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Holding it together: rapid evolution and positive selection in the synaptonemal complex of Drosophila

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, May 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (87th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (79th percentile)

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Title
Holding it together: rapid evolution and positive selection in the synaptonemal complex of Drosophila
Published in
BMC Ecology and Evolution, May 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12862-016-0670-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Lucas W. Hemmer, Justin P. Blumenstiel

Abstract

The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a highly conserved meiotic structure that functions to pair homologs and facilitate meiotic recombination in most eukaryotes. Five Drosophila SC proteins have been identified and localized within the complex: C(3)G, C(2)M, CONA, ORD, and the newly identified Corolla. The SC is required for meiotic recombination in Drosophila and absence of these proteins leads to reduced crossing over and chromosomal nondisjunction. Despite the conserved nature of the SC and the key role that these five proteins have in meiosis in D. melanogaster, they display little apparent sequence conservation outside the genus. To identify factors that explain this lack of apparent conservation, we performed a molecular evolutionary analysis of these genes across the Drosophila genus. For the five SC components, gene sequence similarity declines rapidly with increasing phylogenetic distance and only ORD and C(2)M are identifiable outside of the Drosophila genus. SC gene sequences have a higher dN/dS (ω) rate ratio than the genome wide average and this can in part be explained by the action of positive selection in almost every SC component. Across the genus, there is significant variation in ω for each protein. It further appears that ω estimates for the five SC components are in accordance with their physical position within the SC. Components interacting with chromatin evolve slowest and components comprising the central elements evolve the most rapidly. Finally, using population genetic approaches, we demonstrate that positive selection on SC components is ongoing. SC components within Drosophila show little apparent sequence homology to those identified in other model organisms due to their rapid evolution. We propose that the Drosophila SC is evolving rapidly due to two combined effects. First, we propose that a high rate of evolution can be partly explained by low purifying selection on protein components whose function is to simply hold chromosomes together. We also propose that positive selection in the SC is driven by its sex-specificity combined with its role in facilitating both recombination and centromere clustering in the face of recurrent bouts of drive in female meiosis.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 51 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 2%
Unknown 50 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 31%
Student > Bachelor 7 14%
Researcher 5 10%
Student > Postgraduate 3 6%
Student > Master 3 6%
Other 6 12%
Unknown 11 22%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 19 37%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 18 35%
Unspecified 2 4%
Medicine and Dentistry 1 2%
Unknown 11 22%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 14. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 June 2016.
All research outputs
#2,538,393
of 25,397,764 outputs
Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#653
of 3,713 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#39,632
of 312,458 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#17
of 79 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,397,764 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 90th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,713 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 312,458 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 79 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 79% of its contemporaries.