Meeting Abstract

P1.78  Monday, Jan. 4  Using comparative and functional genomics to infer past lineage-specific processes among vertebrates GRASSA, CHRISTOPHER*; HSIEH, TONIA; KULATHINAL, ROB; UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA; UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY; UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY ROBKULATHINAL@UFL.EDU

The extensive diversity found among vertebrate reproduction is the product of species-specific selective processes. Exploring the evolutionary landscape across different functional gene classes, particularly those involved in reproduction, will inform us about a species’ unique selective history. In this study, we employ a functional and comparative genomics approach on egg-laying and live-bearing vertebrate taxa in order to understand which genes and genetic systems have evolved in a non-neutral, lineage-specific manner. Using recently sequenced genomes, we compare the evolution of orthologs from such taxa as Danio rerio (zebrafish), Anolis carolinensis (lizard), Gallus gallus (chicken), Xenopus tropicalis (frog), and Mus musculus (mouse). We aligned a set of ~5000 orthologous genes and annotated them according to function via gene ontologies and by associating ESTs (expressed sequence tags) from a variety of tissues including reproductive and non-reproductive tissue. Phylogenetic tests of selection across lineages and sites were applied to orthologs in an effort to understand each lineage’s selective history. This functional and comparative genomics approach provides information about an organism’s biology by identifying targets of directional and purifying selection. In addition, the relative strength of selection can be quantified among sexual and non-sexual loci in taxonomic groups with different reproductive strategies such as mating, fertilization, and parental care.