Extensive Chordate and Annelid Macrosynteny Reveals Ancestral Homeobox Gene Organization Jerome H. L. Hui,(cid:1),1 Carmel McDougall,(cid:2),1 Ana S. Monteiro,§,1 Peter W. H. Holland,1 Detlev Arendt,2 Guillaume Balavoine,3 and David E. K. Ferrier*jj,1 1Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom 2EMBL Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany 3Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS/University Paris Diderot, France (cid:1)Present address: Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. (cid:2)Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. §Present address: Centro Andaluz de Biologia del Desarrollo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain. D jjPresent address: The Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom. o w *Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected]. Rnlo ea Associate editor: Patricia Beldade d se Genbank accession number: PduMox (HQ263150). ead fro m Abstract rch http s Genes with the homeobox motif are crucial in developmental biology and widely implicated in the evolution of a://ac development.TheAntennapedia(ANTP)-classisoneofthetwomajorclassesofanimalhomeoboxgenes,andincludesthe rtade Hox genes, renowned for their role in patterning the anterior–posterior axis of animals. The origin and evolution of the icmic ANTP-class genes are a matter of some debate. A principal guiding hypothesis has been the existence of an ancient gene le.ou p Mega-cluster deep in animal ancestry. This hypothesis was largely established from linkage data from chordates, and the .c o Mega-cluster hypothesis remains to be seriously tested in protostomes. We have thus mapped ANTP-class homeobox m /m genes to the chromosome level in a lophotrochozoan protostome. Our comparison of gene organization in Platynereis b e dumeriliiandchordatesindicatesthattheMega-cluster,ifitdidexist,hadalreadybeenbrokenupontofourchromosomes /a by the time of the protostome–deuterostome ancestor (PDA). These results not only elucidate an aspect of the genome rtic le organizationofthePDAbutalsorevealhighlevelsofmacrosyntenybetweenP.dumeriliiandchordates.Thisimpliesavery -a b low rate of interchromosomal genome rearrangement in the lineages leading to P. dumerilii and the chordate ancestor stra since the time of the PDA. c t/2 9 Key words: Platynereis dumerilii, Antennapedia-class, homeobox, protostome–deuterostome ancestor. /1 /1 5 7 /1 Introduction resideindifferentlineages,suchthatcomparisonofthedif- 7 4 8 ferentevolutionaryrelicsoftheMega-clustershouldallow 4 TheMega-clusterhypothesisprovidestheprincipalcurrent 5 9 frameworkforunderstandingtheoriginandearlyevolution its composition to be deduced. by Alternatives to the Mega-cluster hypothesis can be en- g of the homeobox-containing genes of the Antennapedia- u visaged that correspond to either of two general forms. e class (ANTP-class) in animals. The ANTP-class contains First, at least some nontandem duplications could have st o such important developmental control genes as the n beeninvolved,eitherofgenesorofgroupsofgenes,before 2 Hox, ParaHox, and NK genes, widely involved in multiple allthecomponentgenefamiliesofthehypothesizedMega- 1 N developmental processes across the animal kingdom. o v clusterhadarisen,oraprecursorclusterpriortotheMega- e TheMega-clusterhypothesisproposesthatdeepinanimal m ancestry, a precursor gene of the ANTP-class (the Proto- cluster may have split apart, such that the complete be Mega-cluster never in fact existed. This type of scenario r 2 ANTPgene)underwentseveralroundsoftandemduplica- 0 1 tionstoformaclusterofgenesthatweretheevolutionary can be considered as a ‘‘weak’’ form of the Mega-cluster 8 precursors for the genes of the Hox cluster, the ParaHox hypothesissinceeventhoughthecompleteMega-cluster cluster,theNKcluster,andseveralcloselyrelatedgenefam- did not exist under such a scenario, significant portions ilies (Pollard and Holland 2000; Garcia-Fernandez 2005) of the ANTP-class still evolved within clustered arrange- (fig.1).ThisMega-clusterthenbrokeapartinseveralloca- ments. The second alternative is that ANTP-class genes tions as lineages diverged from this ancestral state, at lo- secondarilycametobeclusteredindistinctanimallineages cations hypothesized to have been effectively random after originating in locations scattered around ancestral acrossdifferentanimallineages,apartfrominfunctionally genomes. These different scenarios would be expected constrained clusters such as the Hox cluster. Different ex- toleadtodifferentANTP-classlinkagesindistinctlineages. tents of Mega-cluster remains are therefore predicted to The ‘‘strong’’ and weak forms of the Mega-cluster ©TheAuthor2011.PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPressonbehalfoftheSocietyforMolecularBiologyandEvolution.Allrightsreserved.Forpermissions,please e-mail:[email protected] Mol. Biol. Evol. 29(1):157–165. 2012 doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 Advance Access publication July 4, 2011 157 MBE Hui et al. · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 D o w n lo a d e FgeIGn.e1ra.teSutmhemAaNryTPo-fcltahseshAoNmTePo-cbloaxssgMeneegfaa-mcluilsietserofhaynpiomthaelss,isa.sDeeleecptioinnoanfiwmhailchanacreessthryo,wanshinegrele.TPhroetroeAsuNltTaPntgMeneegat-acnludsetmerlyisdhuypploictahteesdizetdo d fro m tohavethenbrokeninseveralplaces,presumablyindependentlyondifferentanimallineages.Thediagonallinesshowthebreaksdeducedto h bepresent inthe chordate ancestor, which separated thesegenes intothreedistinct chromosomes. Precise geneorderisnot known inthe ttp s ancestralMega-clusterexceptwithintheParaHox,Hox,andNKclusters.Conventionally,theseANTP-classgenesareclassifiedasParaHox(pale ://a grayboxes),Hox-like(darkgrayboxes),andNK-like(blackboxes),withDlxbeinganNK-likegene(black)linkedwithHox-likegenes.However, c a thisnomenclaturemaybemisleadingandunjustified(seetextfordetails)andweinsteadproposetheuseof‘‘Hox-linked’’and‘‘NK-linked’’,in d e which case Dlx is Hox-linked (dark gray) in chordates. Note the relative timing of the duplications to generate the full complement of m ic ProtoHox,HoxL,NK,andNKLgenesisstilldebatedandsomecomponentsmaywellhavearisenbeforeothers(e.g.,NKexpansionbeforeHox; .o u Larrouxetal. 2007). p .c o m /m hypothesis would be expected to lead to similar, but not ternative protostome for comparison, the polychaete b e identical, sets of linked ANTP-class genes in distinct line- Platynereis dumerilii, which resides in the lophotrochozoan /a ages if the cluster breaks in effectively random locations. superphylum rather than in the Ecdysozoa. P. dumerilii has rtic le Distinguishing between the strong and weak forms of ahaploidnumberof14(Jhaetal.1995),achromosomenum- -a b the Mega-cluster hypothesis requires determination of ber potentially similar to that of the protostome–deutero- s tra ANTP-classlinkagepatternsacrossadiversityofanimallin- stome ancestor (PDA), if the eumetazoan ancestor had c eages.Incontrast,iftheANTP-classlinkagesevolvedfrom about13linkagegroups(Putnametal.2007)andthechordate t/29 /1 a secondary ‘‘coming together’’ from ancestral scattered ancestorabout17(Putnametal.2008).Combinedwithage- /1 locations, then we would expect a largely random assort- nomesizeofapproximately1(cid:1)109bp,thisreducesthelikeli- 57 /1 mentofANTP-classlinkagesacrossdistinctanimallineages. hood of chance secondary associations of gene linkage that 7 4 8 To date, a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the have confounded the insect and nematode comparisons. 4 5 Mega-cluster has beenhampered by twomajor problems. The secondproblemisthe difficulty in obtaining robust 9 b y Thefirstproblemisthepaucityofchromosome-levelmap- phylogeneticinformationfromtheANTP-classgenes.Dlxis g u pingdata. Such data areavailablefrom chordates, whichan- a key gene in the Mega-cluster hypothesis because Dlx is e s cestrally, and in the prototypical chordate genome of conventionally deemed to have greater sequence similarity t o n amphioxus(Branchiostomafloridae),had/havetheHoxcluster tothegenesoftheNKclusterthantothoseoftheHoxclus- 2 1 andtheANTP-classfamiliesEvx,Mox,Gbx,En,Mnx,andDlx ter, such that Dlx is often referred to as an ‘‘NK-like’’ gene N o ononechromosome,theParaHoxclusteronasecondchro- rather than a ‘‘Hox-like’’ gene. Since this supposed NK-like ve m mosome,andtheremainsoftheNKclusteronathirdchro- gene is linked to the Hox cluster in chordates, it has been b e mosome (Castro and Holland 2003; Luke et al. 2003; Castro held toprovideevidencefor the ancient linkageof NK-like r 2 0 etal.2006).Toextendthedepthofanimalancestrytowhich and Hox-like genes in the Mega-cluster, with an interchro- 1 8 the extent of the hypothesized Mega-cluster can be traced, mosomal translocation occurring that separated all of the comparisonstoprotostomesarerequired.Chromosome-scale NK-like genes, except for Dlx, from the Hox-like genes resolutionin protostomesiscurrentlyrestrictedtotheecdy- (Pollard and Holland 2000; Garcia-Fernandez 2005) sozoansuperphylum(Coulieretal.2000;CastroandHolland (fig. 1). The lack of robust resolution of many interfamily 2003). Unfortunately, the low chromosome number in such relationships within the ANTP-class in molecular phyloge- ecdysozoanmodelsasDrosophilaandCaenorhabditiselegans niesbasedonhomeodomainsequences,particularlythere- meansthatthesesystemsprovidelittleresolution,duetothe lationship of the Dlx family to the Hox and NK genes, has difficulty in distinguishing ancestral linkage patterns from importantimplicationsfortheMega-clusterhypothesis.No- chance secondary associations. Also, a high level of genome tably, Dlx is not robustly classified as being more similar rearrangementhasbeendescribedforinsectsandnematodes to Hox or NK genes via molecular phylogenies; in different (Zdobnov et al. 2005; Zdobnov and Bork 2007), further con- analyses,DlxhasbeenplacedclosertotheNKclustergenes, foundingelucidationofancestrallinkages.Here,weuseanal- the Hox cluster genes, or even outside both NK and Hox 158 MBE Annelid to Chordate Homeobox Macrosynteny · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 genes together, and never with strong support values 5#-TTCCATTTCATTC(G/T)TC(T/G)GTTTTG-3# were desig- (Howard-Ashby et al. 2006; Monteiro et al. 2006; Ryan ned based on sequences from the Mox genes of other etal.2006;Larrouxetal.2007;Takatorietal.2008;reviewed bilaterians(supplementaryfig.S1,SupplementaryMaterial in Ferrier 2008). Furthermore, in an attempt to discover online).NewPdMoxF2wasusedasthenestedprimerafter diagnostic residues for both the so-called Hox-like and theprimaryPCRofNewPdMoxF1andNewPdMoxRP.PCR theNK-likegroups,theDlxfamilycouldnotbeaccommo- wasperformedonthegenomicDNAofP.dumerilii,andthe dated(Fonsecaetal.2008).Thisemphasizestheweaknessof parameterswere94(cid:1)Cfor5min,35times(94(cid:1)Cfor1min, the Hox-like and NK-like superfamily terms. Chromosome 55 (cid:1)C for 1 min, and 72 (cid:1)C for 1.5 min), and 72 (cid:1)C for 10 location and linkage patterns are perhaps a more robust min.Cloningandsequencingwereperformedasdescribed guidetoancestralassociationsbetweenANTP-classfamilies; above. 3#RACE was carried out following the manufac- hence,ourproposalthatthetermsHox-likeandNK-likebe turer’s instructions (SMART RACE cDNA Amplification abandoned and ‘‘Hox-linked’’ and ‘‘NK-linked’’ adopted as Kit, Clontech). Gene-specific primer PdMox3#RACE-F1, D more informative alternatives (Ferrier 2008). 5#-CCATACACAACTACCTGACGAGACTGAG-3#,wasde- ow The key question is then, which genes are linked to the signed based on the sequence information obtained from nlo HoxandNKclustersanddobilaterianlineagesexhibitover- PCR with degenerate primers. PCR was performed on 3#- ad e limapppliynganpaintttearcntsMoefgHao-cxlu-satnerdiNnKth-leinkPeDdAgeanneds?inTdheipsewndoeunldt RunAiCveEr-sRaelapdyrimcDeNr,AUuPsMing(5t#h-eCgTeAnAe-TsApeCcGifiAcCpTrCimAeCrTaAnTdAtGhe- d from breakups along diverging lineages. The alternative scenario, GGCAAGCAGTGGTATCAACGCAGAGT-3#). Five cycles http oilifemsinatdchivienrgsepbatiltaetrenrsiaonfliHnoexa-gleins,kwedoualnddinNstKe-alidnkimedplgyetnheatfatmhe- f(o9r43(cid:1)0Cs,fo7r03(cid:1)C0 fsoarn3d0s7,2an(cid:1)dC7f0or(cid:1)C3fmorin3),mfiivne),cayncdle2s5(9cy4cl(cid:1)eCs s://ac a Mega-clusterhadalreadybrokenuptothisextentbythetime (94 (cid:1)C for 30 s, 68 (cid:1)C for 30 s, and 70 (cid:1)C for 3 min) of de m ofthePDAorthatanextensiveMega-clusterdidnotinfact amplification were carried out. The PCR products were ic exist. Here, we test this by determining the locations of the analyzedona1%agarosegel.PurificationofDNA,ligation, .ou p ANTP-class genes to discover whether the patterns of Hox- transformation, and sequencing were performed as de- .c o linked and NK-linked genes in chordates and a protostome scribed above. Sequences were aligned with other Mox m /m like Platynereis overlap or instead show the same divisions. genes as shown in supplementary fig. S1, Supplementary b e We have mapped ANTP-class homeobox genes to the Material online. The PduMox cDNA is deposited in /a chromosome level in a lophotrochozoan protostome, Genbank with accession number HQ263150. rticle the annelid P. dumerilii, for the first time and compared -a b BAC Library Screening s this gene organization in P. dumerilii with available tra wMheoglae--cgleunstoemr,eif isteqduidenecxeisst., hOaudraldreaatadyrbervoekaelnthuaptonthtoe GcloennoesmwicerbeacistoerlaiatledaratisficdieaslccrhibreodmionsoHmuei e(tBAalC. )(2a0n0d9)puhsaingge ct/29/1 four chromosomes by the time of the PDA. These results cDNA fragments as probes (details in supplementary /1 5 material, Supplementary Material online). Probescontaining 7 notonlyelucidateanaspectofthegenomeorganizationof /1 the ANTP-class homeobox genes were generated with the 7 the PDA but also reveal high levels of macrosynteny be- 4 8 PCR DIG labelling mix kit (Roche, Germany). DNA was pu- 4 tween P. dumerilii and chordates. This implies a very 5 low rate of interchromosomal genome rearrangement in rifiedwiththeGFXPCRDNAandGelBandPurificationKit 9 b y the lineage leading to P. dumerilii since the time of the (Amersham Biosciences). Filters containing the BAC library gu constructed for P. dumerilii (BACPAC Resources, Children’s e PDA,makingthisannelidanexcellentcandidatefortracing s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, http:// t o the genome-scale evolution of bilaterian genomes from n bacpac.chori.org/library.php?id5209) were screened with 2 their PDA origins, over 550 Ma. 1 DIG-labeled probes according to the DIG nucleic acid N o Materials and Methods detection kit (Roche, Germany). Hybridization was carried ve m out at 42 (cid:1)C overnight with gene-specific probe (25 ng/ml b e Gene Cloning DIGEasyHybbuffer)andwashed(2(cid:1) salinesodiumcitrate r 2 0 Productsfrompolymerasechainreactions(PCRs)werere- [SSC]/0.1%sodiumdodecylsulfate[SDS],roomtemperature, 1 8 solvedby1%agarosegelelectrophoresisandthebandsof and2(cid:1)15min;0.5(cid:1)SSC/0.1%SDS,60(cid:1)C,and2(cid:1)15min). appropriatesizespurifiedwiththeGFXPCRDNAandGel HybridizationsignalsweredetectedbyCDP-star,ready-to-use BandPurificationKit(AmershamBiosciences).Thepurified (Roche,Germany),andexposedtoBioMaxLightfilm(Kodak). DNAwasligatedwiththepGEM-TEasyVector(Promega) and transformed into XL10-blue chemically competent cells. The QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit (Qiagen) was used BAC Clone Preparation and Sequencing to purify the plasmids, and sequencing of plasmids was EachBACclonewaspurifiedwiththeQIAfilterPlasmidMidi done with BigDye Terminator v3.1 cycle sequencing kit kit (Qiagen) and prepared for chromosomal fluorescent in (Applied Biosystems). situ hybridization (FISH) afterconfirming the gene content DegenerateprimersNewPdMoxF15#-AAACCAAGGAAG- by restriction enzyme digestion (EcoRI and HindIII as fre- GA(A/G)AG(A/G)AC(A/G)GC-3#, NewPdMoxF2 5#-ACCA- quent cutters, NotI to check the insert size by cutting AACA(C/T)CAGATCC(A/G)(T/G)GAA, and NewPdMoxRP out the insert with restriction sites flanking the polylinker 159 MBE Hui et al. · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 promoter regions of the vector), gene-specific primer PCR, Results andsequencing.TodiscoverwhethersomeBACcloneswere Dlx Is Hox-Linked Rather than NK-Like overlappingandtodesignprimersforgenomewalkingatthe InP.dumerilii,wefindthatPduDlxislinkedtotheHoxcluster, endsofBACclones,someBACclonesweresubjectedtoend resemblingthesituationinchordates.ABACclonecontain- sequencing.Stepswerecarriedoutasdescribedinthepro- ingPduDlxlocalizestothetelomericendofachromosometo tocol of the BigDye Terminator v3.1 cycle sequencing kit whichBACclonescontainingHoxclustergenesalsolocalize, (Applied Biosystems) with primers pTARBAC2.1T7, 5#-GCCGCTAATACGACTCACTATAGGGAGAG-3#, and withtheHoxprobeslabelingasiteclosertothecentromere pTARBAC2.1Sp6, 5#-ACTGTGGCTTGTTTTACAATTT-3#, (e.g.,PduLox5,fig.2e),exceptfortheHoxgenePduPost1(see below).Giventheambiguityoftheinterfamilyrelationships with the following modifications. Each reaction consisted betweentheANTP-classhomeoboxgenes,particularlythat of10pmolsequencingprimer,2.5ll5(cid:1)BigDyesequencing ofDlxrelativetotheHoxandNKclustergenefamiliesinmo- buffer, 2 ll ready reaction premix, and 0.5–1 lg of DNA D lecularphylogenies(seeIntroduction),wehererefertoDlxas o templateandwaspreparedandrunthroughthermalcycles w aHox-linkedgeneinbothPlatynereisandchordatesrather n of96(cid:1)Cfor1minand50cycles(96(cid:1)Cfor30s,50(cid:1)Cfor10s, lo thanusethepossiblymisleadingtermNK-like. a and 60 (cid:1)C for 4 min). de d Absence of Hox and ParaHox ‘‘Cluster’’ Linkage fro Genomic Phage Library Screening m TheHoxandParaHoxclusterswerepostulatedtohaveorig- h Since some of the screenings of the BAC library did not inatedfromtheduplicationofasingleancestralclusterthat ttps provide any positive signals with several probes, including existedearlyinmetazoanevolution,theProtoHoxgeneclus- ://a PduEmx, PduGbx, PduEngrailed, PduVax, PduNot, PduLbx, c ter(Brookeetal.1998).Itisunclearwhetherthisseparation ad andPduNK5probes,agenomicphagelibraryofP.dumerilii, e into Hox and ParaHox clusters was a tandem duplication m synthesized by Lofstrand LabsLtd., was screened. Prepara- ic (MinguillonandGarcia-Fernandez2003),atrans-duplication .o tion of the host strains, phage infection, plating cultures, u andplaqueliftswereallcarriedoutasinthemanufacturer’s (Brooke et al.1998), or a break of a single long clusterinto p.co two(Ryanetal.2007).InP.dumerilii,theHoxlocus(intact m instructions (Lambda FIX II Library, Stratagene). The pri- apart from PduPost1, see below; Monteiro AS and Ferrier /m mary library contained 5 (cid:1) 105 pfu/0.4 ml of SM buffer DEK, unpublished) and the ParaHox locus (split in two be/a (100 mM NaCl, 8 mM MgSO4.7H2O, 50 mM Tris–HCl, but on a single chromosome; Hui et al. 2009) are located rtic 0.002% gelatin) with 7% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO); le whereas the amplified library contained 2.6 (cid:1) 1010 pfu/ on two different chromosomes.PduCdx, whichisrepresen- -ab tativeoftheParaHoxchromosome(fig.2o),labelsachromo- s ml of SM buffer with 7% DMSO. The host bacteria strain some that is distinct from the Hox cluster-bearing trac wasXL-1BlueMRA(P2).Theaverageinsertsizecontained chromosomelabeledbyPduLox5(fig.2s).Thisisthefirstex- t/29 within the vector is about 17 kb. Two amplified phage li- ample of Hox and ParaHox clusters being mapped to two /1/1 braryplateswerescreenedat;200,000pfuoneachplate. 5 different chromosomes in a lophotrochozoan protostome. 7 Plaquesweretransferredontoachargednylonmembrane /1 7 4 (Hybond Nþ, Amersham Biosciences) with hybridization, Hox-Linked Genes and PduPost1 84 washing, and detection steps carried out as for the BAC In the formulation of the Mega-cluster hypothesis, the 59 b library screening described above. Secondary and tertiary chordate Hox chromosome contains several other y g screenings were further performed before a single plaque u ANTP-class genes in addition to the Hox genes and Dlx. e s was isolated for large-scale DNA preparation with Wizard These include three genes originally called the EHGbox t o n DNA Clean-up Systems (Promega). All phages were sub- genes(Engrailed[en],HB9/Mnx,andGbx),plusMox/Meox 2 1 jectedtogene-specificprimersequencingbeforeperform- and Evx; this last gene having been a member of the an- N o ing chromosomal FISH. A phage containing PduLbx and cestral Hox cluster and retained in this location in ve m a phage containing PduNK5 were confirmed. chordates and cnidarians (Miller and Miles 1993; Pollard b e and Holland 2000; Garcia-Fernandez 2005; Ryan et al. r 2 Chromosomal FISH 2007; Hollandet al.2008). Here, we showthat P. dumerilii 01 8 Two-color FISH was performed as described in Hui et al. orthologues of Mnx, Mox, and Evx are still Hox-linked (2009). Briefly, genomic clones were labeled with either (fig. 2a, b, and d). PduEvx, despite still being Hox-linked digoxigenin or fluorescein-12-dUTP and nick translation in Platynereis, is however no longer a member of the and detected with DIG-rhodamine Fab fragments plus Platynereis Hox cluster, with PduPost2 (and the rest of Texas-Red anti-sheep antibody or Alexa Fluor 488 signal- the Hox cluster) being relatively close to the centromere, amplification kit, respectively. Pairs of ANTP-class probes whereasPduEvxislocatedclosertoatelomere(fig.2b).This were hybridized to metaphase chromosome spreads, which disruption of the ‘‘posterior’’ end of the Hox cluster is werecounterstainedwith4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole.Im- further demonstrated by loss of the posterior Hox gene ageswerecapturedwithaZeissAxioskopmicroscopeequip- PduPost1 from the cluster (fig. 2). Here, we show that ped with an Axiocam camera. All images were processed notonlyhasPduPost1beenrelocatedoutoftheHoxcluster with whole-layer color adjustment on the complete image (fig. 2c) but also that it has been translocated to the ‘‘NK with Adobe Photoshop 7.0. cluster’’ chromosome (discussed below) (fig. 2h and k). 160 MBE Annelid to Chordate Homeobox Macrosynteny · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 D o w n lo a d e d fro m h ttp s ://a c a d e m ic .o u p .c o m /m b e /a rtic le -a b s tra c t/2 9 /1 /1 5 7 /1 7 4 8 4 5 9 b y g u e s t o n 2 1 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8 FIG. 2. Chromosomal FISH mapping the positions of pairs of ANTP-class homeobox genes in the protostome Platynereis dumerilii. All the localizedP.dumeriliiANTP-classhomeoboxgenesarelocatedononlyfourchromosomes,representedbycoloredboxes:red,Hoxchromosome (a–e);green,NKchromosome(f–l);orange,NK2chromosome(m–n);purple,ParaHoxchromosome(o).Thepalebluebox(p–v)represents the gene pairs that distinguish the four Platynereis ANTP-class chromosomes from each other. Scale bars 5 20 lm. For further details, see supplementary material,Supplementary Material online. 161 MBE Hui et al. · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 NK Cluster Gene Organization the Hox cluster in the recently sequenced genome of the In addition to Hox and ParaHox clusters, there is a further crustaceanDaphniapulex.Inthesecases,however,various ANTP-classgeneclusterinsomeanimals,theNKclusterof losses or duplications of ParaHox genes in both O. dioica arthropods.In Drosophila,theNKclustercontainstinman/ andarthropods(Daphniaandinsects),aswellasscattering NK4,bagpipe/NK3,ladybird-earlyandladybird-late(together oftheHoxclusterinO.dioicathroughthesmallcompacted being the fly representatives of Lbx), C15/Tlx, and slouch/ genome or the extensive genome rearrangements across NK1(Jaglaetal.2001).Ancestrally,theinsectNKclusteralso thesequencedEcdysozoa(seeIntroduction),preventcon- contained Msx/Drop and Hmx/NK5 (Garcia-Fernandez fident resolution of ancestral organization, as opposed to 2005; Richards et al. 2008). NK gene clustering in insects lineage-specific secondary associations. Consequently, we isinmarkedcontrasttothesituationinchordates,inwhich favor the scenario in which the Hox and ParaHox clusters the ancestral NK cluster has been broken up. Despite this were arranged on two separate chromosomes in the disruption,inamphioxus(aproxyfortheancestralchordate PDA, an arrangement that has been conserved in both D condition),NK4,NK3,NK1,NK6,NK7,Lbx,Tlx,andMsxare Platynereis and amphioxus (fig. 3). ow n allon onechromosome (Lukeetal.2003;Butts et al. 2008; lo a Putnam etal. 2008; Wotton etal. 2009). The NK clusterof NK Genes: Comparable Breaks in d e d the PDA thus probably consisted of nine NK genes (Msx, a Lophotrochozoan and Chordates and Ancient fro NK4, NK3, Lbx, Tlx, NK7, NK6, NK1, and Hmx/NK5), with Separation of NK2 m afivetosixgenecoretendingtoremainclusteredininsects ThePlatynereisNKclustergeneshavebeenseparatedinto http (Buttsetal.2008).WemappedsevenNKclustergenesinP. s dumerilii (PduMsx, PduNK4, PduNK3, PduLbx, PduTlx, tthrirgeuein‘sgelyg,mthenetps’oasliotinognsaosifntghleescehbroremaokssoimneth(efigP.la2tf–ynl)e.rIenis- ://aca PduNK6, and PduNK1) and provide the first evidence that d cluster are the same as those found in amphioxus, except e m theNKclustergenesarelocatedwithinasinglechromosome for a further separation of NK6 away from Lbx and Tlx in ic in a lophotrochozoan (fig. 2f–l). In P. dumerilii, PduNK4, the Platynereis lineage (fig. 3). Perhaps shared regulatory .ou p PduNK3, and PduMsx are tightly linked together close to elementsorlong-rangeregulatorymechanismsactingover .co the telomere-end of the long arm of the NK chromosome m thesedistinctsubsetsoftheNKclustergenesmightbethe /m (fig.2iandj).PduLbxandPduTlxarealsoclosetoeachother basis by which these subsets have been conserved in the be butarelocatedclosetothecentromereofthelongarmof /a theNKchromosome(fig.2fandg).PduNK1isthenfurther chordate and lophotrochozoan lineages. rtic NK2genesarenotlinkedtoNKclustergenesinanyan- le separated from these other NK cluster components and is -a imalexaminedtodate,exceptforthemosquitoscrogene. b located at the opposite telomere from PduMsx (fig. 2l). However, since A. gambiae has only three chromosomes, stra c the linkage of mosquito scro with the NK cluster genes t/2 Separation of the NK2 Genes 9 is most likely a secondary rather than ancient association. /1 NK2genesareanotherNKgenefamilyinanimals,butthese /1 Therefore, we suggest that separation of the NK2 family 5 7 havenotbeenaccommodatedintheMega-clusterhypoth- from the ancestral ProtoNK cluster-bearing chromosome /1 7 esis until now. In P. dumerilii, the NK2 family (PduNK2.1, 4 pre-datesthePDA,eitherviaararetrans-duplicationsuch 8 PduNK2.2a, and PduNK2.2b) is on a distinct chromosome that the NK2 family was never in the Mega-cluster or the 459 from those bearing the NK cluster genes, the Hox-linked b NK2familyoriginatedintheclusterandthentranslocated y genes, and the ParaHox genes (fig. 2m, n, p, q and u). In g away before the origin of the PDA (fig. 3). Chromosome- u e allanimalsexaminedtodate,NK2genesareonadifferent s chromosome from the NK cluster genes, except for the sscoalvlee mthaepsepitnwgodpaotassifbroilmitiens.onbilaterian lineages may re- t on 2 scarecrow(scro) gene of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, 1 N whichweproposeisasecondaryassociationinthisinsect o Genome Architecture and ANTP-Class v (see Discussion). em Macrosynteny b e Discussion LinkageoftheANTP-classhomeoboxgenesonaselectfew r 2 0 chromosomesislikelytobeduetoacombinationofevo- 1 8 Hox and ParaHox Clusters Were not Linked in the lutionary history (e.g., descended from tandem arrays) PDA combined with functional constraints, such as those The location of Hox and ParaHox cluster loci on distinct known for the long-range regulation of subsets of these chromosomesinPlatynereisandamphioxus,andbyexten- genes such as the Hox cluster. Additionally, these genes sionthePDA,impliesthatiftheParaHoxclusteroriginated may well be targets of common regulatory factors which via a large tandem duplication, then this must have been may have led to their retention in particular regions of followed by translocation before divergence of the proto- thegenome(Jangaetal.2008)oraresubjecttosomeother stome and deuterostome lineages. In contrast to the form of nonrandom distribution constraint that is poorly Platynereis/amphioxus situation, some instances of Hox understoodatpresent(Hurstetal.2004;BatadaandHurst andParaHoxgenelinkagesareseeninotherinvertebrates, 2007; Koonin 2009). This in turn may account for the un- suchaslinkageofOdiCdxtoOdiHox1(Seoetal.2004)inthe usualoccurrenceoftheposteriorHoxgene(PduPost1)re- urochordate Oikopleura dioica, and the linkage of Cdx to locating to the NK chromosome in P. dumerilii. The 162 MBE Annelid to Chordate Homeobox Macrosynteny · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 D o w n lo a d e d fro m aFmIG.p3h.ioSxuumsmBraarnycohfioAstNomTPa-cfllaosrsidhaoe.mCeoolboorxcoodrginagniazastiinonfigounrteo1o.nDlyiafgoounralchlirnoemsoinsdoimcaetseinlartgheedinisftearnrceedsPbDeAtw,eaennnegleidnePslabtuyntewreitishdcuhmroemriloiis,oamnde https linkagemaintained,indicatedbyhorizontallines.TheHoxclusterisdenotedasanelongatedboxtorepresentthepresenceofmultiplegenes, ://a c withvarying genenumber betweenthe threerepresentations. a d e m ic translocation of this gene may have been constrained by NK clusters in a Mega-cluster. If this were the case, how- .o u p aneedtoexistinagenomicregionconducivetoitsappro- ever, it is odd that none of the other Hox-linked or NK .c o priate and viable regulation. Other possibilities for this cluster and NK-linked genes are on this Daphnia scaffold, m /m arrangement include inheritance from a Mega-cluster ar- includingEvx,Dlx,Mox,En,Mnx,Gbx,NK1,orNK5,atleast b e rangement with the Hox and NK clusters linked (unlikely, some of which would be expected in the intervening dis- /a asanotherlophotrochozoanPost1,inLottiagigantea,isstill tance.Also,theextensivemacrosyntenythatweshowbe- rtic le withintheHoxcluster)orachancerelocationofPduPost1 tweenPlatynereisandchordatesimpliesthatthisDaphnia -a b to the NK cluster chromosome. organization is secondarily derived from a highly rear- s tra ThepossibilitythattranslocatingANTP-classhomeobox rangedancestorsomewhereinecdysozoanevolution.This c genesmaymovetoanonrandomlocationhasmajorimpli- wouldalsobeconsistentwiththeunusualorganizationof t/29 /1 cationsfortheMega-clusterhypothesis.Thishypothesisis the Daphnia genome, with one chromosome constituting /1 5 based on a supposed NK-like gene (Dlx) being linked to 25%ofthetotalnuclearDNAandbeingmuchlongerthan 7 /1 theHoxcluster.WhetherornotDlxreallyisanNK-likegene alloftheremainingchromosomes(Colbourneetal.2011). 7 4 8 or not is one problem for the Mega-cluster hypothesis Of the remaining chromosomes, another 30% of the nu- 4 5 (see above). A second problem is that if Dlx did begin life clearDNAisfoundonchromosomes2–4,sothatonlyfour 9 b y withtheNKclusterandnotwiththeHoxcluster,thenthere of the 12 Daphnia chromosomes contain approximately g u may be a very limited range of genomic locations that it 55%ofthenuclearDNA.Thisimpliesthatthereareanum- e s could translocate to. Thus, Dlx linkage to the Hox cluster berofgenelinkagesthatresultfromsecondaryassociations t o n may not be indicative of (or the result of descent from) evolvingontheDaphnialineage,whichwerenotpresentin 2 1 a linkage of Hox- and NK-related genes but instead may an ancestor with genes distributed more uniformly across N o reflect Dlx translocating from the NK array and being the karyotype. A confident understanding of the linkages ve m restrictedtoasmallnumberoflocationsinwhichitcould seeninD.pulexrequirestheavailabilityofmoreecdysozo- b e be viably accommodated, one of which is the Hox angenomes,particularlythosewithhaploidnumbersthat r 2 0 chromosome. have not been greatly reduced by chromosome fusions. 1 8 Further evidence may come from diploblast genomes. The Status of the Mega-Cluster Hypothesis Diploblastandchordategenomesshowsurprisinglyhighlev- Given the above possibility of constrained genome archi- els of synteny (Putnam et al. 2007; Srivastava et al. 2008), tecture restricting the viable destinations of translocating whichcontrastswithanalmostcompletelackofsyntenybe- genes, is there then any evidence that a Mega-homeobox tween insects, nematodes, and chordates (Zdobnov et al. cluster existed at all? The recently sequenced genome of 2005).Comparisonsperformedbetweengenomesofthecni- anoninsectarthropod,Daphniapulex(whichhasahaploid darian Nematostella vectensis and vertebrates allowed the numberof12),isintriguing,asaproportionoftheNKclus- identification of Putative Ancestral Linkage groups (PALs) tergenes(NK4,NK3,Lbx,andTlx)areonthesamescaffold of theancestraleumetazoan (Putnametal.2007).Unfortu- as the Hox cluster of D. pulex, as is the only remaining nately, these PALs do not accommodate many of the Daphnia ParaHox gene, Cdx. Perhaps, this linkage is evi- Nematostella ANTP-class gene-containing scaffolds and do dence for the ancient linkage of the Hox, ParaHox, and not reveal any Hox-linked and NK-linked associations that 163 MBE Hui et al. · doi:10.1093/molbev/msr175 unambiguously resolve the veracity of the Mega-cluster hy- the 550-million-year-old PDA arrangement of the ANTP- pothesis, except for one possible exception. Nematostella class homeobox genes is that they were split into four scaffold 3 is part of the Hox PAL, and as well as containing distinct chromosomes: the Hox, ParaHox, NK, and NK2, Hoxgenes,alsocontainsMsx,acomponentoftheancestral an arrangement that persisted to the present day in the bilaterianNKcluster(seeabove).Thisthenmaybearemnant Platynereis and amphioxus lineages. from, and evidence for, an ancestral Mega-cluster. Chromo- some-levelmappinginNematostellaandfurtherdiploblastge- Supplementary Material nomesassembledtolargecontigsizeswillbeneededtotest Supplementary text, figures S1 and S2, and table S1 are thisspeculation.NotwithstandingthelimitsoftheNematos- available at Molecular Biology and Evolution online tella data in the present context,Putnam et al. (2007) spec- (http://www.mbe.oxfordjournals.org/). ulatedthatonlyafewbreaksorfusionsperchromosomehad happenedsincetheeumetazoanancestorintheNematostella Acknowledgments D andchordatelineages.OurPlatynereisdatareinforceandex- ow Workintheauthors’laboratoriesissupportedbytheRoyal n tendthisview.Platynereisalsohasaveryconservativegenome lo Society and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Re- a and the ecdysozoan models of arthropods and nematodes d search Council . J.H.L.H. was supported by the Hong Kong ed have undergone extensive genome rearrangements that are andChinaOxford ScholarshipFundsandtheMertonCol- fro not typical for protostomes as a whole. m legeDomusscholarshipandC.M.wassupportedbyaCom- h Thegenome-levelorganizationoftheANTP-classhomeo- monwealth scholarship. Author Contributions: J.H.L.H., ttp boxgenesisthusmostlikelytohaveevolvedviaapre-PDA C.M.,andD.E.K.F.wrotethemanuscript.D.E.K.F.conceived, s://a Mega-cluster stage, or, a state close to a Mega-cluster but c designed,andsupervisedtheproject.J.H.L.H.preparedchro- a withonlyveryfewbreaksbeforetheevolutionofallthecon- de mosomematerial,performedRACEandFISH,andisolated m stituent homeobox gene families (the weak Mega-cluster most of the BAC clones; C.M. isolated the Dlx BAC clones ic.o scenario, see Introduction). If this weak Mega-cluster u and performed the Dlx FISH; A.S.M. isolated Hox BAC p scenario is true, then there were only a maximum of three .c clones;D.A.andG.B.providedcDNAclones;G.B.provided o m breaks(eithernontandemduplicationsorpre-Mega-cluster animals; P.W.H.H. co-supervised the study. 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