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Reconstructing Austronesian population history in Island Southeast Asia

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Reconstructing Austronesian population history in Island Southeast Asia
Mark Lipson, Po-Ru Loh, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani, Ying-Chin Ko, Mark Stoneking, Bonnie Berger, David Reich

Austronesian languages are spread across half the globe, from Easter Island to Madagascar. Evidence from linguistics and archaeology indicates that the “Austronesian expansion,” which began 4-5 thousand years ago, likely had roots in Taiwan, but the ancestry of present-day Austronesian-speaking populations remains controversial. Here, focusing primarily on Island Southeast Asia, we analyze genome-wide data from 56 populations using new methods for tracing ancestral gene flow. We show that all sampled Austronesian groups harbor ancestry that is more closely related to aboriginal Taiwanese than to any present-day mainland population. Surprisingly, western Island Southeast Asian populations have also inherited ancestry from a source nested within the variation of present-day populations speaking Austro-Asiatic languages, which have historically been nearly exclusive to the mainland. Thus, either there was once a substantial Austro-Asiatic presence in Island Southeast Asia, or Austronesian speakers migrated to and through the mainland, admixing there before continuing to western Indonesia.

Human genomic regions with exceptionally high or low levels of population differentiation identified from 911 whole-genome sequences

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Human genomic regions with exceptionally high or low levels of population differentiation identified from 911 whole-genome sequences
Vincenza Colonna, Qasim Ayub, Yuan Chen, Luca Pagani, Pierre Luisi, Marc Pybus, Erik Garrison, Yali Xue, Chris Tyler-Smith

Background: Population differentiation has proved to be effective for identifying loci under geographically-localized positive selection, and has the potential to identify loci subject to balancing selection. We have previously investigated the pattern of genetic differentiation among human populations at 36.8 million genomic variants to identify sites in the genome showing high frequency differences. Here, we extend this dataset to include additional variants, survey sites with low levels of differentiation, and evaluate the extent to which highly differentiated sites are likely to result from selective or other processes. Results: We demonstrate that while sites of low differentiation represent sampling effects rather than balancing selection, sites showing extremely high population differentiation are enriched for positive selection events and that one half may be the result of classic selective sweeps. Among these, we rediscover known examples, where we actually identify the established functional SNP, and discover novel examples including the genes ABCA12, CALD1 and ZNF804, which we speculate may be linked to adaptations in skin, calcium metabolism and defense, respectively. Conclusions: We have identified known and many novel candidate regions for geographically restricted positive selection, and suggest several directions for further research.

LIMIX: genetic analysis of multiple traits

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LIMIX: genetic analysis of multiple traits
Christoph Lippert, Francesco Paolo Casale, Barbara Rakitsch, Oliver Stegle

Multi-trait mixed models have emerged as a promising approach for joint analyses of multiple traits. In principle, the mixed model framework is remarkably general. However, current methods implement only a very specific range of tasks to optimize the necessary computations. Here, we present a multi-trait modeling framework that is versatile and fast: LIMIX enables to flexibly adapt mixed models for a broad range of applications with different observed and hidden covariates, and variable study designs. To highlight the novel modeling aspects of LIMIX we performed three vastly different genetic studies: joint GWAS of correlated blood lipid phenotypes, joint analysis of the expression levels of the multiple transcript-isoforms of a gene, and pathway-based modeling of molecular traits across environments. In these applications we show that LIMIX increases GWAS power and phenotype prediction accuracy, in particular when integrating stepwise multi-locus regression into multi-trait models, and when analyzing large numbers of traits. An open source implementation of LIMIX is freely available at: https://github.com/PMBio/limix.

Locus architecture affects mRNA expression levels in Drosophila embryos

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Locus architecture affects mRNA expression levels in Drosophila embryos
Tara Lydiard-Martin, Meghan Bragdon, Kelly B Eckenrode, Zeba Wunderlich, Angela H DePace

Structural variation in the genome is common due to insertions, deletions, duplications and rearrangements. However, little is known about the ways structural variants impact gene expression. Developmental genes are controlled by multiple regulatory sequence elements scattered over thousands of bases; developmental loci are therefore a good model to test the functional impact of structural variation on gene expression. Here, we measured the effect of rearranging two developmental enhancers from the even-skipped (eve) locus in Drosophila melanogaster blastoderm embryos. We systematically varied orientation, order, and spacing of the enhancers in transgenic reporter constructs and measured expression quantitatively at single cell resolution in whole embryos to detect changes in both level and position of expression. We found that the position of expression was robust to changes in locus organization, but levels of expression were highly sensitive to the spacing between enhancers and order relative to the promoter. Our data demonstrate that changes in locus architecture can dramatically impact levels of gene expression. To quantitatively predict gene expression from sequence, we must therefore consider how information is integrated both within enhancers and across gene loci.

RNA-seq gene profiling – a systematic empirical comparison

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RNA-seq gene profiling – a systematic empirical comparison
Nuno A Fonseca, John A Marioni, Alvis Brazma

Accurately quantifying gene expression levels is a key goal of experiments using RNA-sequencing to assay the transcriptome. This typically requires aligning the short reads generated to the genome or transcriptome before quantifying expression of pre-defined sets of genes. Differences in the alignment/quantification tools can have a major effect upon the expression levels found with important consequences for biological interpretation. Here we address two main issues: do different analysis pipelines affect the gene expression levels inferred from RNA-seq data? And, how close are the expression levels inferred to the “true” expression levels? We evaluate fifty gene profiling pipelines in experimental and simulated data sets with different characteristics (e.g, read length and sequencing depth). In the absence of knowledge of the ‘ground truth’ in real RNAseq data sets, we used simulated data to assess the differences between the true expression and those reconstructed by the analysis pipelines. Even though this approach does not take into account all known biases present in RNAseq data, it still allows to assess the accuracy of the gene expression values inferred by different analysis pipelines. The results show that i) overall there is a high correlation between the expression levels inferred by the best pipelines and the true quantification values; ii) the error in the estimated gene expression values can vary considerably across genes; and iii) a small set of genes have expression estimates with consistently high error (across data sets and methods). Finally, although the mapping software is important, the quantification method makes a greater difference to the results.

The evolution of tyrosine-recombinase elements in Nematoda

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The evolution of tyrosine-recombinase elements in Nematoda
Amir Szitenberg, Georgios Koutsovoulos, Mark L Blaxter, David H Lunt
Comments: 18 pages
Subjects: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE); Genomics (q-bio.GN)

Transposable elements can be categorised into DNA and RNA elements based on their mechanism of transposition. Tyrosine recombinase elements (YREs) are relatively rare and poorly understood, despite sharing characteristics with both DNA and RNA elements. Previously, the Nematoda have been reported to have a substantially different diversity of YREs compared to other animal phyla: the Dirs1-like YRE retrotransposon was encountered in most animal phyla but not in Nematoda, and a unique Pat1-like YRE retrotransposon has only been recorded from Nematoda. We explored the diversity of YREs in Nematoda by sampling broadly across the phylum and including 34 genomes representing the three classes within Nematoda. We developed a method to isolate and classify YREs based on both feature organization and phylogenetic relationships in an open and reproducible workflow. We also ensured that our phylogenetic approach to YRE classification identified truncated and degenerate elements, informatively increasing the number of elements sampled. We identified Dirs1-like elements (thought to be absent from Nematoda) in the nematode classes Enoplia and Dorylaimia indicating that nematode model species do not adequately represent the diversity of transposable elements in the phylum. Nematode Pat1-like elements were found to be a derived form of another PAT element that is present more widely in animals. Several sequence features used widely for the classification of YREs were found to be homoplasious, highlighting the need for a phylogenetically-based classification scheme. Nematode model species do not represent the diversity of transposable elements in the phylum.

Identifying adaptive and plastic gene expression levels using a unified model for expression variance between and within species

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Identifying adaptive and plastic gene expression levels using a unified model for expression variance between and within species
Rori Rohlfs, Rasmus Nielsen

Thanks to the reduced cost of RNA-Sequencing and other advanced methods for quantifying expression levels, accurate and expansive comparative expression data sets including data from multiple individuals per species are emerging. Comparative genomics has been greatly facilitated by the availability of statistical methods considering both between and within species variation for testing hypotheses regarding the evolution of DNA sequences. Similar methods are now needed to fully leverage comparative expression data. In this paper, we describe the β model which parameterizes the ratio of population to evolutionary expression variance, facilitating a wide variety of analyses, including a test for expression divergence or diversity for a single gene or a class of genes. The β model can also be used to test for lineage-specific shifts in expression level, amongst other applications. We use simulations to explore the functionality of these tests under a variety of circumstances. We then apply them to a mammalian phylogeny of 15 species typed in liver tissue. We identify genes with high expression divergence between species as candidates for expression level adaptation, and genes with high expression diversity within species as candidates for expression level conservation and plasticity. Using the test for lineage-specific expression shifts, we identify several candidate genes for expression level adaptation on the catarrhine and human lineages, including genes possibly related to dietary changes in humans. We compare these results to those reported previously using the species mean model which ignores population expression variance, uncovering important differences in performance.

Model adequacy and the macroevolution of angiosperm functional traits

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Model adequacy and the macroevolution of angiosperm functional traits
Matthew Pennell, Richard G FitzJohn, William K Cornwell, Luke J Harmon

All models are wrong and sometimes even the best of a set of models is useless. Modern phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) are almost exclusively model–based and therefore making robust inferences from PCMs requires using a model of trait evolution that is a good explanation for the data. To date, researchers using PCMs have evaluated the explanatory power of a model only in terms of relative, not absolute, fit. Here we develop a general statistical framework for assessing the absolute fit, or adequacy, of phylogenetic models for the evolution of quantitative traits. We use our approach to test whether commonly used models are adequate descriptors of the macroevolutionary dynamics of real comparative data. We fit models of trait evolution to 337 comparative datasets covering three key Angiosperm functional traits and evaluated the absolute fit of the models to each dataset. Overall, the models we used are very inadequate for the evolution of these traits; this was true for many different groups and at many different scales. Furthermore, the relative support for a model had very little to do with its absolute adequacy. We argue that assessing model adequacy should be a key step in comparative analyses.

A chromatin structure based model accurately predicts DNA replication timing in human cells

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A chromatin structure based model accurately predicts DNA replication timing in human cells
Yevgeniy Gindin, Manuel S. Valenzuela, Mirit I. Aladjem, Paul S. Meltzer, Sven Bilke
Subjects: Subcellular Processes (q-bio.SC); Genomics (q-bio.GN)

The metazoan genome is replicated in precise cell lineage specific temporal order. However, the mechanism controlling this orchestrated process is poorly understood as no molecular mechanisms have been identified that actively regulate the firing sequence of genome replication. Here we develop a mechanistic model of genome replication capable of predicting, with accuracy rivaling experimental repeats, observed empirical replication timing program in humans. In our model, replication is initiated in an uncoordinated (time-stochastic) manner at well-defined sites. The model contains, in addition to the choice of the genomic landmark that localizes initiation, only a single adjustable parameter of direct biological relevance: the number of replication forks. We find that DNase hypersensitive sites are optimal and independent determinants of DNA replication initiation. We demonstrate that the DNA replication timing program in human cells is a robust emergent phenomenon that, by its very nature, does not require a regulatory mechanism determining a proper replication initiation firing sequence.

Population genetics on islands connected by an arbitrary network: An analytic approach

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Population genetics on islands connected by an arbitrary network: An analytic approach
George W A Constable, Alan J McKane
(Submitted on 11 Feb 2014)

We analyse a model consisting of a population of individuals which is subdivided into a finite set of demes, each of which has a fixed but differing number of individuals. The individuals can reproduce, die and migrate between the demes according to an arbitrary migration network. They are haploid, with two alleles present in the population; frequency independent selection is also incorporated, where the strength and direction of selection can vary from deme to deme. The system is formulated as an individual-based model, and the diffusion approximation systematically applied to express it as a set of nonlinear coupled stochastic differential equations. These can be made amenable to analysis through the elimination of fast-time variables. The resulting reduced model is analysed in a number of situations, including migration-selection balance leading to a polymorphic equilibrium of the two alleles, and an illustration of how the subdivision of the population can lead to non-trivial behaviour in the case where the network is a simple hub. The method we develop is systematic, may be applied to any network, and agrees well with the results of simulations in all cases studied and across a wide range of parameter values.