Chez les plantes, la dynamique structurelle et l'évolution concertée des génomes nucléaire et cytoplasmiques restent peu documentées. L'objectif de cette thèse était d'étudier la diversité structurelle et l'évolution des mitogénomes et des plastomes chez les Oleaceae à l'aide d'une approche de phylogénomique. Nous avons d'abord assemblé des mitogénomes à partir de données de séquençage de faible couverture, obtenues à partir de matériel frais et d'herbier. Une grande variation de structure du mitogénome a été observée chez l'olivier, et un gène chimérique potentiellement associé à un type de stérilité mâle a été identifié. Enfin, nous avons étudié l'évolution des plastomes et des gènes mitochondriaux chez les Oleaceae. Une accélération de l'évolution du plastome a été observée dans deux lignées indépendantes. Ce changement de trajectoire évolutive pourrait être la conséquence d'une transmission occasionnelle de plastes par le pollen, modifiant les pressions sélectives sur certains gènes. / In plants, the structural dynamics and concerted evolution of nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes are poorly understood. The objective of this thesis was to study the structural diversity and evolution of mitogenomes and plastomes in the family Oleaceae with a phylogenomic approach. First, we assembled mitogenomes from low-coverage sequencing data obtained from live and herbarium material. Considerable structural variation of mitogenomes was observed in the olive, and a chimeric gene potentially associated to a type of male sterility was detected. Finally, we studied the evolution of plastomes and mitochondrial genes in the Oleaceae. Accelerated evolution of plastomes was observed in two independent lineages. This change of evolutionary rate could be the consequence of an occasional transmission of plastids with pollen, modifying selective pressures on some genes.

Organellar genomes are remnants of more complex bacterial genomes reduced until reach the simplest and most efficient content. Regularly depicted as circular, these genomes can form other structures, like linear, ramified, or entangled chromosomes, or a combination of those. Nonetheless, their gene content is nearly constant throughout flowering plants based on the multiple plastid genomes (plastomes) and the comparatively few mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) sequenced to date. Here, I explored the evolution of the organellar genomes in orchids from a phylogenetic perspective. For this research, plastomes and mitogenomes were assembled from short pair-ended reads obtained using Illumina sequencing technology. I developed a workflow to confidently recover plastid and mitochondrial sequences, even for regions without references in databases (chapter 1). The comparison among taxa from all orchid subfamilies identified patterns of gain, loss and rearrangement of coding and non-coding DNA. Plastid and mitochondrial protein-coding genes present in all samples were used to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of orchids that was coincident in terms of topology (chapter 1). Plastomes can suffer degradation in heterotrophic species, however that is not true for mixotrophic species, as I discovered by comparing albino and green individuals of the orchid Epipactis helleborine. I found that albino plants did not suffer loss of any genes and that the sequence was almost identical to the photosynthetic plants (chapter 2). In contrast to what it is observed in angiosperm plastomes, for which the structure, content and size is conserved, plant mitogenomes are highly variable in size, which can increase by the acquisition of external DNA via horizontal gene transfer. In some orchids, the mitogenome hosts a sixteen-gene sequence transferred from a fungal mitogenome to a clade of epidendroid orchids 12-60 My ago, and has been fragmented, conserved, or fully lost since (chapter 3). Transfer RNA genes are variable in number and origin throughout orchid evolution. I identified that they had four different sources, three novel possible replacement events of the native genes with plastid-origin genes, seven tRNA remodeling events in orchids and three more in other angiosperms (chapter 4). Our comparative studies conclude that there are three main dynamics that shape the organellar genomes: gain, loss and rearrangement of genomic content. I presented examples of them in orchids (chapter 5). Additionally, I created two sets of genomic resources: one comprises eighteen new orchid mitogenomes and plastomes, and the second consists of a well-curated set of references of tRNA genes in mitogenomes discriminated by origin. These results contribute to increasing the knowledge of angiosperm organellar genomes and highlight the importance of comprehensive studies that allow the interpretation of the genomic changes in the light of the phylogenetic evolution.

During the last decades, mitochondria and their DNA have become a hot topic of research due to their essential roles which are necessary for cells survival and pathology. In this study, multiple methods have been developed to help with the understanding of mitochondrial DNA and its evolution. These methods tackle two essential problems in this area: the accurate annotation of protein-coding genes and mitochondrial genome rearrangements. Mitochondrial genome sequences are published nowadays with increasing pace, which creates the need for accurate and fast annotation tools that do not require manual intervention. In this work, an automated pipeline for fast de-novo annotation of mitochondrial protein-coding genes is implemented. The pipeline includes methods for enhancing multiple sequence alignment, detecting frameshifts and building protein profiles guided by phylogeny. The methods are tested on animal mitogenomes available in RefSeq, the comparison with reference annotations highlights the high quality of the produced annotations. Furthermore, the frameshift method predicted a large number of frameshifts, many of which were unknown. Additionally, an efficient partially-local alignment method to investigate genomic rearrangements in mitochondrial genomes is presented in this study. The method is novel and introduces a partially-local dynamic programming algorithm on three sequences around the breakpoint region. Unlike the existing methods which study the rearrangement at the genes order level, this method allows to investigate the rearrangement on the molecular level with nucleotides precision. The algorithm is tested on both artificial data and real mitochondrial genomic sequences. Surprisingly, a large fraction of rearrangements involve the duplication of local sequences. Since the implemented approach only requires relatively short parts of genomic sequence around a breakpoint, it should be applicable to non-mitochondrial studies as well.

Resumo: Formigas cortadeiras do gênero Atta, popularmente conhecidas como saúvas, são as mais derivadas dentro da tribo Attini. Apresentam grande importância ecológica, porém, pelo hábito de cortarem folhas para manutenção do fungo simbionte e pelo enorme tamanho das colônias, causam muitos prejuízos às lavouras, pastagens e plantações, sendo consideradas pragas agrícolas. Atta laevigata Smith, 1858 apresenta vasta distribuição pelo Brasil e é responsável pela herbivoria de inúmeras plantas dicotiledôneas, gramíneas e espécies nativas de diferentes biomas. O presente trabalho teve como objetivos a caracterização parcial do transcriptoma e do genoma mitocondrial de A. laevigata. Foram caracterizadas 2006 sequências únicas do transcriptoma, a partir de uma biblioteca de cDNA preparada com indivíduos inteiros da formiga. Entre essas sequências, 16 provavelmente representam genes com grande número de transcritos. Esses 16 genes estão relacionados a três funções celulares: (i) conservação de energia através de reações redox na mitocôndria; (ii) estrutural, pelo citoesqueleto e músculos; (iii) regulação da expressão gênica e metabolismo. Considerando o estilo de vida e processos biológicos chaves para essas formigas, 146 sequências foram identificadas com base na sua utilização para o controle de cortadeiras pragas. A partir de dados da biblioteca de cDNA e procedimentos envolvendo primer walking, o genoma mitocondrial de A. laevigata foi parcialmente caracterizado, apresentandose com 17920 pb, maior, portanto, do que outros já descritos em Hymenoptera, mesmo considerando-se a impossibilidade de determinação da sequência de uma pequena porção do mtDNA, envolvendo a região controle, uma parte do 12S e os tRNAs S1, V e M. Como já descrito para outros mitogenomas, o de A. laevigata apresentou alto conteúdo AT, os mesmos 13 genes codificadores... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Leafcutter ants from Atta genus, popularly known as "saúvas", are the most derived of the tribe Attini. They have major ecological importance, but, because of their habit of cutting leaves for the maintenance of the symbiotic fungus and the huge colony size, they impose severe economic damages to plantations, pastures, and agriculture, being considered as agriculture pests. Atta laevigata shows wide distribution in Brazil and it is responsible for the herbivory of many dicots, grass, and native species from different biomes. The present work aimed to characterize the transcriptome and the mitochondrial genome of A. laevigata. 2,006 unique sequences of the transcriptome were characterized from a cDNA library constructed with whole individuals. Among those sequences, 16 are likely from genes with high number of transcripts. Those 16 genes are related with three cellular functions: (i) energy conservation through redox reactions in mitochondria; (ii) cytoskeleton and muscle structuring; (iii) regulation of gene expression and metabolism. Based on lifestyle and key biological processes of these ants, 146 sequences were identified with potential use for controlling pest leafcutters. Using data from cDNA library and primer walking proceedings, the mitochondrial genome of A. laevigata was partially characterized with 17,920 bp, being larger than the others already described for Hymenoptera. A small part of the mtDNA was not sequenced, including the control region, a portion of 12S and tRNAs S1, V, and M. As described before for other mitogenomes, A. laevigata mtDNA displayed high AT contain, the same 13 proteincoding genes and the two ribosomal subunits with length and location according to the hypothetic ancestral mitogenome. Rearrangements were found for the tRNAs, but the most remarkable difference were the high number and longer length of intergenic regions presented in the mtDNA... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: Maurício Bacci Júnior / Coorientador: Henrique Ferreira / Banca: Flavio Henrique da Silva / Banca: Marco Antonio del Lama / Banca: Mariana Lúcio Lyra / Banca: Klaus Hartmann Hartfelder / Doutor

Parmi les grillons de la sous-famille Eneopterinae, Cardiodactylus Saussure, 1878 (Orthoptera : Eneopterinae : Lebinthini) est le genre avec le plus grand nombre d’espèces et le plus largement distribué. Il comprend 82 espèces organisées en deux groupes d'espèces (groupes Noveaguineae et Efordi). L’aire de distribution des espèces englobe des centaines d'îles et de territoires allant des côtes de l'Asie du Sud-Est aux îles Samoa. Les espèces de Cardiodactylus présentent des patrons de distribution contrastés, certaines étant fortement endémiques tandis que d'autres sont distribuées dans toute la région du Pacifique occidental. Cette diversité, conjuguée au riche contexte géologique des régions de l'Asie du Sud-Est et du Pacifique, offre de grandes opportunités pour aborder des questions biogéographiques et étudier la dynamique de la diversification insulaire. Malgré les efforts récents pour améliorer les connaissances taxonomiques de Cardiodactylus, la diversité du genre est telle que de nombreuses nouvelles espèces restent encore à découvrir. Dans un premier temps, des études taxonomiques fondées sur des données morphologiques, moléculaires et acoustiques ont permis de décrire cinq nouvelles espèces de Nouvelle-Guinée orientale et de redécrire deux espèces. Dans un second temps, la phylogénie moléculaire de Cardiodactylus a été reconstruite. Les résultats soutiennent la monophylie du genre, des espèces testées et du groupe d'espèces Novaeguineae. Le groupe d'espèces Efordi est clairement paraphylétique, ce qui tend à confirmer la présence d'un troisième groupe d'espèces, comme le suggère l'étude taxonomique. Selon l'analyse de biogéographie historique, l'origine de Cardiodactylus se situe dans le Pacifique Ouest au cours de l'Éocène moyen (environ 42 Ma). Cardiodactylus a ensuite colonisé l'Asie du Sud-Est depuis l'Est vers l’Ouest via une zone de transition correspondant à la Nouvelle-Guinée, et ce en empruntant trois chemins indépendants : Java, Sulawesi et les Philippines. Ce travail montre que la grande diversité de Cardiodactylus en Asie du Sud-Est s’est mise en place au Miocène à travers l'accumulation d’événements de diversification in situ et d'événements d’immigration. Dans un troisième temps, un protocole et des jeux d'amorces ont été mis au point pour amplifier les mitogénomes de grillons. La méthode a été illustrée par l'amplification du mitogénome de l'espèce Cardiodactylus muiri Otte, 2007 par une approche de PCR longue associée au séquençage de nouvelle génération. Le but de ce travail est d'obtenir des données moléculaires plus informatives à faible coût, mais avec une couverture taxonomique élevée pour de futures reconstructions phylogénétiques. / Among the crickets of the subfamily Eneopterinae, Cardiodactylus Saussure, 1878 (Orthoptera: Eneopterinae: Lebinthini) is the most speciose and widely distributed genus. It consists of 82 species organized in two species groups (Noveaguineae and Efordi species groups). The species distributions encompass hundreds of islands and territories ranging from the coasts of Southeast Asia to the Samoan islands. Cardiodactylus species show contrastive distribution patterns, some being highly endemic while others are distributed in the whole Western Pacific region. This diversity coupled with the rich geological context of the Southeast Asian and Pacific regions, offers great opportunities to address biogeographical questions and investigate the dynamics of diversification in islands.Despite recent efforts to improve the taxonomical knowledge of Cardiodactylus, its diversity is so high that many new species still continue to be discovered. In a first stage, taxonomic studies based on morphological, molecular and acoustic data led to the description of five new species from Eastern New Guinea and to the redescription of two species. In a second stage, the molecular phylogeny of Cardiodactylus was reconstructed. The results support the monophyly of the genus, of the tested species, and of the Novaeguineae species group. The Efordi species group is clearly found paraphyletic, which tends to confirm the presence of a third species group, as suggested by the taxonomical study. According to the historical biogeographic analysis, the origin of Cardiodactylus was recovered in the Western Pacific during the Mid-Eocene (ca. 42 Ma). Through the transition zone of New Guinea, Cardiodactylus colonized Southeast Asia from East to West through three independent passageways: Java, Sulawesi and the Philippines. This work showed that the high diversity of Southeast Asian Cardiodactylus took place during the Miocene, as a result of accumulation of in situ diversification and immigration events. In a third stage, a protocol and sets of primers were designed to amplify mitogenomes in crickets. The method was exemplified by amplifying the mitogenome of the species Cardiodactylus muiri Otte, 2007 with a long-PCR approach combined with Next-Generation Sequencing. The purpose of this work is to obtain more informative molecular data with relatively low-cost but high taxonomic coverage for future phylogenetic reconstructions.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-24Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:41:10Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rodovalho_cm_dr_rcla.pdf: 1352309 bytes, checksum: b91a746d690f5903c39601146a591fab (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Formigas cortadeiras do gênero Atta, popularmente conhecidas como saúvas, são as mais derivadas dentro da tribo Attini. Apresentam grande importância ecológica, porém, pelo hábito de cortarem folhas para manutenção do fungo simbionte e pelo enorme tamanho das colônias, causam muitos prejuízos às lavouras, pastagens e plantações, sendo consideradas pragas agrícolas. Atta laevigata Smith, 1858 apresenta vasta distribuição pelo Brasil e é responsável pela herbivoria de inúmeras plantas dicotiledôneas, gramíneas e espécies nativas de diferentes biomas. O presente trabalho teve como objetivos a caracterização parcial do transcriptoma e do genoma mitocondrial de A. laevigata. Foram caracterizadas 2006 sequências únicas do transcriptoma, a partir de uma biblioteca de cDNA preparada com indivíduos inteiros da formiga. Entre essas sequências, 16 provavelmente representam genes com grande número de transcritos. Esses 16 genes estão relacionados a três funções celulares: (i) conservação de energia através de reações redox na mitocôndria; (ii) estrutural, pelo citoesqueleto e músculos; (iii) regulação da expressão gênica e metabolismo. Considerando o estilo de vida e processos biológicos chaves para essas formigas, 146 sequências foram identificadas com base na sua utilização para o controle de cortadeiras pragas. A partir de dados da biblioteca de cDNA e procedimentos envolvendo primer walking, o genoma mitocondrial de A. laevigata foi parcialmente caracterizado, apresentandose com 17920 pb, maior, portanto, do que outros já descritos em Hymenoptera, mesmo considerando-se a impossibilidade de determinação da sequência de uma pequena porção do mtDNA, envolvendo a região controle, uma parte do 12S e os tRNAs S1, V e M. Como já descrito para outros mitogenomas, o de A. laevigata apresentou alto conteúdo AT, os mesmos 13 genes codificadores... / Leafcutter ants from Atta genus, popularly known as “saúvas”, are the most derived of the tribe Attini. They have major ecological importance, but, because of their habit of cutting leaves for the maintenance of the symbiotic fungus and the huge colony size, they impose severe economic damages to plantations, pastures, and agriculture, being considered as agriculture pests. Atta laevigata shows wide distribution in Brazil and it is responsible for the herbivory of many dicots, grass, and native species from different biomes. The present work aimed to characterize the transcriptome and the mitochondrial genome of A. laevigata. 2,006 unique sequences of the transcriptome were characterized from a cDNA library constructed with whole individuals. Among those sequences, 16 are likely from genes with high number of transcripts. Those 16 genes are related with three cellular functions: (i) energy conservation through redox reactions in mitochondria; (ii) cytoskeleton and muscle structuring; (iii) regulation of gene expression and metabolism. Based on lifestyle and key biological processes of these ants, 146 sequences were identified with potential use for controlling pest leafcutters. Using data from cDNA library and primer walking proceedings, the mitochondrial genome of A. laevigata was partially characterized with 17,920 bp, being larger than the others already described for Hymenoptera. A small part of the mtDNA was not sequenced, including the control region, a portion of 12S and tRNAs S1, V, and M. As described before for other mitogenomes, A. laevigata mtDNA displayed high AT contain, the same 13 proteincoding genes and the two ribosomal subunits with length and location according to the hypothetic ancestral mitogenome. Rearrangements were found for the tRNAs, but the most remarkable difference were the high number and longer length of intergenic regions presented in the mtDNA... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Humans evolved in a world of giant creatures. Current evidence suggests that most ice age megafauna went extinct around the transition to our current Holocene epoch. The ecological reverberations associated with the loss of over 65% of Earth’s largest terrestrial animals transformed ecosystems and human lifeways forever thereafter. However, there is still substantial debate as to the cause of this mass extinction. Evidence variously supports climate change and anthropogenic factors as primary drivers in the restructuring of the terrestrial biosphere. Much of the ongoing debate is driven by the insufficient resolution accessible via macro-remains. To help fill in the gaps in our understandings of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, I utilized the growing power of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) to reconstruct shifting signals of plants and animals in central Yukon. To date, sedaDNA has typically been analyzed by amplifying small, taxonomically informative regions. However, this approach is not ideally suited to the degraded characteristics of sedaDNA and ignores most of the potential data. Means of isolating sedaDNA have also suffered from the use of overly aggressive purification techniques resulting in substantial loss. To address these limitations, I first experimentally developed a novel means of releasing and isolating sedaDNA. Secondly, I developed a novel environmental bait-set designed to simultaneously capture DNA informative of macro-scale ecosystems. When combined, we identify a substantial improvement in the quantity and breadth of biomolecules recovered. These optimizations facilitated the unexpected discovery of horse and mammoth surviving thousands of years after their supposed extirpation. I followed up these results by extracting DNA from multiple permafrost cores where we confirm the late survival signal and identify a far more complex and high-resolution dataset beyond those identifiable by complementary methods. I was also able to reconstruct mitochondrial genomes from multiple megafauna simultaneously solely from sediment, demonstrating the information potential of sedaDNA. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / A new addition to the rapidly growing field of palaeogenetics is environmental DNA (eDNA) with its immense wealth of biomolecules preserved over millennia outside of biological tissues. Organisms are constantly shedding cells, and while most of this DNA is metabolized or otherwise degraded, some small fraction is preserved through sedimentary mineral-binding. I experimentally developed new ancient eDNA methods for recovery, isolation, and analysis to maximize our access to these biomolecules and demonstrate that this novel approach outperforms alternative protocols. Thereafter, I used these methods to extract DNA from ice age permafrost samples dating between 30,000–6,000 years before present. These data demonstrate the power of ancient eDNA for reconstructing ecosystem change through time, as well as identifying evidence for the Holocene survival of caballine horse and woolly mammoth in continental North America. This late persistence of Pleistocene fauna has implications for understanding the human ecological and climatological factors involved in the Late Pleistocene mass extinction event. This effort is paralleled with megafaunal mitogenomic assembly and phylogenetics solely from sediment. This thesis demonstrates that environmental DNA can significantly augment macro-scale buried records in palaeoecology.