@article{ForconiCanapaBaruccaetal.2013, author = {Forconi, Mariko and Canapa, Adriana and Barucca, Marco and Biscotti, Maria A. and Capriglione, Teresa and Buonocore, Francesco and Fausto, Anna M. and Makapedua, Daisy M. and Pallavicini, Alberto and Gerdol, Marco and De Moro, Gianluca and Scapigliati, Giuseppe and Olmo, Ettore and Schartl, Manfred}, title = {Characterization of Sex Determination and Sex Differentiation Genes in Latimeria}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {8}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0056006}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130995}, pages = {e56006}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Genes involved in sex determination and differentiation have been identified in mice, humans, chickens, reptiles, amphibians and teleost fishes. However, little is known of their functional conservation, and it is unclear whether there is a common set of genes shared by all vertebrates. Coelacanths, basal Sarcopterygians and unique "living fossils", could help establish an inventory of the ancestral genes involved in these important developmental processes and provide insights into their components. In this study 33 genes from the genome of Latimeria chalumnae and from the liver and testis transcriptomes of Latimeria menadoensis, implicated in sex determination and differentiation, were identified and characterized and their expression levels measured. Interesting findings were obtained for GSDF, previously identified only in teleosts and now characterized for the first time in the sarcopterygian lineage; FGF9, which is not found in teleosts; and DMRT1, whose expression in adult gonads has recently been related to maintenance of sexual identity. The gene repertoire and testis-specific gene expression documented in coelacanths demonstrate a greater similarity to modern fishes and point to unexpected changes in the gene regulatory network governing sexual development.}, language = {en} } @article{BiscottiGerdolCanapaetal.2016, author = {Biscotti, Maria Assunta and Gerdol, Marco and Canapa, Adriana and Forconi, Mariko and Olmo, Ettore and Pallavicini, Alberto and Barucca, Marco and Schartl, Manfred}, title = {The Lungfish Transcriptome: A Glimpse into Molecular Evolution Events at the Transition from Water to Land}, series = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {6}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, number = {21571}, doi = {10.1038/srep21571}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-167753}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Lungfish and coelacanths are the only living sarcopterygian fish. The phylogenetic relationship of lungfish to the last common ancestor of tetrapods and their close morphological similarity to their fossil ancestors make this species uniquely interesting. However their genome size, the largest among vertebrates, is hampering the generation of a whole genome sequence. To provide a partial solution to the problem, a high-coverage lungfish reference transcriptome was generated and assembled. The present findings indicate that lungfish, not coelacanths, are the closest relatives to land-adapted vertebrates. Whereas protein-coding genes evolve at a very slow rate, possibly reflecting a "living fossil" status, transposable elements appear to be active and show high diversity, suggesting a role for them in the remarkable expansion of the lungfish genome. Analyses of single genes and gene families documented changes connected to the water to land transition and demonstrated the value of the lungfish reference transcriptome for comparative studies of vertebrate evolution.}, language = {en} }