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How often do duplicated genes evolve new functions?

J B Walsh1

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.

Genetics
|January 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Duplicate genes often become pseudogenes. However, in large populations, advantageous mutations increase the likelihood of evolving new gene functions, rather than gene inactivation.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary genetics
  • Molecular evolution

Background:

  • Gene duplication is a key driver of evolutionary innovation.
  • Following duplication, genes can either inactivate (pseudogene formation) or acquire new functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To model the relative probabilities of pseudogene formation versus new functional evolution after gene duplication.
  • To determine the conditions favoring the fixation of advantageous mutations in duplicated genes.

Main Methods:

  • A simple mathematical model was developed.
  • Assumptions included neutral null alleles and ignored linkage effects, unequal crossing over, and gene conversion.
  • The model analyzed additive mutations with selection coefficient s and advantageous to null mutation ratio (rho).

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Main Results:

  • The probability of an advantageous allele fixing first is ([1 - e-s]/[rho S] + 1)-1, where S = 4Nes (Ne is effective population size).
  • Pseudogene formation is probable unless rhoS is significantly greater than 1 (rhoS >> 1).
  • In large populations (rhoS >> 1), new gene function is the likely outcome for most duplicated genes.

Conclusions:

  • The fate of duplicated genes (pseudogene vs. new function) depends critically on the rate of advantageous mutations and effective population size.
  • Even rare advantageous mutations can lead to new gene functions in large populations.
  • This highlights the importance of population size in shaping evolutionary trajectories of gene duplicates.