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Lineage-Specific Homogenization of the Polyubiquitin Gene Among Human and Great Apes

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Abstract

Ubiquitin is a highly conserved protein, and is encoded by a multigene family among eukaryote species. The polyubiquitin genes, UbB and UbC, comprise tandem multiple ubiquitin coding units without a spacer region or intron. We determined nucleotide sequences for the UbB and UbC of human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan. The ubiquitin repeat number of UbB was constant (3) in human and great apes, while that of UbC varied: 6 to 11 for human, 10 to 12 for chimpanzee, 8 for gorilla, and 10 for orangutan. The heterogeneity of the repeat number within closely related hominoid species suggests that a lineage-specific unequal crossover and/or gene duplication occurred. A marked homogenization of UbC occurred in gorilla with a low level of synonymous difference (p s ). The homogenization of UbC also occurred in chimpanzee and less strikingly in human. The first and last ubiquitin coding units of UbC were clustered independently between species, and less affected by homogenization during the hominoid evolution. Therefore, the homogenization of ubiquitin coding units is likely due to an unequal crossing-over inside the ubiquitin units. The lineage-specific homogenization of UbC among closely related species suggests that concerted evolution has a key role in the short-term evolution of UbC.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a Research for the Future Program Grant of The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to I.I and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on priority areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science, and Technology of Japan to N.S. We thank Ms. Kozue Otaka for her technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Genetic Diagnosis, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8639, Japan

    Hiroshi Tachikui, Toshiaki Nakajima & Ituro Inoue

  2. Division of Population Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan

    Naruya Saitou

  3. SanwaKagaku Kenkyusho Kumamoto Primate Park, Kumamoto, Japan

    Ikuo Hayasaka

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Takafumi Ishida

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  1. Hiroshi Tachikui
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  2. Naruya Saitou
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  5. Takafumi Ishida
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Correspondence to Ituro Inoue.

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Tachikui, H., Saitou, N., Nakajima, T. et al. Lineage-Specific Homogenization of the Polyubiquitin Gene Among Human and Great Apes . J Mol Evol 57, 737–744 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2532-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2532-4

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