Open AccessImportance of Gene Duplication in the Evolution of Genomic Imprinting Revealed by Molecular Evolutionary Analysis of the Type I MADS-Box Gene Family in Arabidopsis Species
Author(s) -
Takanori Yoshida,
Akira Kawabe
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0073588
Subject(s) - gene duplication , genomic imprinting , gene family , arabidopsis , biology , mads box , gene , genetics , imprinting (psychology) , molecular evolution , functional divergence , evolutionary biology , computational biology , gene expression , genome , dna methylation , mutant
The pattern of molecular evolution of imprinted genes is controversial and the entire picture is still to be unveiled. Recently, a relationship between the formation of imprinted genes and gene duplication was reported in genome-wide survey of imprinted genes in Arabidopsis thaliana . Because gene duplications influence the molecular evolution of the duplicated gene family, it is necessary to investigate both the pattern of molecular evolution and the possible relationship between gene duplication and genomic imprinting for a better understanding of evolutionary aspects of imprinted genes. In this study, we investigated the evolutionary changes of type I MADS-box genes that include imprinted genes by using relative species of Arabidopsis thaliana (two subspecies ofA. lyrataand three subspecies ofA. halleri ). A duplicated gene family enables us to compare DNA sequences between imprinted genes and its homologs. We found an increased number of gene duplications within species in clades containing the imprinted genes, further supporting the hypothesis that local gene duplication is one of the driving forces for the formation of imprinted genes. Moreover, data obtained by phylogenetic analysis suggested “rapid evolution” of not only imprinted genes but also its closely related orthologous genes, which implies the effect of gene duplication on molecular evolution of imprinted genes.