Coordinated evolution of co-expressed gene clusters in the Drosophila transcriptome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Co-expression of genes that physically cluster together is a common characteristic of eukaryotic transcriptomes. This organization of transcriptomes suggests that coordinated evolution of gene expression for clustered genes may also be common. Clusters where expression evolution of each gene is not independent of their neighbors are important units for understanding transcriptome evolution.

Results

We used a common microarray platform to measure gene expression in seven closely related species in the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup, accounting for confounding effects of sequence divergence. To summarize the correlation structure among genes in a chromosomal region, we analyzed the fraction of variation along the first principal component of the correlation matrix

SUBMITTER: Mezey JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2266709 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature