Programmed DNA elimination of germline development genes in songbirds

Abstract

In some eukaryotes, germline and somatic genomes differ dramatically in their composition. Here we characterise a major germline–soma dissimilarity caused by a germline-restricted chromosome (GRC) in songbirds. We show that the zebra finch GRC contains >115 genes paralogous to single-copy genes on 18 autosomes and the Z chromosome, and is enriched in genes involved in female gonad development. Many genes are likely functional, evidenced by expression in testes and ovaries at the RNA and protein level. Using comparative genomics, we show that genes have been added to the GRC over millions of years of evolution, with embryonic development genes bicc1 and trim71 dating to the ancestor of songbirds and dozens of other genes added very recently. The somatic elimination of this evolutionarily dynamic chromosome in songbirds implies a unique mechanism to minimise genetic conflict between germline and soma, relevant to antagonistic pleiotropy, an evolutionary process underlying ageing and sexual traits.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:

Kinsella, C.M.
Ruiz-Ruano, F.J.
Dion-Côté, A.-M.
Charles, A.J.
Gossmann, T.I.
Cabrero, J.
Kappei, D.
Hemmings, N. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2418-3625
Simons, M.J.P. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7406-7708
Camacho, J.P.M.
Forstmeier, W.
Suh, A.

© The Author(s) 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Dates:

Accepted: 8 November 2019
Published (online): 29 November 2019
Published: 29 November 2019

Institution:

The University of Sheffield

Academic Units:

The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (Sheffield)

Funding Information:

Funder	Grant number
WELLCOME TRUST (THE)	107400/Z/15/Z
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL	NE/N013832/1
WELLCOME TRUST (THE)	216405/Z/19/Z
ROYAL SOCIETY	DH160200

Depositing User:

Symplectic Sheffield

Date Deposited:

19 Dec 2019 12:06

Last Modified:

20 Dec 2019 02:40

Status:

Published

Publisher:

Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)

Refereed:

Yes

Identification Number:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13427-4

Related URLs:

PubMed URL

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Programmed DNA elimination of germline development genes in songbirds

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