Abstract
BackgroundNew genes that originate from non-coding DNA rather than being duplicated from parent genes are called de novo genes. Their short evolution time and lack of parent genes provide a chance to study the evolution of cis-regulatory elements in the initial stage of gene emergence. Although a few reports have discussed cis-regulatory elements in new genes, knowledge of the characteristics of these elements in de novo genes is lacking. Here, we conducted a comprehensive investigation to depict the emergence and establishment of cis-regulatory elements in de novo yeast genes.ResultsIn a genome-wide investigation, we found that the number of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) in de novo genes of S. cerevisiae increased rapidly and quickly became comparable to the number of TFBSs in established genes. This phenomenon might have resulted from certain characteristics of de novo genes; namely, a relatively frequent gain of TFBSs, an unexpectedly high number of preexisting TFBSs, or lower selection pressure in the promoter regions of the de novo genes. Furthermore, we identified differences in the promoter architecture between de novo genes and duplicated new genes, suggesting that distinct regulatory strategies might be employed by genes of different origin. Finally, our functional analyses of the yeast de novo genes revealed that they might be related to reproduction.ConclusionsOur observations showed that de novo genes and duplicated new genes possess mutually distinct regulatory characteristics, implying that these two types of genes might have different roles in evolution.
Highlights
New genes that originate from non-coding DNA rather than being duplicated from parent genes are called de novo genes
A de novo gene was regulated by 11.5 ± 0.8 transcription factor (TF), a duplicated new gene was regulated by 11.7 ± 0.6 TFs, and an orthologous gene was regulated by 11.9 ± 0.3 TFs
Our findings indicated that de novo genes were dominated by depleted proximal nucleosome (DPN) genes but fewer TATA-containing genes, whereas duplicated new genes were dominated by occupied proximal nucleosome (OPN) genes and TATA-containing genes
Summary
New genes that originate from non-coding DNA rather than being duplicated from parent genes are called de novo genes. Their short evolution time and lack of parent genes provide a chance to study the evolution of cis-regulatory elements in the initial stage of gene emergence. A few reports have discussed cis-regulatory elements in new genes, knowledge of the characteristics of these elements in de novo genes is lacking. We conducted a comprehensive investigation to depict the emergence and establishment of cis-regulatory elements in de novo yeast genes. A recent study found that 30% of the new genes in Drosophila quickly evolved essential functions that allowed them to participate in development [8].
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