Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on May 27, 2009.

Genetics, Vol. 182, 1365-1375, August 2009, Copyright © 2009
doi:10.1534/genetics.109.104216

Does Gene Translocation Accelerate the Evolution of Laterally Transferred Genes?

Weilong Hao^*, and G. Brian Golding^*,1

^* Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada and Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405

¹ Corresponding author: Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
E-mail: golding{at}mcmaster.ca

Lateral gene transfer (LGT) and gene rearrangement are essential for shaping bacterial genomes during evolution. Separate attention has been focused on understanding the process of lateral gene transfer and the process of gene translocation. However, little is known about how gene translocation affects laterally transferred genes. Here we have examined gene translocations and lateral gene transfers in closely related genome pairs. The results reveal that translocated genes undergo elevated rates of evolution and gene translocation tends to take place preferentially in recently acquired genes. Translocated genes have a high probability to be truncated, suggesting that translocation followed by truncation/deletion might play an important role in the fast turnover of laterally transferred genes. Furthermore, more recently acquired genes have a higher proportion of genes on the leading strand, suggesting a strong strand bias of lateral gene transfer.

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