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Overlapping genes in the human and mouse genomes
Chaitanya R Sanna1, Wen-Hsiung Li, Liqing Zhang
1Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA. csanna@vt.edu
BMC Genomics
|April 16, 2008
Summary
Overlapping genes are common in human and mouse genomes, with different-strand overlaps being more conserved evolutionarily. Changes in untranslated regions drive transitions between overlapping and non-overlapping gene states.
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Comparative Genomics
Background:
- Overlapping genes are increasingly recognized as prevalent in eukaryotic genomes.
- Previous estimates of overlapping gene frequency may have been underestimated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and characterize overlapping genes in human and mouse genomes.
- To investigate the evolutionary conservation and characteristics of overlapping gene pairs.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of 13,484 human-mouse orthologous gene pairs.
- Identification and classification of same-strand and different-strand overlaps.
- Analysis of gene length differences and chromosomal locations.
Main Results:
- Approximately 10% of studied genes are overlapping, primarily different-strand overlaps.
- Different-strand overlaps show higher interspecies conservation (27%) than same-strand overlaps (8%).
- 3' untranslated region (UTR) changes significantly influence transitions between overlapping and non-overlapping gene states.
Conclusions:
- Overlapping genes are a significant feature of mammalian genomes.
- Evolutionary transitions between overlapping and non-overlapping genes are driven by changes in untranslated regions, particularly 3' UTRs.
- Comparative genomics reveals insights into genome evolution and gene regulation.
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