Watching the birth of a gene, in real time

A visualisation of evolution in action, showing both the new gene and its biological function. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi scientists have captured the formation of a new gene in real-time evolution experiments.

Just how new genes arise is a problem of fundamental significance and hints from genome analyses suggest a range of possibilities.

By observing such events first hand, the Massey University scientists have provided much-needed empirical understanding.

Using microbes as experimental tools to study the moment-by-moment workings of evolution, researchers at Massey's New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study have described spontaneous mutational events that have ultimately led to the formation of a new gene.

The mutations caused two separate genes to fuse into a single new hybrid gene.

Strikingly, the new gene caused a once-cytosolic enzyme to move to the cell membrane, and with re-localisation came a new biological function.

Previously, scientists believed gene duplication followed by divergence was the primary route by which new genes were created, evolutionary geneticist Distinguished Professor Paul Rainey explained.

"Scientists are discovering more and more mechanisms, but direct observation of those mechanisms has until now proved elusive," he said.

"Despite the apparent range of opportunities for the birth of new genes, this is the first time that the birth of a new gene has been captured in real time - the selective events leading to its formation have been understood and mechanistic details underpinning the function of the new gene have been revealed."

Rainey said that while the creation of this "biofilm" of imagery capturing evolution as it happened might not look significant, it was.

"The relative ease by which this new gene arose, along with its functional and regulatory effects, provides a glimpse of mutational events and their consequences that are likely to play a significant role in the evolution of new genes."

Gene fusions could drive adaptive evolution, but can also have devastating consequences that led to diseases like cancer.

Rainey said they would look to take experimental evolution "into the wild" and create scenarios more reflective of the complex challenges faced by natural populations, to shed further light on the origins of genes.

"We are still finding out more and more about how new genes are generated."