Schiffer, P;
Gravemeyer, J;
Rauscher, M;
Wiehe, T;
(2016)
Ultra Large Gene Families: A Matter of Adaptation or Genomic Parasites?
Life
, 6
(3)
p. 32.
10.3390/life6030032.
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Abstract
ene duplication is an important mechanism of molecular evolution. It offers a fast track to modification, diversification, redundancy or rescue of gene function. However, duplication may also be neutral or (slightly) deleterious, and often ends in pseudo-geneisation. Here, we investigate the phylogenetic distribution of ultra large gene families on long and short evolutionary time scales. In particular, we focus on a family of NACHT-domain and leucine-rich-repeat-containing (NLR)-genes, which we previously found in large numbers to occupy one chromosome arm of the zebrafish genome. We were interested to see whether such a tight clustering is characteristic for ultra large gene families. Our data reconfirm that most gene family inflations are lineage-specific, but we can only identify very few gene clusters. Based on our observations we hypothesise that, beyond a certain size threshold, ultra large gene families continue to proliferate in a mechanism we term “run-away evolution”. This process might ultimately lead to the failure of genomic integrity and drive species to extinction.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ultra Large Gene Families: A Matter of Adaptation or Genomic Parasites? |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/life6030032 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life6030032 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0). |
| Keywords: | gene family; genome evolution; adaptation; neutral evolution; selection; NLR-genes; run-away-evolution; gene clusters |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1509184 |
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