Lineage-specific loss and divergence of functionally linked genes in eukaryotes.

ABSTRACT: By comparing 4,344 protein sequences from fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe with all available eukaryotic sequences, we identified those genes that are conserved in S. pombe and nonfungal eukaryotes but are missing or highly diverged in the baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Since the radiation from the common ancestor with S. pombe, S. cerevisiae appears to have lost about 300 genes, and about 300 more genes have diverged by far beyond expectation. The most notable feature of the set of genes lost in S. cerevisiae is the coelimination of functionally connected groups of proteins, such as the signalosome and the spliceosome components. We predict similar coelimination of the components of the posttranscriptional gene-silencing system that includes the recently identified RNA-dep

SUBMITTER: Aravind L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC17198 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature