G C A T T A C G G C A T genes Article Evolutionary Dynamics of the POTE Gene Family in Human and Nonhuman Primates Flavia Angela Maria Maggiolini 1 , Ludovica Mercuri 1, Francesca Antonacci 1, Fabio Anaclerio 1, Francesco Maria Calabrese 1 , Nicola Lorusso 1, Alberto L’Abbate 2, Melanie Sorensen 3, Giuliana Giannuzzi 4, Evan E. Eichler 3,5, Claudia Rita Catacchio 1,* and Mario Ventura 1,* 1 Department of Biology, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, 70125 Bari, Italy; fl
[email protected] (F.A.M.M.);
[email protected] (L.M.);
[email protected] (F.A.);
[email protected] (F.A.);
[email protected] (F.M.C.);
[email protected] (N.L.) 2 Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics, and Molecular Biotechnologies—National Research Council (IBIOM-CNR), 70125 Bari, Italy;
[email protected] 3 Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Wa 98195, USA;
[email protected] (M.S.);
[email protected] (E.E.E.) 4 Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland;
[email protected] 5 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Wa 98195, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] (C.R.C.);
[email protected] (M.V.) Received: 17 December 2019; Accepted: 13 February 2020; Published: 18 February 2020 Abstract: POTE (prostate, ovary, testis, and placenta expressed) genes belong to a primate-specific gene family expressed in prostate, ovary, and testis as well as in several cancers including breast, prostate, and lung cancers. Due to their tumor-specific expression, POTEs are potential oncogenes, therapeutic targets, and biomarkers for these malignancies.