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Gene duplications can arise as products of several types of errors in DNA replication and repair machinery as well as through fortuitous capture by selfish genetic elements. Common sources of gene duplications include ectopic recombination , retrotransposition event, aneuploidy , polyploidy , and replication slippage .
Repeated sequences (also known as repetitive elements, repeating units or repeats) are short or long patterns that occur in multiple copies throughout the genome.In many organisms, a significant fraction of the genomic DNA is repetitive, with over two-thirds of the sequence consisting of repetitive elements in humans. [1]
Ohno presented the first version of the 2R hypothesis as part of his larger argument for the general importance of gene duplication in evolution.Based on relative genome sizes and isozyme analysis, he suggested that ancestral fish or amphibians had undergone at least one and possibly more cases of "tetraploid evolution".
Duplications can occur within a lineage (e.g., humans might have two copies of a gene that is found only once in chimpanzees) or they are the result of speciation. For example, a single gene in the ancestor of humans and chimpanzees now occurs in both species and can be thought of as having been 'duplicated' via speciation.
[8] [9] In a cell, DNA replication begins at specific locations (origins of replication) [10] in the genome [11] which contains the genetic material of an organism. [12] Unwinding of DNA at the origin and synthesis of new strands, accommodated by an enzyme known as helicase, results in replication forks growing bi-directionally from the origin.
Evolution by gene duplication is an event by which a gene or part of a gene can have two identical copies that can not be distinguished from each other. This phenomenon is understood to be an important source of novelty in evolution, providing for an expanded repertoire of molecular activities.
The smallest single base deletion mutations occur by a single base flipping in the template DNA, followed by template DNA strand slippage, within the DNA polymerase active site. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Deletions can be caused by errors in chromosomal crossover during meiosis , which causes several serious genetic diseases .
Copy number variation was initially thought to occupy an extremely small and negligible portion of the genome through cytogenetic observations. [12] Copy number variations were generally associated only with small tandem repeats or specific genetic disorders, [13] therefore, copy number variations were initially only examined in terms of specific loci.