Early stages of functional diversification in the Rab GTPase gene family revealed by genomic and localization studies in Paramecium species.

ABSTRACT: New gene functions arise within existing gene families as a result of gene duplication and subsequent diversification. To gain insight into the steps that led to the functional diversification of paralogues, we tracked duplicate retention patterns, expression-level divergence, and subcellular markers of functional diversification in the Rab GTPase gene family in three Paramecium aurelia species. After whole-genome duplication, Rab GTPase duplicates are more highly retained than other genes in the genome but appear to be diverging more rapidly in expression levels, consistent with early steps in functional diversification. However, by localizing specific Rab proteins in Paramecium cells, we found that paralogues from the two most recent whole-genome duplications had virtually

SUBMITTER: Bright LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5391186 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature