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Evidence for pervasive adaptive protein evolution in wild mice.
Daniel L Halligan1, Fiona Oliver, Adam Eyre-Walker
1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Plos Genetics
|January 29, 2010
Summary
Molecular evolution in rodents shows high adaptive protein evolution, with 57% of amino acid substitutions driven by positive selection. This contrasts sharply with hominids, suggesting rodents experience more effective natural selection at the molecular level.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Molecular evolution
- Population genetics
Background:
- The debate on neutral vs. adaptive substitutions in molecular evolution spans over 40 years.
- Previous studies indicate significant adaptive protein evolution in taxa like bacteria and Drosophila, but low levels in hominids.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the proportion of adaptive amino acid substitutions (alpha) in murid rodents.
- To compare adaptive protein evolution rates between rodents and hominids.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of nucleotide polymorphism data from multiple genes in Mus musculus castaneus.
- Comparison of nucleotide divergence between Mus musculus castaneus and related species (M. famulus, rat).
Main Results:
- An estimated 57% of amino acid substitutions in murid rodents are driven by positive selection.
- Murid rodents exhibit a high frequency of adaptive amino acid substitutions, unlike hominids.
- A paucity of effectively neutral nonsynonymous mutations was observed in Mus musculus castaneus compared to humans.
Conclusions:
- Murid rodents display substantial adaptive protein evolution, potentially due to their large effective population size.
- Hominids appear exceptional with significantly lower rates of adaptive protein evolution.
- Effective natural selection is evident at the molecular level in wild mice.
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