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Related Experiment Videos

Synonymous substitution rates in enterobacteria

A Eyre-Walker1, M Bulmer

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855-1059, USA.

Genetics
|August 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Selection for translational efficiency does not explain lower substitution rates in highly expressed genes. A decreased mutation rate is the likely cause, challenging previous hypotheses in bacterial evolution.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Evolution
  • Genomics
  • Bioinformatics

Background:

  • Previous studies indicated lower synonymous substitution rates in highly expressed genes between Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium.
  • This observation was attributed to stronger selection for translational efficiency, evidenced by codon usage bias.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of selection for translational efficiency in the observed decline of substitution rates across gene expression levels.
  • To test the hypothesis that codon usage bias is the primary driver of reduced substitution rates in highly expressed genes.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of synonymous substitution rates across different codon families with varying synonymous codon usage patterns.
  • Evaluation of the relationship between gene expression levels and substitution rates, controlling for codon usage bias.

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Main Results:

  • The decline in substitution rates across expression levels was consistent for codon families with and without apparent selection for translational efficiency.
  • This suggests that selection for translational efficiency is not the main factor influencing substitution rates across genes.

Conclusions:

  • The study refutes the hypothesis that selection for translational efficiency drives the lower substitution rates in highly expressed genes.
  • A decrease in the mutation rate is proposed as the most probable explanation for the observed pattern.
  • Evolutionary models indicate that selection on codon usage has a minimal impact on substitution rates under the studied conditions.