Origin and fate of pseudogenes in Hemiascomycetes: a comparative analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pseudogenes are ubiquitous genetic elements that derive from functional genes after mutational inactivation. Characterization of pseudogenes is important to understand genome dynamics and evolution, and its significance increases when several genomes of related organisms can be compared. Among yeasts, only the genome of the S. cerevisiae reference strain has been analyzed so far for pseudogenes.

Results

We present here the first comparative analysis of pseudogenes within the fully sequenced and annotated genomes of eight yeast species, spanning the entire phylogenetic range of Hemiascomycetes. A total of 871 pseudogenes were found, out of which mutational degradation patterns and consequences on the genetic repertoire of each species could be identified. We found

SUBMITTER: Lafontaine I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2876123 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature