title: Coevolution of gene families in prokaryotes.
abstract: We study gene family coevolution on a tree of life based on a large-scale ancestral gene content reconstruction, which includes gene duplication and deletion events. The insights obtained from this study are threefold: (1) Global properties, such as the distribution of coevolution partners and the formation of disconnected clusters of coevolving families, can be an inevitable consequence of evolution along a tree. (2) Concerted family expansion (gene duplication) and contraction (gene deletion) reflect functional constraints and therefore lead to better function prediction. (3) "Long-range" coevolutionary relationships, caused mostly by large family expansions or contractions, reveal high-level evolutionary organization of cellular processes in prokaryotes.
authors.affiliation: Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Utrecht, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. o.x.corderosanchez@uu.nl
authors.forename: Otto X
authors.initials: OX
authors.lastname: Cordero
authors.forename: Berend
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Snel
authors.forename: Paulien
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hogeweg
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017353:Gene Deletion; D020440:Gene Duplication; D019766:Genes, Archaeal; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005810:Multigene Family
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters