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Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.

Gene Families

Gene Families

Gene families consist of groups of genes proposed to have originated from a common ancestor. Typically these arise through events in which a gene or genes are mistakenly duplicated during cell division. Unlike their parent genes (which are subject to selection pressure to maintain function), these gene copies do not need to preserve their sequences and may evolve at a relatively faster rate.
Occasionally these regions can be adapted to take on new roles within the organism, becoming novel genes...

Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts

Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts

Groups of proteins may form a complex where each protein in this complex has a different role in the overall execution of the complex’s function. Often some of the proteins in the complex can be replaced by a closely related variant to give a complex that contains many of the same components yet is functionally distinct.
The SCF ubiquitin ligase is a protein complex of five individual proteins. This complex attaches ubiquitin to other target proteins to mark them for degradation. In order to...

Gene Duplication and Divergence

Gene Duplication and Divergence

The seminal work of Ohno in 1970 popularized the idea of gene duplication and divergence. DNA sequence comparison studies reveal that a large portion of the genes in bacteria, archaebacteria, and eukaryotes was generated by gene duplication and divergence, indicating its critical role in evolution.
The duplicated copies of the gene are called Paralogs. Paralogs with similar sequences and functions form a gene family. Across several species, a large number of gene families are characterized.

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.

Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts

Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts

Groups of proteins may form a complex where each protein in this complex has a different role in the overall execution of the complex’s function. Often some of the proteins in the complex can be replaced by a closely related variant to give a complex that contains many of the same components yet is functionally distinct.
The SCF ubiquitin ligase is a protein complex of five individual proteins. This complex attaches ubiquitin to other target proteins to mark them for degradation. In order to...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 27, 2026

The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL

The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL

Published on: July 11, 2013

Organismal complexity, protein complexity, and gene duplicability.

Jing Yang¹, Richard Lusk, Wen-Hsiung Li

¹Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|December 9, 2003

Summary

Gene duplicability is influenced by protein complexity, but organismal complexity is a stronger factor. Higher organismal complexity in humans leads to fewer duplicated genes compared to yeast.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Genomics
Molecular biology

Background:

Gene duplication is a key driver of evolutionary innovation.
The factors determining a gene's propensity to be duplicated remain incompletely understood.
Previous hypotheses suggested protein complexity influences gene duplicability.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relative importance of protein complexity versus organismal complexity in determining gene duplicability.
To compare gene duplication patterns across different organisms with varying complexity levels.

Main Methods:

Analysis of gene family sizes in yeast and human genomes.
Quantification of the proportion of unduplicated genes (P) in relation to protein subunit number.
Comparative analysis of gene duplicability across species.

Main Results:

The proportion of unduplicated genes (P) increases with the number of protein subunits, indicating protein complexity is a factor.
However, P is high in both monomers and multimers in yeast, but low in humans (except for large multimers).
Organismal complexity, as evidenced by comparisons between yeast and human gene family sizes, is a more significant determinant of gene duplicability.

Conclusions:

Organismal complexity plays a more crucial role in shaping gene duplicability than protein complexity.
The evolutionary trajectory of gene duplication is strongly influenced by the overall complexity of the organism.