Phylogenomic analyses of KCNA gene clusters in vertebrates: why do gene clusters stay intact?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Gene clusters are of interest for the understanding of genome evolution since they provide insight in large-scale duplications events as well as patterns of individual gene losses. Vertebrates tend to have multiple copies of gene clusters that typically are only single clusters or are not present at all in genomes of invertebrates. We investigated the genomic architecture and conserved non-coding sequences of vertebrate KCNA gene clusters. KCNA genes encode shaker-related voltage-gated potassium channels and are arranged in two three-gene clusters in tetrapods. Teleost fish are found to possess four clusters. The two tetrapod KNCA clusters are of approximately the same age as the Hox gene clusters that arose through duplications early in vertebrate evolution. For some ge

SUBMITTER: Hoegg S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1978502 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature