HOMOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF GENE ORDER - A SIMPLE METHOD FOR TESTING A HYPOTHESIS ON THE PATTERN OF THIS EVOLUTION

A method of testing various hypotheses concerning the mechanisms of ev olution of gene order is suggested. Estimating the possibility of cons tructing an evolutionary tree that reflects the observed similarity be tween gene orders studied is proposed, provided that the distances bet ween gene orders correspond to estimations obtained on the basis of th e hypothesis tested. The required IBM PC software was developed. It wa s found that gene orders of the mouse, rabbit, cow, cat, lemur, capuch in monkey, rhesus monkey, gorilla, chimpanzee, and man could be readil y interpreted in terms of the simplest (''map'') model of transformati on of these orders.