Journal article
A Phylogenomic Inventory of Meiotic Genes: Evidence for Sex in Giardia and an Early Eukaryotic Origin of Meiosis
Current biology, Vol.15(2), pp.185-191
01/26/2005
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2005.01.003
PMID: 15668177
Abstract
Sexual reproduction in eukaryotes is accomplished by meiosis, a complex and specialized process of cell division that results in haploid cells (e.g., gametes). The stereotypical reductive division in meiosis is a major evolutionary innovation in eukaryotic cells [1], and delineating its history is key to understanding the evolution of sex [2]. Meiosis arose early in eukaryotic evolution, but when and how meiosis arose and whether all eukaryotes have meiosis remain open questions [3]. The known phylogenetic distribution of meiosis comprises plants, animals, fungi, and numerous protists [4]. Diplomonads including Giardia intestinalis (syn. G. lamblia) are not known to have a sexual cycle [5]; these protists may be an early-diverging lineage [6] and could represent a premeiotic stage in eukaryotic evolution. We surveyed the ongoing G. intestinalis genome project data [7] and have identified, verified, and analyzed a core set of putative meiotic genes—including five meiosis-specific genes—that are widely present among sexual eukaryotes. The presence of these genes indicates that: (1) Giardia is capable of meiosis and, thus, sexual reproduction, (2) the evolution of meiosis occurred early in eukaryotic evolution, and (3) the conserved meiotic machinery comprises a large set of genes that encode a variety of component proteins, including those involved in meiotic recombination.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A Phylogenomic Inventory of Meiotic Genes: Evidence for Sex in Giardia and an Early Eukaryotic Origin of Meiosis
- Creators
- Marilee A Ramesh - Department of Biology, Roanoke College, Salem, VA 24153 USAShehre-Banoo Malik - Department of Biological Sciences, Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USAJohn M Logsdon - Department of Biological Sciences, Roy J. Carver Center for Comparative Genomics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Current biology, Vol.15(2), pp.185-191
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2005.01.003
- PMID
- 15668177
- NLM abbreviation
- Curr Biol
- ISSN
- 0960-9822
- eISSN
- 1879-0445
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/26/2005
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Record Identifier
- 9984217536002771
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