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Differential Loss And Retention Of Cytoglobin, Myoglobin, And Globin-E During The Radiation Of Vertebrates, Federico G. Hoffmann, Juan C. Opazo, Jay F. Storz

Jay F. Storz Publications

If rates of postduplication gene retention are positively correlated with levels of functional constraint, then gene duplicates that have been retained in a restricted number of taxonomic lineages would be expected to exhibit relatively low levels of sequence conservation. Paradoxical patterns are presented by gene duplicates that have been retained in a small number of taxa but which are nonetheless subject to strong purifying selection relative to paralogous members of the same multigene family. This pattern suggests that such genes may have been co-opted for novel, lineage-specific functions. One possible example involves the enigmatic globin-E gene (GbE), which …