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Published on: June 14, 2024
Gene Duplication and Evolutionary Innovations in Hemoglobin-Oxygen Transport
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska jstorz2@unl.edu.
Abstract:
During vertebrate evolution, duplicated hemoglobin (Hb) genes diverged with respect to functional properties as well as the developmental timing of expression. For example, the subfamilies of genes that encode the different subunit chains of Hb are ontogenetically regulated such that functionally distinct Hb isoforms are expressed during different developmental stages. In some vertebrate taxa, functional differentiation between co-expressed Hb isoforms may also contribute to physiologically important divisions of labor.
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