Nature 265, 258 - 260 (20 January 1977); doi:10.1038/265258a0

Loss of duplicate gene expression after polyploidisation

STEPHEN D. FERRIS & GREGORY S. WHITT

Department of Genetics and Development, 515 Morrill Hall, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801

INCREASES in cellular DNA content have been important in the evolution of eukaryotes¹⁻³. One mechanism for increasing DNA content is polyploidisation, which has been observed in a wide variety of organisms⁴⁻⁸, and which is believed to have preceded the evolution of the early vertebrates⁹. It has been suggested that, following gene duplication, many of the redundant copies would be silenced early in evolution by mutation^10,11. Those duplicate genes remaining expressed are then available to diverge in structure and acquire new functions⁹. We present evidence of extensive gene silencing in the 50-Myr history of a family of tetraploid fishes. Furthermore, those species regarded by systematists as advanced (that is, morphologically divergent from the ancestral form) may have lost the expression of more duplicate genes than primitive species (that is, those with a morphology similar to the ancestral form).

References

1.	Sparrow, A. H., and Nauman, A. F., Science, 192, 524–529 (1972).
2.	Britten, R. J., and Davidson, E. H., Q. Rev. Biol., 46, 111–138 (1971).
3.	Thomson, K. S., Gall, J. G., and Coggins, L. W., Nature, 241, 126 (1973).
4.	Stebbins, G. L., Variation and Evolution in Plants (Columbia University, New York, 1950).
5.	Massaro, E. J., and Markert, C. L., J. exp. Zool., 168, 223–238 (1968).
6.	Wolf, U., Ritter, H., Atkin, N. B., and Ohno, S., Humangenetik, 7, 240–244 (1969).
7.	Becak, M. L., Becak, W., and Rabello, M. N., Chromosoma, 19, 188–193 (1966).
8.	Ohno, S., Nature, 244, 259–262 (1973).
9.	Ohno, S., Evolution by Gene Duplication (Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1970).
10.	Ohno, S., Protochordata, Cyclostomata, and Pisces (Gebrüder-Bornträger, Stuttgart, 1974).
11.	Nei, M., and Roychoudhury, A. K., Am. Nat., 107, 362–372 (1973).
12.	Uyeno, T., and Smith, G. R., Science, 175, 644–646 (1972).
13.	Nelson, E. M., Copeia, No. 3, 594–595 (1976).
14.	Nelson, E. M., J. Morphol., 83, 225–251 (1948).
15.	Miller, R. R., in Zoogeography, 187–222 (Am. Ass. Advancement Sci., 1958).
16.	Nei, M., and Chakraborty, R., J. molec. Evol., 2, 323–328 (1973).
17.	Allendorf, F. W., Utter, F. M., and May, B. P., in Isozymes IV: Genetics and Evolution (edit. by Markert, C. L.), 415–432 (Academic, New York, 1975).
18.	Engel, W., Schmidtke, J., and Wolfe, U., in Isozymes IV: Genetics and Evolution (edit. by Markert, C. L.), 449–462 (Academic, New York, 1975).
19.	Tobari, Y. N., and Kojima, K., Genetics, 70, 397–403 (1972).
20.	Mukai, T., Drosophila Inf. Serv., 45, 99 (1970).
21.	Lim, S. T., Kay, R. M., and Bailey, G. S., J. Biol. Chem., 250, 1790–1800 (1975).
22.	Jenkins, R. E., thesis, Cornell Univ. (1970).
23.	Smith, G. R., and Koehn, R. K., Syst. Zool., 20, 282–297 (1971).
24.	Hinegardner, R., Evolution of Genome Size, in Molecular Evolution (edit. by Ayala, F. J.), 179–199 (Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1976).
25.	Brewer, G. J., An Introduction to Isozyme Techniques (Academic, New York, 1970).
26.	Whitt, G. S., J. exp. Zool., 175, 1–36 (1970).
27.	Wilson, R. F., Whitt, G. S., and Prosser, C. L., Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 46B, 105–116 (1973).
28.	Sackler, M. L., J. Histochem. Cytochem., 14, 326–333 (1966).
29.	Shaw, C. R., and Prasad, R., Biochem. Genet., 4, 297–320 (1970).