Fractionation, rearrangement and subgenome dominance

MOTIVATION: Fractionation is arguably the greatest cause of gene order disruption following whole genome duplication, causing severe biases in chromosome rearrangement-based estimates of evolutionary divergence. RESULTS: We show how to correct for this bias almost entirely by means of a 'consolidation' algorithm for detecting and suitably transforming identifiable regions of fractionation. We characterize the process of fractionation and the performance of the algorithm through realistic simulations. We apply our method to a number of core eudicot genomes, we and by studying the fractionation regions detected, are able to address topical issues in polyploid evolution. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Code for the consolidation algorithm, and sample data, is available at: http://137.122.149.195/Software/Fractionation/fractionation.html CONTACT: sankoff@uottawa.ca.