Lost and Found Genes

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 4 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

As close as humans are to chimpanzees, why do they dodge some diseases that afflict us? And why are we different on so many other levels? A new study that compares genomes from more humans and chimps than ever before suggests that these and other variations might stem from extra or missing copies of key genes.
Although small genetic mutations often receive top billing as the drivers of evolution, the new study focuses on entire genes that are deleted or duplicated, so-called copy number variants (CNVs)

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Lectins Regulate the Size of ER-Body-Type {beta}-Glucosidase Complexes in Arabidopsis Thaliana

kavin submitted, created time 7 months 3 weeks (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

In this paper, the results show that two types of JALs having opposite roles regulate the size of the PYK10 complex antagonistically. We define the two types of lectins as a "polymerizer-type lectin" and an "inhibitor-type lectin." Interestingly, the closest homologues of polymerizer-type lectins (JAL31 and JAL23) were inhibitor-type lectins (PBP1/JAL30 and JAL22). The pairs of polymerizer-type and inhibitor-type lectins reported here are good examples of genes that have evolved new functions after gene duplication (neofunctionalization).

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana lectin gene duplication ER-Body-Type {beta}-Glucosidase Complexe Antagonistic Jacalin-Related Lectins

The Evolution of Seminal Ribonuclease: Pseudogene Reactivation or Multiple Gene Inactivation Events?

fiona submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (mbe.oxfordjournals.org)

"Two approaches, one novel, are applied to analyze the divergent evolution of ruminant seminal ribonucleases (RNases), paralogs of the well-known pancreatic RNases of mammals."

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: seminal ribonuclease pseudogene ruminant gene duplication novel function