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Gene number, noise reduction and biological complexity

A P Bird1

  • 1Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Trends in Genetics : TIG
|March 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary

Gene number, a measure of biological complexity, appears to be limited by mechanisms that reduce transcriptional noise. Novel noise reduction mechanisms emerged with eukaryotes and vertebrates, coinciding with gene number increases.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Genomics
  • Molecular biology

Background:

  • Gene number and biological complexity increased significantly during two major evolutionary events: the origin of eukaryotes and the origin of vertebrates.
  • The genome is in a constant state of flux, raising questions about what normally constrains the number of genes an organism can retain.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the factors limiting gene number during macroevolutionary change.
  • To propose that transcriptional noise reduction mechanisms play a key role in constraining gene number.

Main Methods:

  • This study is primarily theoretical, drawing on existing estimates of gene number and macroevolutionary events.
  • It synthesizes information on genome dynamics and transcriptional regulation.

Main Results:

  • Preliminary estimates indicate gene number remained relatively constant except for sudden increases during the origin of eukaryotes and vertebrates.
  • The study suggests that the efficiency of transcriptional noise reduction mechanisms is a critical limitation on gene number.

Conclusions:

  • The emergence of novel noise reduction mechanisms in eukaryotes and vertebrates coincided with periods of increased gene number.
  • Efficient transcriptional noise reduction is proposed as a key factor enabling the retention of a larger gene repertoire, thus facilitating biological complexity.

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