Genome duplication, divergent resolution and speciation.

What are the evolutionary consequences of gene duplication? One answer is speciation, according to a model initially called Reciprocal Silencing and recently expanded and renamed Divergent Resolution. This model shows how the loss of different copies of a duplicated gene in allopatric populations (divergent resolution) can promote speciation by genetically isolating these populations should they become reunited. Genome duplication events produce thousands of duplicated genes. Therefore, lineages with a history of genome duplication might have been especially prone to speciation via divergent resolution.

Taylor, J.S., Van de Peer, Y., Meyer, A. (2001) Genome duplication, divergent resolution and speciation. Trends Genet. 17(6):299-301.

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