Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome

The generation of large immune gene families is often driven by evolutionary pressure exerted on host genomes by their pathogens, which has been described as the immunological arms race. The SpTransformer (SpTrf) gene family from the California purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, is up...

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Autores principales: Megan A. Barela Hudgell, L. Courtney Smith
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Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:166c087668174330b40fb5afaa665d632021-11-15T06:17:23ZSequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome1664-322410.3389/fimmu.2021.744783https://doaj.org/article/166c087668174330b40fb5afaa665d632021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.744783/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/1664-3224The generation of large immune gene families is often driven by evolutionary pressure exerted on host genomes by their pathogens, which has been described as the immunological arms race. The SpTransformer (SpTrf) gene family from the California purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, is upregulated upon immune challenge and encodes the SpTrf proteins that interact with pathogens during an immune response. Native SpTrf proteins bind both bacteria and yeast, and augment phagocytosis of a marine Vibrio, while a recombinant SpTrf protein (rSpTrf-E1) binds a subset of pathogens and a range of pathogen associated molecular patterns. In the sequenced sea urchin genome, there are four SpTrf gene clusters for a total of 17 genes. Here, we report an in-depth analysis of these genes to understand the sequence complexities of this family, its genomic structure, and to derive a putative evolutionary history for the formation of the gene clusters. We report a detailed characterization of gene structure including the intron type and UTRs with conserved transcriptional start sites, the start codon and multiple stop codons, and locations of polyadenylation signals. Phylogenetic and percent mismatch analyses of the genes and the intergenic regions allowed us to predict the last common ancestral SpTrf gene and a theoretical evolutionary history of the gene family. The appearance of the gene clusters from the theoretical ancestral gene may have been driven by multiple duplication and deletion events of regions containing SpTrf genes. Duplications and ectopic insertion events, indels, and point mutations in the exons likely resulted in the extant genes and family structure. This theoretical evolutionary history is consistent with the involvement of these genes in the arms race in responses to pathogens and suggests that the diversification of these genes and their encoded proteins have been selected for based on the survival benefits of pathogen binding and host protection.Megan A. Barela HudgellL. Courtney SmithFrontiers Media S.A.articlesea urchininvertebrate immunityStrongylocentrotus purpuratusgene family evolutionlarge gene familiesImmunologic diseases. AllergyRC581-607ENFrontiers in Immunology, Vol 12 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic sea urchin
invertebrate immunity
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
gene family evolution
large gene families
Immunologic diseases. Allergy
RC581-607
spellingShingle sea urchin
invertebrate immunity
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
gene family evolution
large gene families
Immunologic diseases. Allergy
RC581-607
Megan A. Barela Hudgell
L. Courtney Smith
Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome
description The generation of large immune gene families is often driven by evolutionary pressure exerted on host genomes by their pathogens, which has been described as the immunological arms race. The SpTransformer (SpTrf) gene family from the California purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, is upregulated upon immune challenge and encodes the SpTrf proteins that interact with pathogens during an immune response. Native SpTrf proteins bind both bacteria and yeast, and augment phagocytosis of a marine Vibrio, while a recombinant SpTrf protein (rSpTrf-E1) binds a subset of pathogens and a range of pathogen associated molecular patterns. In the sequenced sea urchin genome, there are four SpTrf gene clusters for a total of 17 genes. Here, we report an in-depth analysis of these genes to understand the sequence complexities of this family, its genomic structure, and to derive a putative evolutionary history for the formation of the gene clusters. We report a detailed characterization of gene structure including the intron type and UTRs with conserved transcriptional start sites, the start codon and multiple stop codons, and locations of polyadenylation signals. Phylogenetic and percent mismatch analyses of the genes and the intergenic regions allowed us to predict the last common ancestral SpTrf gene and a theoretical evolutionary history of the gene family. The appearance of the gene clusters from the theoretical ancestral gene may have been driven by multiple duplication and deletion events of regions containing SpTrf genes. Duplications and ectopic insertion events, indels, and point mutations in the exons likely resulted in the extant genes and family structure. This theoretical evolutionary history is consistent with the involvement of these genes in the arms race in responses to pathogens and suggests that the diversification of these genes and their encoded proteins have been selected for based on the survival benefits of pathogen binding and host protection.
format article
author Megan A. Barela Hudgell
L. Courtney Smith
author_facet Megan A. Barela Hudgell
L. Courtney Smith
author_sort Megan A. Barela Hudgell
title Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome
title_short Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome
title_full Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome
title_fullStr Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome
title_full_unstemmed Sequence Diversity, Locus Structure, and Evolutionary History of the SpTransformer Genes in the Sea Urchin Genome
title_sort sequence diversity, locus structure, and evolutionary history of the sptransformer genes in the sea urchin genome
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/166c087668174330b40fb5afaa665d63
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AT lcourtneysmith sequencediversitylocusstructureandevolutionaryhistoryofthesptransformergenesintheseaurchingenome
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