Evolutionary Analysis of New Genes in Drosophila through Transcriptomes of Gametogenesis

• Grant number: 18/12585-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: February 25, 2019
• End date: February 05, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Maria Dulcetti Vibranovski
• Grantee: Gabriel Nassar Reich Goldstein
• Supervisor: Yong Edward Zhang
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/09378-4 - Evolutionary analysis of new genes in Drosophila through transcriptomes of Gametogenesis, BP.DR

Abstract

The genes that have recently appeared in the evolutionary history of a taxon, through various genetic mechanisms, such as DNA-level duplication, RNA-level duplication (retroposition) and lateral transfer, are called new genes. Sincemost of them emerge by duplication, their most common fate is pseudogeneization, asthe presence of one copy is usually sufficient for itsnormal function. However, recent studies have shown that these genes are involved in important biological processes (e.g., male gametogenesis). New genes are difficultto identify due to their similarity to parental genes. Thus, new genes aremostly studiedusing model species such as D. melanogaster, which has well-assembled genomes and thus applicable for synteny-based dating practice. This project proposes a method of annotating new genes that is independent of genomes, using the fact that new genes are preferentially expressed in the testis, while ancient genes are broadlyexpressed (e.g., ovaries). Thus, when comparing transcriptomes of ovary and testis of several species of Drosophila, new genes will only be present in testis of one species, while ancient genes will be present in both tissues of various species. With this objective, we sequenced the gametogenesis transcriptomes of 7 species of the genus Drosophila and a species of the genus Scaptodrosophila, which will be assembled in the laboratory and analyzed in partnership with Professor Dr. Yong E. Zhang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China).