Antifreeze proteins: How one gene becomes two (with different functions)

ScienceDaily (2011-01-13) -- Researchers report that they are the first to show in molecular detail how one gene evolved two competing functions that eventually split up -- via gene duplication -- to pursue their separate destinies. The study validates a decades-old hypothesis about a key mechanism of evolution. The study also confirms the ancestry of a family of "antifreeze proteins" that helps the Antarctic eelpout survive in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean.