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A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Investigating Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression using RNA-seq
Published on: May 28, 2021
A selection index for gene expression evolution and its application to the divergence between humans and chimpanzees
Maria Warnefors1, Adam Eyre-Walker
1School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom. maria.warnefors@gmail.com
Plos One
|April 25, 2012
Summary
Researchers developed a new gene expression selection index to measure evolutionary selection. This method reveals that gene expression is generally under strong stabilizing selection, with potential for estimating adaptive evolution.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Genetics
- Molecular biology
Background:
- Gene regulation plays a crucial role in animal evolution.
- Quantifying selection pressures on gene expression has been a significant challenge in the field.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel selection index for gene expression.
- To provide a straightforward method for assessing the mode and strength of selection on gene expression levels.
Main Methods:
- Developed a selection index based on the McDonald-Kreitman test.
- Required estimation of within- and between-species expression variances.
- Incorporated sequence heterozygosity and divergence of neutral sequences.
Main Results:
- Applied the method to human and chimpanzee lymphoblastoid cell line data.
- Demonstrated that gene expression is typically under strong stabilizing selection.
- Showed the framework can estimate the proportion of adaptive gene expression evolution.
Conclusions:
- The proposed gene expression selection index is a valuable tool for evolutionary studies.
- Gene expression appears to be under significant stabilizing selection across species.
- The method offers insights into the dynamics of adaptive evolution in gene expression.
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