Synteny

Syntenic comparison of two regions from the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana using GEvo. This genome underwent a whole genome duplication event which created a copy of every genomic region. Over evolutionary time, many of the duplicated genes were lost by a process known as fractionation. However, many duplicated genes have been retained in duplicate and their collinear arrangement in the genome is evidence for synteny. Results can be regenerated at: http://tinyurl.com/noul6b

Synteny is a valid deduction that two or more genomic regions are derived from a single ancestral genomic region. Syntenic region can be from different organisms and are derived from speciation, or from the same genome and are derived from genome duplication events (such as polyploidy). Synteny is detected through evidence based on collinearity of genomic content such as genes. If two regions have obvious collinear features, they are syntenous. However, many noncollinear regions may be logically rearranged (e.g. through inversious) into a common ancestor, and thus be syntenous.