Identification and comparative analysis of components from the signal recognition particle in protozoa and fungi

BACKGROUND: The signal recognition particle (SRP) is a ribonucleoprotein complex responsible for targeting proteins to the ER membrane. The SRP of metazoans is well characterized and composed of an RNA molecule and six polypeptides. The particle is organized into the S and Alu domains. The Alu domain has a translational arrest function and consists of the SRP9 and SRP14 proteins bound to the terminal regions of the SRP RNA. So far, our understanding of the SRP and its evolution in lower eukaryotes such as protozoa and yeasts has been limited. However, genome sequences of such organisms have recently become available, and we have now analyzed this information with respect to genes encoding SRP components. RESULTS: A number of SRP RNA and SRP protein genes were identified by an analysis of genomes of protozoa and fungi. The sequences and secondary structures of the Alu portion of the RNA were found to be highly variable. Furthermore, proteins SRP9/14 appeared to be absent in certain species. Comparative analysis of the SRP RNAs from different Saccharomyces species resulted in models which contain features shared between all SRP RNAs, but also a new secondary structure element in SRP RNA helix 5. Protein SRP21, previously thought to be present only in Saccharomyces, was shown to be a constituent of additional fungal genomes. Furthermore, SRP21 was found to be related to metazoan and plant SRP9, suggesting that the two proteins are functionally related. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of a number of not previously annotated SRP components show that the SRP Alu domain is subject to a more rapid evolution than the other parts of the molecule. For instance, the RNA portion is highly variable and the protein SRP9 seems to have evolved into the SRP21 protein in fungi. In addition, we identified a secondary structure element in the Sacccharomyces RNA that has been inserted close to the Alu region. Together, these results provide important clues as to the structure, function and evolution of SRP

Using Pre-existing Microarray Datasets to Increase Experimental Power: Application to Insulin Resistance

Although they have become a widely used experimental technique for identifying differentially expressed (DE) genes, DNA microarrays are notorious for generating noisy data. A common strategy for mitigating the effects of noise is to perform many experimental replicates. This approach is often costly and sometimes impossible given limited resources; thus, analytical methods are needed which increase accuracy at no additional cost. One inexpensive source of microarray replicates comes from prior work: to date, data from hundreds of thousands of microarray experiments are in the public domain. Although these data assay a wide range of conditions, they cannot be used directly to inform any particular experiment and are thus ignored by most DE gene methods. We present the SVD Augmented Gene expression Analysis Tool (SAGAT), a mathematically principled, data-driven approach for identifying DE genes. SAGAT increases the power of a microarray experiment by using observed coexpression relationships from publicly available microarray datasets to reduce uncertainty in individual genes' expression measurements. We tested the method on three well-replicated human microarray datasets and demonstrate that use of SAGAT increased effective sample sizes by as many as 2.72 arrays. We applied SAGAT to unpublished data from a microarray study investigating transcriptional responses to insulin resistance, resulting in a 50% increase in the number of significant genes detected. We evaluated 11 (58%) of these genes experimentally using qPCR, confirming the directions of expression change for all 11 and statistical significance for three. Use of SAGAT revealed coherent biological changes in three pathways: inflammation, differentiation, and fatty acid synthesis, furthering our molecular understanding of a type 2 diabetes risk factor. We envision SAGAT as a means to maximize the potential for biological discovery from subtle transcriptional responses, and we provide it as a freely available software package that is immediately applicable to any human microarray study

Persistent Place-Making in Prehistory: the Creation, Maintenance, and Transformation of an Epipalaeolithic Landscape

Most archaeological projects today integrate, at least to some degree, how past people engaged with their surroundings, including both how they strategized resource use, organized technological production, or scheduled movements within a physical environment, as well as how they constructed cosmologies around or created symbolic connections to places in the landscape. However, there are a multitude of ways in which archaeologists approach the creation, maintenance, and transformation of human-landscape interrelationships. This paper explores some of these approaches for reconstructing the Epipalaeolithic (ca. 23,000–11,500 years BP) landscape of Southwest Asia, using macro- and microscale geoarchaeological approaches to examine how everyday practices leave traces of human-landscape interactions in northern and eastern Jordan. The case studies presented here demonstrate that these Epipalaeolithic groups engaged in complex and far-reaching social landscapes. Examination of the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic (EP) highlights that the notion of “Neolithization” is somewhat misleading as many of the features we use to define this transition were already well-established patterns of behavior by the Neolithic. Instead, these features and practices were enacted within a hunter-gatherer world and worldview

Contrasting and congruent patterns of genetic structuring in two Microtus vole species using museum specimens

The common vole (Microtus arvalis) and the field vole (Microtus agrestis) are morphologically similar species but are ecological distinctive and differ in the details of their evolutionary history as revealed by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The aim of this study is to describe patterns of genetic variability using microsatellite markers in populations of the common and field vole in Poland using museum specimens, to assess the degree of congruence with mtDNA variation and thereby determine the factors that influence current patterns of gene flow. We genotyped 190 individuals of the common vole at 11 loci and 190 individuals of the field vole at 13 loci. Overall differentiation based on F ST was higher for the common vole than in the field vole. We detected a significant isolation by distance pattern for both species. Bayesian analysis in STRUCTURE identified Eastern and Western geographic groups in Poland based on microsatellites for both species. The location of river barriers is likely to be the main factor in these partitions. The eastern-western subdivision with microsatellites does not coincide with the distribution of mtDNA lineages for either species. Unlike previous studies in the common and field vole elsewhere in Europe, we found no evidence of reproductive isolation between the mtDNA lineages of these species at their contact zones in Poland. This study highlights the different roles of evolutionary history and landscape in shaping contemporary genetic structure in voles in Poland