Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Pan variation”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Genetic variation in the MHC II promoter: lessons for regulation and for comparative genomics.

Sequence data have been accumulating that reveal variation in gene promoters of the immune system, notably in MHC class II, cytokines and chemokines. The variation is non-random: it occurs most often in proximity to and within certain regulatory elements such as CRE and NFY (in MHC class II these are respectively the X2 and Y boxes). These are elements that are widely used elsewhere in the genome, and appear to act as rheostats (modulators of expression) in contrast to the type of on-off switch operated by the RFX element that is unique to a single family of promoters such as MHC class II. It is proposed that a complex mouse phenotype described in Prague and elsewhere may reflect this pattern of variation in/around CRE. Such rheostats are expected to operate in other promoters. Their identification will be facilitated by short-range comparisons (e.g. human-chimp), and indeed this is a motive for extending comparative genomics.

Animals↗

Heritabilities of clinical chemical traits in chimpanzees.

Clinical chemical measures are commonly used biomarkers of health status in nonhuman primates and may also serve as important covariates or outcome variables in experimental protocols. There is a considerable range of normal variation in most clinical chemical traits and the determinants of this variation have been relatively unexplored in nonhuman primates used as animal models in biomedical research. This study assesses the evidence for genetic determinants of normal variation in nine clinical chemical traits (blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, potassium, sodium, CO2, glucose, albumin, globulin, and total cholesterol concentrations) in an important animal model, the chimpanzee. We found significant moderate heritabilities for potassium, sodium, albumin, globulin, and total cholesterol. The results provide information useful for addressing issues in both genetic management and experimental research.

Age Factors↗

The geographic apportionment of mitochondrial genetic diversity in east African chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii.

This study is a geographically systematic genetic survey of the easternmost subspecies of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii. DNA was noninvasively collected in the form of shed hair from chimpanzees of known origin in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zaïre. Two hundred sixty-two DNA sequences from hypervariable region 1 of which of the mitochondrial control region were generated. Eastern chimpanzees display levels of mitochondrial genetic variation which are low and which are similar to levels observed in humans (Homo sapiens). Also like humans, between 80% and 90% of the genetic variability within the eastern chimpanzees is apportioned within populations. Spatial autocorrelation analysis shows that genetic similarity between eastern chimpanzees decreases clinically with distance, in a pattern remarkably similar to one seen for humans separated by equivalent geographic distances. Eastern chimpanzee mismatch distributions (frequency distributions of pairwise genetic differences between individuals) are similar in shape to those for humans, implying similar population histories of recent demographic expansion. The overall pattern of genetic variability in eastern chimpanzees is consistent with the hypothesis that the subject has responded demographically to paleoclimatically driven changes in the distribution of eastern African forests during the recent Pleistocene.

Africa, Eastern↗

Patterns of microsatellite polymorphism in the range-restricted bonobo (Pan paniscus): considerations for interspecific comparison with chimpanzees (P. troglodytes).

The endangered great ape, Pan paniscus (bonobo) has the smallest range of the African apes. Virtually nothing is known about the genetic diversity or genetic structure of this species, while substantial amounts of polymorphism have been reported for the bonobo's widespread congener, the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes). Given its restricted range, what is the extent of genetic variation in the bonobo relative to the chimpanzee, and is the bonobo genetically depauperate? To investigate patterns of genetic polymorphism, bonobos of wild origin were genotyped for 28 microsatellite loci. The mean number of alleles per locus (5.2) and the mean observed heterozygosity (0.52) in bonobos were similar to variation observed in a wild chimpanzee community (P. t. schweinfurthii). The rarer bonobo is not genetically depauperate and may have genetic diversity comparable to the eastern chimpanzee subspecies. Bonobos have approximately 55% of the allelic diversity and 66% of the observed heterozygosity exhibited by all three chimpanzee subspecies sampled across equatorial Africa. Resampling techniques were used to quantify the effects of sample size differences and number and choice of loci between bonobos and chimpanzees. The examination of these variables underscores their importance in accurately interpreting interspecific comparisons of diversity estimates.

Africa↗

Absence of the TAP2 human recombination hotspot in chimpanzees.

Recent experiments using sperm typing have demonstrated that, in several regions of the human genome, recombination does not occur uniformly but instead is concentrated in "hotspots" of 1-2 kb. Moreover, the crossover asymmetry observed in a subset of these has led to the suggestion that hotspots may be short-lived on an evolutionary time scale. To test this possibility, we focused on a region known to contain a recombination hotspot in humans, TAP2, and asked whether chimpanzees, the closest living evolutionary relatives of humans, harbor a hotspot in a similar location. Specifically, we used a new statistical approach to estimate recombination rate variation from patterns of linkage disequilibrium in a sample of 24 western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). This method has been shown to produce reliable results on simulated data and on human data from the TAP2 region. Strikingly, however, it finds very little support for recombination rate variation at TAP2 in the western chimpanzee data. Moreover, simulations suggest that there should be stronger support if there were a hotspot similar to the one characterized in humans. Thus, it appears that the human TAP2 recombination hotspot is not shared by western chimpanzees. These findings demonstrate that fine-scale recombination rates can change between very closely related species and raise the possibility that rates differ among human populations, with important implications for linkage-disequilibrium based association studies.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗

The phosphorylcholine epitope undergoes phase variation on a 43-kilodalton protein in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and on pili of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Phosphorylcholine (ChoP) is a component of the teichoic acids of Streptococcus pneumoniae and has been recently identified on the lipopolysaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae, also a major pathogen of the human respiratory tract. Other gram-negative pathogens that frequently infect the human respiratory tract were surveyed for the presence of the ChoP epitope as indicated by binding to monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) recognizing this structure. The ChoP epitope was found on a 43-kDa protein on all clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa examined and on several class I and II pili of Neisseria meningitidis. The specificity of the anti-ChoP MAb was demonstrated by the inhibition of binding in the presence of ChoP but not structural analogs. As in the case of H. influenzae, the expression of this epitope was phase variable on these species. In P. aeruginosa, this epitope was expressed at detectable levels only at lower growth temperatures. Expression of the ChoP epitope on piliated neisseriae displayed phase variation, both linked to pilus expression and independently of fully piliated bacteria.

Antigenic Variation↗

Integrated multi-omics analyses provide new insights into genomic variation landscape and regulatory network candidate genes associated with walnut endocarp.

Persian walnut (Juglans regia) is an economically important nut oil tree; the fruit has a hard endocarp/shell to protect seeds, thus playing a key role in its evolution, and the shell thickness is an important trait for walnut breeding. However, the genomic landscape and the gene regulatory networks associated with walnut shell development remain to be systematically elucidated. Here, we report a high-quality genome assembly of the walnut cultivar 'Xiangling' and construct a graphic structure pan-genome of eight Juglans species to reveal the genetic variations at the genome level. We re-sequence 285 accessions to characterize the genomic variation landscape. Through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), we identified 19 loci associated with more than 268 loci that underwent selection during walnut domestication and improvement. Multi-omics analyses, including transcriptomics, metabolomics, DNA methylation, and spatial transcriptomics across eleven developmental stages, revealed several candidate genes related to secondary cell biosynthesis and lignin accumulation. This integrated multi-omics approach revealed several candidate genes associated with secondary cell biosynthesis and lignin accumulation, such as UGP, MYB308, MYB83, NAC043, NAC073, CCoAOMT1, CCoAOMT7, CHS2, CESA7, LAC7, COBL4, and IRX12. Overexpression of JrUGP and JrMYB308 in Arabidopsis thaliana confirmed their roles in lignin biosynthesis and cell wall thickening. Consequently, our comprehensive multi-omics findings offer novel insights into walnut genetic variation and network regulation of endocarp development and shell thickness, which enable further genome-informed breeding strategies for walnut cultivar improvement.

Juglans↗

Implications of natural selection in shaping 99.4% nonsynonymous DNA identity between humans and chimpanzees: enlarging genus Homo.

What do functionally important DNA sites, those scrutinized and shaped by natural selection, tell us about the place of humans in evolution? Here we compare approximately 90 kb of coding DNA nucleotide sequence from 97 human genes to their sequenced chimpanzee counterparts and to available sequenced gorilla, orangutan, and Old World monkey counterparts, and, on a more limited basis, to mouse. The nonsynonymous changes (functionally important), like synonymous changes (functionally much less important), show chimpanzees and humans to be most closely related, sharing 99.4% identity at nonsynonymous sites and 98.4% at synonymous sites. On a time scale, the coding DNA divergencies separate the human-chimpanzee clade from the gorilla clade at between 6 and 7 million years ago and place the most recent common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees at between 5 and 6 million years ago. The evolutionary rate of coding DNA in the catarrhine clade (Old World monkey and ape, including human) is much slower than in the lineage to mouse. Among the genes examined, 30 show evidence of positive selection during descent of catarrhines. Nonsynonymous substitutions by themselves, in this subset of positively selected genes, group humans and chimpanzees closest to each other and have chimpanzees diverge about as much from the common human-chimpanzee ancestor as humans do. This functional DNA evidence supports two previously offered taxonomic proposals: family Hominidae should include all extant apes; and genus Homo should include three extant species and two subgenera, Homo (Homo) sapiens (humankind), Homo (Pan) troglodytes (common chimpanzee), and Homo (Pan) paniscus (bonobo chimpanzee).

Animals↗

Stable isotope characteristics across narrow savanna/woodland ecotones in Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater, Western Australia.

The stable isotopic composition (delta13C) of sediments from lakes are frequently analyzed to reconstruct the proportion of the regional vegetation that used either the C3 or C4 photosynthetic pathways, often without conducting a detailed survey of the current local vegetation. We performed a study on the modern vegetation composition within the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater to complement our future paleoecological investigation of the crater. A bull's-eye pattern exists where C4 grasses dominate an outer ring and salt tolerant species, including shrubs, herbs, chenopods, and halophytic algae, dominate the inner pan of the crater. The ecotone between the inner and outer zones is narrow and occupied by tall (>7 m) Acacia ampliceps, with some C4 grasses in the understory. Along with the highest water table and most saline soils the center of the crater has C3 plants present with the highest delta13C and delta15N values. The range of delta13C and delta15N values from the analysis of surface soil organic matter (OM) was much smaller compared with the range of values from plant materials implying that either: (1) the current plant OM has not yet been integrated into the soils, or (2) processes within the soil have acted to homogenize isotopic variability within the crater. The application of a two end member mixing model to calculate %C4 and %C3 biomass from the delta13C of surface soil OM was complicated by: (1) the crater containing both a dry habitat with C4 grasses and a central pan with C4 halophytic plants and, (2) the large variation in the delta13C of the plants and soil OM.

Biodiversity↗

Ginkgo biloba L.: history, current status, and future prospects.

In this paper, we describe the status of the exploration and use of the Ginkgo biloba leaves in China. We emphasize the need for careful studies of the intra-specific genetic diversity of Ginkgo biloba since genetic variation within this species may result in significant differences between the chemical and pharmacological properties of the different sub-species. It is therefore imperative that we catalog the intraspecific diversity of Ginkgo biloba L., and we stress that it is important to conserve this diversity since different subspecies may have different pharmacochemical properties resulting in differential medical usages.

Cycadopsida↗

L1 repeat elements in the human epsilon-G gamma-globin gene intergenic region: sequence analysis and concerted evolution within this family.

We have deduced the sequence of a composite long interspersed repeated DNA in primates and herein describe its relationship to a complex repeat element (L1Heg) located in the interval linking the human epsilon- and G gamma-globin genes. The main element of L1Heg is 3' truncated and interrupted by the insertion of the 3' end of a second L1 element. Transposition of L1Heg into this intergenic locus generated a 62-bp duplication of flanking sequences. In contrast, insertion of the second repeat may have been mediated by homology between donor and target sequences. The main repeat represents a novel class of abundant elements whose sequences have diverged from other rodent and primate LINES approximately 1.3 kb downstream from the 5' terminus of L1Heg. Comparison of L1Heg with the sequences of two other related L1 members revealed a complex set of rearrangements confined within a region that resembles the long terminal repeats of other types of retroposons. The boundaries of conversion-like events were defined on the basis of the clustering of nucleotide sequence variants common to two or more nonallelic 3' L1H elements. Several of these events are apparently initiated or resolved within a common 150-bp region that coincides with the 3' terminus of a pan-mammalian open reading frame. This analysis showed that concerted genetic interactions and random drift both contribute appreciably to sequence variation within this set of L1H members.

Animals↗

Sampling the soil in long-term forest plots: the implications of spatial variation.

Long-term monitoring of forest soils as part of a pan-European network to detect environmental change depends on an accurate determination of the mean of the soil properties at each monitoring event. Forest soil is known to be very variable spatially, however. A study was undertaken to explore and quantify this variability at three forest monitoring plots in Britain. Detailed soil sampling was carried out, and the data from the chemical analyses were analysed by classical statistics and geostatistics. An analysis of variance showed that there were no consistent effects from the sample sites in relation to the position of the trees. The variogram analysis showed that there was spatial dependence at each site for several variables and some varied in an apparently periodic way. An optimal sampling analysis based on the multivariate variogram for each site suggested that a bulked sample from 36 cores would reduce error to an acceptable level. Future sampling should be designed so that it neither targets nor avoids trees and disturbed ground. This can be achieved best by using a stratified random sampling design.

Carbon↗

Divergence of T2R chemosensory receptor families in humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees.

T2R (Tas2R) genes encode a family of G protein-coupled gustatory receptors, several involved in bitter taste perception. So far, few ligands for these receptors have been identified, and the specificity of most T2Rs is unclear. Differences between individual T2Rs result in altered taste perception in either specificity or sensitivity. All 33 human T2Rs are characterized by significant sequence homology. However, with a total of eight pseudogenes and >83 coding region single-nucleotide polymorphisms, the family displays broad diversity. The underlying variability of individual T2Rs might be the source for personalized taste perception. To test this hypothesis and also to identify T2Rs that possibly function beyond bitter taste, we compared all human T2R genes with those of the closely related primate species Pan paniscus (bonobo) and Pan troglodytes (chimpanzee). The differences identified range from large sequence alterations to nonsynonymous and synonymous changes of single base pairs. In contrast to olfactory receptors, no human-specific loss of the amount of functional genes was observed. Taken together, the results indicate ongoing evolutionary diversification of T2R receptors and a role for T2Rs in dietary adaptation and personalized food uptake.

Adenosine↗

The "Phoca standard": an external molecular reference for calibrating recent evolutionary divergences.

Comparison of the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the high-Arctic ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and the sub-Arctic harbour (P. vitulina) and grey (Halichoerus grypus) seals shows that they are genetically equidistant from one another. We relate the evolutionary divergence of the three species to expanding glaciation in the Arctic Basin and establish, in conjunction with mtDNA data, a standard reference for calibration of recent divergence events among mammalian taxa. In the present study, we apply the "Phoca standard" to the dating of divergences within the hominid phylogenetic tree. After determining the relative rates of substitution over all mitochondrial protein-coding genes in the different evolutionary lineages, we estimate that humans and chimpanzees diverged from each other 6.1 Mya (95% confidence limits: 5.2-6.9 Mya). The corresponding lower-limit divergence between common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, and pygmy chimpanzee, P. paniscus, occurred 3 (2.4-3.6) Mya, and the primary split within the P. troglodytes complex 1.6 (1.3-2.0) Mya. The analyses suggest that the split between Gorilla and Pan/Homo occurred 8.4 (7.3-9.4) Mya. They also suggest that Pongo (orangutan) and the lineage leading to gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans diverged 18.1 (16.5-19.6) Mya. The present analysis is independent of the hominid paleontological record and inferential morphological interpretations and thus is a novel approach to the lower-limit dating of recent divergences.

Animals↗

Hemocompatibility of polyacrylonitrile dialysis membrane immobilized with chitosan and heparin conjugate.

Chitosan (CS)/heparin (HEP) polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) was covalently immobilized onto the surface of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane. The effect of surface modification on the protein adsorption and platelet adhesion, metabolites permeation and anticoagulation activity of the resulting membrane was investigated. Surface characterization such as water contact angle, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope were performed. The immobilization of PEC caused the water contact angle to reduce, thereby indicating the increase in the hydrophilicity. Protein adsorption, platelet adhesion, and thrombus formation were all reduced by the immobilization of HEP. Anticoagulant activity was evaluated with activated partial thrombin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), fibrinogen time, and thrombin time (TT). The results revealed that PEC-immobilizing membrane can improve antithrombogenicity of PAN membrane. In addition, the PEC-immobilized membranes can suppress the proliferation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In vitro cytotoxicity test showed leachable substance released was below cytotoxic level. The pure water permeability results show little variation due to PEC-immobilization. Thus PEC-immobilization can endow the PAN membrane hemocompatibility and antibacterial activity while retaining the original permeability.

Adsorption↗

Genetic polymorphism of apolipoprotein A-IV in the chimpanzee: common deletion of a conserved 12-nucleotide tandem repeat.

Apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV protein; APOA4 gene) is structurally polymorphic in various mammalian species, including human, baboon, dog, horse, and mouse. To analyze the extent of genetic variation in the chimpanzee APOA4 gene, we screened 115 common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) (86 unrelated wild captured parents and 29 captive-born offspring) using isoelectric focusing followed by immunoblotting for protein polymorphism and using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for DNA polymorphism. At the protein level the unrelated sample of chimpanzees is highly variable, having four alleles, APOA4*1, APOA4*2, APOA4*3, and APOA4*4, with frequencies of 0.192, 0.430, 0.331, and 0.047, respectively. The chimpanzee APOA4 locus, with four common alleles and a gene diversity of 67%, is more variable than previously reported variations in baboons (five alleles with 52% gene diversity) and humans (two alleles with 15% gene diversity). PCR amplification of chimpanzee DNAs, using a pair of human oligonucleotide primers covering a region of 300 nucleotides in the third exon, revealed a common 12-nucleotide deletion (allele frequency = 0.192) that correlates exactly with the APOA4*1 allele detected by isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting. DNA sequencing of the 300-nucleotide PCR amplified product revealed the deletion of 12 nucleotides near the carboxyl terminal region of the mature apoA-IV protein. This in-frame deletion, which codes for and eliminates four amino acids [glutamic acid (GAG), glutamine (CAG), glutamine (CAG), and glutamine (CAG)], occurs in a region that is evolutionarily conserved among rats, mice, chimpanzees, and humans. The partial DNA sequencing of the 3' end of the chimpanzee APOA4 gene revealed 99% identity with the human APOA4 gene.

Alleles↗

Understanding the recent evolution of the human genome: insights from human-chimpanzee genome comparisons.

The sequencing of the chimpanzee genome and the comparison with its human counterpart have begun to reveal the spectrum of genetic changes that has accompanied human evolution. In addition to gross karyotypic rearrangements such as the fusion that formed human chromosome 2 and the human-specific pericentric inversions of chromosomes 1 and 18, there is considerable submicroscopic structural variation involving deletions, duplications, and inversions. Lineage-specific segmental duplications, detected by array comparative genomic hybridization and direct sequence comparison, have made a very significant contribution to this structural divergence, which is at least three-fold greater than that due to nucleotide substitutions. Since structural genomic changes may have given rise to irreversible functional differences between the diverging species, their detailed analysis could help to identify the biological processes that have accompanied speciation. To this end, interspecies comparisons have revealed numerous human-specific gains and losses of genes as well as changes in gene expression. The very considerable structural diversity (polymorphism) evident within both lineages has, however, hampered the analysis of the structural divergence between the human and chimpanzee genomes. The concomitant evaluation of genetic divergence and diversity at the nucleotide level has nevertheless served to identify many genes that have evolved under positive selection and may thus have been involved in the development of human lineage-specific traits. Genes that display signs of weak negative selection have also been identified and could represent candidate loci for complex genomic disorders. Here, we review recent progress in comparing the human and chimpanzee genomes and discuss how the differences detected have improved our understanding of the evolution of the human genome.

Animals↗