Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18216259›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2008

The evolution of gene collectives: How natural selection drives chemical innovation.

Michael A Fischbach, Christopher T Walsh, Jon Clardy

Erratum issuedOpen access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 162 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
162citing papers in PubMed
7.6field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

162 citing papers in PubMed, 315 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
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  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Biomimetic Synthesis of Seven Halenaquinone Meroterpenoids.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026
    Article
  11. Article
  12. AI-Assisted Isolation of Bioactive Dipyrimicins fromJournal of natural products · 2026
    Article
  13. Article
  14. RNA-Binding Proteins in Dinoflagellates.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Pleiotropic role of PAX cyclolipopeptides in theApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025
    Article
  18. Evolutionary Tree in Chemical Space of Natural Products.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

102 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

  • Erratum issued
5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Michael A FischbachDepartment of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Christopher T Walsh
Jon Clardy
Harvard University · USCornell University · US

Funding

Modular Enzymatic Assembly Lines for AntibioticsR01GM020011 · NIGMS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI WALSH, CHRISTOPHER T · 1985 to 2013
$8.2M
The Vancomycin Biosynthetic Assembly lineR01GM049338 · NIGMS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI WALSH, CHRISTOPHER T · 1993 to 2012
$6.2M
STRUCTURAL STUDIES ON BIOACTIVE NATURAL PRODUCTSR01CA024487 · NCI · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI CLARDY, JON · 1985 to 2009
$3.4M
STRUCTURES OF IMMUNOPHILINS AND THEIR COMPLEXESR01CA059021 · NCI · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI CLARDY, JON · 1992 to 2007
$2.2M
5S RRNA RECOGNITION BY TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR IIIAF32GM020011 · NIGMS · SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE · PI LEE, BRIAN M · 1999 to 2000
$39k
ENZYMATIC REACTION MECHANISMSR37GM020011 · NIGMS · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI WALSH, CHRISTOPHER A · 1986 to 1995
–
NCI NIH HHS CA24487NCI NIH HHS CA59021NCI NIH HHS R01 CA024487NCI NIH HHS R01 CA059021NIGMS NIH HHS F32 GM020011NIGMS NIH HHS GM20011NIGMS NIH HHS GM49338NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM020011NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM049338
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

DNA sequencing has become central to the study of evolution. Comparing the sequences of individual genes from a variety of organisms has revolutionized our understanding of how single genes evolve, but the challenge of analyzing polygenic phenotypes has complicated efforts to study how genes evolve when they are part of a group that functions collectively. We suggest that biosynthetic gene clusters from microbes are ideal candidates for the evolutionary study of gene collectives; these selfish genetic elements evolve rapidly, they usually comprise a complete pathway, and they have a phenotype-a small molecule-that is easy to identify and assay. Because these elements are transferred horizontally as well as vertically, they also provide an opportunity to study the effects of horizontal transmission on gene evolution. We discuss known examples to begin addressing two fundamental questions about the evolution of biosynthetic gene clusters: How do they propagate by horizontal transfer? How do they change to create new molecules?

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularMultigene FamilySelection, GeneticAnimalsGenes, BacterialPseudomonas syringaeYersinia

Identifiers

PMID18216259
PMCPMC2290807
OpenAlexW2014874550

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.