Ancient Nuclear Genome Duplication Events in Vertebrates Facilitated the Functional Diversification of Ohnologous Cytochrome c: Insights from Buergeria Frogs.

Ancient whole genome duplication in vertebrates led to the divergence of cytochrome c genes, with testis-type proteins showing 2.5 times greater resistance to hydrogen peroxide.

• Why it matters: Understanding how gene duplications drive functional diversification is crucial for insights into tissue-specific adaptations and mitochondrial evolution in vertebrates.
• What they did: The study used synteny-based phylogenetic analyses and molecular evolution assessments on Buergeria frogs, focusing on cytochrome c ohnologs conserved for over 450 million years, and examined structural and functional differences.
• The result: Testis-type cytochrome c proteins with Tyr-46 face the heme and confer increased H2O2 resistance, highlighting how ancient genome duplications facilitated tissue-specific mitochondrial functions through key amino acid substitutions.