Evolutionary and Expression Analysis of MOV10 and MOV10L1 Reveals Their Origin, Duplication and Divergence

MOV10 and MOV10L1 both encode ATP-dependent RNA helicases. In mammals, MOV10 and MOV10L1 participate in various kinds of biological contexts, such as defense of RNA virus invasion, neuron system, germ cell and early development. However, mov10 and mov10l1 in zebrafish are obscure and the evolutionary relationships of mov10 among different species remain unclear. In this study, we found MOV10 and MOV10L1 had some variations despite they possessed the conserved feature of RNA helicase, however, they may originate from a single ancestor although they shared limited homology. A single MOV10L1 gene existed among all species, while MOV10 gene experienced lineage-specific intra-chromosomal gene duplication in several species. Interestingly, the mov10 gene expanded to three in zebrafish, which originating from a duplication by whole genome specific duplication of teleost lineage followed by a specific intra-chromosome tandem duplication. The mov10 and mov10l1 showed distinct expression profiles in early stages, however, in adult zebrafish, three mov10 genes exhibited similar diverse expression patterns in almost all tissues. We also demonstrated mov10 genes were upregulated upon virus challenge, highlighting they had redundant conserved roles in virus infection. These results provide valuable data for the evolution of MOV10 and MOV10L1 and they are important to the further functional exploration.

Automated summary

This study found that MOV10 and MOV10L1 have some variations in zebrafish, but they may originate from a single ancestor. They showed different expression profiles in early development stages but similar patterns in adult zebrafish. Moreover, these genes were upregulated upon virus challenge, indicating their redundant conserved roles in virus infection.