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Updated: Jul 21, 2026

The Green Monster Process for the Generation of Yeast Strains Carrying Multiple Gene Deletions
Published on: December 15, 2012
Degeneration and domestication of a selfish gene in yeast: molecular evolution versus site-directed mutagenesis
Abstract:
VDE is a homing endonuclease gene in yeasts with an unusual evolutionary history including horizontal transmission, degeneration, and domestication into the mating-type switching locus HO. We investigate here the effects of these features on its molecular evolution. In addition, we correlate rates of evolution with results from site-directed mutagenesis studies. Functional elements have lower rates of evolution than degenerate ones and higher conservation at functionally important sites. However, functionally important and unimportant sites are equally likely to have been involved in the evolution of new function during the domestication of VDE into HO. The domestication event also indicates that VDE has been lost in some species and that VDE has been present in yeasts for more than 50 Myr.
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