Evolutionary analysis of new genes in Drosophila through transcriptomes of Gametogenesis

• Grant number: 16/09378-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2017
• End date: November 11, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Dulcetti Vibranovski
• Grantee: Gabriel Nassar Reich Goldstein
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 15/20844-4 - The role of gametogenesis on the origin and evolution of new genes, AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/12585-7 - Evolutionary Analysis of New Genes in Drosophila through Transcriptomes of Gametogenesis, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

New genes are the ones that appear recently in the evolutionary history of a specific taxon, through several genetic mechanisms such as DNA duplication, retrotransposition and lateral gene transfer. Since many of these genes have other similar copies in the genome, pseudogenization is their most common fate as only one gene copyis usually necessary for an organism normal functioning. . However, recent studies have shown that these genes are involved with extremely important biological processes, like male gametogenesis, which means that some new genes were able to acquire functions that are different from those performed by their parental genes. Studies on new genes face several obstacles, like difficulty in identifying new genes, due to their similarity to parental genes, as their strict expression profile, often occurring only in testis. Due to these difficulties, annotation of new genes is done in model species, like D. melanogaster, that have well assembled genomes and several functional studies. Therefore, estimates of new genes rate of origin are limited to phylogenetic groups that contain these species. In order to better understand the evolutionary history of new genes, this project proposes to estimate their origin ratein the Drosophila genus, without the bias of the model species, annotating new genes through de novo assemblies of both testis and ovary transcriptomes of several species of the genus.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

GOLDSTEIN, Gabriel Nassar Reich. Identifying Drosophila new genes using machine learning. 2022. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.