Evolution of gene sequence and gene expression are not correlated in yeast

Itay Tirosh; Naama Barkai

doi:10.1016/j.tig.2007.12.004

Evolution of gene sequence and gene expression are not correlated in yeast

Trends Genet. 2008 Mar;24(3):109-13. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2007.12.004. Epub 2008 Feb 4.

Authors

Itay Tirosh¹, Naama Barkai

Affiliation

¹ Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.

PMID: 18249461
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2007.12.004

Abstract

We show that, in yeast, the divergence rate of gene expression is not correlated with that of its associated coding sequence. Gene essentiality influences both modes of evolution, but other properties related to protein structure or promoter composition are only correlated with coding-sequence divergence or gene expression divergence, respectively. Based on these findings, we discuss the possibilities of neutral evolution of gene expression and of different modes of evolution in unicellular versus multicellular organisms.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Base Sequence*
Evolution, Molecular*
Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / genetics*
Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics*