Genome of the marsupial Monodelphis domestica reveals innovation in non-coding sequences

  • T.S. Mikkelsen
  • , M.J. Wakefield
  • , B. Aken
  • , C.T. Amemiya
  • , J.L. Chang
  • , S. Duke
  • , M. Garber
  • , A.J. Gentles
  • , L. Goodstadt
  • , A. Heger
  • , J. Jurka
  • , M. Kamal
  • , E. Mauceli
  • , S.M.J. Searle
  • , T. Sharpe
  • , M.L. Baker
  • , M.A. Batzer
  • , P.V. Benos
  • , K. Belov
  • , M. Clamp
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    Abstract

    We report a high-quality draft of the genome sequence of the grey, short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). As the first metatherian ('marsupial') species to be sequenced, the opossum provides a unique perspective on the organization and evolution of mammalian genomes. Distinctive features of the opossum chromosomes provide support for recent theories about genome evolution and function, including a strong influence of biased gene conversion on nucleotide sequence composition, and a relationship between chromosomal characteristics and X chromosome inactivation. Comparison of opossum and eutherian genomes also reveals a sharp difference in evolutionary innovation between protein-coding and non-coding functional elements. True innovation in protein-coding genes seems to be relatively rare, with lineage-specific differences being largely due to diversification and rapid turnover in gene families involved in environmental interactions. In contrast, about 20% of eutherian conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) are recent inventions that postdate the divergence of Eutheria and Metatheria. A substantial proportion of these eutherian-specific CNEs arose from sequence inserted by transposable elements, pointing to transposons as a major creative force in the evolution of mammalian gene regulation. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group.
    Original languageUndefined
    Pages (from-to)167-177
    Number of pages11
    JournalNature
    Volume447
    Issue number7141
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

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