HOW GENES EVOLVE, THE PROCESS EVEN INCLUDES WHOLE GENOME - TopicsExpress



          

HOW GENES EVOLVE, THE PROCESS EVEN INCLUDES WHOLE GENOME DUPLICATION WITH SUBSEQUENT WHITTLING DOWN AND MUTATING OF DUPLICATE GENES. It is not apparent that such processes were "designed" since whole genome duplication is one of many possible mutations that are known to simply "happen" from time to time. Or maybe the "design" involves just letting every kind of mutation from minor to whole genome, just "happen." Several principles appear to govern the evolution of duplicated genes. After gene duplication, usually one gene copy becomes mutationally silenced and disappears over time (nonfunctionalization). Alternatively, both duplicate copies may be preserved if either (1) beneficial mutations occur in one or both copies that allow the evolution of new functions (neofunctionalization), or if (2) degenerative mutations result in the partitioning of the tasks of the ancestral gene (subfunctionalization).
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 22:09:45 +0000

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