Molecular evolution of a multigene family in group A streptococci.

The Origin and Molecular Evolution of Two Multigene Families: G-protein Coupled Receptors and Glycoside Hydrolase Families

On the origins of esterases.

Comparisons among the primary sequences of five cloned eukaryotic esterases reveal two distinct lineages, neither bearing any significant overall sequence similarity to the functionally related serine protease multigene family. We have not eliminated the possibility that the esterases may have residual conformational similarities to the serine proteases. However, our profile analysis and analys...

The evolutionary history of the amylase multigene family in Drosophila pseudoobscura.

In Drosophila pseudoobscura, the amylase (Amy) multigene family is contained within a series of inversions, or gene arrangements, on the third chromosome. The Standard (ST), Santa Cruz (SC), and Tree Line (TL) inversions are central to the phylogeny of arrangements, and have clusters of other arrangements derived from them. The gene arrangements belonging to each of these three clusters have a ...

Domain loss facilitates accelerated evolution and neofunctionalization of duplicate snake venom metalloproteinase toxin genes.

Gene duplication is a key mechanism for the adaptive evolution and neofunctionalization of gene families. Large multigene families often exhibit complex evolutionary histories as a result of frequent gene duplication acting in concordance with positive selection pressures. Alterations in the domain structure of genes, causing changes in the molecular scaffold of proteins, can also result in a c...

Linkage disequilibrium in human ribosomal genes: implications for multigene family evolution.

Members of the rDNA multigene family within a species do not evolve independently, rather, they evolve together in a concerted fashion. Between species, however, each multigene family does evolve independently indicating that mechanisms exist which will amplify and fix new mutations both within populations and within species. In order to evaluate the possible mechanisms by which mutation, ampli...