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Molecular Clock and Gene Function

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Abstract

Molecular phylogenies based on the molecular clock require the comparison of orthologous genes. Orthologous and paralogous genes usually have very different evolutionary fates. In general, orthologs keep the same functions in species, whereas, particularly over a long time span, paralogs diverge functionally and may become pseudogenes or get lost. In eukaryotic genomes, because of the degree of redundancy of genetic information, homologous genes are grouped in gene families, the evolution of which may differ greatly between the various organisms. This implies that each gene in a species does not always have an ortholog in another species and thus, due to multiple duplication events following a speciation, many orthologous clades of paralogs are generated. We are often dealing with a one-to-many or many-to-many relationship between genes. In this paper, we analyze the evolution of two gene families, the p53 gene family and the porin gene family. The evolution of the p53 family shows a one-to-many gene relationship going from invertebrates to vertebrates. In invertebrates only a single gene has been found, while in vertebrates three members of the family, namely p53, p63, and p73, are present. The evolution of porin (VDAC) genes (VDAC1, VDAC2, and VDAC3) is an example of a many-to-many gene relationship going from yeast to mammals. However, the porin gene redundancy found in invertebrates and possibly in some fishes may indicate a tendency to duplicate the genetic material, rather than a real need for function innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biochimica e Biologia Molecolare, Università di Bari, via Orabona 4, 70126, Bari, Italy

    Cecilia Saccone & Anna Maria D’Erchia

  2. DAPEG, Sezione di Genetica, Università di Bari, via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy

    Corrado Caggese & Marta Oliva

  3. Sezione di Bioinformatica e Genomica dell’ITB, CNR, Milano, via Amendola 168/5, Bari, Italy

    Cecilia Lanave

  4. Dipartimento di Fisiologia e Biochimica Generali, Università di Milano, via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy

    Graziano Pesole

Authors
  1. Cecilia Saccone
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  2. Corrado Caggese
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  3. Anna Maria D’Erchia
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  4. Cecilia Lanave
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  5. Marta Oliva
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  6. Graziano Pesole
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Correspondence to Cecilia Saccone.

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Saccone, C., Caggese, C., D’Erchia, A. et al. Molecular Clock and Gene Function . J Mol Evol 57 (Suppl 1), S277–S285 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-0037-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-0037-9

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