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Pleiotropy increases with gene age in six model multicellular eukaryotes.

Reese Martin1,2, Ann T Tate1,2

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, 37235.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Gene age influences pleiotropy, where a single gene affects multiple traits. Middle-aged and ancient genes show higher pleiotropy than young genes across species, suggesting a fundamental relationship between gene age and function evolution.

Keywords:
comparative genomicsevolutionary genomicsgene duplicationgenetic pleiotropy

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Gene traits like function and length vary with gene age.
  • Pleiotropy, a single gene affecting multiple traits, is shaped by evolutionary forces like selection and subfunctionalization.
  • The dynamic interplay between these forces and pleiotropy prevalence over time remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between gene age and pleiotropy across diverse multicellular eukaryotes.
  • To test the hypothesis that pleiotropy prevalence changes predictably with gene age, potentially peaking in middle-aged genes.

Main Methods:

  • Calculated gene age by identifying orthologs in distantly related species using the Open Tree of Life and OMAdb.
  • Assessed pleiotropic status using protein-protein interactions (STRINGdb) and Gene Ontology (GO) biological processes.
  • Analyzed data from model organisms including humans, mice, zebrafish, fruit flies, nematodes, and thale cress.

Main Results:

  • Middle-aged and ancient genes exhibit significantly higher pleiotropy compared to young genes.
  • This age-dependent pleiotropy pattern was consistent across all studied species and both measurement methods (protein interactions and biological processes).
  • Differences in pleiotropy were also observed based on gene functional class, particularly when examining biological process counts.

Conclusions:

  • A fundamental relationship exists between gene age and pleiotropy.
  • Further research into this relationship could illuminate mechanisms driving functional changes in genes over evolutionary time.
  • Gene age is a critical factor in understanding the functional complexity and evolutionary trajectory of genes.