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Evolution of developmentally regulated genome rearrangements in eukaryotes
Author(s) -
Zufall Rebecca A.,
Robinson Tessa,
Katz Laura A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.21056
Subject(s) - genome , biology , computational biology , evolutionary biology , genetics , gene
Developmentally regulated genome rearrangements (DRGR)—processes that alter genomes either in specific cells or during specific life cycle stages—are widespread throughout eukaryotes. This contrasts with the view that genome structure and content remain essentially constant throughout an organism's life cycle. Here we review three categories of developmentally regulated genome processing in eukaryotes: genome‐wide rearrangements, targeted rearrangements, and a special case of amplification of ribosomal DNA genes. Mapping these types of DRGR onto eukaryotic phylogeny indicates that each type of processing is found in multiple independent lineages. We propose that such genome rearrangements were present within the last common ancestor of extant eukaryotes, and that future research will yield evidence of homologous epigenetic mechanisms underlying genome processing among diverse eukaryotes. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 304B, 2005 . © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.