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The genomes of eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of sequence which do not code for proteins or RNAs. Although some of these regions do contain crucial regulatory sequences, the vast majority of this DNA serves no known function. Typically, these regions of the genome are the ones in which the fastest change, in evolutionary terms, is observed, because there is typically little to no selection pressure acting on these regions to preserve their sequences.
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Identifying Amino Acid Overproducers Using Rare-Codon-Rich Markers
10:41

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Published on: June 24, 2019

Background selection in single genes may explain patterns of codon bias.

Laurence Loewe1, Brian Charlesworth

  • 1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom. laurence.loewe@evolutionary-research.net

Genetics
|December 30, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Background selection, driven by removing harmful mutations, impacts gene evolution at the single-gene level. Factors like gene length, introns, and recombination rates influence its effects on population size and codon usage.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary genetics
  • Population genetics

Background:

  • Background selection reduces effective population size by removing deleterious mutations.
  • Previous studies focused on large genomic regions, not single genes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate background selection effects at the single-gene level.
  • Examine influences of coding sequence length, introns, intergenic distances, and mutation/recombination rates.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized estimates of nonsynonymous mutation fitness effects from Drosophila DNA sequence diversity data.
  • Developed predictions based on these estimates.

Main Results:

  • Background selection influences effective population sizes within genes, correlating with codon usage bias.
  • Gene length and introns affect codon usage.
  • Gene conversion is critical for effect magnitude.

Conclusions:

  • Background selection impacts gene evolution at a finer scale than previously emphasized.
  • The model may overpredict effects in nonrecombining regions due to ignored Hill-Robertson interference.