Protein subcellular relocalization: a new perspective on the origin of novel genes.

Gene duplication is considered to be the most important evolutionary process for generating novel genes. However, the mechanisms involved in the evolution of such genetic innovations remain unclear. There is compelling evidence to suggest that changing the subcellular location of a protein can also alter its function, and that diversity in subcellular targeting within gene families is common.

A high- and low-temperature inducible Arabidopsis thaliana HSP101 promoter located in a nonautonomous mutator-like element.

Transcriptional activity of a 573-bp fragment of HSP101 (At1g74310) incorporated into a Mutator-like element (MULE) transposon was investigated in Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia. Sequence identity between the HSP101-MULE arrangement and a continuous segment of the original HSP101 promoter, 5' UTR exon, and open reading frame (ORF) was high (87%) but lower in the 5' UTR intron (69%). Collectively, the HSP101 ORF, the MULE 5' terminal inverted repeat (TIR), and the 1.