The Many Nuanced Evolutionary Consequences of Duplicated Genes

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Genomics
• Molecular biology

Background:

• Gene duplication is a primary driver of genome evolution.
• Conventional models focus on functional changes within gene duplicates (sub- or neofunctionalization).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if gene duplication can functionally alter interacting protein partners.
• To explore the evolutionary consequences of gene duplication on non-duplicated interacting partners.

Main Methods:

• In silico evolution of a heterodimer with one duplicated member.
• Analysis of evolutionary divergence under various selection pressures and protein structures.

Main Results:

• A significant number of distinct evolutionary trajectories were observed for interacting partners.
• Dosage imbalance correction can unexpectedly influence the evolution of original protein functions.
• Interacting partners may evolve altered binding interfaces to accommodate or exclude duplicates.

Conclusions:

• The presence of a gene duplicate can impact the function of its interacting partners, independent of the duplicate's own fate.
• The evolutionary path of interacting partners is stochastic and influenced by dosage imbalance.
• The fate of gene duplicates is also determined by how interacting partners adapt to their presence.