Mutational and transcriptional landscape of spontaneous gene duplications and deletions in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Gene duplication and deletion are pivotal processes shaping the structural and functional repertoire of genomes, with implications for disease, adaptation, and evolution. We employed a mutation accumulation (MA) framework partnered with high-throughput genomics to assess the molecular and transcriptional characteristics of newly arisen gene copy-number variants (CNVs) in Caenorhabditis elegans populations subjected to varying intensity of selection. Here, we report a direct spontaneous genome-wide rate of gene duplication of 2.9 × 10^-5/gene per generation in C. elegans, the highest for any species to date. The rate of gene deletion is sixfold lower (5 × 10^-6/gene per generation). Deletions of highly expressed genes are particularly deleterious, given the

SUBMITTER: Konrad A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6048555 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature