- Email: [email protected]
How do retinal thyroid hormone transporters influence mammalian color vision?
Abstracts / Mammalian Biology 81S (2016) 3–18
Evolution of ‘Natterer’s bats’ inferred by sequencing mitochondrial and nuclear DNA Elisabeth Hempel 1,∗ , Emrah Coraman 2 , Christian Dietz 3 , Frieder Mayer 1 1
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany Institute of Environmental Sciences, Bo˘gazic¸i University, Turkey 3 Biologische Gutachten Dietz, Haigerloch, Germany E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Hempel), [email protected] (F. Mayer). 2
Natterer’s bats Myotis nattereri have a wide distribution range, which extends from Northern Africa throughout Europe to the Caucasus Region. Sequencing of fragments of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) by several research groups revealed several lineages that are quite divergent and in the range of interspecific differences. So far the genetic diversity is much better explored in Western Europe than in the Eastern Europe. Therefore, in our study we focus on the genetic diversity in the east with a special focus on the Caucasus. We limited our study not only to mtDNA but also sequenced several introns of the nuclear genome (nucDNA). Our analyses so far support highly divergent lineages in the nuclear genome in addition to those in the mitochondrial genome. Interestingly, divergence in mtDNA does not always match divergence of nucDNA. This indicates introgression of mtDNA in the evolutionary history of populations of Natterer’s bats. In the Caucasus region, the diversity is quite large for the given geographic size of this region. This can be explained by its geographic location and its topography. To which degree the divergent lineages may represent distinct biological species is difficult to answer since contact zones have to be localized or may not exist. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.025 How do retinal thyroid hormone transporters influence mammalian color vision? Yoshiyuki Henning 1,∗ , Karel Szafranski 2 1
Department of General Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany 2 Genome Analysis, Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Henning). Mammalian cones express light-sensitive proteins, i.e. short (S) and long (L) wavelength sensitive opsins, enabling color vision. Spatial distribution of cones is highly variable across taxa, which is often explained by adaptations to different lifestyles. But even so, many peculiarities of mammalian cone patterning are still highly speculative from the adaptive point of view. Currently, thyroid hormones (TH), in particular triiodothyronine (T3) and its precursor thyroxine (T4), gain broader attention as crucial factors for activation and maintenance of L-opsin expression. In order to characterize retinal TH supply as a possible regulator of the opposite dorsoventral S- and L-opsin gradient typical for many rodent species, we studied the availability of a T3specific and a T4-specific TH transporter (Mct8 and Oatp1c1, respectively) via Real-Time Reverse-Transcriptase PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot in mouse eyes (C57BL/6) of five different age groups (14-days-old, 21-days-old, 28-days-old, 6-months-old, 24-months-old). Unfortunately, no differences in transporter availability between the dorsal and ventral retina was found, suggesting that the dorsoventral opsin gradient is regulated by downstream processes. However, we found an age-dependent
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availability of both transporters, with Mct8 decreasing rapidly during the first postnatal weeks, and Oatp1c1 increasing in adult animals. These findings suggest different regulatory mechanisms of retinal TH supply during early postnatal cone maturation and adult maintenance of color vision. Deeper understanding of these mechanisms may promote studies addressing the functional background of species-specific cone distribution, because it enables targeted manipulation of pattern formation to examine unresolved functional issues regarding several peculiarities of mammalian color vision. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.026 Discovering the genomic basis of morphological and physiological differences between mammalian species with Forward Genomics Michael Hiller 1,2,∗ , Hermann Ansorge 3 , Triantafyllos Chavakis 4 , Jörns Fickel 5 , Peter Giere 6 , Peter Grobe 7 , Jochen Hampe 8 , Thomas Lehmann 3 , Sylvia Ortmann 5 , Irina Ruf 3 , Clara Stefen 3 , Elly Tanaka 4 , Lars Vogt 9 , Heiko Stuckas 3 1
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany 2 Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany 3 Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Görlitz, Frankfurt and Dresden, Germany 4 CRTD, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany 5 Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung, Berlin, Germany 6 Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin 7 Zoologische Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany 8 Universitätsklinikum Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany 9 University of Bonn, Germany Evolution has led to a striking diversity of phenotypes between species. Many phenotypic differences between species are due to differences in their DNA. Today more than 100 mammals have sequenced genomes and many more will be sequenced in the future. The growing number of sequenced genomes provides an unprecedented opportunity to address a key question in genetics and evolutionary biology: Which genomic changes underlie particular phenotypic changes between mammals? To address this question, we have previously developed a computational framework called Forward Genomics that associates phenotypic to genomic differences by focusing on phenotypes that have been independently lost in evolution. Forward Genomics relies on reconstructing ancestral sequences to measure divergence of all functional genomic regions in all species and then searches for statistical associations between genomic and phenotypic changes. While sequenced genomes were the main limitation in the past, comprehensive knowledge of mapped homologous phenotypic traits of the sequenced mammals is becoming the main limitation in the genomics era, which prevents applying Forward Genomics to numerous phenotypic differences. To address the pressing need to have computer-accessible trait knowledge of sequenced mammals, we have formed an interdisciplinary consortium that brings together the following research fields: (i) zoologists from several research institutes to systematically collect skeletal and visceral traits of sequenced mammals using museum collections, literature and phenotyping, (ii) computer scientists to document this data in an ontology-based database, (iii) evolutionary genomicists to associate phenotypic differences between mammals with differences
Evolution of ‘Natterer’s bats’ inferred by sequencing mitochondrial and nuclear DNA Elisabeth Hempel 1,∗ , Emrah Coraman 2 , Christian Dietz 3 , Frieder Mayer 1 1
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany Institute of Environmental Sciences, Bo˘gazic¸i University, Turkey 3 Biologische Gutachten Dietz, Haigerloch, Germany E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Hempel), [email protected] (F. Mayer). 2
Natterer’s bats Myotis nattereri have a wide distribution range, which extends from Northern Africa throughout Europe to the Caucasus Region. Sequencing of fragments of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) by several research groups revealed several lineages that are quite divergent and in the range of interspecific differences. So far the genetic diversity is much better explored in Western Europe than in the Eastern Europe. Therefore, in our study we focus on the genetic diversity in the east with a special focus on the Caucasus. We limited our study not only to mtDNA but also sequenced several introns of the nuclear genome (nucDNA). Our analyses so far support highly divergent lineages in the nuclear genome in addition to those in the mitochondrial genome. Interestingly, divergence in mtDNA does not always match divergence of nucDNA. This indicates introgression of mtDNA in the evolutionary history of populations of Natterer’s bats. In the Caucasus region, the diversity is quite large for the given geographic size of this region. This can be explained by its geographic location and its topography. To which degree the divergent lineages may represent distinct biological species is difficult to answer since contact zones have to be localized or may not exist. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.025 How do retinal thyroid hormone transporters influence mammalian color vision? Yoshiyuki Henning 1,∗ , Karel Szafranski 2 1
Department of General Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany 2 Genome Analysis, Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute, Jena, Germany E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Henning). Mammalian cones express light-sensitive proteins, i.e. short (S) and long (L) wavelength sensitive opsins, enabling color vision. Spatial distribution of cones is highly variable across taxa, which is often explained by adaptations to different lifestyles. But even so, many peculiarities of mammalian cone patterning are still highly speculative from the adaptive point of view. Currently, thyroid hormones (TH), in particular triiodothyronine (T3) and its precursor thyroxine (T4), gain broader attention as crucial factors for activation and maintenance of L-opsin expression. In order to characterize retinal TH supply as a possible regulator of the opposite dorsoventral S- and L-opsin gradient typical for many rodent species, we studied the availability of a T3specific and a T4-specific TH transporter (Mct8 and Oatp1c1, respectively) via Real-Time Reverse-Transcriptase PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot in mouse eyes (C57BL/6) of five different age groups (14-days-old, 21-days-old, 28-days-old, 6-months-old, 24-months-old). Unfortunately, no differences in transporter availability between the dorsal and ventral retina was found, suggesting that the dorsoventral opsin gradient is regulated by downstream processes. However, we found an age-dependent
9
availability of both transporters, with Mct8 decreasing rapidly during the first postnatal weeks, and Oatp1c1 increasing in adult animals. These findings suggest different regulatory mechanisms of retinal TH supply during early postnatal cone maturation and adult maintenance of color vision. Deeper understanding of these mechanisms may promote studies addressing the functional background of species-specific cone distribution, because it enables targeted manipulation of pattern formation to examine unresolved functional issues regarding several peculiarities of mammalian color vision. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.026 Discovering the genomic basis of morphological and physiological differences between mammalian species with Forward Genomics Michael Hiller 1,2,∗ , Hermann Ansorge 3 , Triantafyllos Chavakis 4 , Jörns Fickel 5 , Peter Giere 6 , Peter Grobe 7 , Jochen Hampe 8 , Thomas Lehmann 3 , Sylvia Ortmann 5 , Irina Ruf 3 , Clara Stefen 3 , Elly Tanaka 4 , Lars Vogt 9 , Heiko Stuckas 3 1
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany 2 Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany 3 Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Görlitz, Frankfurt and Dresden, Germany 4 CRTD, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany 5 Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung, Berlin, Germany 6 Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin 7 Zoologische Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany 8 Universitätsklinikum Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany 9 University of Bonn, Germany Evolution has led to a striking diversity of phenotypes between species. Many phenotypic differences between species are due to differences in their DNA. Today more than 100 mammals have sequenced genomes and many more will be sequenced in the future. The growing number of sequenced genomes provides an unprecedented opportunity to address a key question in genetics and evolutionary biology: Which genomic changes underlie particular phenotypic changes between mammals? To address this question, we have previously developed a computational framework called Forward Genomics that associates phenotypic to genomic differences by focusing on phenotypes that have been independently lost in evolution. Forward Genomics relies on reconstructing ancestral sequences to measure divergence of all functional genomic regions in all species and then searches for statistical associations between genomic and phenotypic changes. While sequenced genomes were the main limitation in the past, comprehensive knowledge of mapped homologous phenotypic traits of the sequenced mammals is becoming the main limitation in the genomics era, which prevents applying Forward Genomics to numerous phenotypic differences. To address the pressing need to have computer-accessible trait knowledge of sequenced mammals, we have formed an interdisciplinary consortium that brings together the following research fields: (i) zoologists from several research institutes to systematically collect skeletal and visceral traits of sequenced mammals using museum collections, literature and phenotyping, (ii) computer scientists to document this data in an ontology-based database, (iii) evolutionary genomicists to associate phenotypic differences between mammals with differences