Project description:Despite the astonishing diversity of life, evolutionary biologists have documented numerous instances where species converge in how they behave, look, and function. Given the importance of happenstance in evolution, it is often assumed that mechanisms driving independent evolution of similar phenotypes (convergence) are distinct; yet recent discoveries suggest that conserved genomic mechanisms can underlie convergent traits. Here, we generate forebrain transcriptomes from six sympatric Labridae wrasses that vary in mutualistic cleaning behavior and apply differential gene expression, co-expression, and phylogenetic comparative analyses to address three questions. First, do neurotranscriptomes vary among species with distinct cleaning behavior? Second, do species that have independently evolved facultative cleaning share neurotranscriptomic patterns? Third, are transcriptomic signatures linked to facultative cleaning also expressed in obligate cleaners? We identify shared neurotranscriptomic patterns in the repeated evolution of facultative cleaning, including 25 novel candidate genes. We then find that transcriptomic patterns associated with facultative cleaning are shared in our focal obligate cleaner species, with more genes than expected by chance with concordant expression patterns in obligate and facultative cleaners. Our results illuminate the neuromolecular basis of cooperative behavior and demonstrate the predictive potential of comparative transcriptomics to unravel the mechanistic underpinnings of the repeated evolution of complex phenotypes.
Project description:Despite the astonishing diversity of life, evolutionary biologists have documented numerous instances where species converge in how they behave, look, and function. Given the importance of happenstance in evolution, it is often assumed that mechanisms driving independent evolution of similar phenotypes (convergence) are distinct; yet recent discoveries suggest that conserved genomic mechanisms can underlie convergent traits. Here, we generate forebrain transcriptomes from six sympatric Labridae wrasses that vary in mutualistic cleaning behavior and apply differential gene expression, co-expression, and phylogenetic comparative analyses to address three questions. First, do neurotranscriptomes vary among species with distinct cleaning behavior? Second, do species that have independently evolved facultative cleaning share neurotranscriptomic patterns? Third, are transcriptomic signatures linked to facultative cleaning also expressed in obligate cleaners? We identify shared neurotranscriptomic patterns in the repeated evolution of facultative cleaning, including 25 novel candidate genes. We then find that transcriptomic patterns associated with facultative cleaning are shared in our focal obligate cleaner species, with more genes than expected by chance with concordant expression patterns in obligate and facultative cleaners. Our results illuminate the neuromolecular basis of cooperative behavior and demonstrate the predictive potential of comparative transcriptomics to unravel the mechanistic underpinnings of the repeated evolution of complex phenotypes.
Project description:Expression profile of human GEP-NET tumors, including 113 fresh frozen biopsies of primary and metastatic tumours originating from pancreas (P-NET, 83 primary and 30 metastasis), 81 from small intestine (SI-NET, 44 primary and 37 metastasis), and 18 from rectum (RE-NET, 3 primary and 15 metastasis).
Project description:While strongly implicated in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), considerable controversy exists regarding norepinephrine transporter (NET) loss-of-function. POTS is characterized by the clinical symptoms of orthostatic intolerance, light-headedness, tachycardia and syncope or near syncope with upright posture. Abnormal sympathetic nervous system activity is typical, of a type which suggests dysfunction of the NET, with evidence the gene responsible is under tight epigenetic control. Using RNA of isolated chromatin combined with sequencing (RICh-Seq) we show let7i miRNA suppresses NET by MeCP2. Vorinostat restores epigenetic control and NET expression in POTS.