Genetic redundancy: new tricks for old genes.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19203571.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2009.01.027.
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Abstract
Many crucial components of signal transduction, developmental, and metabolic pathways have functionally redundant copies. Further, these redundancies show surprising evolutionary stability over prolonged time scales. We propose that redundancies are not just archeological leftovers of ancient gene duplications, but rather that synergy arising from feedback between redundant copies may serve as an information processing element that facilitates signal transduction and the control of gene expression.
Medical subject headings
- Evolution, Molecular
- Gene Duplication