PUBLICATION

Expansion of the Ago gene family in the teleost clade

Authors
McFarlane, L., Svingen, T., Braasch, I., Koopman, P., Schartl, M., and Wilhelm, D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-110523-28
Date
2011
Source
Development genes and evolution   221(2): 95-204 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Braasch, Ingo, Schartl, Manfred
Keywords
argonaute, AGO, fish, non-coding RNA
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2/classification*
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2/genetics*
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Fishes/genetics*
  • Gene Duplication
  • Genome
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Multigene Family
  • Oryzias/genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • RNA, Small Untranslated/genetics
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Takifugu/genetics
  • Tetraodontiformes/genetics
  • Zebrafish/genetics
PubMed
21556854 Full text @ Dev. Genes Evol.
Abstract
AGO proteins are universal effectors of eukaryotic small RNA-directed regulatory pathways. In this study, we used a comparative genomics approach to explore the AGO sub-family in the teleost clade. We identified five Ago homologues in teleost genomes, one more than encoded in other vertebrate clades. The additional teleost homologue was preserved most likely due to the differential retention of regulatory elements following the fish-specific genome duplication event that occurred approximately 350 million years ago. Analysis of all five Ago genomic loci in teleosts revealed that orthologues contain specific, conserved sequence elements in non-coding regions indicating that the teleost Ago paralogues are differentially regulated. This was supported by qRT-PCR analysis that showed differential expression of the zebrafish homologues across development and between adult tissues indicating stage and tissue-specific function of individual AGO proteins. Multiple sequence alignments showed not only that all teleost homologues possess critical residues for AGO function, but also that teleost homologues contain multiple orthologue-specific features, indicative of structural diversification. Notably, these are retained throughout the vertebrate lineage arguing these may be important for orthologue-specific functions.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping