Rapid Evolution Through Gene Duplication and Subfunctionalization of the Testes-Specific α4 Proteasome Subunits in DrosophilaSequence data from this article have been deposited with the EMBL/GenBank Data Libraries under accession nos. AY542377, AY542378, AY542379, AY542380, AY542381, AY542382, AY542383, AY542384, AY542385, AY542386, AY542387, AY542388, AY542389, AY542390, AY542391, AY542392, AY542393, AY542394, AY542395, AY542396, AY542397, AY542398, AY542399, AY542400, AY542401, AY542402, AY542403, AY542404, AY542405, AY542406, AY542407, AY542408, AY542409, AY542410, AY542411, AY542412, AY542413, AY542414, AY542415, AY542416, AY542417, AY542418, AY542419, AY542420, AY542421, AY542422, AY542423, AY542424, AY542425, AY542426, AY542427, AY542428, AY542429, AY542430, AY542431, AY542432.

Abstract

Gene duplication is an important mechanism for acquiring new genes and creating genetic novelty in organisms. Evidence suggests that duplicated genes are retained at a much higher rate than originally thought and that functional divergence of gene copies is a major factor promoting their retention in the genome. We find that two Drosophila testes-specific alpha4 proteasome subunit genes (alpha4-t1 and alpha4-t2) have a higher polymorphism …