title: Evolution of cis-regulatory elements in yeast de novo and duplicated new genes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New genes that originate from non-coding DNA rather than being duplicated from parent genes are called de novo genes. Their short evolution time and lack of parent genes provide a chance to study the evolution of cis-regulatory elements in the initial stage of gene emergence. Although a few reports have discussed cis-regulatory elements in new genes, knowledge of the characteristics of these elements in de novo genes is lacking. Here, we conducted a comprehensive investigation to depict the emergence and establishment of cis-regulatory elements in de novo yeast genes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In a genome-wide investigation, we found that the number of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) in de novo genes of S. cerevisiae increased rapidly and quickly became comparable to the number of TFBSs in established genes. This phenomenon might have resulted from certain characteristics of de novo genes; namely, a relatively frequent gain of TFBSs, an unexpectedly high number of preexisting TFBSs, or lower selection pressure in the promoter regions of the de novo genes. Furthermore, we identified differences in the promoter architecture between de novo genes and duplicated new genes, suggesting that distinct regulatory strategies might be employed by genes of different origin. Finally, our functional analyses of the yeast de novo genes revealed that they might be related to reproduction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our observations showed that de novo genes and duplicated new genes possess mutually distinct regulatory characteristics, implying that these two types of genes might have different roles in evolution.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. hktsai@iis.sinica.edu.tw
authors.forename: Zing Tsung-Yeh
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Huai-Kuang
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Jen-Hao
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Chih-Hsu
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yuan-Fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Daryi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020440:Gene Duplication; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000235:genetics; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D016385:TATA Box / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009707:Nucleosomes; D014157:Transcription Factors