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Updated: Aug 2, 2025
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Polysome Fractionation and Analysis of Mammalian Translatomes on a Genome-wide Scale
Published on: May 17, 2014
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Decoupling of evolutionary changes in mRNA and protein levels
Daohan Jiang1, Alexander L Cope2, Jianzhi Zhang3
1Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|April 17, 2023
Summary
Gene expression variation is key to adaptation, but mRNA levels don't always predict protein levels. Compensatory evolution explains this mismatch, especially under stabilizing selection on protein levels.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Molecular evolution
- Systems biology
Background:
- Phenotypic variation and adaptation are linked to gene expression changes.
- mRNA levels are commonly used to infer protein levels, but correlations can be weak.
- Discrepancies may arise from compensatory evolution between mRNA levels and translational regulation.
Approach:
- Developed a theoretical model to study the coevolution of mRNA and protein levels.
- Investigated model dynamics over time under different selection pressures.
- Analyzed evolutionary conditions favoring compensatory evolution.
Key Points:
- Compensatory evolution between mRNA and translation is widespread under stabilizing selection on protein levels.
- Under directional selection, mRNA and translation rates show negative correlations across lineages but positive correlations across genes.
- The study explains discrepancies between transcriptomic and proteomic data.
Conclusions:
- Compensatory evolution is a significant factor influencing the mRNA-protein level relationship.
- Understanding these evolutionary dynamics is crucial for interpreting gene expression data.
- The findings provide a framework for distinguishing biological and statistical explanations for transcriptomic-proteomic mismatches.
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