Gene conversion: mechanisms, evolution and human disease

@article{Chen2007GeneCM,
  title={Gene conversion: mechanisms, evolution and human disease},
  author={Jian-Min Chen and David N. Cooper and Nadia A. Chuzhanova and Claude F{\'e}rec and George P. Patrinos},
  journal={Nature Reviews Genetics},
  year={2007},
  volume={8},
  pages={762-775}
}
Gene conversion, one of the two mechanisms of homologous recombination, involves the unidirectional transfer of genetic material from a 'donor' sequence to a highly homologous 'acceptor'. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie gene conversion, its formative role in human genome evolution and its implications for human inherited disease. Here we assess current thinking about how gene conversion occurs, explore the key part it has played in… 
View on Nature
ww2.biol.sc.edu
576 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
34
Background Citations
303
Methods Citations
15
Results Citations
14

576 Citations

Gene Conversion in Human Genetic Disease

Some of the latest developments in the study of pathogenic gene conversion events are summarized, including the emerging idea of minimal efficient sequence homology (MESH) for homologous recombination and the local DNA sequence features that appear to predispose to gene conversion.

Gene Conversion in Evolution and Disease

Over evolutionary time, gene conversion has homogenized the paralogous sequences within each species whereas diversifying the orthologous sequences between closely related species; interallelic gene Conversion has generated a high level of allelic diversity at certain loci.

Biased Gene Conversion and its Impact on Human Genome Evolution

This work has shown that the transmission of alleles can be non-Mendelian for loci located near recombination initiation sites, and that this neutral biased gene conversion (BGC) process has surprisingly strong consequences on the evolution of genomic landscapes in human.

Gene Conversion during Primate Evolution

Gene conversion is a nonreciprocal recombination process; the term originally referred to distorted segregation of alleles in gametocytes. In evolutionary studies, however, gene conversion often…

Gene Conversion and Evolution of Gene Families: An Overview

Four problems concerning gene conversion, i.e., concerted evolution, generation of useful variation, deleterious effects, and relation to neofunctionalization, are discussed by surveying reported examples of evolving gene families.

Gene Duplication and Ectopic Gene Conversion in Drosophila

This paper considers the historical origins of ectopic gene conversion models and presents a synthesis of the current Drosophila data in light of several primary questions in the field.

Biased Gene Conversion and Its Impact on Genome Evolution

Biased gene conversion appears to preferentially favour GC alleles over AT alleles, resulting in the overtransmission ofGC alleles in regions of high recombination.

Neutral and Non-Neutral Evolution of Duplicated Genes with Gene Conversion

Here, theoretical models to understand the evolution of duplicates in both neutral and non-neutral cases are reviewed and how these theories contribute to interpreting real polymorphism and divergence data are explained by using some intriguing examples.

Biased gene conversion and the evolution of mammalian genomic landscapes.

The recent evidence for a GC-biased gene conversion process in mammals, and its consequences for genomic landscapes, molecular evolution, and human functional genomics are reviewed.

Whole-Genome Analysis of Gene Conversion Events

The approach is illustrated using conversion events in the beta-globin gene cluster, and properties of the putative gene conversions are analyzed, such as the lengths of the paralogous pairs and the spacing between their sources and targets.
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 174 REFERENCES

Biased gene conversion: implications for genome and sex evolution.

Contribution of gene conversion in the evolution of the human β-like globin gene family

This article attempts to re-examine the origin and spread of specific mutations of the β-globin cluster, such as the sickle cell or β-thalassemia mutations, on the basis of repeated gene conversion events.

Gene conversion drives GC content evolution in mammalian histones.

Genome-Wide Search of Gene Conversions in Duplicated Genes of Mouse and Rat

Gene conversion is considered to play important roles in the formation of genomic makeup such as homogenization of multigene families and diversification of alleles. We devised two statistical tests…

Dynamics of a human interparalog gene conversion hotspot.

The haploid nature of the Y chromosome is exploited, which obviates complicating interallelic processes, together with its known phylogeny, to understand the dynamics of conversion between two directly repeated HERVs flanking the 780-kb AZFa region on Yq.

Immunoglobulin gene diversification.

This review focuses on the genetic and biochemical mechanisms of diversification of immunoglobulin genes, which are induced by targeted DNA deamination by a B cell-specific factor, activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID).

A two-locus gene conversion model with selection and its application to the human RHCE and RHD genes

  • H. Innan
  • Biology
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • 2003
A two-locus gene conversion model with selection is developed, and it is shown that the pattern of allelic variation is mainly determined by the balance between gene conversion and selection, because these two mechanisms act in opposite directions.

Human genomic deletions mediated by recombination between Alu elements.

It is found that Alu recombination-mediated genomic deletion has had a much higher impact than was inferred from previously identified isolated events and that it continues to contribute to the dynamic nature of the human genome.

A haplotype map of the human genome

A public database of common variation in the human genome: more than one million single nucleotide polymorphisms for which accurate and complete genotypes have been obtained in 269 DNA samples from four populations, including ten 500-kilobase regions in which essentially all information about common DNA variation has been extracted.

A haplotype map of the human genome.

A public database of common variation in the human genome: more than one million single nucleotide polymorphisms for which accurate and complete genotypes have been obtained in 269 DNA samples from four populations, including ten 500-kilobase regions in which essentially all information about common DNA variation has been extracted.
...