RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Repeated losses of PRDM9-directed recombination despite the conservation of PRDM9 across vertebrates
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 093096
DO 10.1101/093096
A1 Zachary Baker
A1 Molly Schumer
A1 Yuki Haba
A1 Chris Holland
A1 Gil G. Rosenthal
A1 M. Przeworski
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/11/093096.abstract
AB Studies of a handful of species reveal two mechanisms by which meiotic recombination is directed to the genome—through PRDM9 binding or by targeting promoter-like features—that lead to dramatically different evolutionary dynamics of hotspots. Here, we identified PRDM9 from genome and transcriptome data in 225 species, finding the complete PRDM9 ortholog across distantly related vertebrates. Yet, despite its broad conservation, we inferred a minimum of six partial and three complete losses. Strikingly, taxa carrying the complete ortholog of PRDM9 are precisely those with rapid evolution of its predicted binding affinity, suggesting that all its domains are necessary for directing recombination. Indeed, as we show, swordtail fish carrying a partial ortholog share recombination properties with PRDM9 knock-outs.