Non-Random Genome Editing and Natural Cellular Engineering in Cognition-Based Evolution
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The LUCA and Its Complex Virome in Another Recent Synthesis, We Examined the Origins of the Replication and Structural Mart Krupovic , Valerian V
PERSPECTIVES archaea that form several distinct, seemingly unrelated groups16–18. The LUCA and its complex virome In another recent synthesis, we examined the origins of the replication and structural Mart Krupovic , Valerian V. Dolja and Eugene V. Koonin modules of viruses and posited a ‘chimeric’ scenario of virus evolution19. Under this Abstract | The last universal cellular ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population model, the replication machineries of each of of organisms from which all cellular life on Earth descends. The reconstruction of the four realms derive from the primordial the genome and phenotype of the LUCA is a major challenge in evolutionary pool of genetic elements, whereas the major biology. Given that all life forms are associated with viruses and/or other mobile virion structural proteins were acquired genetic elements, there is no doubt that the LUCA was a host to viruses. Here, by from cellular hosts at different stages of evolution giving rise to bona fide viruses. projecting back in time using the extant distribution of viruses across the two In this Perspective article, we combine primary domains of life, bacteria and archaea, and tracing the evolutionary this recent work with observations on the histories of some key virus genes, we attempt a reconstruction of the LUCA virome. host ranges of viruses in each of the four Even a conservative version of this reconstruction suggests a remarkably complex realms, along with deeper reconstructions virome that already included the main groups of extant viruses of bacteria and of virus evolution, to tentatively infer archaea. We further present evidence of extensive virus evolution antedating the the composition of the virome of the last universal cellular ancestor (LUCA; also LUCA. -
Comprehensive Analysis of Mobile Genetic Elements in the Gut Microbiome Reveals Phylum-Level Niche-Adaptive Gene Pools
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/214213; this version posted December 22, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 Comprehensive analysis of mobile genetic elements in the gut microbiome 2 reveals phylum-level niche-adaptive gene pools 3 Xiaofang Jiang1,2,†, Andrew Brantley Hall2,3,†, Ramnik J. Xavier1,2,3,4, and Eric Alm1,2,5,* 4 1 Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 6 2 Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA 7 3 Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard 8 Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA 9 4 Gastrointestinal Unit and Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Massachusetts General 10 Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA 11 5 MIT Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 12 02142, USA 13 † Co-first Authors 14 * Corresponding Author bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/214213; this version posted December 22, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 15 Abstract 16 Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) drive extensive horizontal transfer in the gut microbiome. This transfer 17 could benefit human health by conferring new metabolic capabilities to commensal microbes, or it could 18 threaten human health by spreading antibiotic resistance genes to pathogens. Despite their biological 19 importance and medical relevance, MGEs from the gut microbiome have not been systematically 20 characterized. -
A Novel and Direct Mobilome Approach Improves the Detection of Larger-Sized Circular Elements Across Kingdoms
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/761098; this version posted September 9, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 A novel and direct mobilome approach improves 2 the detection of larger-sized circular elements 3 across kingdoms 4 Katrine Skov Alanin1,2†, Tue Sparholt Jørgensen1,3,4†, Patrick Browne1,2†, Bent Petersen5,6, Leise Riber7, 5 Witold Kot1,2‡* and Lars Hestbjerg Hansen1,2‡* 6 1Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark 7 2Department of Plant and Environmental Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 8 3Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Danish Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark 9 4Department of Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark 10 5Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 11 6Centre of Excellence for Omics-Driven Computational Biodiscovery (COMBio), Faculty of Applied Sciences, AIMST 12 University, Kedah, Malaysia 13 7Department of Biology, Functional Genomics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 14 15 †These authors contributed equally to the work presented 16 ‡ WK and LHH initiated and supervised the project equally 17 *To whom correspondence should be addressed 18 19 Abstract: Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are instrumental in natural prokaryotic genome editing, permitting 20 genome plasticity and allowing microbes to accumulate immense genetic diversity. MGEs include DNA 21 elements such as plasmids, transposons and Insertion Sequences (IS-elements), as well as bacteriophages 22 (phages), and they serve as a vast communal gene pool. -
Evolutionism and Holism: Two Different Paradigms for the Phenomenon of Biological Evolution
R. Fondi, International Journal of Ecodynamics. Vol. 1, No. 3 (2006) 284–297 EVOLUTIONISM AND HOLISM: TWO DIFFERENT PARADIGMS FOR THE PHENOMENON OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION R. FONDI Department of Earth Sciences, University of Siena, Italy. ABSTRACT The evolutionistic paradigm – the assumption that biological evolution consists in a mere process of ‘descendance with modification from common ancestors’, canonically represented by means of the phylogenetic tree model – can be seen as strictly connected to the classical or deterministic vision of the world, which dominated the 18th and 19th centuries. Research findings in palaeontology, however, have never fully supported the above- mentioned model. Besides, during the 20th century, the conceptual transformations produced by restricted and general relativity, quantum mechanics, cosmology, information theory, research into consciousness, chaos– complexity theory, evolutionary thermodynamics and biosemiotics have radically changed the scientific picture of reality. It is therefore necessary to adopt a more suitable and up-to-date paradigm, according to which nature is not seen anymore as a mere assembly of independent things, subject to the Lamarckian-Darwinian dialectics of ‘chance and necessity’, but as: (1) an extremely complex system with all its parts dynamically coordinated; (2) the evolution of which does not obey the logic of a deterministic linear continuity but that of an indeterministic global discontinuity; and (3) in which the mind or psychic dimension, particularly evident in semiotic aspects of the biological world, is an essential and indissoluble part. On the basis of its characteristics, the new paradigm can be generically named holistic, organicistic or systemic. Keywords: biological evolution, biostratigraphy, evolutionism, holism, palaeontology, systema naturae, taxa. -
The Wolbachia Mobilome in Culex Pipiens Includes a Putative Plasmid
Corrected: Author correction ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08973-w OPEN The Wolbachia mobilome in Culex pipiens includes a putative plasmid Julie Reveillaud1, Sarah R. Bordenstein2, Corinne Cruaud3, Alon Shaiber4,5, Özcan C. Esen5, Mylène Weill6, Patrick Makoundou6, Karen Lolans5, Andrea R. Watson5, Ignace Rakotoarivony1, Seth R. Bordenstein 2,7,8 & A. Murat Eren 4,5,9 Wolbachia is a genus of obligate intracellular bacteria found in nematodes and arthropods 1234567890():,; worldwide, including insect vectors that transmit dengue, West Nile, and Zika viruses. Wolbachia’s unique ability to alter host reproductive behavior through its temperate bacteriophage WO has enabled the development of new vector control strategies. However, our understanding of Wolbachia’s mobilome beyond its bacteriophages is incomplete. Here, we reconstruct near-complete Wolbachia genomes from individual ovary metagenomes of four wild Culex pipiens mosquitoes captured in France. In addition to viral genes missing from the Wolbachia reference genome, we identify a putative plasmid (pWCP), consisting of a 9.23-kbp circular element with 14 genes. We validate its presence in additional Culex pipiens mosquitoes using PCR, long-read sequencing, and screening of existing metagenomes. The discovery of this previously unrecognized extrachromosomal element opens additional possibilities for genetic manipulation of Wolbachia. 1 ASTRE, INRA, CIRAD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier 34398, France. 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville 37235 TN, USA. 3 Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Institut de Biologie François Jacob, Genoscope, Evry 91057, France. 4 Graduate Program in the Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. 5 Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago 60637 IL, USA. -
Virus World As an Evolutionary Network of Viruses and Capsidless Selfish Elements
Virus World as an Evolutionary Network of Viruses and Capsidless Selfish Elements Koonin, E. V., & Dolja, V. V. (2014). Virus World as an Evolutionary Network of Viruses and Capsidless Selfish Elements. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 78(2), 278-303. doi:10.1128/MMBR.00049-13 10.1128/MMBR.00049-13 American Society for Microbiology Version of Record http://cdss.library.oregonstate.edu/sa-termsofuse Virus World as an Evolutionary Network of Viruses and Capsidless Selfish Elements Eugene V. Koonin,a Valerian V. Doljab National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USAa; Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USAb Downloaded from SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................278 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................278 PREVALENCE OF REPLICATION SYSTEM COMPONENTS COMPARED TO CAPSID PROTEINS AMONG VIRUS HALLMARK GENES.......................279 CLASSIFICATION OF VIRUSES BY REPLICATION-EXPRESSION STRATEGY: TYPICAL VIRUSES AND CAPSIDLESS FORMS ................................279 EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VIRUSES AND CAPSIDLESS VIRUS-LIKE GENETIC ELEMENTS ..............................................280 Capsidless Derivatives of Positive-Strand RNA Viruses....................................................................................................280 -
The Future of Transposable Element Annotation and Their Classification in the Light of Functional Genomics
The future of transposable element annotation and their classification in the light of functional genomics -what we can learn from the fables of Jean de la Fontaine? Peter Arensburger, Benoit Piegu, Yves Bigot To cite this version: Peter Arensburger, Benoit Piegu, Yves Bigot. The future of transposable element annotation and their classification in the light of functional genomics - what we can learn from thefables of Jean de la Fontaine?. Mobile Genetic Elements, Taylor & Francis, 2016, 6 (6), pp.e1256852. 10.1080/2159256X.2016.1256852. hal-02385838 HAL Id: hal-02385838 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02385838 Submitted on 27 May 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Copyright The future of transposable element annotation and their classification in the light of functional genomics - what we can learn from the fables of Jean de la Fontaine? Peter Arensburger1, Benoît Piégu2, and Yves Bigot2 1 Biological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA 91768 - United States of America. 2 Physiologie de la reproduction et des Comportements, UMR INRA-CNRS 7247, PRC, 37380 Nouzilly – France Corresponding author address: Biological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA 91768 - United States of America. -
Comment the Communication Strategies of Neocreationism Between the United States and Europe
SISSA – International School for Advanced Studies Journal of Science Communication ISSN 1824 – 2049 http://jcom.sissa.it/ Comment The communication strategies of neocreationism between the United States and Europe Astrid Pizzo In their essay which appeared in 1972 in Models in Paleobiology , Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge, introducing the theory of punctuated equilibrium, stressed the fact that no scientific theory develops as a simple and logical extension of facts and of patiently recorded observations, and that the particular vision of the world that the scientist adheres to is able to influence, even unconsciously, the way in which data are collected, selected and then interpreted. Scientists, being aware of the existence of an intrinsic problem of prejudice in their scientific research activity, know that, in order to produce original and innovative ideas, it is fundamental to try to revolutionise their research image, to look at reality in a new light, to read data with alternative viewpoints. According to the American philosopher Robert Pennock 1,2, creationists ignore this aspect completely: they look to the Sacred Scriptures to find answers on the origin of the world and of life, and then try to interpret the empirical evidence so that it fits the scriptures. However, American creationism has changed radically in recent decades. Unlike creationists in the strict sense of the word, who use what is said in the Bible explicitly, at times even literally, to attack the theory of evolution, the advocates of Intelligent Design, who opened their season in the Seventies with the publication of Scientific Creationism by Henry Morris 3, do not adopt a stance of direct opposition to evolutionism, but try to work alongside it and to make use of scientific method to find the evidence of the divine hand in nature. -
The Plasmid Mobilome of the Model Plant-Symbiont Sinorhizobium Meliloti
The Plasmid Mobilome of the Model Plant-Symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti: Coming up With New Questions and Answers ANTONIO LAGARES,1 JUAN SANJUÁN,2 and MARIANO PISTORIO1 1IBBM, Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular, CONICET - Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, (1900) La Plata, Argentina; 2Departamento de Microbiología del Suelo y Sistemas Simbióticos. Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Granada, Spain ABSTRACT Rhizobia are Gram-negative Alpha- and the current article revises their main structural components, Betaproteobacteria living in the underground that have the their transfer and regulatory mechanisms, and their potential ability to associate with legumes for the establishment of as vehicles in shaping the evolution of the rhizobial genome. nitrogen-fixing symbioses. Sinorhizobium meliloti in particular—the symbiont of Medicago, Melilotus, and Trigonella spp.—has for the past decades served as a model organism for EXTRACHROMOSOMAL REPLICONS investigating, at the molecular level, the biology, biochemistry, IN S. MELILOTI: PLASMID CONTENT and genetics of a free-living and symbiotic soil bacterium of AND DIVERSITY agricultural relevance. To date, the genomes of seven different S. meliloti strains have been fully sequenced and annotated, Bacteria grouped within the Rhizobiaceae, Phyllobac- and several other draft genomic sequences are also available teriaceae, and Bradyrhizobiaceae families, collectively (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/genomes/1004). known as rhizobia, inhabit the soil under free-living The vast amount of plasmid DNA that S. meliloti frequently bears conditions and are associated in symbiosis with the root (up to 45% of its total genome), the conjugative ability of some of of legumes as nitrogen-fixing organisms. -
Downloaded from Based Exploration of Domains Can Be Visualized with the Domain Ggkbase.Berkeley.Edu/Hpae final/Organisms
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Recent Work Title Diverse ATPase Proteins in Mobilomes Constitute a Large Potential Sink for Prokaryotic Host ATP. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1jg0q58v Authors Shim, Hyunjin Shivram, Haridha Lei, Shufei et al. Publication Date 2021 DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2021.691847 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California fmicb-12-691847 July 3, 2021 Time: 17:17 # 1 HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY published: 08 July 2021 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.691847 Diverse ATPase Proteins in Mobilomes Constitute a Large Potential Sink for Prokaryotic Host ATP Hyunjin Shim1, Haridha Shivram2, Shufei Lei1, Jennifer A. Doudna2 and Jillian F. Banfield1,2,3,4,5,6* 1 Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, 2 Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, 3 Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, 4 Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States, 5 Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, United States, 6 School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Prokaryote mobilome genomes rely on host machineries for survival and replication. Given that mobile genetic elements (MGEs) derive their energy from host cells, we Edited by: investigated the diversity of ATP-utilizing proteins in MGE genomes to determine Gee W. Lau, University of Illinois whether they might be associated with proteins that could suppress related host at Urbana-Champaign, United States proteins that consume energy. A comprehensive search of 353 huge phage genomes Reviewed by: revealed that up to 9% of the proteins have ATPase domains. -
Mobilome Analysis of Achromobacter Spp. Isolates from Chronic and Occasional Lung Infection in Cystic Fibrosis Patients
microorganisms Article Mobilome Analysis of Achromobacter spp. Isolates from Chronic and Occasional Lung Infection in Cystic Fibrosis Patients Laura Veschetti 1,† , Angela Sandri 2,†, Cristina Patuzzo 1 , Paola Melotti 3, Giovanni Malerba 1,‡ and Maria M. Lleò 2,*,‡ 1 Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy; [email protected] (L.V.); [email protected] (C.P.); [email protected] (G.M.) 2 Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy; [email protected] 3 Cystic Fibrosis Center, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, 37126 Verona, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] † These authors contributed equally to this work. ‡ These senior authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Achromobacter spp. is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Although a variety of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) carrying antimicrobial resistance genes have been identified in clinical isolates, little is known about the contribution of Achromobacter spp. mobilome to its pathogenicity. To provide new insights, we performed bioinformatic analyses of 54 whole genome sequences and investigated the presence of phages, insertion sequences (ISs), and integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs). Most of the detected phages were previously described in other pathogens and carried type II toxin-antitoxin systems Citation: Veschetti, L.; Sandri, A.; Patuzzo, C.; Melotti, P.; Malerba, G.; as well as other pathogenic genes. Interestingly, the partial sequence of phage Bcep176 was found Lleò, M.M. Mobilome Analysis of in all the analyzed Achromobacter xylosoxidans genome sequences, suggesting the integration of this Achromobacter spp. -
Essentialism Story’’: a Case Study of German Idealistic Morphology
ARTICLE IN PRESS Theory in Biosciences 124 (2006) 281–307 www.elsevier.de/thbio The history of essentialism vs. Ernst Mayr’s ‘‘Essentialism Story’’: A case study of German idealistic morphology Georgy S. LevitÃ, Kay Meister Institut fu¨r Geschichte der Medizin, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, Friedrich-Schiller-Universita¨t, Berggasse 7, D-07745 Jena, Germany Received 17 October 2005; accepted 18 November 2005 Abstract Idealistic morphology as perhaps the most important historical manifestation of typology is very suitable for a historical analysis of Ernst Mayr’s ‘‘Essentialism Story’’, which postulates an antagonism between ‘‘typological thinking’’ and ‘‘population thinking’’. We show that German- language idealistic-morphological theories consisted of two clearly distinguishable parts. The cornerstone of these theories was the concept of the type as an abstract pattern representing a certain class of phenomena and embodying the norm of this class. The primary objective of pure typology was to create a non-phylogenetic classification system for living organisms based on structurally explicable characters. Thus, typology, as a non-phylogenetic foundation of idealistic morphology, was conceptually neutral with respect to hypotheses of evolutionary mechanisms. Typology was often accompanied by concepts such as Lamarckism, orthogenesis, creationism, essentialism, etc. These peripheral (with respect to pure typology) concepts were autonomous constructions and did not represent a direct logical consequence of typology. In our view ‘‘population thinking’’, as part of the Darwinian theory of evolutionary mechanism, could not be directly opposed to ‘‘typological thinking’’. Rather, it was peripheral concepts such as essentialism or creationism that led to conflicts between the Modern Synthesis and idealistic morphology.