A Rigorous Framework to Classify the Postduplication Fate of Paralogous Genes

Gene duplication has a central role in evolution; still, little is known on the fates of the duplicated copies, their relative frequency, and on how environmental conditions affect them. Moreover, the lack of rigorous definitions concerning the fate of duplicated genes hinders the development of a global vision of this process. In this paper, we present a new framework aiming at characterizing and formally differentiating the fate of duplicated genes. Our framework has been tested via simulations, where the evolution of populations has been simulated using aevol, an in silico experimental evolution platform. Our results show several patterns that confirm some of the conclusions from previous studies, while also exhibiting new tendencies; this may open up new avenues to better understand the role of duplications as a driver of evolution.