what are single copy genes?

Question

[chrisclarkson100]

What are single copy genes? Do they unanimously map back to Arabidopsis? How are they useful in phylogenetic comparisons?

Answer 1

[Zev.Kronenberg]

Here is a good review article for you: http://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/student%20projects/references/Taylor_Raes_2004.pdf

[chrisclarkson100]

So a single-copy gene is one that has a single paralog and this in turn can be orthologous to other sequences in different species?

[Zev.Kronenberg]

Yes, a single copy gene has one physical location in the genome and can have orthologs in different species.