Widespread ultraconservation divergence in primates.

ABSTRACT: The distribution and evolution of ultraconserved elements (UCEs, DNA stretches that are perfectly identical in primates and rodents) were examined in genomes of 3 primate species (human, chimpanzee, and rhesus macaque). It was found that the number of UCEs has decreased throughout primate evolution. At least 26% of ancestral UCEs have diverged in hominoids, whereas an additional 17% have accumulated one or more single nucleotide polymorphisms in the human genome. Sequence polymorphism analyses indicate that mutation fixation within an UCE can trigger a relaxation in the selective constraint on that element. Homogeneous mutation accumulations in UCEs served as a template by which purifying selection acted more effectively on protein-coding UCEs. Gene ontology annotation suggests that UCE se

SUBMITTER: Ovcharenko I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2464743 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature