Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution
Abstract Background The evolutionary radiation of animals was accompanied by extensive expansion of gene and genome sizes, increased isoform diversity, and complexity of regulation. Results Here we show that the longest genes are enriched for expression in neuronal tissues of diverse vertebrates and...
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Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-020-6760-4 |
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doaj-9fd395cf08cb47b7a4e7348625828a642020-11-25T03:49:28ZengBMCBMC Genomics1471-21642020-05-012111910.1186/s12864-020-6760-4Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolutionMatthew J. McCoy0Andrew Z. Fire1Grass Fellowship Program, Marine Biological LaboratoryDepartments of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University School of MedicineAbstract Background The evolutionary radiation of animals was accompanied by extensive expansion of gene and genome sizes, increased isoform diversity, and complexity of regulation. Results Here we show that the longest genes are enriched for expression in neuronal tissues of diverse vertebrates and of invertebrates. Additionally, we show that neuronal gene size expansion occurred predominantly through net gains in intron size, with a positional bias toward the 5′ end of each gene. Conclusions We find that intron and gene size expansion is a feature of many genes whose expression is enriched in nervous systems. We speculate that unique attributes of neurons may subject neuronal genes to evolutionary forces favoring net size expansion. This process could be associated with tissue-specific constraints on gene function and/or the evolution of increasingly complex gene regulation in nervous systems.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-020-6760-4Genome evolutionGene sizeIntron sizeNervous system evolutionLong genesLong introns |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Matthew J. McCoy Andrew Z. Fire |
spellingShingle |
Matthew J. McCoy Andrew Z. Fire Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution BMC Genomics Genome evolution Gene size Intron size Nervous system evolution Long genes Long introns |
author_facet |
Matthew J. McCoy Andrew Z. Fire |
author_sort |
Matthew J. McCoy |
title |
Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution |
title_short |
Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution |
title_full |
Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution |
title_fullStr |
Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution |
title_full_unstemmed |
Intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution |
title_sort |
intron and gene size expansion during nervous system evolution |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Genomics |
issn |
1471-2164 |
publishDate |
2020-05-01 |
description |
Abstract Background The evolutionary radiation of animals was accompanied by extensive expansion of gene and genome sizes, increased isoform diversity, and complexity of regulation. Results Here we show that the longest genes are enriched for expression in neuronal tissues of diverse vertebrates and of invertebrates. Additionally, we show that neuronal gene size expansion occurred predominantly through net gains in intron size, with a positional bias toward the 5′ end of each gene. Conclusions We find that intron and gene size expansion is a feature of many genes whose expression is enriched in nervous systems. We speculate that unique attributes of neurons may subject neuronal genes to evolutionary forces favoring net size expansion. This process could be associated with tissue-specific constraints on gene function and/or the evolution of increasingly complex gene regulation in nervous systems. |
topic |
Genome evolution Gene size Intron size Nervous system evolution Long genes Long introns |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-020-6760-4 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT matthewjmccoy intronandgenesizeexpansionduringnervoussystemevolution AT andrewzfire intronandgenesizeexpansionduringnervoussystemevolution |
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1724495297368817664 |