Highly Dynamic Gene Family Evolution Suggests Changing Roles for PON Genes Within Metazoa.

ABSTRACT: Change in gene family size has been shown to facilitate adaptation to different selective pressures. This includes gene duplication to increase dosage or diversification of enzymatic substrates and gene deletion due to relaxed selection. We recently found that the PON1 gene, an enzyme with arylesterase and lactonase activity, was lost repeatedly in different aquatic mammalian lineages, suggesting that the PON gene family is responsive to environmental change. We further investigated if these fluctuations in gene family size were restricted to mammals and approximately when this gene family was expanded within mammals. Using 112 metazoan protein models, we explored the evolutionary history of the PON family to characterize the dynamic evolution of this gene family. We found that there have

SUBMITTER: Lucas SAM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9937041 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature