Evolution’s DNA Fusion: Hybrid gene forms clue to human, ape origins
By Bruce Bower
A gene of mixed evolutionary pedigree may have transformed mammalian reproduction, leading to the evolution of apes and humans.
Analyses of genetic data from a variety of mammals show that this gene, called Tre2, occurs only in apes and people, say graduate student Charles A. Paulding and geneticist Daniel A. Haber, both of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Charlestown, and anthropologist Maryellen Ruvolo of Harvard University.
Although other investigators first identified Tre2 about 10 years ago, the gene’s evolutionary origins were unknown. Tre2 represents a hybrid, or so-called chimeric version, of two genes that fused together, Paulding and his coworkers assert in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The DNA sequence of roughly half of Tre2 closely corresponds to an evolutionarily ancient gene still possessed by many species of mammals, the scientists hold. The rest of Tre2‘s sequence matches a more recently evolved gene found only in monkeys, apes, and people.