Keywords: molecular evolution

Rapid evolution of yeast centromeres in the absence of drive

Bensasson, DZ, M.; Burt, A.; Koufopanou, V.,  Genetics,  178:2161-2167. 2008.
To find the most rapidly evolving regions in the yeast genome we compared most of chromosome III from three closely related lineages of the wild yeast Saccharomyces paradoxits. Unexpectedly, the centromere appears to be the fastest-evolving part of the chromosome, evolving even ...
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Degeneration and domestication of a selfish gene in yeast: Molecular evolution versus site-directed mutagenesis

Koufopanou, VB, A.,  Molecular Biology and Evolution,  22:1535-1538. 2005.
VDE is a homing endonuclease gene in yeasts with an unusual evolutionary history including horizontal transmission, degeneration, and domestication into the mating-type switching locus HO. We investigate here the effects of these features on its molecular evolution. In addition, ...
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