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PMID: 15002776 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Duplicate genes and robustness to transient gene knock-downs in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Proceedings. Biological sciences ·Vol. 271 ·No. 1534 ·2004-01-07 ·Pages 89-96

Conant GC, Wagner A

Abstract

We examine robustness to mutations in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans and the role of single-copy and duplicate genes in it. We do so by integrating complete genome sequence and microarray gene expression data with results from a genome-scale study using RNA interference (RNAi) to temporarily eliminate the functions of more than 16000 worm genes. We found that 89% of single-copy and 96% of duplicate genes show no detectable phenotypic effect in an RNAi knock-down experiment. We find that mutational robustness is greatest for closely related gene duplicates, large gene families and similarly expressed genes. We discuss the different causes of mutational robustness in single-copy and duplicate genes, as well as its evolutionary origin.

MeSH Terms
Animals Caenorhabditis elegans/genetics Databases, Genetic Evolution, Molecular Genes, Duplicate/genetics Multigene Family Mutation/genetics Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Phenotype RNA Interference
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Conant Gavin C
Department of Biology, 167 Castetter Hall, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
Wagner Andreas
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings. Biological sciences
Abbr.
Proc Biol Sci
ISSN
0962-8452
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2003.2560
Published
2004-01-07
Pages
89-96
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
101245157
PMCID
PMC1691561
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM063882-01 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2003.2560 PMC Full Text View journal details
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