Evolution Of Genome Duplication

Genome duplication caters sources of genetic material for mutation and selection to act upon- making new evolutionary opportunities possible. In the last century, genome duplication has been viewed as a dominant factor in the evolution of eukaryotes. As an outcome, most people have disputed that genome duplication is a leading factor in the evolution of complexity and diversity (Crow 2005). Although many people believe this, no correlation has been made clear confirming whether this is true. Genome duplication could contribute to lower risk of extinction via functional redundancy, increased rates of evolution, and adaption. Individual gene duplication is common; however, whole-genome duplications are an important factor in the evolution of vertebrates, and the primary source of duplication for plants (Crow 2005). …show more content…
The first way would be for one member of the duplicate gene pair to take on a new function, or the second option would be for two duplicate genes to divide the multiple functions of the ancestral gene between them, with natural selection refining each copy to a more restricted set of tasks (Lynch 2002). The familiar fate of duplicate genes that majority of scientist see is the silencing of one member of the pair. Genome duplication is an ancient and ongoing process in plants, animals and yeast. Recently it was confirmed that the yeast genus, saccharomyces, had gone through whole-genome duplication. Genome duplication is omnipresent in plants (Crow 2005). Many phases of genome duplication have transpired during the diversification of angiosperms, leading scientists to believe they all have a widespread variety of