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Nature21 October 2004

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Tetraodon to human

Nature cover 21 October 2004

The draft genome sequence of the puffer fish Tetraodon nigroviridis is published this week. Tetraodon and the related Takifugu rubripes have many advantages as tools for evolutionary genetics — not least the fact that they are the smallest known vertebrate genomes. Key genes thought absent from fish have now been identified in Tetraodon, and comparison with the human genome reveals 900 previously unannotated human genes. At some time after its divergence from the mammals, a whole-genome duplication occurred in the teleost fish lineage. Comparisons with the human genome reveal the basic structure of the ancestral vertebrate genome (the last known bony fish before emergence of the mammalian lineage) as a compact unit of just 12 chromosomes.

article
Genome duplication in the teleost fish Tetraodon nigroviridis reveals the early vertebrate proto-karyotype
OLIVIER JAILLON, JEAN-MARC AURY, FR�D�RIC BRUNET, JEAN-LOUIS PETIT, NICOLE STANGE-THOMANN, EVAN MAUCELI, LAURENCE BOUNEAU, C�CILE FISCHER, CATHERINE OZOUF-COSTAZ, ALAIN BERNOT, SOPHIE NICAUD, DAVID JAFFE, SHEILA FISHER, GEORGES LUTFALLA, CAROLE DOSSAT, B�ATRICE SEGURENS, CORINNE DASILVA, MARCEL SALANOUBAT, MICHAEL LEVY, NATHALIE BOUDET, SERGI CASTELLANO, V�RONIQUE ANTHOUARD, CLAIRE JUBIN, VANINA CASTELLI, MICHAEL KATINKA, BENOÎT VACHERIE, CHRISTIAN BI�MONT, ZINEB SKALLI, LAURENCE CATTOLICO, JULIE POULAIN, V�RONIQUE DE BERARDINIS, CORINNE CRUAUD, SIMONE DUPRAT, PHILIPPE BROTTIER, JEAN-PIERRE COUTANCEAU, J�RÔME GOUZY, GENIS PARRA, GUILLAUME LARDIER, CHARLES CHAPPLE, KEVIN J. MCKERNAN, PAUL MCEWAN, STEPHANIE BOSAK, MANOLIS KELLIS, JEAN-NICOLAS VOLFF, RODERIC GUIG�, MICHAEL C. ZODY, JILL MESIROV, KERSTIN LINDBLAD-TOH, BRUCE BIRREN, CHAD NUSBAUM, DANIEL KAHN, MARC ROBINSON-RECHAVI, VINCENT LAUDET, VINCENT SCHACHTER, FRANCIS QU�TIER, WILLIAM SAURIN, CLAUDE SCARPELLI, PATRICK WINCKER, ERIC S. LANDER, JEAN WEISSENBACH & HUGUES ROEST CROLLIUS
Nature 431, 946–957 (2004); doi:10.1038/nature03025
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news and views
Comparative genomics: Small genome, big insights
JOHN MULLEY & PETER HOLLAND
The genome of a second pufferfish species has been sequenced. Why is this important? Because comparing this genome with that of other animals yields a wealth of information on genome evolution.
Nature 431, 916–917 (2004); doi:10.1038/431916a
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