Person: Whittle, Carrie-Ann
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Whittle
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Carrie-Ann
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Whittle, Carrie-Ann
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Publication Refuting the hypothesis that the acquisition of germ plasm accelerates animal evolution(Springer Nature, 2016) Whittle, Carrie-Ann; Extavour, CassandraPrimordial germ cells (PGCs) give rise to the germ line in animals. PGCs are specified during embryogenesis either by an ancestral mechanism of cell-cell signalling (induction) or by a derived mechanism of maternally provided germ plasm (preformation). Recently, a hypothesis was set forth purporting that germ plasm liberates selective constraint and accelerates an organism's protein sequence evolution, especially for genes from early developmental stages, thereby leading to animal species radiations; empirical validation has been claimed in vertebrates. Here we present findings from global rates of protein evolution in vertebrates and invertebrates refuting this hypothesis. Contrary to assertions of the hypothesis, we find no effect of preformation on protein sequence evolution, the evolutionary rates of early-stage developmental genes, or on species diversification. We conclude that the hypothesis is mechanistically implausible, and our multi-faceted analysis shows no empirical support for any of its predictions.Publication Codon and Amino Acid Usage Are Shaped by Selection Across Divergent Model Organisms of the Pancrustacea(Genetics Society of America, 2015) Whittle, Carrie-Ann; Extavour, CassandraIn protein-coding genes, synonymous codon usage and amino acid composition correlate to expression in some eukaryotes, and may result from translational selection. Here, we studied large-scale RNA-seq data from three divergent arthropod models, including cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus), milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), and the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, and tested for optimization of codon and amino acid usage relative to expression level. We report strong signals of AT3 optimal codons (those favored in highly expressed genes) in G. bimaculatus and O. fasciatus, whereas weaker signs of GC3 optimal codons were found in P. hawaiensis, suggesting selection on codon usage in all three organisms. Further, in G. bimaculatus and O. fasciatus, high expression was associated with lowered frequency of amino acids with large size/complexity (S/C) scores in favor of those with intermediate S/C values; thus, selection may favor smaller amino acids while retaining those of moderate size for protein stability or conformation. In P. hawaiensis, highly transcribed genes had elevated frequency of amino acids with large and small S/C scores, suggesting a complex dynamic in this crustacean. In all species, the highly transcribed genes appeared to favor short proteins, high optimal codon usage, specific amino acids, and were preferentially involved in cell-cycling and protein synthesis. Together, based on examination of 1,680,067, 1,667,783, and 1,326,896 codon sites in G. bimaculatus, O. fasciatus, and P. hawaiensis, respectively, we conclude that translational selection shapes codon and amino acid usage in these three Pancrustacean arthropods.Publication Expression-Linked Patterns of Codon Usage, Amino Acid Frequency, and Protein Length in the Basally Branching Arthropod Parasteatoda tepidariorum(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016) Whittle, Carrie-Ann; Extavour, CassandraSpiders belong to the Chelicerata, the most basally branching arthropod subphylum. The common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, is an emerging model and provides a valuable system to address key questions in molecular evolution in an arthropod system that is distinct from traditionally studied insects. Here, we provide evidence suggesting that codon usage, amino acid frequency, and protein lengths are each influenced by expression-mediated selection in P. tepidariorum First, highly expressed genes exhibited preferential usage of T3 codons in this spider, suggestive of selection. Second, genes with elevated transcription favored amino acids with low or intermediate size/complexity (S/C) scores (glycine and alanine) and disfavored those with large S/C scores (such as cysteine), consistent with the minimization of biosynthesis costs of abundant proteins. Third, we observed a negative correlation between expression level and coding sequence length. Together, we conclude that protein-coding genes exhibit signals of expression-related selection in this emerging, noninsect, arthropod model.