Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2018
Publication Title
Genome Biology and Evolution
Abstract
The emergence of robust single-cell ‘omics techniques enables studies of uncultivable species, allowing for the (re)discovery of diverse genomic features. In this study, we combine single-cell genomics and transcriptomics to explore genome evolution in ciliates (a > 1 Gy old clade). Analysis of the data resulting from these single-cell ‘omics approaches show: 1) the description of the ciliates in the class Karyorelictea as “primitive”is inaccurate because their somatic macronuclei contain loci of varying copy number (i.e., they have been processed by genome rearrangements from the zygotic nucleus); 2) gene-sized somatic chromosomes exist in the class Litostomatea, consistent with Balbiani’s (1890) observation of giant chromosomes in this lineage; and 3) gene scrambling exists in the underexplored Postciliodesmatophora (the classes Heterotrichea and Karyorelictea, abbreviated here as the Po-clade), one of two major clades of ciliates. Together these data highlight the complex evolutionary patterns underlying germline genome architectures in ciliates and provide a basis for further exploration of principles of genome evolution in diverse microbial lineages.
Keywords
genome evolution, single-cell genomics, single-cell transcriptomics, epigenetics, Ciliophora
Volume
10
Issue
8
First Page
1927
Last Page
1938
DOI
doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evy133
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Rights
The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Recommended Citation
Xyrus X. Maurer-Alcala, Maurer-Alcala X.; Yan, Ying; Pilling, Olivia A.; Knight, Rob; and Katz, Laura A., "Twisted Tales: Insights into Genome Diversity of Ciliates Using Single-Cell ‘Omics" (2018). Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/bio_facpubs/60
Comments
Archived as published.