4月1日出版的英國(guó)《自然》雜志刊登報(bào)告說(shuō),，一個(gè)國(guó)際科研小組已完成對(duì)別稱“珍珠鳥(niǎo)”的斑胸草雀的基因組測(cè)序，由于這種歌聲動(dòng)聽(tīng)的鳥(niǎo)兒學(xué)習(xí)鳴叫的過(guò)程與人類學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言過(guò)程頗為相似,，測(cè)序結(jié)果將有助于研究人類語(yǔ)言的基因基礎(chǔ),。
該科研小組由美國(guó)、英國(guó),、德國(guó)等多國(guó)科研人員組成,。報(bào)告說(shuō)，“珍珠鳥(niǎo)”的基因組有約12億個(gè)堿基對(duì),，不到人類基因組的一半,。其中數(shù)百個(gè)基因被確認(rèn)與鳴叫有關(guān)。研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，當(dāng)“珍珠鳥(niǎo)”學(xué)習(xí)鳴叫規(guī)律時(shí),，大腦中的這些基因會(huì)產(chǎn)生非常復(fù)雜的“網(wǎng)絡(luò)反應(yīng)”，最終幫它學(xué)會(huì)特有的“歌聲”,。
參與研究的英國(guó)牛津大學(xué)教授克里斯·龐庭說(shuō),，通常人們認(rèn)為基因只是指導(dǎo)合成蛋白質(zhì)的藍(lán)圖，但這些基因在“珍珠鳥(niǎo)”學(xué)習(xí)鳴叫的過(guò)程中被激活,，然后會(huì)利用核糖核酸（RNA）去抑制其他一些與發(fā)聲有關(guān)的基因的作用,。深入研究這一復(fù)雜的過(guò)程將有助于探索導(dǎo)致人類口吃等語(yǔ)言疾病的機(jī)理。
據(jù)悉,，“珍珠鳥(niǎo)”基因組是繼雞基因組測(cè)序之后第二個(gè)被測(cè)定的鳥(niǎo)類基因組,。據(jù)介紹，在鳥(niǎo)類中首先測(cè)定雞的基因組有畜牧業(yè)等方面的考慮,，而實(shí)際上與雞相比,，“珍珠鳥(niǎo)”的基因組更靠近鳥(niǎo)類大家庭基因樹(shù)的主干，因此對(duì)兩者基因組的對(duì)比也將有助于研究鳥(niǎo)類進(jìn)化,。(生物谷Bioon.com)
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生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature08819
The genome of a songbird
Wesley C. Warren1, David F. Clayton2, Hans Ellegren3, Arthur P. Arnold4, LaDeana W. Hillier1, Axel Künstner3, Steve Searle5, Simon White5, Albert J. Vilella6, Susan Fairley5, Andreas Heger7, Lesheng Kong7, Chris P. Ponting7, Erich D. Jarvis8, Claudio V. Mello9, Pat Minx1, Peter Lovell9, Tarciso A. F. Velho9, Margaret Ferris2, Christopher N. Balakrishnan2, Saurabh Sinha2, Charles Blatti2, Sarah E. London2, Yun Li2, Ya-Chi Lin2, Julia George2, Jonathan Sweedler2, Bruce Southey2, Preethi Gunaratne10, Michael Watson11, Kiwoong Nam3, Niclas Backstr?m3, Linnea Smeds3, Benoit Nabholz3, Yuichiro Itoh4, Osceola Whitney8, Andreas R. Pfenning8, Jason Howard8, Martin V?lker11, Bejamin M. Skinner12, Darren K. Griffin12, Liang Ye1, William M. McLaren6, Paul Flicek6, Victor Quesada13, Gloria Velasco13, Carlos Lopez-Otin13, Xose S. Puente13, Tsviya Olender14, Doron Lancet14, Arian F. A. Smit15, Robert Hubley15, Miriam K. Konkel16, Jerilyn A. Walker16, Mark A. Batzer16, Wanjun Gu17, David D. Pollock17, Lin Chen18, Ze Cheng18, Evan E. Eichler18, Jessica Stapley18, Jon Slate19, Robert Ekblom19, Tim Birkhead19, Terry Burke19, David Burt20, Constance Scharff21, Iris Adam21, Hugues Richard22, Marc Sultan22, Alexey Soldatov22, Hans Lehrach22, Scott V. Edwards23, Shiaw-Pyng Yang24, XiaoChing Li25, Tina Graves1, Lucinda Fulton1, Joanne Nelson1, Asif Chinwalla1, Shunfeng Hou1, Elaine R. Mardis1 & Richard K. Wilson1
The zebra finch is an important model organism in several fields1, 2 with unique relevance to human neuroscience3, 4. Like other songbirds, the zebra finch communicates through learned vocalizations, an ability otherwise documented only in humans and a few other animals and lacking in the chicken5—the only bird with a sequenced genome until now6. Here we present a structural, functional and comparative analysis of the genome sequence of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), which is a songbird belonging to the large avian order Passeriformes7. We find that the overall structures of the genomes are similar in zebra finch and chicken, but they differ in many intrachromosomal rearrangements, lineage-specific gene family expansions, the number of long-terminal-repeat-based retrotransposons, and mechanisms of sex chromosome dosage compensation. We show that song behaviour engages gene regulatory networks in the zebra finch brain, altering the expression of long non-coding RNAs, microRNAs, transcription factors and their targets. We also show evidence for rapid molecular evolution in the songbird lineage of genes that are regulated during song experience. These results indicate an active involvement of the genome in neural processes underlying vocal communication and identify potential genetic substrates for the evolution and regulation of this behaviour.
The Genome Center, Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 8501, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 61801 USA
Uppsala University, Institute for Evolution and Genetics Systems, Norbyv?gen 18D 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
University of California- Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90056, USA
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
EMBL-EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
MRC Functional Genomics Unit, University of Oxford, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QX, UK
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Box 3209, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA
Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
Department of Bioinformatics, Institute for Animal Health, Compton Berks RG20 7NN, UK
Department of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NJ, UK
Instituto Universitario de Oncologia, Departamento de Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular, Universidad de Oviedo, 33006-Oviedo, Spain
Crown Human Genome Center, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Institute for Systems Biology, 1441 North 34th Street, Seattle, Washington 98103-8904, USA
Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Building, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Mail Stop 8101, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA
University of Washington, Genome Sciences, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh University, EH25 9OS, UK
Freie Universitaet Berlin, Institut Biology, Takustr.6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Department of Vertebrate Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, IhnestraBe 73 14195 Berlin, Germany
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Monsanto Company, 800 North Lindbergh Boulevard, St Louis, Missouri 63167, USA
Neuroscience Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, USA
