Gradual divergence and diversification of mammalian duplicate gene functions

Gene duplication provides raw material for the evolution of functional innovation. We recently developed a phylogenetic method to classify the evolutionary processes underlying the retention and functional evolution of duplicate genes by quantifying divergence of their gene expression profiles. Here, we apply our method to pairs of duplicate genes in eight mammalian genomes, using data from 11 distinct tissues to construct spatial gene expression profiles. We find that young mammalian duplicates are often functionally conserved, and that functional divergence gradually increases with evolutionary distance between species. Examination of expression patterns in genes with conserved and new functions supports the \"out-of-testes\" hypothesis, in which new genes arise with testis-specific functions and acquire functions in other tissues over time. While new functions tend to be tissue-specific, there is no bias toward expression in any particular tissue. Thus, duplicate genes acquire a diversity of functions outside of the testes, possibly contributing to the origin of a multitude of complex phenotypes during mammalian evolution.