During evolution from the earliest tetrapoda, newly-recruited genes are increasingly paralogues of existing genes and distribute non-randomly among the chromosomes

BACKGROUND: The present availability of full genome sequences of a broad range of animal species across the whole range of evolutionary history enables one to ask questions as to the distribution of genes across the chromosomes. Do newly recruited genes, as new clades emerge, distribute at random or at non-random locations? RESULTS: We extracted values for the ages of the human genes and for their current chromosome locations, from published sources. A quantitative analysis showed that the distribution of newly-added genes among and within the chromosomes appears to be increasingly non-random if one observes animals along the evolutionary series from the precursors of the tetrapoda through to the great apes, whereas the oldest genes are randomly distributed. CONCLUSIONS: Randomization will result from chromosome evolution, but less and less time is available for this process as evolution proceeds. Much of the bunching of recently-added genes arises from new gene formation as paralogues in gene families, near the location of genes that were recruited in the preceding phylostratum. As examples we cite the KRTAP, ZNF, OR and some minor gene families. We show that bunching can also result from the evolution of the chromosomes themselves when, as for the KRTAP genes, blocks of genes that had previously been on disparate chromosomes become linked together. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-021-08066-3.