The growing number of complete genome sequences provides an unprecedented way to study many biological questions. In my study, I aim to study lineage specific features through comparative genomics of available genomes. To delineate the relationships among the species studied, mitochondria sequences were used to construct a phylogenetic tree of vertebrates. Based on the phylogenetics tree, genealogical history of the GABA(A) receptor gene family was reconstructed through comparing patterns of the gene structures, genomic clusterings and sequence contexts of family members. Investigation of the gene family leads to further inquiry on the primate specific genomic features. Alu transposons, which are the predominant and primate-specific insertions, are still active in primate genomes. Recen...[ Read more ]

The growing number of complete genome sequences provides an unprecedented way to study many biological questions. In my study, I aim to study lineage specific features through comparative genomics of available genomes. To delineate the relationships among the species studied, mitochondria sequences were used to construct a phylogenetic tree of vertebrates. Based on the phylogenetics tree, genealogical history of the GABA(A) receptor gene family was reconstructed through comparing patterns of the gene structures, genomic clusterings and sequence contexts of family members. Investigation of the gene family leads to further inquiry on the primate specific genomic features. Alu transposons, which are the predominant and primate-specific insertions, are still active in primate genomes. Recently inserted Alu elements are not distributed evenly on human genome. Regions, such as pericentromeric region of human chromosome 19 short arm, contain high density of new Alu insertions. The relationships between Alu insertions and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in human genome were also examined.