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Comparative Study
. 2004 Feb;14(2):280-6.
doi: 10.1101/gr.1590904.

Mammalian overlapping genes: the comparative perspective

Vamsi Veeramachaneni  1 , Wojciech Makałowski, Michal Galdzicki, Raman Sood, Izabela Makałowska
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Mammalian overlapping genes: the comparative perspective

Vamsi Veeramachaneni et al. Genome Res. 2004 Feb.

Abstract

It is believed that 3.2 billion bp of the human genome harbor approximately 35000 protein-coding genes. On average, one could expect one gene per 300000 nucleotides (nt). Although the distribution of the genes in the human genome is not random,it is rather surprising that a large number of genes overlap in the mammalian genomes. Thousands of overlapping genes were recently identified in the human and mouse genomes. However,the origin and evolution of overlapping genes are still unknown. We identified 1316 pairs of overlapping genes in humans and mice and studied their evolutionary patterns. It appears that these genes do not demonstrate greater than usual conservation. Studies of the gene structure and overlap pattern showed that only a small fraction of analyzed genes preserved exactly the same pattern in both organisms.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overlap between three human genes: MUTH, FLJ13949, and TESK2. Dark boxes represent coding sequence. Light boxes represent untranslated regions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Examples of genes with different patterns of overlap in human and mouse. Dark boxes represent coding sequence. Light boxes represent untranslated regions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Examples of different patterns of overlap in human and mouse caused by different splice variants or annotation error. Dark boxes represent coding sequence. Light boxes represent untranslated regions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The screenshot from the overlapping genes database presenting overlap details.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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WEB SITE REFERENCES

    1. http://posnania.cbio.psu.edu/research/overlapping_genes.html; Overlapping Genes Project.

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