Gene family innovation, conservation and loss on the animal stem lineage
Abstract
Choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals, can provide unique insights into the changes in gene content that preceded the origin of animals. However, only two choanoflagellate genomes are currently available, providing poor coverage of their diversity. We sequenced transcriptomes of 19 additional choanoflagellate species to produce a comprehensive reconstruction of the gains and losses that shaped the ancestral animal gene repertoire. We identified ~1944 gene families that originated on the animal stem lineage, of which only 39 are conserved across all animals in our study. In addition, ~372 gene families previously thought to be animal-specific, including Notch, Delta, and homologs of the animal Toll-like receptor genes, instead evolved prior to the animal-choanoflagellate divergence. Our findings contribute to an increasingly detailed portrait of the gene families that defined the biology of the Urmetazoan and that may underpin core features of extant animals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 31, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.7554/elife.34226
Entities
People
- Daniel J Richter
- Michael B. Eisen
- Nicole King
- Parinaz Fozouni
Organizations
- Gladstone Institutes
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- National Science Foundation
- Regional Council of Brittany
- Sorbonne Universités
- United States Department of Defense
- University of California