title: Functional divergence of proteins through frameshift mutations.
abstract: Frameshift mutations are generally considered to be deleterious and of little importance for the evolution of novel gene functions. However, by screening an exhaustive set of vertebrate gene families, we found that, when a second transcript encoding the original gene product compensates for this mutation, frameshift mutations can be retained for millions of years and enable new gene functions to be acquired.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raes
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Van de Peer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D016368:Frameshift Mutation; D020440:Gene Duplication; D006801:Humans; D005810:Multigene Family; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D004247:DNA