Bayesian Inference of Allele-Specific Gene Expression Indicates Abundant Cis-Regulatory Variation in Natural Flycatcher Populations.

ABSTRACT: Polymorphism in cis-regulatory sequences can lead to different levels of expression for the two alleles of a gene, providing a starting point for the evolution of gene expression. Little is known about the genome-wide abundance of genetic variation in gene regulation in natural populations but analysis of allele-specific expression (ASE) provides a means for investigating such variation. We performed RNA-seq of multiple tissues from population samples of two closely related flycatcher species and developed a Bayesian algorithm that maximizes data usage by borrowing information from the whole data set and combines several SNPs per transcript to detect ASE. Of 2,576 transcripts analyzed in collared flycatcher, ASE was detected in 185 (7.2%) and a similar frequency was seen in the pied flycat

SUBMITTER: Wang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5434935 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature