ArticleGenetics2021
Repeated horizontal gene transfer of GALactose metabolism genes violates Dollo's law of irreversible loss.
Article in Genetics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Loss, persistence and reversal of phenotypic traits.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Horizontal gene transfer in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other Saccharomycotina yeasts: a review.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Taxogenomic Analysis of a Novel Yeast Species, Lachancea rosae Sp. Nov. F.A., Isolated From the Wild Rose Rosa californica.Yeast (Chichester, England) · 2025Article
- Article
- Machine learning enables identification of an alternative yeast galactose utilization pathway.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Genomic factors shape carbon and nitrogen metabolic niche breadth across Saccharomycotina yeasts.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Gene loss and cis-regulatory novelty shaped core histone gene evolution in the apiculate yeast Hanseniaspora uvarum.Genetics · 2024Article
- Natural trait variation across Saccharomycotina species.FEMS yeast research · 2024Review
- Mitochondrial Genome Diversity across the Subphylum Saccharomycotina.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Macroevolutionary diversity of traits and genomes in the model yeast genus Saccharomyces.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Mitochondrial genome diversity across the subphylum Saccharomycotina.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Contrasting modes of macro and microsynteny evolution in a eukaryotic subphylum.Current biology : CB · 2022Article
- The evolution of the GALactose utilization pathway in budding yeasts.Trends in genetics : TIG · 2022Review
- Signatures of optimal codon usage in metabolic genes inform budding yeast ecology.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- Showcasing Fungal Genetics & Genomics with the Genetics Society of America.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
- Article
- Giant GAL gene clusters for the melibiose-galactose pathway in Torulaspora.Yeast (Chichester, England) · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Dollo's law posits that evolutionary losses are irreversible, thereby narrowing the potential paths of evolutionary change. While phenotypic reversals to ancestral states have been observed, little is known about their underlying genetic causes. The genomes of budding yeasts have been shaped by extensive reductive evolution, such as reduced genome sizes and the losses of metabolic capabilities. However, the extent and mechanisms of trait reacquisition after gene loss in yeasts have not been thoroughly studied. Here, through phylogenomic analyses, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of the yeast galactose utilization pathway and observed widespread and repeated losses of the ability to utilize galactose, which occurred concurrently with the losses of GALactose (GAL) utilization genes. Unexpectedly, we detected multiple galactose-utilizing lineages that were deeply embedded within clades that underwent ancient losses of galactose utilization. We show that at least two, and possibly three, lineages reacquired the GAL pathway via yeast-to-yeast horizontal gene transfer. Our results show how trait reacquisition can occur tens of millions of years after an initial loss via horizontal gene transfer from distant relatives. These findings demonstrate that the losses of complex traits and even whole pathways are not always evolutionary dead-ends, highlighting how reversals to ancestral states can occur.
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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.