Conservation of the MHC-like region throughout evolution.
Identification of conserved regions between the genomes of distant species is a crucial step in the reconstruction of the genomic organization of their last common ancestor. Here we confirm for the first time with robust evidence, the existence of a region of conserved synteny between the human genome and the Drosophila genome. This evolutionarily conserved synteny involves the human MHC and paralogous regions, and we identified 19 conserved genes between these two species in a Drosophila genomic region of less than 2 Mb. The statistical analysis of the distribution of these 19 genes between the Drosophila and human genomes shows that it cannot be explained by chance. Our study constitutes a first step towards the reconstruction of the genome of Urbilateria (the ancestor of all bilaterian) and allows for a better understanding of the evolutionary history of our genome as well as other metazoan genomes.
EA Biodiversité 2202, Phylogenomics Laboratory, Université de Provence, Case 36 Pl. V.Hugo, 13331, Marseilles Cedex 3, France. edanchin@up.univ-mrs.fr.
Etienne G J
EGJ
Danchin
Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, Fairchild Building, 299 Campus Dr., Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Laurent
L
Abi-Rached
EA Biodiversité 2202, Phylogenomics Laboratory, Université de Provence, Case 36 Pl. V.Hugo, 13331, Marseilles Cedex 3, France.
André
A
Gilles
EA Biodiversité 2202, Phylogenomics Laboratory, Université de Provence, Case 36 Pl. V.Hugo, 13331, Marseilles Cedex 3, France.
Pierre
P
Pontarotti
D000818:Animals; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051880:Receptors, Notch
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C497759:N protein, Drosophila; D051880:Receptors, Notch