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Updated: Jun 30, 2025

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Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
Published on: February 3, 2023
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Evolution of Transcript Abundance is Influenced by Indels in Protein Low Complexity Regions.
Zachery W Dickson1, G Brian Golding2
1Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. dicksoz@mcmaster.ca.
Journal of Molecular Evolution
|March 15, 2024
Summary
Low complexity regions (LCRs) in proteins impact gene expression. Insertions in LCRs decrease transcript abundance, but indel rates in LCRs are independent of transcript abundance shifts.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Genomics
- Proteomics
Background:
- Protein low complexity regions (LCRs) are mutationally unstable sequences.
- LCRs influence protein expression from transcription to degradation.
- Proteins with LCRs show higher transcript abundance but lower protein abundance.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the co-evolution of LCRs and transcript abundance (TAb).
- Analyze the impact of LCR changes on TAb evolution.
- Determine the relationship between indel rates in LCRs and TAb.
Main Methods:
- Gathered and integrated human data.
- Utilized ancestral reconstructions and model inference.
- Employed approximate Bayesian computation methods.
Main Results:
- On short evolutionary timescales, LCR length changes, particularly insertions, significantly decrease TAb.
- Indel rates within LCRs appear unaffected by shifts in TAb.
- Demonstrated a coupling between LCR evolution and TAb evolution.
Conclusions:
- LCRs and TAb exhibit co-evolutionary dynamics.
- Changes in LCR length influence TAb.
- Indel rates in LCRs evolve independently of TAb.
- Incorporating multiple biological responses enhances evolutionary analyses.
Keywords:
Approximate Bayesian calculationCo-evolutionLow-complexity regionProtein abundanceTranscript abundanceMore Related Videos
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