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Microevolution of Cryptococcus neoformans Driven by Massive Tandem Gene Amplification

Overview of attention for article published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, February 2012
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (87th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (66th percentile)

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Title
Microevolution of Cryptococcus neoformans Driven by Massive Tandem Gene Amplification
Published in
Molecular Biology and Evolution, February 2012
DOI 10.1093/molbev/mss066
Pubmed ID
Authors

Eve W.L. Chow, Carl A. Morrow, Julianne T. Djordjevic, Ian A. Wood, James A. Fraser

Abstract

The subtelomeric regions of organisms ranging from protists to fungi undergo a much higher rate of rearrangement than is observed in the rest of the genome. While characterizing these ~40-kb regions of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, we have identified a recent gene amplification event near the right telomere of chromosome 3 that involves a gene encoding an arsenite efflux transporter (ARR3). The 3,177-bp amplicon exists in a tandem array of 2-15 copies and is present exclusively in strains with the C. neoformans var. grubii subclade VNI A5 MLST profile. Strains bearing the amplification display dramatically enhanced resistance to arsenite that correlates with the copy number of the repeat; the origin of increased resistance was verified as transport-related by functional complementation of an arsenite transporter mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Subsequent experimental evolution in the presence of increasing concentrations of arsenite yielded highly resistant strains with the ARR3 amplicon further amplified to over 50 copies, accounting for up to ~1% of the whole genome and making the copy number of this repeat as high as that seen for the ribosomal DNA. The example described here therefore represents a rare evolutionary intermediate-an array that is currently in a state of dynamic flux, in dramatic contrast to relatively common, static relics of past tandem duplications that are unable to further amplify due to nucleotide divergence. Beyond identifying and engineering fungal isolates that are highly resistant to arsenite and describing the first reported instance of microevolution via massive gene amplification in C. neoformans, these results suggest that adaptation through gene amplification may be an important mechanism that C. neoformans employs in response to environmental stresses, perhaps including those encountered during infection. More importantly, the ARR3 array will serve as an ideal model for further molecular genetic analyses of how tandem gene duplications arise and expand.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 49 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 49 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 15 31%
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 27%
Student > Master 5 10%
Student > Bachelor 3 6%
Other 3 6%
Other 6 12%
Unknown 4 8%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 26 53%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 16%
Medicine and Dentistry 4 8%
Immunology and Microbiology 3 6%
Psychology 1 2%
Other 2 4%
Unknown 5 10%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 9. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 August 2012.
All research outputs
#3,580,643
of 22,663,150 outputs
Outputs from Molecular Biology and Evolution
#1,891
of 4,917 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#31,894
of 250,850 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Molecular Biology and Evolution
#17
of 51 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,663,150 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 84th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,917 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 16.2. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 250,850 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 51 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.