LOOKING back at half a billion years of gene evolution could help uncover the genetic basis of many disorders, including Down’s syndrome.
As vertebrates evolved, the entire genome was duplicated not once but twice. In theory, excess genes are superfluous and should soon be lost, but in fact many of the duplicated genes survive to this day – around a third of our genes can be traced back to these two ancient events.
So Aoife McLysaght of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, set out to investigate why so many duplicated genes were retained. One idea concerns how duplication affects the…
