Genome-scale comparative analysis of gene fusions, gene fissions, and the fungal tree of life.

ABSTRACT: During the course of evolution genes undergo both fusion and fission by which ORFs are joined or separated. These processes can amend gene function and represent an important factor in the evolution of protein interaction networks. Gene fusions have been suggested to be useful characters for identifying evolutionary relationships because they constitute synapomorphies or cladistic characters. To investigate the fidelity of gene-fusion characters, we developed an approach for identifying differentially distributed gene fusions among whole-genome datasets: fdfBLAST. Applying this tool to the Fungi, we identified 63 gene fusions present in two or more genomes. Using a combination of phylogenetic and comparative genomic analyses, we then investigated the evolution of these genes across 115 fun

SUBMITTER: Leonard G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3535628 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature