Multiple functionally divergent and conserved copies of alpha tubulin in bdelloid rotifers

• Published in: BMC Evolutionary Biology
• Main Authors: Eyres, Isobel, Frangedakis, Eftychios, Fontaneto, Diego, Herniou, Elisabeth, Boschetti, Chiara, Carr, Adrian, Micklem Gos, Gos, Tunnacliffe, A., Barraclough, Timothy
• Other Authors: Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Department of Plant, University of Oxford, Institute of Ecosystem Study, National Research Council Italy (CNR), Institut de recherche sur la biologie de l'insecte UMR7261 (IRBI), Université de Tours (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge UK (CAM), Department of Genetics, Division of Biology Imperial College London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: Bdelloid rotifers; Gene copies; Tubulin; Evolution; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00769177; https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-12-148

International audience Bdelloid rotifers are microscopic animals that have apparently survived without sex for millions of years and are able to survive desiccation at all life stages through a process called anhydrobiosis. Both of these characteristics are believed to have played a role in shaping several unusual features of bdelloid genomes discovered in recent years. Studies into the impact of asexuality and anhydrobiosis on bdelloid genomes have focused on understanding gene copy number. Here we investigate copy number and sequence divergence in alpha tubulin. Alpha tubulin is conserved and normally present in low copy numbers in animals, but multiplication of alpha tubulin copies has occurred in animals adapted to extreme environments, such as cold-adapted Antarctic fish. Using cloning and sequencing we compared alpha tubulin copy variation in four species of bdelloid rotifers and four species of monogonont rotifers, which are facultatively sexual and cannot survive desiccation as adults. Results were verified using transcriptome data from one bdelloid species, Adineta ricciae.