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Description
Unlike the autosomes, recombination on the sex chromosomes is limited to the pseudoautosomal regions (PARs) at each end of the chromosome. PAR1 spans approximately 2.7 Mb from the tip of the proximal arm of each sex chromosome, and a pseudoautosomal boundary between the PAR1 and non-PAR region is thought to

Unlike the autosomes, recombination on the sex chromosomes is limited to the pseudoautosomal regions (PARs) at each end of the chromosome. PAR1 spans approximately 2.7 Mb from the tip of the proximal arm of each sex chromosome, and a pseudoautosomal boundary between the PAR1 and non-PAR region is thought to have evolved from a Y-specific inversion that suppressed recombination across the boundary. In addition to the two PARs, there is also a human-specific X-transposed region (XTR) that was duplicated from the X to the Y chromosome. Genetic diversity is expected to be higher in recombining than nonrecombining regions, particularly because recombination reduces the effects of linked selection, allowing neutral variation to accumulate. We previously showed that diversity decreases linearly across the previously defined pseudoautosomal boundary (rather than drop suddenly at the boundary), suggesting that the pseudoautosomal boundary may not be as strict as previously thought. In this study, we analyzed data from 1271 genetic females to explore the extent to which the pseudoautosomal boundary varies among human populations (broadly, African, European, South Asian, East Asian, and the Americas). We found that, in all populations, genetic diversity was significantly higher in the PAR1 and XTR than in the non-PAR regions, and that diversity decreased linearly from the PAR1 to finally reach a non-PAR value well past the pseudoautosomal boundary in all populations. However, we also found that the location at which diversity changes from reflecting the higher PAR1 diversity to the lower nonPAR diversity varied by as much as 500 kb among populations. The lack of genetic evidence for a strict pseudoautosomal boundary and the variability in patterns of diversity across the pseudoautosomal boundary are consistent with two potential explanations: (1) the boundary itself may vary across populations, or (2) that population-specific demographic histories have shaped diversity across the pseudoautosomal boundary.
ContributorsCotter, Daniel Juetten (Author) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Thesis director) / Stone, Anne (Committee member) / Webster, Timothy (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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Description
The highly conserved Notch signaling pathway regulates cell-cell communication pathways, cell fate, cell determination, cell death, embryonic development, and adult tissue pathways in metazoans. The Notch receptors and ligands that bind to Notch are single pass, transmembrane proteins that communicate cell to cell via juxtacrine signaling. There are reports of

The highly conserved Notch signaling pathway regulates cell-cell communication pathways, cell fate, cell determination, cell death, embryonic development, and adult tissue pathways in metazoans. The Notch receptors and ligands that bind to Notch are single pass, transmembrane proteins that communicate cell to cell via juxtacrine signaling. There are reports of the divergent function and localization of the Deltalike 3 (Dll3) ligand. In Mus musculus (an eutherin mammal) the DLL3 protein inhibits the Notch signaling pathway and is localized in the Golgi apparatus. In contrast, the DLL3 protein from zebrafish, Danio rerio (a teleost) activates Notch and is located on the cell surface. This study will focus on examining the evolutionary pathway/evolutionary similarities, localization, and function of the A. carolinensis dll3 gene in comparison to other vertebrate species. This is important because there is not much known about the evolutionary divergence of the DLL3 A. carolinensis protein, its function in Notch signaling, and its subcellular localization.
Evolutionary analysis of vertebrate DLL3 protein sequences using phylogenetic trees showed that D. rerio and A. carolinensis are more evolutionarily similar in comparison to M. musculus suggesting that they may have similar intracellular localization. However, immunofluorescence staining experiments showed that the A. carolinensis DLL3 protein co-localized significantly with an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) specific primary antibody. Since this protein is localized in the secretory system, similar to that of M. musculus DLL3, it suggests that its function is to inhibit the Notch signaling pathway. Protein sequence alignments were created that suggested that there is a region in the protein sequences where the lizard and mouse sequence are conserved, while the zebrafish sequence simultaneously varies. This region of the amino acid sequence could be responsible for the difference in localization and function of the protein in these two species.
ContributorsBoschi, Alexis (Author) / Wilson-Rawls, Jeanne (Thesis director) / Newbern, Jason (Committee member) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05