Expression Patterns of Protein Kinases Correlate with Gene Architecture and Evolutionary Rates
2008

How Protein Kinase Genes Are Structured and Evolve

Sample size: 497 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Aleksey Y. Ogurtsov, Leonardo Mariño-Ramírez, Gibbes R. Johnson, David Landsman, Svetlana A. Shabalina, Nikolay A. Spiridonov

Primary Institution: National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Hypothesis

The genomic organization of protein kinase genes differs from other protein coding genes and correlates with their expression and evolutionary rates.

Conclusion

The structure and evolutionary divergence of tissue-specific protein kinase genes are related to the proliferative activity of the tissues where these genes are predominantly expressed.

Supporting Evidence

  • PK genes occupy larger genomic loci and have longer introns compared to other protein coding genes.
  • On average, PK genes evolve slower than other protein coding genes.
  • Breadth of PK expression negatively correlates with the rate of non-synonymous substitutions in protein coding regions.

Takeaway

This study looks at how the genes that make proteins called kinases are built and how they change over time, showing that their structure affects how they work in different parts of the body.

Methodology

Comparative analysis of genomic organization, expression levels, and evolutionary rates of protein kinase genes in humans and mice.

Limitations

The study primarily focuses on human and mouse PK genes, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other species.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.05

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pone.0003599

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