Comparative genomics search for losses of long-established genes on the human lineage.

ABSTRACT: Taking advantage of the complete genome sequences of several mammals, we developed a novel method to detect losses of well-established genes in the human genome through syntenic mapping of gene structures between the human, mouse, and dog genomes. Unlike most previous genomic methods for pseudogene identification, this analysis is able to differentiate losses of well-established genes from pseudogenes formed shortly after segmental duplication or generated via retrotransposition. Therefore, it enables us to find genes that were inactivated long after their birth, which were likely to have evolved nonredundant biological functions before being inactivated. The method was used to look for gene losses along the human lineage during the approximately 75 million years (My) since the common ance

SUBMITTER: Zhu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2134963 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature