Recurrent Evolutionary Innovations in Rodent and Primate Schlafen Genes.

ABSTRACT: SCHLAFEN proteins are a large family of RNase-related enzymes carrying essential immune and developmental functions. Despite these important roles, Schlafen genes display varying degrees of evolutionary conservation in mammals. While this appears to influence their molecular activities, a detailed understanding of these evolutionary innovations is still lacking. Here, we used in-depth phylogenomic approaches to characterize the evolutionary trajectories and selective forces shaping mammalian Schlafen genes. We traced lineage-specific Schlafen amplifications and found that recent duplicates evolved under distinct selective forces, supporting repeated subfunctionalization cycles. Codon-level natural selection analyses in primates and rodents identified recurrent positive selection over Schla

SUBMITTER: Mordier J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12492265 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature