h factors (Fgfs) encode small signaling proteins that help regulate embryo patte

rning. Fgfs fall into seven families, including FgfD. Nonvertebrate chordates ha
ve a single FgfD gene; mammals have three (Fgf8, Fgf17, and Fgf18); and teleosts
have six (fgf8a, fgf8b, fgf17, fgf18a, fgf18b, and fgf24). What are the evoluti
onary processes that led to the structural duplication and functional diversific
ation of FgfD genes during vertebrate phylogeny? To study this question, we inve
stigated conserved syntenies, patterns of gene expression, and the distribution
of conserved noncoding elements (CNEs) in FgfD genes of stickleback and zebrafis
h, and compared them with data from cephalochordates, urochordates, and mammals.
Genomic analysis suggests that Fgf8, Fgf17, Fgf18, and Fgf24 arose in two round
s of whole genome duplication at the base of the vertebrate radiation; that fgf8
and fgf18 duplications occurred at the base of the teleost radiation; and that
Fgf24 is an ohnolog that was lost in the mammalian lineage. Expression analysis
suggests that ancestral subfunctions partitioned between gene duplicates and poi
nts to the evolution of novel expression domains. Analysis of CNEs, at least som
e of which are candidate regulatory elements, suggests that ancestral CNEs parti
tioned between gene duplicates. These results help explain the evolutionary path
ways by which the developmentally important family of FgfD molecules arose and t
he deduced principles that guided FgfD evolution are likely applicable to the ev
olution of developmental regulation in many vertebrate multigene families.
(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.