Yeast evolutionary genomics

Over the past few years, genome sequences have become available from an increasing range of yeast species, which has led to notable advances in our understanding of evolutionary mechanisms in eukaryotes. Yeasts offer us a unique opportunity to examine how molecular and reproductive mechanisms combine to affect genome architectures and drive evolutionary changes over a broad range of species. This Review summarizes recent progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms - such as gene duplication, mutation and acquisition of novel genetic material - that underlie yeast evolutionary genomics. I also discuss how results from yeasts can be extended to other eukaryotes.