For 10,000 years pigs and humans have shared a close and complex relationship. From domestication to modern breeding practices, humans have shaped the genomes of domestic pigs. Here we present the assembly and analysis of the genome sequence of a female domestic Duroc pig (Sus scrofa) and a comparison with the genomes of wild and domestic pigs from Europe and Asia. Wild pigs emerged in South East Asia and subsequently spread across Eurasia. Our results reveal a deep phylogenetic split between European and Asian wild boars ∼1 million years ago, and a selective sweep analysis indicates selection on genes involved in RNA processing and regulation. Genes associated with immune response and olfaction exhibit fast evolution. Pigs have the largest repertoire of functional olfactory receptor genes, reflecting the importance of smell in this scavenging animal. The pig genome sequence provides an important resource for further improvements of this important livestock species, and our identification of many putative disease-causing variants extends the potential of the pig as a biomedical model.

The genome of the zebra finch — a songbird and a model for the study of vertebrate brain, behaviour and evolution — has been sequenced. Its comparison with the chicken genome, the only other bird genome available, shows that genes with neural function and implicated in cognitive processing of song have been rapidly evolving in the finch lineage. The study also shows that vocal communication engages much of the zebra finch brain transcriptome and identifies a potential integrator of microRNA signals linked to vocal communication. The genome of the zebra finch — a songbird and a model for studying the vertebrate brain, behaviour and evolution — has been sequenced. Comparison with the chicken genome, the only other bird genome available, shows that genes that have neural function and are implicated in the cognitive processing of song have been evolving rapidly in the finch lineage. Moreover, vocal communication engages much of the transcriptome of the zebra finch brain. 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 origins of neural systems remain unresolved. In contrast to other basal metazoans, ctenophores (comb jellies) have both complex nervous and mesoderm-derived muscular systems. These holoplanktonic predators also have sophisticated ciliated locomotion, behaviour and distinct development. Here we present the draft genome of Pleurobrachia bachei, Pacific sea gooseberry, together with ten other ctenophore transcriptomes, and show that they are remarkably distinct from other animal genomes in their content of neurogenic, immune and developmental genes. Our integrative analyses place Ctenophora as the earliest lineage within Metazoa. This hypothesis is supported by comparative analysis of multiple gene families, including the apparent absence of HOX genes, canonical microRNA machinery, and reduced immune complement in ctenophores. Although two distinct nervous systems are well recognized in ctenophores, many bilaterian neuron-specific genes and genes of ‘classical’ neurotransmitter pathways either are absent or, if present, are not expressed in neurons. Our metabolomic and physiological data are consistent with the hypothesis that ctenophore neural systems, and possibly muscle specification, evolved independently from those in other animals.

High-resolution, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of 5-nanoliter samples have been obtained with much higher mass sensitivity [signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) per micromole] than with traditional methods. Arginine and sucrose show a mean sensitivity enhancement of 130 compared to 278-microliter samples run in a 5-millimeter tube in a conventional, commercial probe. This can reduce data acquisition time by a factor of >16,000 or reduce the needed sample mass by a factor of about 130. A linewidth of 0.6 hertz was achieved on a 300-megahertz spectrometer by matching the magnetic susceptibility of the medium that surrounds the detection cell to that of the copper coil. For sucrose, the limit of detection (defined at S/N = 3) was 19 nanograms (56 picomoles) for a 1-minute data acquisition. This technique should prove useful with mass-limited samples and for use as a detector in capillary separations.

Bioactive peptides (i.e., neuropeptides or peptide hormones) represent the largest class of cell-cell signaling molecules in metazoans and are potent regulators of neural and physiological function. In vertebrates, peptide hormones play an integral role in endocrine signaling between the brain and the gonads that controls reproductive development, yet few of these molecules have been shown to influence reproductive development in invertebrates. Here, we define a role for peptide hormones in controlling reproductive physiology of the model flatworm, the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. Based on our observation that defective neuropeptide processing results in defects in reproductive system development, we employed peptidomic and functional genomic approaches to characterize the planarian peptide hormone complement, identifying 51 prohormone genes and validating 142 peptides biochemically. Comprehensive in situ hybridization analyses of prohormone gene expression revealed the unanticipated complexity of the flatworm nervous system and identified a prohormone specifically expressed in the nervous system of sexually reproducing planarians. We show that this member of the neuropeptide Y superfamily is required for the maintenance of mature reproductive organs and differentiated germ cells in the testes. Additionally, comparative analyses of our biochemically validated prohormones with the genomes of the parasitic flatworms Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum identified new schistosome prohormones and validated half of all predicted peptide-encoding genes in these parasites. These studies describe the peptide hormone complement of a flatworm on a genome-wide scale and reveal a previously uncharacterized role for peptide hormones in flatworm reproduction. Furthermore, they suggest new opportunities for using planarians as free-living models for understanding the reproductive biology of flatworm parasites. Flatworms cause diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people, so understanding what influences their reproductive activity is of fundamental importance. Neurally derived signals have been suggested to coordinate sexual reproduction in free-living flatworms, yet the neuroendocrine signaling repertoire has not been characterized comprehensively for any flatworm. Neuropeptides are a large diverse group of cell-cell signaling molecules and play many roles in vertebrate reproductive development; however, little is known about their function in reproductive development among invertebrates. Here we use biochemical and bioinformatic techniques to identify bioactive peptides in the genome of the planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea and identify 51 genes encoding >200 peptides. Analysis of these genes in both sexual and asexual strains of S. mediterranea identified a neuropeptide Y superfamily member as important for the normal development and maintenance of the planarian reproductive system. We suggest that understanding peptide hormone function in planarian reproduction could have practical implications in the treatment of parasitic flatworms.