Coelimination and Survival in Gene Network Evolution: Dismantling the RA-Signaling in a Chordate.

ABSTRACT: The bloom of genomics is revealing gene loss as a pervasive evolutionary force generating genetic diversity that shapes the evolution of species. Outside bacteria and yeast, however, the understanding of the process of gene loss remains elusive, especially in the evolution of animal species. Here, using the dismantling of the retinoic acid metabolic gene network (RA-MGN) in the chordate Oikopleura dioica as a case study, we combine approaches of comparative genomics, phylogenetics, biochemistry, and developmental biology to investigate the mutational robustness associated to biased patterns of gene loss. We demonstrate the absence of alternative pathways for RA-synthesis in O. dioica, which suggests that gene losses of RA-MGN were not compensated by mutational robustness, but occurred in a

SUBMITTER: Marti-Solans J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4989114 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature