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Molecular Biology and Evolution 19:239-246 (2002)
© 2002 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

Adaptation for Horizontal Transfer in a Homing Endonuclease

Vassiliki Koufopanou, Matthew R. Goddard and Austin Burt

*Department of Biology
{dagger}NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, U.K

Selfish genes of no function other than self-propagation are susceptible to degeneration if they become fixed in a population, and regular transfer to new species may be the only means for their long-term persistence. To test this idea we surveyed 24 species of yeast for VDE, a nuclear, intein-associated homing endonuclease gene (HEG) originally discovered in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Phylogenetic analyses show that horizontal transmission has been a regular occurrence in its evolutionary history. Moreover, VDE appears to be specifically adapted for horizontal transmission. Its 31-bp recognition sequence is an unusually well-conserved region in an unusually well-conserved gene. In addition, the nine nucleotide sites most critical for homing are also unusually well conserved. Such adaptation for horizontal transmission presumably arose as a consequence of selection, both among HEGs at different locations in the genome and among variants at the same location. The frequency of horizontal transmission must therefore be a key feature constraining the distribution and abundance of these genes.


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