Genes constantly evolve
Drosophila fixed coding regions duplicate and degenerate to rapidly create
new genes
By Cathy Holding

A novel gene genesis mechanism suggests that the Drosophila genome is highly
flexible and that even seemingly fixed genes are constantly evolving. This
new research shows that genes are continuously created and altered by gene
fission in a process of retroposed duplication followed by partial
degeneration.

In the April 4 Nature Genetics, Wen Wang and colleagues in the Department of
Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago looked for young
genes-those that had originated within the last 1 or 2 million years-to
observe the early stages of gene creation.

The team identified a group of genes with additional members and locations
in members of the species Drosophilamelanogaster subgroup that diverged less
than a million years ago. Each subspecies has a parental gene sequence on
one chromosome and different numbers of new copies on different chromosomes.
The new copies are very young genes in evolutionary terms and so all the
intermediate steps from the original parental sequence to the newest copies
are visible. The gene family was named 'monkey-king' after the mythical
Chinese character who could transform his hairs into offspring.

Read the Rest at The Scientist dot com
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040406/01

Comment:
Loved the Japanese series 'Monkey' (am humming the theme music as we speak
:)

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek.
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info{at}bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2áÿ* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 4/7/04 3:31:15 PM