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Evolutionary genetics

Making the most of redundancy

Nature volume 449, pages 673–674 (2007)Cite this article

Single genes, chromosomal regions and even entire genomes can undergo duplication. What good can come of these extra copies? Evolution seems to use several tricks to take advantage of the situation.

Gene mutations often result in abnormal levels or function of their protein products. Consequently, the divergence rate of DNA sequences that encode genes is generally slower than that for non-coding sequences. So how does new genetic material arise? One valuable source is sequences formed through gene and genome duplication events.

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Figure 1: Possible outcomes of gene duplication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Edward J. Louis is at the Institute of Genetics, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK. ed.louis@nottingham.ac.uk ,

    Edward J. Louis

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  1. Edward J. Louis
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Louis, E. Making the most of redundancy. Nature 449, 673–674 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/449673a

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