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Accelerated Evolution of Genes of Recent Origin

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Evolutionary Biology from Concept to Application

Abstract

The gene content of any genome is a rich mosaic of genes that have originated at different times during evolution. Among the most interesting properties related to gene age is the fact that younger genes tend to show accelerated evolutionary rates with respect to older genes. Here, we use a large number of closely related mammalian genomes to gain further insights into the relationship between gene age and evolutionary rate. We define a group of primate-specific genes that are absent from 11 non-primate mammalian genomes as well as from other eukaryotic genomes. These genes, of very recent origin, show the highest evolutionary rate and the shortest protein length. We discuss how these results may shed light on understanding the proposed mechanisms for the origin of lineage-specific, novel genes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit on Biomedical Informatics, Institut Municipal d’Investigació Mèdica, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, E-08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Macarena Toll-Riera

  2. Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, CSIC, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Jose Castresana

  3. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, 08010, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Mar Albà

Authors
  1. Macarena Toll-Riera
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  2. Jose Castresana
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  3. M. Mar Albà
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Evolution Biologique et Modélisation, case 19, UMR 6632 Université d’Aix-Marseille/CNRS, 3, Place Victor Hugo, 13331, Marseille Cedex 03, France

    Pierre Pontarotti

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Toll-Riera, M., Castresana, J., Albà, M.M. (2008). Accelerated Evolution of Genes of Recent Origin. In: Pontarotti, P. (eds) Evolutionary Biology from Concept to Application. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78993-2_3

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