Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
1: Genome Res. 2005 Sep;15(9):1258-64. Epub 2005 Aug 18.
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read Click here to read Click here to read
Origin and evolution of new exons in rodents.

Wang W, Zheng H, Yang S, Yu H, Li J, Jiang H, Su J, Yang L, Zhang J, McDermott J, Samudrala R, Wang J, Yang H, Yu J, Kristiansen K, Wong GK, Wang J.

CAS-Max Planck Junior Research Group, Key Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China. wwang@mail.kiz.ac.cn

Gene number difference among organisms demonstrates that new gene origination is a fundamental biological process in evolution. Exon shuffling has been universally observed in the formation of new genes. Yet to be learned are the ways new exons originate and evolve, and how often new exons appear. To address these questions, we identified 2695 newly evolved exons in the mouse and rat by comparing the expressed sequences of 12,419 orthologous genes between human and mouse, using 743,856 pig ESTs as the outgroup. The new exon origination rate is about 2.71 x 10(-3) per gene per million years. These new exons have markedly accelerated rates both of nonsynonymous substitutions and of insertions/deletions (indels). A much higher proportion of new exons have K(a)/K(s) ratios >1 (where K(a) is the nonsynonymous substitution rate and K(s) is the synonymous substitution rate) than do the old exons shared by human and mouse, implying a role of positive selection in the rapid evolution. The majority of these new exons have sequences unique in the genome, suggesting that most new exons might originate through "exonization" of intronic sequences. Most of the new exons appear to be alternative exons that are expressed at low levels.

Publication Types:
PMID: 16109974 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC1199540