Title
Evolution of duplicated reggie genes in zebrafish and goldfish
Date Issued
29 January 2002
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
University of Konstanz
Abstract
Invertebrates, tetrapod vertebrates, and fish might be expected to differ in their number of gene copies, possibly due the occurrence of genome duplication events during animal evolution. Reggie (flotillin) genes code for membrane-associated proteins involved in growth signaling in developing and regenerating axons. Until now, there appeared to be only two reggie genes in fruitflies, mammals, and fish. The aim of this research was to search for additional copies of reggie genes in fishes, since a genome duplication might have increased the gene copy number in this group. We report the presence of up to four distinct reggie genes (two reggie-1 and two reggie-2 genes) in the genomes of zebrafish and goldfish. Phylogenetic analyses show that the zebrafish and goldfish sequence pairs are orthologous, and that the additional copies could have arisen through a genome duplication in a common ancestor of bony fish. The presence of novel reggie mRNAs in fish embryos indicates that the newly discovered gene copies are transcribed and possibly expressed in the developing and regenerating nervous system. The intron/exon boundaries of the new fish genes characterized here correspond with those of human genes, both in location and phase. An evolutionary scenario for the evolution of reggie intron-exon structure, where loss of introns appears to be a distinctive trait in invertebrate reggie genes, is presented.
Start page
235
End page
245
Volume
54
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Genética, Herencia
Biología (teórica, matemática, térmica, criobiología, ritmo biológico), Biología evolutiva
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0036146932
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Molecular Evolution
ISSN of the container
00222844
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus