 human-specific conserved deletions (hCONDELs). These short (average 2.56 base pairs) deletions are enriched for human brain functions across genetic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic datasets. Using massively parallel reporter assays in six cell types, we discovered 800 hCONDELs conferring significant differences in regulatory activity, half of which enhance rather than disrupt regulatory function. We highlight several hCONDELs with putative human-specific effects on brain development, including HDAC5, CPEB4, and PPP2CA. Reverting an hCONDEL to the ancestral sequence alters the expression of LOXL2 and developmental genes involved in myelination and synaptic function. Our data provide a rich resource to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms driving new traits in humans and other species.

Published
2023

6. Integrating gene annotation with orthology inference at scale

Author

Kirilenko, Bogdan M, Munegowda, Chetan, Osipova, Ekaterina, Jebb, David, Sharma, Virag, Blumer, Moritz, Morales, Ariadna E, Ahmed, Alexis-Walid, Kontopoulos, Dimitrios-Georgios, Hilgers, Leon, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Karlsson, Elinor K, Hiller, Michael, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Genereux, Diane P, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Ryder, Oliver A, Sabeti, Pardis C, Schäffer, Daniel E, Serres, Aitor, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, Srinivasan, Chaitanya, Steiner, Cynthia, Storer, Jessica M, Sullivan, Kevin AM, and Sullivan, Patrick F

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Human Genome, Generic health relevance, Animals, Female, Mice, Eutheria, Genome, Genomics, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Birds, Zoonomia Consortium‡, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Annotating coding genes and inferring orthologs are two classical challenges in genomics and evolutionary biology that have traditionally been approached separately, limiting scalability. We present TOGA (Tool to infer Orthologs from Genome Alignments), a method that integrates structural gene annotation and orthology inference. TOGA implements a different paradigm to infer orthologous loci, improves ortholog detection and annotation of conserved genes compared with state-of-the-art methods, and handles even highly fragmented assemblies. TOGA scales to hundreds of genomes, which we demonstrate by applying it to 488 placental mammal and 501 bird assemblies, creating the largest comparative gene resources so far. Additionally, TOGA detects gene losses, enables selection screens, and automatically provides a superior measure of mammalian genome quality. TOGA is a powerful and scalable method to annotate and compare genes in the genomic era.

Published
2023

7. Relating enhancer genetic variation across mammals to complex phenotypes using machine learning

Author

Kaplow, Irene M, Lawler, Alyssa J, Schäffer, Daniel E, Srinivasan, Chaitanya, Sestili, Heather H, Wirthlin, Morgan E, Phan, BaDoi N, Prasad, Kavya, Brown, Ashley R, Zhang, Xiaomeng, Foley, Kathleen, Genereux, Diane P, Karlsson, Elinor K, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Meyer, Wynn K, Pfenning, Andreas R, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Ryder, Oliver A, Sabeti, Pardis C, Serres, Aitor, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, and Steiner, Cynthia

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Genetics, Pediatric, Human Genome, Rare Diseases, Congenital Structural Anomalies, Underpinning research, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning, Neurological, Mental health, Animals, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Genetic Variation, Machine Learning, Mammals, Phenotype, Zoonomia Consortium**, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Protein-coding differences between species often fail to explain phenotypic diversity, suggesting the involvement of genomic elements that regulate gene expression such as enhancers. Identifying associations between enhancers and phenotypes is challenging because enhancer activity can be tissue-dependent and functionally conserved despite low sequence conservation. We developed the Tissue-Aware Conservation Inference Toolkit (TACIT) to associate candidate enhancers with species' phenotypes using predictions from machine learning models trained on specific tissues. Applying TACIT to associate motor cortex and parvalbumin-positive interneuron enhancers with neurological phenotypes revealed dozens of enhancer-phenotype associations, including brain size-associated enhancers that interact with genes implicated in microcephaly or macrocephaly. TACIT provides a foundation for identifying enhancers associated with the evolution of any convergently evolved phenotype in any large group of species with aligned genomes.

Published
2023

8. Three-dimensional genome rewiring in loci with human accelerated regions

Author

Keough, Kathleen C, Whalen, Sean, Inoue, Fumitaka, Przytycki, Pawel F, Fair, Tyler, Deng, Chengyu, Steyert, Marilyn, Ryu, Hane, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Karlsson, Elinor, Nowakowski, Tomasz, Ahituv, Nadav, Pollen, Alex, Pollard, Katherine S, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Genereux, Diane P, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Karlsson, Elinor K, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, Ryan, Louise, Ryder, Oliver A, Sabeti, Pardis C, Schäffer, Daniel E, Serres, Aitor, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark, Srinivasan, Chaitanya, Steiner, Cynthia, Storer, Jessica M, and Sullivan, Kevin AM

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Genetics, Stem Cell Research, Human Genome, Biotechnology, Underpinning research, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning, Animals, Humans, Chromatin, Genome, Human, Genomics, Pan troglodytes, Genetic Loci, Neurogenesis, Deep Learning, Zoonomia Consortium§, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Human accelerated regions (HARs) are conserved genomic loci that evolved at an accelerated rate in the human lineage and may underlie human-specific traits. We generated HARs and chimpanzee accelerated regions with an automated pipeline and an alignment of 241 mammalian genomes. Combining deep learning with chromatin capture experiments in human and chimpanzee neural progenitor cells, we discovered a significant enrichment of HARs in topologically associating domains containing human-specific genomic variants that change three-dimensional (3D) genome organization. Differential gene expression between humans and chimpanzees at these loci suggests rewiring of regulatory interactions between HARs and neurodevelopmental genes. Thus, comparative genomics together with models of 3D genome folding revealed enhancer hijacking as an explanation for the rapid evolution of HARs.

Published
2023

9. Evolutionary constraint and innovation across hundreds of placental mammals

Author

Christmas, Matthew J, Kaplow, Irene M, Genereux, Diane P, Dong, Michael X, Hughes, Graham M, Li, Xue, Sullivan, Patrick F, Hindle, Allyson G, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Breit, Ana M, Diekhans, Mark, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Goodman, Daniel B, Goodman, Linda, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Lawless, Colleen, Lind, Abigail L, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Moreira, Lucas R, Redlich, Ruby W, Ryan, Louise, Swofford, Ross, Valenzuela, Alejandro, Wagner, Franziska, Wallerman, Ola, Brown, Ashley R, Damas, Joana, Fan, Kaili, Gatesy, John, Grimshaw, Jenna, Johnson, Jeremy, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Marinescu, Voichita D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Osmanski, Austin, Paulat, Nicole S, Phan, BaDoi N, Reilly, Steven K, Schäffer, Daniel E, Steiner, Cynthia, Supple, Megan A, Wilder, Aryn P, Wirthlin, Morgan E, Xue, James R, Birren, Bruce W, Gazal, Steven, Hubley, Robert M, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Meyer, Wynn K, Nweeia, Martin, Sabeti, Pardis C, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark S, Teeling, Emma C, Weng, Zhiping, Hiller, Michael, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Paten, Benedict, Pollard, Katherine S, Ray, David A, Ruf, Irina, Ryder, Oliver A, Pfenning, Andreas R, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Karlsson, Elinor K, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Clawson, Hiram, Di Palma, Federica, Eizirik, Eduardo, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, and Halsey, Michaela K

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Human Genome, Animals, Female, Humans, Conserved Sequence, Eutheria, Evolution, Molecular, Genome, Human, Zoonomia Consortium§, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Zoonomia is the largest comparative genomics resource for mammals produced to date. By aligning genomes for 240 species, we identify bases that, when mutated, are likely to affect fitness and alter disease risk. At least 332 million bases (~10.7%) in the human genome are unusually conserved across species (evolutionarily constrained) relative to neutrally evolving repeats, and 4552 ultraconserved elements are nearly perfectly conserved. Of 101 million significantly constrained single bases, 80% are outside protein-coding exons and half have no functional annotations in the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) resource. Changes in genes and regulatory elements are associated with exceptional mammalian traits, such as hibernation, that could inform therapeutic development. Earth's vast and imperiled biodiversity offers distinctive power for identifying genetic variants that affect genome function and organismal phenotypes.

Published
2023

10. Leveraging base-pair mammalian constraint to understand genetic variation and human disease

Author

Sullivan, Patrick F, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Gazal, Steven, Phan, BaDoi N, Li, Xue, Genereux, Diane P, Dong, Michael X, Bianchi, Matteo, Andrews, Gregory, Sakthikumar, Sharadha, Nordin, Jessika, Roy, Ananya, Christmas, Matthew J, Marinescu, Voichita D, Wang, Chao, Wallerman, Ola, Xue, James, Yao, Shuyang, Sun, Quan, Szatkiewicz, Jin, Wen, Jia, Huckins, Laura M, Lawler, Alyssa, Keough, Kathleen C, Zheng, Zhili, Zeng, Jian, Wray, Naomi R, Li, Yun, Johnson, Jessica, Chen, Jiawen, Paten, Benedict, Reilly, Steven K, Hughes, Graham M, Weng, Zhiping, Pollard, Katherine S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Karlsson, Elinor K, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Armstrong, Joel C, Birren, Bruce W, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Clawson, Hiram, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Johnson, Jeremy, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Lewin, Harris A, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, and Navarro, Arcadi

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Clinical Research, Human Genome, Brain Disorders, Generic health relevance, Animals, Humans, Biological Evolution, Genetic Variation, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Disease, Zoonomia Consortium§, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Thousands of genomic regions have been associated with heritable human diseases, but attempts to elucidate biological mechanisms are impeded by an inability to discern which genomic positions are functionally important. Evolutionary constraint is a powerful predictor of function, agnostic to cell type or disease mechanism. Single-base phyloP scores from 240 mammals identified 3.3% of the human genome as significantly constrained and likely functional. We compared phyloP scores to genome annotation, association studies, copy-number variation, clinical genetics findings, and cancer data. Constrained positions are enriched for variants that explain common disease heritability more than other functional annotations. Our results improve variant annotation but also highlight that the regulatory landscape of the human genome still needs to be further explored and linked to disease.

Published
2023

11. Evolution of the ancestral mammalian karyotype and syntenic regions

Author

Damas, Joana, Corbo, Marco, Kim, Jaebum, Turner-Maier, Jason, Farré, Marta, Larkin, Denis M, Ryder, Oliver A, Steiner, Cynthia, Houck, Marlys L, Hall, Shaune, Shiue, Lily, Thomas, Stephen, Swale, Thomas, Daly, Mark, Korlach, Jonas, Uliano-Silva, Marcela, Mazzoni, Camila J, Birren, Bruce W, Genereux, Diane P, Johnson, Jeremy, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Karlsson, Elinor K, Nweeia, Martin T, Johnson, Rebecca N, Lewin, Harris A, Andrews, Gregory, Armstrong, Joel C, Bianchi, Matteo, Bredemeyer, Kevin R, Breit, Ana M, Christmas, Matthew J, Clawson, Hiram, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Dong, Michael X, Eizirik, Eduardo, Fan, Kaili, Fanter, Cornelia, Foley, Nicole M, Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin, Garcia, Carlos J, Gatesy, John, Gazal, Steven, Goodman, Linda, Grimshaw, Jenna, Halsey, Michaela K, Harris, Andrew J, Hickey, Glenn, Hiller, Michael, Hindle, Allyson G, Hubley, Robert M, Hughes, Graham M, Juan, David, Kaplow, Irene M, Keough, Kathleen C, Kirilenko, Bogdan, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Korstian, Jennifer M, Kowalczyk, Amanda, Kozyrev, Sergey V, Lawler, Alyssa J, Lawless, Colleen, Lehmann, Thomas, Levesque, Danielle L, Li, Xue, Lind, Abigail, Mackay-Smith, Ava, Marinescu, Voichita D, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Mason, Victor C, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Meyer, Wynn K, Moore, Jill E, Moreira, Lucas R, Moreno-Santillan, Diana D, Morrill, Kathleen M, Muntané, Gerard, Murphy, William J, Navarro, Arcadi, Nweeia, Martin, Ortmann, Sylvia, Osmanski, Austin, Paten, Benedict, Paulat, Nicole S, Pfenning, Andreas R, Phan, BaDoi N, Pollard, Katherine S, Pratt, Henry E, Ray, David A, Reilly, Steven K, Rosen, Jeb R, Ruf, Irina, and Ryan, Louise

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Human Genome, Generic health relevance, Animals, Cattle, Chromosomes, Mammalian, Eutheria, Evolution, Molecular, Humans, Karyotype, Mammals, Phylogeny, Sloths, Synteny, chromosome evolution, mammals, synteny conservation, ancestral genome reconstruction, topologically associating domains, Zoonomia Consortium
Abstract

Decrypting the rearrangements that drive mammalian chromosome evolution is critical to understanding the molecular bases of speciation, adaptation, and disease susceptibility. Using 8 scaffolded and 26 chromosome-scale genome assemblies representing 23/26 mammal orders, we computationally reconstructed ancestral karyotypes and syntenic relationships at 16 nodes along the mammalian phylogeny. Three different reference genomes (human, sloth, and cattle) representing phylogenetically distinct mammalian superorders were used to assess reference bias in the reconstructed ancestral karyotypes and to expand the number of clades with reconstructed genomes. The mammalian ancestor likely had 19 pairs of autosomes, with nine of the smallest chromosomes shared with the common ancestor of all amniotes (three still conserved in extant mammals), demonstrating a striking conservation of synteny for ∼320 My of vertebrate evolution. The numbers and types of chromosome rearrangements were classified for transitions between the ancestral mammalian karyotype, descendent ancestors, and extant species. For example, 94 inversions, 16 fissions, and 14 fusions that occurred over 53 My differentiated the therian from the descendent eutherian ancestor. The highest breakpoint rate was observed between the mammalian and therian ancestors (3.9 breakpoints/My). Reconstructed mammalian ancestor chromosomes were found to have distinct evolutionary histories reflected in their rates and types of rearrangements. The distributions of genes, repetitive elements, topologically associating domains, and actively transcribed regions in multispecies homologous synteny blocks and evolutionary breakpoint regions indicate that purifying selection acted over millions of years of vertebrate evolution to maintain syntenic relationships of developmentally important genes and regulatory landscapes of gene-dense chromosomes.

Published
2022

12. scAAVengr, a transcriptome-based pipeline for quantitative ranking of engineered AAVs with single-cell resolution

Author

Öztürk, Bilge E, Johnson, Molly E, Kleyman, Michael, Turunç, Serhan, He, Jing, Jabalameli, Sara, Xi, Zhouhuan, Visel, Meike, Dufour, Valérie L, Iwabe, Simone, Marinho, Felipe Pompeo, Aguirre, Gustavo D, Sahel, José-Alain, Schaffer, David V, Pfenning, Andreas R, Flannery, John G, Beltran, William A, Stauffer, William R, and Byrne, Leah C

Subjects
Medical Biotechnology, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Genetics, Biotechnology, Neurosciences, Eye Disease and Disorders of Vision, Gene Therapy, Development of treatments and therapeutic interventions, 5.2 Cellular and gene therapies, Inflammatory and immune system, Animals, Dependovirus, Gene Expression Profiling, Genetic Vectors, Macaca fascicularis, Retina, Transcriptome, Transduction, Genetic, macaca fascicularis, callithrix jacchus, scRNA-Seq, retinal degeneration, adeno-associated virus, Rhesus macaque, Other, medicine, neuroscience, rhesus macaque, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Biological sciences, Biomedical and clinical sciences, Health sciences
Abstract

BackgroundAdeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapies are rapidly advancing to the clinic, and AAV engineering has resulted in vectors with increased ability to deliver therapeutic genes. Although the choice of vector is critical, quantitative comparison of AAVs, especially in large animals, remains challenging.MethodsHere, we developed an efficient single-cell AAV engineering pipeline (scAAVengr) to simultaneously quantify and rank efficiency of competing AAV vectors across all cell types in the same animal.ResultsTo demonstrate proof-of-concept for the scAAVengr workflow, we quantified - with cell-type resolution - the abilities of naturally occurring and newly engineered AAVs to mediate gene expression in primate retina following intravitreal injection. A top performing variant identified using this pipeline, K912, was used to deliver SaCas9 and edit the rhodopsin gene in macaque retina, resulting in editing efficiency similar to infection rates detected by the scAAVengr workflow. scAAVengr was then used to identify top-performing AAV variants in mouse brain, heart, and liver following systemic injection.ConclusionsThese results validate scAAVengr as a powerful method for development of AAV vectors.FundingThis work was supported by funding from the Ford Foundation, NEI/NIH, Research to Prevent Blindness, Foundation Fighting Blindness, UPMC Immune Transplant and Therapy Center, and the Van Sloun fund for canine genetic research.

Published
2021

13. A comparative genomics multitool for scientific discovery and conservation

Author

Genereux, Diane P, Serres, Aitor, Armstrong, Joel, Johnson, Jeremy, Marinescu, Voichita D, Muren, Eva, Juan, David, Bejerano, Gill, Casewell, Nicholas R, Chemnick, Leona G, Damas, Joana, Di Palma, Federica, Diekhans, Mark, Fiddes, Ian T, Garber, Manuel, Gladyshev, Vadim N, Goodman, Linda, Haerty, Wilfried, Houck, Marlys L, Hubley, Robert, Kivioja, Teemu, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Kuderna, Lukas FK, Lander, Eric S, Meadows, Jennifer RS, Murphy, William J, Nash, Will, Noh, Hyun Ji, Nweeia, Martin, Pfenning, Andreas R, Pollard, Katherine S, Ray, David A, Shapiro, Beth, Smit, Arian FA, Springer, Mark S, Steiner, Cynthia C, Swofford, Ross, Taipale, Jussi, Teeling, Emma C, Turner-Maier, Jason, Alfoldi, Jessica, Birren, Bruce, Ryder, Oliver A, Lewin, Harris A, Paten, Benedict, Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, and Karlsson, Elinor K

Subjects
Human Genome, Genetics, Biotechnology, Life on Land, Animals, Biodiversity, Biomedical Research, Conservation of Natural Resources, Eutheria, Evolution, Molecular, Extinction, Biological, Genetic Speciation, Genetic Variation, Genomics, Humans, Infections, Knowledge Discovery, Loss of Heterozygosity, Neoplasms, Phylogeny, Risk Assessment, Selection, Genetic, Sequence Alignment, Species Specificity, Venoms, Zoonomia Consortium, General Science & Technology
Abstract

The Zoonomia Project is investigating the genomics of shared and specialized traits in eutherian mammals. Here we provide genome assemblies for 131 species, of which all but 9 are previously uncharacterized, and describe a whole-genome alignment of 240 species of considerable phylogenetic diversity, comprising representatives from more than 80% of mammalian families. We find that regions of reduced genetic diversity are more abundant in species at a high risk of extinction, discern signals of evolutionary selection at high resolution and provide insights from individual reference genomes. By prioritizing phylogenetic diversity and making data available quickly and without restriction, the Zoonomia Project aims to support biological discovery, medical research and the conservation of biodiversity.

Published
2020

14. Broad host range of SARS-CoV-2 predicted by comparative and structural analysis of ACE2 in vertebrates

Author

Damas, Joana, Hughes, Graham M, Keough, Kathleen C, Painter, Corrie A, Persky, Nicole S, Corbo, Marco, Hiller, Michael, Koepfli, Klaus-Peter, Pfenning, Andreas R, Zhao, Huabin, Genereux, Diane P, Swofford, Ross, Pollard, Katherine S, Ryder, Oliver A, Nweeia, Martin T, Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin, Teeling, Emma C, Karlsson, Elinor K, and Lewin, Harris A

Subjects
Emerging Infectious Diseases, Lung, Prevention, Vaccine Related, Biodefense, Infectious Diseases, Pneumonia, Amino Acids, Animals, Betacoronavirus, Binding Sites, COVID-19, Coronavirus Infections, Evolution, Molecular, Genetic Variation, Host Specificity, Humans, Pandemics, Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A, Pneumonia, Viral, Protein Binding, Receptors, Virus, SARS-CoV-2, Selection, Genetic, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus, Vertebrates, ACE2, comparative genomics, species conservation
Abstract

The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of COVID-19. The main receptor of SARS-CoV-2, angiotensin I converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is now undergoing extensive scrutiny to understand the routes of transmission and sensitivity in different species. Here, we utilized a unique dataset of ACE2 sequences from 410 vertebrate species, including 252 mammals, to study the conservation of ACE2 and its potential to be used as a receptor by SARS-CoV-2. We designed a five-category binding score based on the conservation properties of 25 amino acids important for the binding between ACE2 and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Only mammals fell into the medium to very high categories and only catarrhine primates into the very high category, suggesting that they are at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. We employed a protein structural analysis to qualitatively assess whether amino acid changes at variable residues would be likely to disrupt ACE2/SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding and found the number of predicted unfavorable changes significantly correlated with the binding score. Extending this analysis to human population data, we found only rare (frequency

Published
2020

15. A Modular Approach to Vocal Learning: Disentangling the Diversity of a Complex Behavioral Trait

Author

Wirthlin, Morgan, Chang, Edward F, Knörnschild, Mirjam, Krubitzer, Leah A, Mello, Claudio V, Miller, Cory T, Pfenning, Andreas R, Vernes, Sonja C, Tchernichovski, Ofer, and Yartsev, Michael M

Subjects
Biological Psychology, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Neurosciences, Psychology, Genetics, Basic Behavioral and Social Science, Behavioral and Social Science, Alligators and Crocodiles, Animals, Auditory Perception, Behavior, Animal, Birds, Comprehension, Fishes, Formative Feedback, Imitative Behavior, Learning, Macaca, Phenotype, Phoca, Vocalization, Animal, Cognitive Sciences, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Biological psychology
Abstract

Vocal learning is a behavioral trait in which the social and acoustic environment shapes the vocal repertoire of individuals. Over the past century, the study of vocal learning has progressed at the intersection of ecology, physiology, neuroscience, molecular biology, genomics, and evolution. Yet, despite the complexity of this trait, vocal learning is frequently described as a binary trait, with species being classified as either vocal learners or vocal non-learners. As a result, studies have largely focused on a handful of species for which strong evidence for vocal learning exists. Recent studies, however, suggest a continuum in vocal learning capacity across taxa. Here, we further suggest that vocal learning is a multi-component behavioral phenotype comprised of distinct yet interconnected modules. Discretizing the vocal learning phenotype into its constituent modules would facilitate integration of findings across a wider diversity of species, taking advantage of the ways in which each excels in a particular module, or in a specific combination of features. Such comparative studies can improve understanding of the mechanisms and evolutionary origins of vocal learning. We propose an initial set of vocal learning modules supported by behavioral and neurobiological data and highlight the need for diversifying the field in order to disentangle the complexity of the vocal learning phenotype.

Published
2019

16. Conserved epigenomic signals in mice and humans reveal immune basis of Alzheimer’s disease

Author

Gjoneska, Elizabeta, Pfenning, Andreas R, Mathys, Hansruedi, Quon, Gerald, Kundaje, Anshul, Tsai, Li-Huei, and Kellis, Manolis

Subjects
Biological Sciences, Genetics, Alzheimer's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease including Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), Human Genome, Brain Disorders, Dementia, Acquired Cognitive Impairment, Aging, Neurodegenerative, Neurosciences, Underpinning research, Aetiology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning, Neurological, Inflammatory and immune system, Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Chromatin, Conserved Sequence, Disease Models, Animal, Down-Regulation, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Epigenesis, Genetic, Epigenomics, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hippocampus, Humans, Immunity, Memory, Mice, Models, Biological, Neuronal Plasticity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Trans-Activators, Transcription, Genetic, Up-Regulation, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a severe age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by accumulation of amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, synaptic and neuronal loss, and cognitive decline. Several genes have been implicated in AD, but chromatin state alterations during neurodegeneration remain uncharacterized. Here we profile transcriptional and chromatin state dynamics across early and late pathology in the hippocampus of an inducible mouse model of AD-like neurodegeneration. We find a coordinated downregulation of synaptic plasticity genes and regulatory regions, and upregulation of immune response genes and regulatory regions, which are targeted by factors that belong to the ETS family of transcriptional regulators, including PU.1. Human regions orthologous to increasing-level enhancers show immune-cell-specific enhancer signatures as well as immune cell expression quantitative trait loci, while decreasing-level enhancer orthologues show fetal-brain-specific enhancer activity. Notably, AD-associated genetic variants are specifically enriched in increasing-level enhancer orthologues, implicating immune processes in AD predisposition. Indeed, increasing enhancers overlap known AD loci lacking protein-altering variants, and implicate additional loci that do not reach genome-wide significance. Our results reveal new insights into the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and establish the mouse as a useful model for functional studies of AD regulatory regions.

Published
2015

17. Comparative genomics reveals insights into avian genome evolution and adaptation

Author

Zhang, Guojie, Li, Cai, Li, Qiye, Li, Bo, Larkin, Denis M, Lee, Chul, Storz, Jay F, Antunes, Agostinho, Greenwold, Matthew J, Meredith, Robert W, Ödeen, Anders, Cui, Jie, Zhou, Qi, Xu, Luohao, Pan, Hailin, Wang, Zongji, Jin, Lijun, Zhang, Pei, Hu, Haofu, Yang, Wei, Hu, Jiang, Xiao, Jin, Yang, Zhikai, Liu, Yang, Xie, Qiaolin, Yu, Hao, Lian, Jinmin, Wen, Ping, Zhang, Fang, Li, Hui, Zeng, Yongli, Xiong, Zijun, Liu, Shiping, Zhou, Long, Huang, Zhiyong, An, Na, Wang, Jie, Zheng, Qiumei, Xiong, Yingqi, Wang, Guangbiao, Wang, Bo, Wang, Jingjing, Fan, Yu, da Fonseca, Rute R, Alfaro-Núñez, Alonzo, Schubert, Mikkel, Orlando, Ludovic, Mourier, Tobias, Howard, Jason T, Ganapathy, Ganeshkumar, Pfenning, Andreas, Whitney, Osceola, Rivas, Miriam V, Hara, Erina, Smith, Julia, Farré, Marta, Narayan, Jitendra, Slavov, Gancho, Romanov, Michael N, Borges, Rui, Machado, João Paulo, Khan, Imran, Springer, Mark S, Gatesy, John, Hoffmann, Federico G, Opazo, Juan C, Håstad, Olle, Sawyer, Roger H, Kim, Heebal, Kim, Kyu-Won, Kim, Hyeon Jeong, Cho, Seoae, Li, Ning, Huang, Yinhua, Bruford, Michael W, Zhan, Xiangjiang, Dixon, Andrew, Bertelsen, Mads F, Derryberry, Elizabeth, Warren, Wesley, Wilson, Richard K, Li, Shengbin, Ray, David A, Green, Richard E, O’Brien, Stephen J, Griffin, Darren, Johnson, Warren E, Haussler, David, Ryder, Oliver A, Willerslev, Eske, Graves, Gary R, Alström, Per, Fjeldså, Jon, Mindell, David P, Edwards, Scott V, Braun, Edward L, Rahbek, Carsten, Burt, David W, Houde, Peter, and Zhang, Yong

Subjects
Human Genome, Biotechnology, Genetics, Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Biodiversity, Biological Evolution, Birds, Conserved Sequence, Diet, Evolution, Molecular, Female, Flight, Animal, Genes, Genetic Variation, Genome, Genomics, Male, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Phylogeny, Reproduction, Selection, Genetic, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Synteny, Vision, Ocular, Vocalization, Animal, Avian Genome Consortium, General Science & Technology
Abstract

Birds are the most species-rich class of tetrapod vertebrates and have wide relevance across many research fields. We explored bird macroevolution using full genomes from 48 avian species representing all major extant clades. The avian genome is principally characterized by its constrained size, which predominantly arose because of lineage-specific erosion of repetitive elements, large segmental deletions, and gene loss. Avian genomes furthermore show a remarkably high degree of evolutionary stasis at the levels of nucleotide sequence, gene synteny, and chromosomal structure. Despite this pattern of conservation, we detected many non-neutral evolutionary changes in protein-coding genes and noncoding regions. These analyses reveal that pan-avian genomic diversity covaries with adaptations to different lifestyles and convergent evolution of traits.

Published
2014

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