Macroevolutionary dynamics of gene family gain and loss along multicellular eukaryotic lineages.

ABSTRACT: The gain and loss of genes fluctuate over evolutionary time in major eukaryotic clades. However, the full profile of these macroevolutionary trajectories is still missing. To give a more inclusive view on the changes in genome complexity across the tree of life, here we recovered the evolutionary dynamics of gene family gain and loss ranging from the ancestor of cellular organisms to 352 eukaryotic species. We show that in all considered lineages the gene family content follows a common evolutionary pattern, where the number of gene families reaches the highest value at a major evolutionary and ecological transition, and then gradually decreases towards extant organisms. This supports theoretical predictions and suggests that the genome complexity is often decoupled from commonly perceived

SUBMITTER: Domazet-Loso M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10966110 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature