Zrich, Switzerland When Mother Nature creates an identical copy of a gene in an organism's genome, the duplicated copy is usually deleted, inactivated, or otherwise rendered nonfunctional in order to prevent genetic redundancy and to preserve biological homeostasis. In some cases, however, gene duplicates are maintained in a functional state. Until now, the biological and evolutionary forces behind the maintenance of these duplicates as functional components of the genome have remained unclear.

To determine the basis for the persistence of functional gene duplicates in the genome, three scientists at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zrich have collaborated on the largest systematic analysis of duplicated gene function to date. Using an integrative combination of computational and experimental approaches, they classified duplicate pairs of genes involved in yeast metabolism into four functional categories: (1) back-up, where a duplicate gene copy has acquired the ability to compensate in the absence of the other copy, (2) subfunctionalization, where a duplicate copy has evolved a completely new, non-overlapping function, (3) regulation, where the differential regulation of duplicates fine-tunes pathway usage, and (4) gene dosage, where the increased expression provided by the duplicate gene copy augments production of the corresponding protein.

Their results, which appear in the October issue of the journal Genome Research, indicate that no single role prevails but that all four of the mechanisms play a substantial role in maintaining duplicate genes in the genome.

"Our results contradict other recent publications that have focused on a single selective pressure as the basis for the retention of gene duplicates," explains Dr. Uwe Sauer, principal investigator on the project and Professor at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at the Swiss Federal Institute of
'"/>

Contact: Maria A. Smit
smit@cshl.edu
1-516-422-4013
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
2-Oct-2005

Page: 1 2
Related biology news :

1. Newly created cancer stem cells could aid breast cancer research
2. Newly identified mechanism for silencing genes points to possible anti-cancer strategies
3. Newly discovered platform for processing dietary fat
4. Newly discovered West Coast arrhythmias cause
5. Newly discovered fish named after New York aquarium biologist
6. Newly discovered immune defense may be impaired in CF airways
7. Newly identified strains of Chlamydia trachomatis could produce new diseases
8. Newly discovered proteins associated with cystic fibrosis
9. Newly discovered gene may hold clues to evolution of human brain capacity
10. Newly identified protein complex sheds light on axon growth mechanism
11. Newly discovered protein could hold key to preventing heart disease