[1st ed.] 387 s., obr.
1st ed. xii, 346 s.
- Conspectus
- Obecná genetika. Obecná cytogenetika. Evoluce
- NML Fields
- biologie
- genetika, lékařská genetika
Encephalization has many contexts and implications. On one hand, it is concerned with the transformation of eating habits, social relationships and communication, cognitive skills and the mind. Along with the increase in brain size on the other hand, encephalization is connected with the creation of more complex brain structures, namely in the cerebral cortex. It is imperative to inquire into the mechanisms which are linked with brain growth and to find out which of these mechanisms allow it and determine it. There exist a number of theories for understanding human brain evolution which originate from neurological sciences. These theories are the concept of radial units, minicolumns, mirror neurons, and neurocognitive networks. Over the course of evolution, it is evident that a whole range of changes have taken place in regards to heredity. These changes include new mutations of genes in the microcephalin complex, gene duplications, gene co-expression, and genomic imprinting. This complex study of the growth and reorganization of the brain and the functioning of hereditary factors and their external influences creates an opportunity to consider the implications of cultural evolution and cognitive faculties.
- MeSH
- Biological Evolution MeSH
- Cell Differentiation MeSH
- Gene Duplication MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Brain anatomy & histology MeSH
- Gene Expression Regulation MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Review MeSH
2nd ed. xiv, 481 s.
- MeSH
- Evolution, Molecular MeSH
- Conspectus
- Biochemie. Molekulární biologie. Biofyzika
- NML Fields
- biologie
Telomeres, which form the protective ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, are a ubiquitous and conserved structure of eukaryotic genomes but the basic structural unit of most telomeres, a repeated minisatellite motif with the general consensus sequence T(n)A(m)G(o), may vary between eukaryotic groups. Previous studies on several species of green algae revealed that this group exhibits at least two types of telomeric sequences, a presumably ancestral type shared with land plants (Arabidopsis type, TTTAGGG) and conserved in, for example, Ostreococcus and Chlorella species, and a novel type (Chlamydomonas type, TTTTAGGG) identified in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We have employed several methodical approaches to survey the diversity of telomeric sequences in a phylogenetically wide array of green algal species, focusing on the order Chlamydomonadales. Our results support the view that the Arabidopsis-type telomeric sequence is ancestral for green algae and has been conserved in most lineages, including Mamiellophyceae, Chlorodendrophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Sphaeropleales, and most Chlamydomonadales. However, within the Chlamydomonadales, at least two independent evolutionary changes to the Chlamydomonas type occurred, specifically in a subgroup of the Reinhardtinia clade (including C. reinhardtii and Volvox carteri) and in the Chloromonadinia clade. Furthermore, a complex structure of telomeric repeats, including a mix of the ancestral Arabidopsis-type motifs and derived motifs identical to the human-type telomeric repeats (TTAGGG), was found in the chlamydomonadalean clades Dunaliellinia and Stephanosphaeria. Our results indicate that telomere evolution in green algae, particularly in the order Chlamydomonadales, is far more dynamic and complex than thought before. General implications of our findings for the mode of telomere evolution are discussed.
- MeSH
- Chlorophyta genetics MeSH
- Evolution, Molecular MeSH
- Telomere genetics MeSH
- Volvocida genetics MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
This paper examines telomeres from an evolutionary perspective. In the monocot plant order Asparagales two evolutionary switch-points in telomere sequence are known. The first occurred when the Arabidopsis-type telomere was replaced by a telomere based on a repeat motif more typical of vertebrates. The replacement is associated with telomerase activity, but the telomerase has low fidelity and this may have implications for the binding of telomeric proteins. At the second evolutionary switch-point, the telomere and its mode of synthesis are replaced by an unknown mechanism. Elsewhere in plants (Sessia, Vestia, Cestrum) and in arthropods, the telomere "typical" of the group is lost. Probably many other groups with "unusual" telomeres will be found. We question whether telomerase is indeed the original end-maintenance system and point to other candidate processes involving t-loops, t-circles, rolling circle replication and recombination. Possible evolutionary outcomes arising from the loss of telomerase activity in alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT) systems are discussed. We propose that elongation of minisatellite repeats using recombination/replication processes initially substitutes for the loss of telomerase function. Then in more established ALT groups, subtelomeric satellite repeats may replace the telomeric minisatellite repeat whilst maintaining the recombination/replication mechanisms for telomere elongation. Thereafter a retrotransposition-based end-maintenance system may become established. The influence of changing sequence motifs on the properties of the telomere cap is discussed. The DNA and protein components of telomeres should be regarded--as with any other chromosome elements--as evolving and co-evolving over time and responding to changes in the genome and to environmental stresses. We describe how telomere dysfunction, resulting in end-to-end chromosome fusions, can have a profound effect on chromosome evolution and perhaps even speciation.
Speciation mechanisms remain controversial. Two speciation models occur in Israeli subterranean mole rats, genus Spalax: a regional speciation cline southward of four peripatric climatic chromosomal species and a local, geologic-edaphic, genic, and sympatric speciation. Here we highlight their genome evolution. The five species were separated into five genetic clusters by single nucleotide polymorphisms, copy number variations (CNVs), repeatome, and methylome in sympatry. The regional interspecific divergence correspond to Pleistocene climatic cycles. Climate warmings caused chromosomal speciation. Triple effective population size, Ne , declines match glacial cold cycles. Adaptive genes evolved under positive selection to underground stresses and to divergent climates, involving interspecies reproductive isolation. Genomic islands evolved mainly due to adaptive evolution involving ancient polymorphisms. Repeatome, including both CNV and LINE1 repetitive elements, separated the five species. Methylation in sympatry identified geologically chalk-basalt species that differentially affect thermoregulation, hypoxia, DNA repair, P53, and other pathways. Genome adaptive evolution highlights climatic and geologic-edaphic stress evolution and the two speciation models, peripatric and sympatric.
- MeSH
- Adaptation, Biological MeSH
- Biological Evolution * MeSH
- Epigenesis, Genetic MeSH
- Genetic Variation MeSH
- Genome MeSH
- Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide MeSH
- Evolution, Molecular MeSH
- Genetics, Population MeSH
- Reproductive Isolation MeSH
- Spalax genetics physiology MeSH
- Sympatry * MeSH
- Gene Flow MeSH
- DNA Copy Number Variations MeSH
- Linkage Disequilibrium MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Male MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Israel MeSH
Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology
1st ed. x, 226 s.
Equidae is a small family which comprises horses, African and Asiatic asses, and zebras. Despite equids having diverged quite recently, their karyotypes underwent rapid evolution which resulted in extensive differences among chromosome complements in respective species. Comparative mapping using whole-chromosome painting probes delineated genome-wide chromosome homologies among extant equids, enabling us to trace chromosome rearrangements that occurred during evolution. In the present study, we performed subchromosomal comparative mapping among seven Equidae species, representing the whole family. Region-specific painting and bacterial artificial chromosome probes were used to determine the orientation of evolutionarily conserved segments with respect to centromere positions. This allowed assessment of the configuration of all fusions occurring during the evolution of Equidae, as well as revealing discrepancies in centromere location caused by centromere repositioning or inversions. Our results indicate that the prevailing type of fusion in Equidae is centric fusion. Tandem fusions of the type telomere-telomere occur almost exclusively in the karyotype of Hartmann's zebra and are characteristic of this species' evolution. We revealed inversions in segments homologous to horse chromosomes 3p/10p and 13 in zebras and confirmed inversions in segments 4/31 in African ass, 7 in horse and 8p/20 in zebras. Furthermore, our mapping results suggested that centromere repositioning events occurred in segments homologous to horse chromosomes 7, 8q, 10p and 19 in the African ass and an element homologous to horse chromosome 16 in Asiatic asses. Centromere repositioning in chromosome 1 resulted in three different chromosome types occurring in extant species. Heterozygosity of the centromere position of this chromosome was observed in the kiang. Other subtle changes in centromere position were described in several evolutionary conserved chromosomal segments, suggesting that tiny centromere repositioning or pericentric inversions are quite frequent in zebras and asses.
- MeSH
- Centromere genetics metabolism MeSH
- Chromosome Inversion MeSH
- Species Specificity MeSH
- Equidae classification genetics MeSH
- Gene Rearrangement MeSH
- In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence MeSH
- Karyotype * MeSH
- Chromosome Painting methods MeSH
- Chromosome Mapping MeSH
- Evolution, Molecular * MeSH
- Telomere genetics MeSH
- Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
