Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Science. 2010 Dec 17;330(6011):1682-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1196380.
To investigate the origin and evolution of essential genes, we identified and phenotyped 195 young protein-coding genes, which originated 3 to 35 million years ago in Drosophila. Knocking down expression with RNA interference showed that 30% of newly arisen genes are essential for viability. The proportion of genes that are essential is similar in every evolutionary age group that we examined. Under constitutive silencing of these young essential genes, lethality was high in the pupal stage and also found in the larval stages. Lethality was attributed to diverse cellular and developmental defects, such as organ formation and patterning defects. These data suggest that new genes frequently and rapidly evolve essential functions and participate in development.
为了研究必需基因的起源和进化，我们鉴定和表型分析了 195 个起源于 300 至 3500 万年前果蝇中的年轻蛋白编码基因。用 RNA 干扰敲低这些基因的表达，结果显示 30%的新出现基因对于生存是必需的。我们研究的每个进化年龄组中必需基因的比例都是相似的。在这些年轻的必需基因持续沉默的情况下，幼虫期和蛹期的死亡率都很高。致死性归因于多种细胞和发育缺陷，如器官形成和模式缺陷。这些数据表明，新基因经常快速进化出必需的功能并参与发育。
