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A second corticotropin-releasing hormone gene (CRH2) is conserved across vertebrate classes and expressed in the hindbrain of a basal neopterygian fish, the spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus).

The Journal of comparative neurology | 2015

To investigate the origins of the vertebrate stress-response system, we searched sequenced vertebrate genomes for genes resembling corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). We found that vertebrate genomes possess, in addition to CRH, another gene that resembles CRH in sequence and syntenic environment. This paralogous gene was previously identified only in the elephant shark (a holocephalan), but we find it also in marsupials, monotremes, lizards, turtles, birds, and fishes. We examined the relationship of this second vertebrate CRH gene, which we name CRH2, to CRH1 (previously known as CRH) and urocortin1/urotensin1 (UCN1/UTS1) in primitive fishes, teleosts, and tetrapods. The paralogs CRH1 and CRH2 likely evolved via duplication of CRH during a whole-genome duplication early in the vertebrate lineage. CRH2 was subsequently lost in both teleost fishes and eutherian mammals but retained in other lineages. To determine where CRH2 is expressed relative to CRH1 and UTS1, we used in situ hybridization on brain tissue from spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), a neopterygian fish closely related to teleosts. In situ hybridization revealed widespread distribution of both crh1 and uts1 in the brain. Expression of crh2 was restricted to the putative secondary gustatory/secondary visceral nucleus, which also expressed calcitonin-related polypeptide alpha (calca), a marker of parabrachial nucleus in mammals. Thus, the evolutionary history of CRH2 includes restricted expression in the brain, sequence changes, and gene loss, likely reflecting release of selective constraints following whole-genome duplication. The discovery of CRH2 opens many new possibilities for understanding the diverse functions of the CRH family of peptides across vertebrates.

Pubmed ID: 25521515 RIS Download

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NIS-Elements Basic Research (software resource)

RRID:SCR_002776

Software tool for acquisition and device control for standard research applications, requiring four dimensional imaging. Provides access to advanced image capture, archiving, and analysis solutions that are easy-to-use and provide maximum workflow. Handles multi dimensional imaging with support for capture, display, data management, analysis and additional options for peripheral device control, and multi-dimensional acquisition. Provides advanced image processing options such as database capabilities and report generation, intensity over time measurement, and Extended Depth of Focus functionality.

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Adobe Photoshop (software resource)

RRID:SCR_002078

Software for image processing, analysis, and editing. The software includes features such as touch capabilities, a customizable toolbar, 2D and 3D image merging, and Cloud access and options.

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Pre Ensembl (data analysis service)

RRID:SCR_006766

Database of genomes that are in the process of being annotated are provided as an early access site for users. Genomes are here when the initial BLAST analysis on a new assembly has been done but the gene build has not been completed. Owing to the preliminary nature of the data, Pre-Ensembl provides views of the assembly, BLAST against the assembly and download of portions of the assembly - and little else. A number of ready-made tools for processing your data are also available. In general a full Ensembl release takes months depending on how complex the data are and the time constraints of people in the team. Occasionally a more complete gene build will be released on this site, but without any comparative genomics, variation or other additional data. Many other species with fully annotated genomic data, more website features and documentation are available at www.ensembl.org

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RRID:SCR_011811

Software package as multiple alignment program for amino acid or nucleotide sequences. Can align up to 500 sequences or maximum file size of 1 MB. First version of MAFFT used algorithm based on progressive alignment, in which sequences were clustered with help of Fast Fourier Transform. Subsequent versions have added other algorithms and modes of operation, including options for faster alignment of large numbers of sequences, higher accuracy alignments, alignment of non-coding RNA sequences, and addition of new sequences to existing alignments.

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GENSCAN (service resource)

RRID:SCR_013362

Web server for identification of complete gene structures in genomic DNA.Tool for predicting locations and exon-intron structures of genes in genomic sequences from variety of organisms. Used for prediction of complete gene structures in human genomic DNA.

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Ensembl (software resource)

RRID:SCR_002344

Collection of genome databases for vertebrates and other eukaryotic species with DNA and protein sequence search capabilities. Used to automatically annotate genome, integrate this annotation with other available biological data and make data publicly available via web. Ensembl tools include BLAST, BLAT, BioMart and the Variant Effect Predictor (VEP) for all supported species.

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GenBank (data repository)

RRID:SCR_002760

NIH genetic sequence database that provides annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences for almost 280 000 formally described species (Jan 2014) .These sequences are obtained primarily through submissions from individual laboratories and batch submissions from large-scale sequencing projects, including whole-genome shotgun (WGS) and environmental sampling projects. Most submissions are made using web-based BankIt or standalone Sequin programs, and GenBank staff assigns accession numbers upon data receipt. It is part of International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration and daily data exchange with European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) ensures worldwide coverage. GenBank is accessible through NCBI Entrez retrieval system, which integrates data from major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome, mapping, protein structure and domain information, and biomedical journal literature via PubMed. BLAST provides sequence similarity searches of GenBank and other sequence databases. Complete bimonthly releases and daily updates of GenBank database are available by FTP.

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