Lineage-specific patterns of functional diversification in the alpha- and beta-globin gene families of tetrapod vertebrates.

ABSTRACT: The alpha- and beta-globin gene families of jawed vertebrates have diversified with respect to both gene function and the developmental timing of gene expression. Phylogenetic reconstructions of globin gene family evolution have provided suggestive evidence that the developmental regulation of hemoglobin synthesis has evolved independently in multiple vertebrate lineages. For example, the embryonic beta-like globin genes of birds and placental mammals are not 1:1 orthologs. Despite the similarity in developmental expression profiles, the genes are independently derived from lineage-specific duplications of a beta-globin pro-ortholog. This suggests the possibility that other vertebrate taxa may also possess distinct repertoires of globin genes that were produced by repeated rounds of lineag

SUBMITTER: Hoffmann FG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2877528 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature